Court finds Hana chairman nominee responsible for derivatives misselling

A Seoul court on Monday found Hana Financial Group Chairman-nominee Ham Young-joo responsible for Hana Bank’s improper sales of derivatives-linked products that caused a fiasco in 2019 after investors saw huge losses. Defying market expectations, the Seoul Administrative Court found the chairman-nominee and then-Hana Bank CEO guilty of failing to appropriately supervise the bank’s misselling of troubled products to its consumers. The court nodded to the financial authorities&rsquo

March 14, 2022

Only 0.2% of Koreans avoid meat, vegans even rarer, study finds

A report released by Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation on Monday found that only 13 out of the 5,510 respondents, which represents a mere 0.2 percent, chose not to eat meat, specifically beef, pork, poultry, and fish. The questionnaire covered seven different types of vegetarian diet, from the most restrictive form, veganism, to more lenient ones along the scale. Out of the 5,510 respondents, 418 followed some kind of meat restrictive diet. These include some less restrictive p

March 14, 2022

Celltrion shares soar on lenient penalties

South Korea’s leading drugmaker Celltrion saw its shares rise Monday after financial authorities had decided not to press charges for accounting fraud as long as the company pays fines, names an independent oversight board and removes the executives responsible. On Friday, the Financial Services Commission said Celltrion, Celltrion Pharm, and Celltrion Healthcare -- three listed firms that respectively develop anticancer drugs, make biopharmaceuticals, and distribute the products -- had o

March 14, 2022

What to expect from Samsung’s shareholder meeting

Samsung Electronics will hold an annual meeting of shareholders on Wednesday, amid complaints growing over performance issues of its latest Galaxy phones and falling stock prices that failed to reflect the world’s top smartphone and chip maker’s robust earnings. The key agenda of the upcoming meeting is the appointment of four presidents, including Kyung Kye-hyun, co-CEO and head of chip business, and Roh Tae-moon, head of mobile business, as new internal board members. Industry w

March 14, 2022

[Test Drive] Electrified Mini adds comfort in city driving

For Mini Cooper fans, it’s likely the car’s iconic design is enough for them to put up with the notorious bumpy ride. The electrified compact vehicle, however, dispels such worries. Like any other EVs, the Mini Cooper SE Electric offers a smooth driving experience in a quieter atmosphere. Not just because of the 32.6 kWh battery that replaces the gasoline-powered powertrain but also because of the lower center of gravity, 30 millimeters lower than the standard Cooper -- a significa

March 14, 2022

Samsung, Posco make foray into solid-state batteries

South Korean conglomerates Samsung and Posco on Monday each announced plans to build production lines of solid-state batteries, an up-and-coming technology in making fireproof and energy-dense lithium-ion batteries that can boost electric vehicle range. Samsung SDI, a battery arm of Korea’s largest conglomerate by assets, said the company has started the construction of a 6,500-square-meter pilot assembly line for manufacturing solid-state batteries that power electric cars in Suwon, Gye

March 14, 2022

‘More companies considering reshoring after COVID-19’

A much greater number of Korean companies are considering bringing their manufacturing and services back home compared to two years ago, the Federation of Korean Industries said Monday. According to a survey of 105 of the country’s top 500 businesses in sales, conducted for a week through Feb. 24 by a pollster commissioned by the business lobbying group, 27.8 percent said they were currently mulling reshoring. In a similar poll of Korea’s 1,000 largest firms in sales conducted in M

March 14, 2022

Kakao founder quits board to explore overseas business

Korea’s tech titan Kakao said Monday that its founder Kim Beom-su will leave his chairman post at the board to explore new business opportunities overseas and break the boundary of mobile-focused platform businesses. Kim’s resignation as the chairman of the board will be approved at the upcoming shareholders meeting on March 29. Kim will resume his post as the head of the company’s Future Initiative Center, Kakao said. The Kakao founder has chaired the board since 2015. Based

March 14, 2022

Booyoung Group donates W500m, 300 housing units to wildfire victims

South Korea’s construction giant Booyoung Group said Monday it will donate 500 million won ($403,000) to victims of the recent wildfires that ravaged the east coast, as well as 300 flats to shelter those who lost homes to the fire. The donation fund will be delivered through the Korea Disaster Relief Association, a non-profit organization that serves victims of domestic natural disasters. As for the flats, Booyoung plans to secure 300 housing units from its own apartment complexes in th

