S. Korea to prioritize supporting pandemic-hit merchants next year: finance chief

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Friday the government will ramp up its effort to support small merchants next year in a bid to help them tide over the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hong said the government will also prioritize strengthening social safety nets in 2022 in a bid to narrow deepening income gaps caused by the pandemic. "The government will focus on providing multilayered support to small merchants to help them overcome economic difficulties and make a leap forwa

Dec. 31, 2021

[CES 2022] Hyundai Motor to unveil vision for future mobility at CES

A man standing beside a robot, gazing into what seems to be an otherworldly dimension, or perhaps the metaverse, is how Hyundai Motor Group visually teased their stage at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show to take place in Las Vegas on Jan. 5-8. The Korean auto giant said it will be presenting the group’s blueprint for future mobility where robotics and metaverse technologies are expected to take center stage. Chairman Chung Euisun is expected to lay out the blueprint at Hyundai Motor

Dec. 31, 2021

BOK chief vows to adjust monetary easing in line with economy

The chief of the nation’s central bank said Friday that monetary easing will be broadened in tandem with the pace of the economic recovery next year. “Additional moves related to monetary easing will be carried out after closely reviewing the development of economic growth and inflation,” Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said in his New Year’s address. “Imbalances in the financial market and shifts in monetary policies of key economies will be taken into considerat

Dec. 31, 2021

Korea’s consumer prices growth hits decade-high

SEJONG -- The on-year growth of consumer prices has reached the highest level in 10 years in 2021, aggravating the burden on the debt-saddled household sector. According to Statistics Korea, consumer prices climbed 2.5 percent this year compared to 2020. After reaching 2.2 percent in 2012, the growth ranged between 0.4 and 1.9 percent during the 2013-2020 period. The 2021 figure marked the highest since it peaked at 4 percent in 2011, posting over 2 percent for the first time in nine years sin

Dec. 31, 2021

Hyundai Electric sells power transformers to Oman in $8.5m deal

Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co., an affiliate of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, said Friday it has exported ultrahigh-voltage power transformers to Oman's state utility provider in a deal valued at $8.5 million. The supply deal with the Oman Electricity Transmission Co., included the sales of three 400-kilovolt/500-megavolt ampere power transformers, which will be installed in a new substation north of Oman, Hyundai Electric said. With the deal, the company's power transformer sales

Dec. 31, 2021

Industry minister vows efforts for stable supply chains, economic security

Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook vowed Friday to make all-out efforts to ensure stable supply chains for key industry materials and to nurture next-generation sectors. He made the pledge in his message for the new year, saying the government will work further to make concrete steps that prevent any recurrences of the recent urea crisis. South Korea experienced a shortage of urea solution, an essential fluid used in diesel vehicles to cut emissions, after China imposed export curbs on urea in O

Dec. 31, 2021

Samsung aiming to wow tech world with new innovations at CES tech show

Can Samsung Electronics Co. live up to the expectations and hype that the company helped create in the days leading up to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week? Earlier this week, the South Korean tech giant unveiled a teaser video featuring alien employees working hard behind a frosted window on the next innovations. Aliens have been often used by the company in its marketing strategy to create hype about its tech prowess being unparalleled and on another level. As far b

Dec. 31, 2021

Consumption falls steepest in 16 months

SEJONG -- Korean businesses, including those in the manufacturing and service industries, saw the index for their retail sales decline sharply last month despite brisk industrial output, state data showed Thursday. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki also commented on the weakening sentiment index over private consumption, picking negative factors like bolstered quarantine against the omicron variant of COVID-19. According to Statistics Korea, the nation’s retail sale

Dec. 30, 2021

German carmakers take up 60 percent of imported car sales

Imported commercial car sales in South Korea surpassed 200,000 units again this year despite an automotive semiconductor shortage, an industry association said Thursday. According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, imported commercial car sales for the January to November period this year increased 3.6 percent from the same period last year, selling a total of 252,242 units. The top selling brands were Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi being responsible for more than

Dec. 30, 2021

FTC chief, French digital minister discuss online platform regulation

The Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh Sung-wook discussed how to regulate online platform monopolies with Cedric O, French secretary of state for the digital transition and electronic communications, officials said Thursday. The two representatives found the need to revise the law and regulations to establish order in the digital market in response to tech giants abusing their market power and not allowing new players to enter the market. The FTC Chairperson Joh said the FTC is working on

