7 companies to recall more than 29,000 vehicles over faulty parts

Audi, BMW and five other companies will voluntarily recall more than 29,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Friday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers operating in South Korea due to problems with vehicle components. The seven companies, including Stellantis Korea, Honda Motor Co., Tesla Korea, MAN Truck & Bus Korea and Hyundai Motor Co., are recalling a combined 29,092 units of 26 different models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure a

Jan. 21, 2022

LG Energy Solution IPO brings record fees

An 11-member brokerage syndicate underwriting an initial public offering of LG Energy Solution next week is expected to raise a whopping 89 billion won ($75 million) in management fees following the record-breaking retail bids, made on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to regulatory filings on Thursday. The fees account for 0.7 percent of 12.7 trillion won that the electric vehicle battery maker is expected to raise from a total of 42.5 million shares priced at 300,000 won apiece. Separately, th

Jan. 20, 2022

Kakao’s spinoff IPOs losing momentum

Kakao, one of South Korea’s two largest internet giants along with Naver, is seen as holding back its plans to float shares of key subsidiaries in listings, amid looming market disappointment over controversial sell-offs by executives. Earlier this month, CEOs of Kakao Pay and KakaoBank were accused of driving down stock prices with sell-offs that critics say should not have taken place right after their listings when their shares ran high. This prompted regulators to vow greater protecti

Jan. 20, 2022

Hyundai Motor, IonQ team up on next-generation batteries

Hyundai Motor said Thursday it has partnered with US quantum computer firm IonQ to develop next-generation batteries for cars. The partnership will allow Hyundai to use IonQ’s quantum computers to develop high-performance lithium batteries with better energy efficiency at lower costs. According to the carmaker, quantum-powered chemistry simulation is expected to significantly enhance the quality of lithium batteries by making improvements to the devices’ charge and discharge cycl

Jan. 20, 2022

2022 economy faces downside risks: finance minister

SEJONG -- The nation’s economy is heading toward uncertain territory due to a variety of factors at home and abroad which could restrict its growth, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Thursday. In a meeting for economic policies at the Government Complex Seoul, Hong cited three main factors-- quarantine, external factors and fiscal situation -- that may weigh on the growth of gross domestic product. He clarified that the government would push for main policies

Jan. 20, 2022

Lotte Confectionery to invest W34b in Choco Pie production in Russia

Lotte Confectionery said Thursday it will invest 34 billion won ($28.5 million) in its Russian subsidiary, Lotte KF RUS, looking to scale up the local production of its popular Choco Pie chocolate cakes in the country. The Koreans’ staple chocolate snack enjoys nation-wide popularity in Russia, as it tapped into the country’s tea culture that pairs hot beverage with biscuit-type sweets. The pie even serves as a low trans-fat breakfast meal there. While Orion has been at the

Jan. 20, 2022

Seoul stocks rebound on bargain hunting, China's rate cut

South Korean stocks rebounded Thursday on investors' move to buy oversold stocks after the recent stock plunge and China's interest rate cut. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 20.4 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 2,862.68 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 388 million shares worth some 8.7 trillion won ($7.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 709 to 174. Institutions bought a net 106 billion won and r

Jan. 20, 2022

LG Energy Solution’s 4 strategies to prevent EV fires after IPO

LG Energy Solution will employ four preemptive measures as it can’t afford yet another recall crisis after going public next week. According to market analysts Thursday, the South Korean battery giant will adopt Z-folding technology, manufacture more batteries resistant to gas issues, directly manufacture key safety components and mount ESS with fire-resistant LFP batteries. Z-folding The adoption of Z-folding technology reflects LG Energy Solution’s determination not to repea

Jan. 20, 2022

Samsung, Vodafone launch first 5G open RAN site in UK

Samsung Electronics said Thursday that the Korean tech giant and UK’s telecom carrier Vodafone have launched the first fifth-generation open radio access network site in the UK. Supported by Samsung‘s virtualized RAN solutions, Europe’s first scaled commercial open RAN project built on Vodafone‘s architecture enabled the first virtual call on the open RAN infrastructure between Vodafone and UK government officials on Jan. 11. The deployment marks a milestone following V