March 14, 2022

[Newsmaker] Naver's new CEO all-in on going global

Naver will become an incubator that creates innovative technology penetrating the global market and seek to go beyond providing services that are popular today, the company’s new CEO said Monday. “Not only all businesses owned by Naver began with the thought of going global from the start, but all of the objectives also point to going global,” Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said at a meeting with shareholders and board of directors where she was appointed as the new chief. The IT g

March 14, 2022

LG Electronics hires UCLA professor for logistic robots

Seoul-based LG Electronics announced Monday that it is working with Korean American robot engineer Dennis Hong to develop a robotics solution for the logistics sector. The collaboration between LG Electronics’ Advanced Robotics Lab and Hong, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, is aimed at promoting “advances in robotics technology to a wider audience” so that products can be shipped from warehouses to customers mor

March 14, 2022

NongHyup gets preliminary approval to operate in Noida, India

South Korea’s NongHyup Bank has received preliminary approval from India’s financial authorities to establish a branch in the South Asian nation’s planned industrial city of Noida. If the branch is established, it will mark NongHyup’s second business entity in India, after its New Delhi office opened in 2016. The move to open a branch in Noida is part of NongHyup’s plan to have more than 14 business entities in 12 nations across the world by 2025. It opened a bran

March 14, 2022

S. Korea's ICT exports surge 24% in Feb. on robust chip demand

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products soared 24 percent in February on the back of strong global demand for chips and displays, data showed Monday. Outbound shipments of ICT products reached $18.88 billion last month, up 23.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The figure represents the largest ever for any February and the 11th consecutive month of on-year gains since April last year. ICT imports sto

March 14, 2022

Top shipper HMM halts two Far East routes amid Russian invasion of Ukraine

HMM Co., South Korea's leading container shipper, said Monday it has decided to temporarily suspend two Far East shipping routes in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The decision affects HMM's shipping routes between South Korea's southeastern port of Busan and Russia's Far East ports of Vostochny and Vladivostok. "The temporary suspension of bookings for the routes is inevitable as the war between Russia and Ukraine has sent cargo volume tumbling," HMM said. "We will push

March 14, 2022

Samsung set to unveil new Galaxy A series this week

Samsung Electronics Co. says it will unveil new Galaxy A smartphones Thursday, the tech giant's entry-level gadget targeting users looking for more affordable smartphones with flagship features. Calling the Galaxy A series the company's "most popular smartphone category," Samsung said it "is taking the impactful Galaxy innovations for the A series even further." The series will be shown at a live online event slated for 10 p.m. (US time) Thursday. Samsung's mid-low tier Galax

March 14, 2022

Seoul stocks open lower ahead of US Fed meeting

South Korean stocks opened lower Monday, as investors took to the sidelines ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 8.25 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,653.03 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks traded bearish, led by losses in tech companies that are usually more sensitive to borrowing costs, while financial heavyweights advanced. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise its policy interest rates in March. Inves

March 14, 2022

Asiana to resume Incheon-Nagoya route next month

Asiana Airlines Inc. said Monday it will resume flights on the Incheon-Nagoya route next month, one year after its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting April 1, Asiana plans to provide one flight a week on the Nagoya route, while expanding flights on the routes to Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka from March 27, the company said in a statement. The move is aimed at preemptively preparing for an increase in travel demand in the post-pandemic era, it said. The quarantine period recently fell t

March 14, 2022

Foreigners stay net sellers of S. Korean stocks for 2nd month in Feb.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of South Korean stocks in February amid growing jitters over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, data showed Monday. Foreigners offloaded a net 2.58 trillion won ($2.09 billion) worth of local stocks last month, marking the second straight month of net selling, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Offshore investors' net selling stood at 1.68 trillion won in January. Investors have been disheartened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine that be

March 14, 2022

Legal hurdle cleared for Hana vice chief to seek chairmanship

Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of exercising his influence on a hiring request at Hana Bank when he was the CEO of the lender in 2015. The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial that kicked off in June 2018 when the prosec

March 13, 2022

Foreign holdings of S. Korean stocks hit low on Ukraine war

Foreign holdings of South Korean shares dropped to less than one-third of the market capitalization, as the Ukraine war prompted a sell-off, data showed Sunday.　 As of Friday, foreigners held 666 trillion won ($538 billion) in Korean stocks, representing just 31.86 percent in ownership of the 2,091 trillion-won market. The lowest point of foreign ownership before was in February 2016, when the figure was 31.77. Foreign investors offloaded stocks worth a net 1.4 trillion won in January and resu

March 13, 2022