Dec. 30, 2021

Hyundai to halt local plant in Jan. for EV production

Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday it will suspend one of its seven domestic plants next month to prepare for the production of electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor will halt the Asan plant from Jan. 3-28 to upgrade the facilities before beginning production of EVs next year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company plans to resume operations of the 300,000-unit-a-year Asan plant, which produces the Sonata sedan and the Santa Fe SUV, on Feb. 3. Hyundai has seven domestic plants -- five

Dec. 30, 2021

Hyundai’s Nexo takes up half of global FCEV sales

Global sales of the eco-friendly hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles almost doubled compared to last year, while more than half of them came from Hyundai Motor’s sole fuel cell EV model, Nexo, market data showed Thursday. From January to November, a total of 16,200 fuel cell EVs have been registered, about a 95.1 percent increase compared to a year ago, according to SNE Research data. The firm expected the figure to surpass 18,000 for this year.  Hyundai Motor has topped the list

Dec. 30, 2021

Seoul stocks end lower in final trading session of 2021

The South Korean stock market finished the final session of the year with lackluster trading Thursday as investors took to the sidelines amid a lack of market-moving events. The local currency gained ground against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 15.64 points, or 0.52 percent, to finish at 2,977.65. Trading volume was a bit slim at about 454.04 million shares worth 8.59 trillion won ($7.23 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 485 to 377. T

Dec. 30, 2021

Kospi wraps up best year on strong earnings, retail demand

Upbeat corporate earnings and robust retail demand set the key benchmark Kospi and junior Kosdaq on track for their best year since trading began on the exchange decades ago. The stock market, which will open Monday after a three-day break, saw the Kospi hitting a record high of 3,305 on July 6, while the Kosdaq soared to trading around 1,000, a first in 20 years. The Kospi closed at 2977.65 on its final trading session in 2021, while the Kosdaq ended at 1033.98.　 Kospi-listed companies r

Dec. 30, 2021

[MARKET EYE] SK hynix completes 1st phase of Intel deal, but China biz remains thorny issue

South Korean memory chipmaker SK hynix said Thursday it paid Intel an initial $7 billion tranche, completing the first phase to acquire the US tech giant’s NAND and SSD business. By absorbing Intel’s NAND and SSD business, SK hynix will rise as the No. 2 player in the global NAND market from its current fifth place. In the SSD segment, where Intel controls 29.6 percent, SK hynix can surpass Samsung Electronics with a combined market share of nearly 37 percent. NAND flash memory c

Dec. 30, 2021

Hanwha Solutions acquires Samsung Electro-Mechanics' telecom module biz

Hanwha Solutions Corp. a chemical and energy unit of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, said Thursday it is acquiring the telecommunication module business of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. in a bid to diversify its electronics component sector. Under the agreement signed between the two companies earlier in the day, Hanwha Solutions will take over the WiFi module and the high-speed fifth-generation (5G) milimeter wave (mmWave) antenna module divisions from the Samsung unit, it said in a p

Dec. 30, 2021

CPTPP to boost S. Korea’s trade: experts

South Korea’s move to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership next year will work in favor of Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s trade, experts from the US and the UK said. “We believe that South Korea will succeed in joining the CPTPP in the coming years,” Fei Xue, an Asia analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told The Korea Herald in an email interview earlier this month. “Inclusion in that regional trade agr

Dec. 30, 2021

SPC heir promoted as president

Paris Baguette operator SPC Group promoted its third-generation heir Hur Jin-soo as president of Paris Croissant, the group‘s de facto holding company, the firm announced Thursday. The recent promotion is in recognition of Hur’s contribution to raising Paris Baguette’s brand awareness in major foreign markets, explained SPC. He also led the bakery chain’s joint venture project in Indonesia and Cambodia this year. At its global branches, SPC appointed foreign executive

Dec. 30, 2021

Celltrion's new Humira biosimilar wins approval in Canada

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion Inc. said Thursday its new biosimilar of the arthritis drug Humira has won approval from Canadian authorities. Yuflyma, an adalimumab biosimilar with a high concentration, is used to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory diseases. Yuflyma requires only half the solution administered to patients compared with the existing Humira biosimilar and is also citrate-free, which lessens discomfort during injection. Celltrion re

Dec. 30, 2021

KCCI chief urges to redefine private-public partnerships

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who doubles as head of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, suggested redefining private-public partnerships in his New Year’s message released Thursday, calling for a more mutually beneficial mechanism that helps spur innovations across industries. Chey urged businesses to first change their mindsets, saying that gone are the days where making profits, creating jobs and paying more taxes were considered their key responsibilities. “Things h

Dec. 30, 2021