Samsung SDI to recall modules for Ford, Stellantis EVs

Samsung SDI will voluntarily recall 1,163 battery modules inside some 100 Ford and Stellantis vehicles in the US due to welding issues, according to the governmental National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Sunday. While putting battery cells together into modules, components called bus bars were not welded properly, which could lead to a loss of propulsion of electric vehicles. The bus bars were manufactured by South Korean subsupplier Next+. As the recall is due to welding issues

Feb. 6, 2022

Financial firms to pay out record bonuses on upbeat earnings

Employees at South Korean financial firms will receive up to four times their monthly salary as their bonuses for 2021, backed by booming business, sources said Sunday. Woori Bank, one of the major commercial lenders here, has recently agreed with its union to hand its employees performance bonuses worth 300 percent of their monthly salaries plus some 1 million won ($830), according to industry sources. The nation’s No.1 commercial bank by performance, KB Kookmin Bank and its long-time

Feb. 6, 2022

Apartment purchases by young people hit record high last year: data

The proportion of apartments bought by people in their 30s or younger reached an all-time high last year amid "panic buying" over soaring housing prices, data showed Sunday. The buyers of this age group accounted for 31 percent of the country's total apartment sales in 2021, up from 29.2 percent in 2020, according to the data compiled by the Korea Real Estate Board. The agency began compiling the related data in 2019, and the figure for the year came to 28.3 percent. In Seoul, 41.7

Feb. 6, 2022

Game developers brace for new industry safety law

Korea’s major game developers are taking preemptive measures to cope with the new industrial safety law and prevent another “crunch mode” controversy. Under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which took effect from Jan. 27, business owners can face a minimum prison term of one year or a fine of up to 1 billion won ($835,000) if a fatal accident at the workplace causes a death or more than one injured person. The punishment depends on whether the owners are found guilty of n

Feb. 6, 2022

S. Korea's fishery output up 1.2% in 2021

South Korea's fisheries output rose 1.2 percent last year from a year earlier on the back of improved production from the aquaculture sector, data showed Sunday. The total fisheries output amounted to 3.76 million tons in 2021, compared with 3.71 million tons tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. In terms of value, the output came to 9.24 trillion won ($7.7 billion), up 5.6 percent on-year, the data showed. The aquaculture sector led t

Feb. 6, 2022

Goldman Sachs expects two BOK rate hikes in H2

Goldman Sachs expects the Bank of Korea to raise its benchmark rate twice more in the second half of this year to 1.75 percent, and later continue hikes to 2.5 percent, according to a report published by the US bank Friday. “We continue to expect the rate curve to steepen along with gradual monetary policy normalization,” the report said. Korea continues to see elevated inflation but the risk is contained by moderating import prices, weakening housing prices, and measures to counte

Feb. 4, 2022

The making of AI bankers at South Korean bank

Virtual staff members powered by artificial intelligence have increasingly become a fixture at South Korea’s retail banks. NH NongHyup Bank, one of Korea’s top five commercial banks, has added human elements to its so-called “AI bankers” to connect with Korean customers. According to NH NongHyup Bank, names of the two virtual staff members -- male staff Jeong Eden and female staff Lee RohWoon -- were given by staff and executives of the banks through open discussion.

Feb. 4, 2022

Kakao Mobility to launch Pet Taxi service in March

Traveling with a pet has never been easy for Kim Hye-in, a 30-year-old Pomeranian owner. “I hate to confine my dog in a stuffy cabin whenever I take public transport. It suffocates her,” Kim said. Sometimes bus drivers stop her from hopping on board with her fluffy companion. For pet owners like Kim, “pet taxis” are an appealing alternative. From vet pick-ups to pet ambulances, chauffeur service for pets have sprung across the country since 2017 when the service got th

Feb. 4, 2022

Samsung, Hyundai hardly seen at 2022 Beijing Olympics

For major South Korean companies like Samsung and Hyundai, the Olympics have been, for many years, a golden opportunity to raise brand awareness and promote products. But in the 2022 Beijing Olympics that officially kicked off on Friday, they don’t seem to be taking the sports event as a major arena for their marketing blitzes any more. For this Winter Games, Samsung Electronics has not published any press releases promoting their sponsorships, a marked departure from when it launched pr

Feb. 4, 2022

[KH Explains] Why do spinoff IPOs anger South Korean investors?

The market debut of LG Energy Solution last month was literally a festive event, with investors in and out of the country pouring in an astronomical sum of money to buy new shares of the company eyeing to be the world’s top battery maker. But shareholder rights activists in South Korea say that the mega deal was another case in which a split-off was done intentionally to take the battery subsidiary public, a process that undermined the interests of parent company shareholders.