Jan. 20, 2022

Korea aims to become 5th-largest metaverse market by 2026

South Korea will nurture 40,000 professionals and 220 companies specialized in metaverse technology to achieve its goal of becoming the fifth largest country in the global metaverse market by 2026, the government said Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the country’s pan-governmental strategic blueprint to lead the new industry to respond to economic and social changes that will be brought by the metaverse and prepare for the future. In particular, authorities laid out

Jan. 20, 2022

Over one-third of S. Koreans paid subscribers to OTT platforms last year

Over 34 percent of South Koreans were paid subscribers to over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services, a survey showed Thursday. Paid subscribers to OTTs stood at 34.8 percent last year, up 20.4 percentage points from the previous year, according to a survey of 6,834 people over the age of 13 by the country's media regulator, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). South Korea's OTT usage rate rose to 69.5 percent, compared with 66.3 percent from the previous year, amid the stay-a

Jan. 20, 2022

Eased regulations eyed to increase investment in fintech industry: regulator

The head of South Korea's financial regulator said Thursday he is seeking to ease restrictions on financial companies' investment in fintech firms as part of efforts to expand support for the fast-growing industry. Jeong Eun-bo, chief of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks in a meeting with leading officials of the fintech industry, saying his agency will push for the enactment of a relevant law on the matter. "We will push for the enactment of the so-called fintech

Jan. 20, 2022

[Herald Interview] Pernod Ricard Korea looks to infuse Korean culture into drinking

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced pubs and bars to close early and limited private gatherings, more people have been drinking at home. Frantz Hotton, CEO of global wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard Group’s Korean affiliate, saw a silver lining in the virus-driven trend. “Our sales and marketing teams have made great efforts to respond well to the growing needs of off-trade market and caught up rapidly to grab opportunities in line with new drinking patterns,” Hotton said i

Jan. 20, 2022

KB Kookmin Bank makes inroads into Singapore

South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank opened a branch in Singapore, which will work as its gateway into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and global markets, the firm said Thursday. The launch of the branch came eight months after KB Kookmin was granted a license to operate a wholesale bank from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, according to the firm. The new branch’s key focuses are retail, corporate and investment banking and will partially deal with brokerage services. Wi

Jan. 20, 2022

Hyundai Glovis launches online platform for used car purchases

Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai Motor Group’s logistics arm, said Thursday that it has launched Autobell, an online platform for used car sales and purchase, to diversify its business portfolio.  Hyundai Glovis has been operating a used car business since 2001, mostly focused on B2B sales of secondhand cars through auctions. Its parent company Hyundai Motor sought to enter the certified used car market lately, but it seems blurry whether the automaker can launch B2C business as planned this

Jan. 20, 2022

Residents' foreign currency deposits decline in December

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea declined in December as companies reduced foreign currency holdings for investment, central bank data showed Thursday. According to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK), outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents came to $97.27 billion as of end-December, down $5.75 billion from a month earlier. Residents include local citizens, foreigners staying here for more than six months and foreign companies. The data excludes i

Jan. 20, 2022

S. Korea expected to have more productivity growth potential from wider use of working from home: BOK report

South Korea has more room for improving productivity with a wider use of working from home, given its high internet connectivity and long commuting time caused by chronic traffic jams, a central bank report showed Thursday. According to the report by the Bank of Korea (BOK), the number of people using the working-from-home system soared to 1.14 million, 4.2 percent of those employed, last year, from about 95,000 people, or a mere 0.3 percent, tallied in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic brok

Jan. 20, 2022

Jobs in public sector grow by largest number in 2020

Jobs provided by the government and state-run companies grew by the largest-ever amount in 2020, as the number of public servants rose and state-arranged jobs for vulnerable people increased amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. A total of 2.77 million people were employed in 2020 by the public sector, up 164,000, or 6.3 percent, from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Jobs offered by the public sector are positions in central and provincial governments, social

Jan. 20, 2022

Number of layer chickens rebounds in Q4

The number of layer chickens raised in South Korea rebounded in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as it gradually recovered from the impact of the bird flu outbreak, data showed Thursday. The number of layer chickens came to 72.61 million in the October-December period, up 33,000 from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The tally compared with an on-year fall of 3.13 million in the third quarter. It was also up 1.89 million from three months earlier as chicken

Jan. 20, 2022