Feb. 4, 2022

Samsung Electronics may face first labor strike over collapsed wage talks

Samsung Electronics could see its first labor strike in the tech giant’s five decades of history after wage talks with labor unions fell apart. Despite months of back-and-forth deliberation, representatives of the unionized workers filed for an arbitration to Korea’s National Labor Relations Commission, a government agency under the Labor Ministry, on Friday at 3 p.m. The move pushes Samsung and its four labor unions to reach a wage agreement within 10 days, which could lead to a

Feb. 4, 2022

Seoul stocks surge more than 1% on tech gains

South Korean stocks climbed more than 1 percent on Friday, rising for a three-day winning streak, on the back of tech gains, analysts said. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) surged 42.44 points, or 1.57 percent, to close at 2,750.26 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 527 million shares worth some 11.1 trillion won ($9.3 billion), with gainers far outnumbering losers 767 to 122. Institutions and

Feb. 4, 2022

[Newsmaker] Consumer prices grow over 3 percent for 4 consecutive months

SEJONG -- The nation’s consumer prices climbed 3 percent or more for the fourth consecutive month, despite the Bank of Korea’s three interest rate hikes between August 2021 and January. Statistics Korea said Friday that consumer prices grew 3.6 percent in January, compared to a year earlier. After the growth breached a 3 percent threshold -- 3.2 percent -- for the first time in more than nine years in October, it rose to 3.8 percent in November and 3.7 percent in December. This mar

Feb. 4, 2022

Turkey renews SK Bioscience’s vaccine manufacturing certification

SK Bioscience, the vaccine unit of Korea’s SK Group, said Friday the Turkish health authority has renewed a certification for making and exporting vaccines for flu, chickenpox and shingles, paving the way for the company to participate in a vaccine deal bid in Turkey. The Good Manufacturing Practice certification was renewed for the firm’s vaccine manufacturing factory L House located in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, since it was first granted the certification in 2019. In the

Feb. 4, 2022

S. Korea to sell W4tr of Treasury bills in February

South Korea plans to sell 4 trillion won ($3.33 billion) worth of Treasury bills this month to support its fiscal policy, the finance ministry said Friday. The bills, which have a maturity of 63 days, will be sold in three separate auctions in February, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Treasury bills are usually floated to raise money to cover short-term financial shortfalls and are generally sold with a maturity of less than a year. (Yonhap)

Feb. 4, 2022

Renault Samsung's Jan. sales more than double on SUVs

Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of Renault S.A., said Friday its vehicle sales more than doubled last month from a year earlier on robust sales of SUV models. Renault Samsung sold 13,314 vehicles in January, jumping from 6,152 units a year earlier, despite the extended COVID-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales rose 27 percent on-year to 4,477 units from 3,534, while exports more than tripled to 8,837 units from 2,618 on strong demand for its XM3 an

Feb. 4, 2022

Kia's Jan. sales fall 5.7% on chip shortage

Kia Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, said Friday its sales fell 5.7 percent last month from a year earlier as the global chip shortage continued to affect its production. Kia sold 212,819 vehicles in January, down from 225,733 units a year ago, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales declined 11 percent on-year to 37,038 units last month from 41,481, while exports were down 4.6 percent to 175,781 from 184,252 during the cited period, it said.  Continued chip short

Feb. 4, 2022

Card spending on course to surpass W1,000tr this year

South Korean consumers are ramping up credit and debit card balances and their spending could exceed 1,000 trillion won ($832 billion) for the first time this year, data showed Friday. South Koreans spent 977 trillion won on credit and debit cards last year, up 10 percent from the previous year. The uptrend in spending has been the norm since 2018, when it totaled at 810 trillion won, according to the Credit Finance Association, a group of local card companies. “COVID-19 is accelerating

Feb. 4, 2022

Seoul stocks open sharply higher despite Wall Street loss

South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Friday, despite overnight losses on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 33.06 points, or 1.22 percent, to 2,740.88 points in the first 30 minutes of trading. On Thursday (local time), US stocks closed sharply lower, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunging 3.7 percent amid worries over tightening monetary policy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.5 percent, and the broad-based S&P 500 shed 2.4 percent.

Feb. 4, 2022

Card spending gains 10.3% in 2021 amid pandemic

Card spending in South Korea rose more than 10 percent in 2021 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed Friday. Spending made with credit, debit and prepaid cards stood at about 977 trillion won ($811 billion) last year, up 10.3 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association. Card spending in Asia's fourth-largest economy has been on a steady increase in recent years with the annualized growth rate r

Feb. 4, 2022