LG teases new UltraGear gaming laptop, eyes Korea release in Dec.

LG Electronics said Monday it is looking to release its newest LG UltraGear laptop for 2022 -- a high-performance model designed for gamers -- within December in Korea. The laptop features a 17.3-inch monitor with a 1080p display resolution, using an in-place switching panel of 300-hertz refresh rate, as well as DTS: X Ultra system for multidimensional sound, in order to deliver a more immersive gaming experience, according to the company. It is powered by Intel‘s 11th-generation Tiger

Dec. 20, 2021

Hyundai Heavy to present next-generation shipping mobility at CES 2022

South Korean shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries Group said Monday that it will showcase its latest and next-generation mobility technologies at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES), making its debut at the major tech trade show. The tech fair, better known as CES, is set to run for four days from Jan. 5-8 in Las Vegas. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and its affiliates will offer a glimpse into the future of shipping mobility, with focus on autonomous navigation. They will also

Dec. 20, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower on US stock losses

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Monday, tracking last week's fall on Wall Street stemming from virus concerns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 29.65 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,988.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most large caps traded lower in Seoul. Top cap Samsung Electronics shed 0.9 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix decreased 0.41 percent. Internet portal operator Naver retreated 1.95 percent, leading chemical firm LG Chem fe

Dec. 20, 2021

KEPCO decides to freeze electricity rate for Q1 of 2022

South Korea's state power firm Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Monday it will freeze the country's electricity rates in the first quarter of 2022 amid rising inflation. KEPCO said it has decided to set the adjusted unit fuel cost at zero won per kilowatt-hour for the January-March period of next year, the same as that three months earlier. Late last year, KEPCO adopted a flexible electricity rate system linked to global fuel prices in a move to improve its profitability. It previously

Dec. 20, 2021

Bank holding firms' 2021 dividends expected to hit new high on bumper profits

Dividends by South Korea's four major financial holding firms are expected to hit an all-time high in 2021 as they have decided to return more of their bumper profits to shareholders, sources said Monday. The combined dividend payout of the four is likely to reach around 3.83 trillion won ($3.23 billion) this year, according to the sources and an estimate by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. It would represent the largest-ever dividend payout by the four holding com

Dec. 20, 2021

IMM takes 41% stake in GS Power for W1.1tr

Local investment house IMM Investment has acquired a 41 percent stake in GS Power, a subsidiary owned by GS Energy, an energy arm of GS Group, for 1.1 trillion won ($926 million), officials said Friday. GS Energy will maintain a 51 percent majority, after selling 3,136 shares totaling 1.1 trillion won. Last year, GS Energy bought back the 50 percent stake it sold to a local consortium of banks in 2012. A GS Energy official said the sell-off is part of broader efforts to fund ESG projects, whic

Dec. 19, 2021

Market winners and losers in 2021: Fintech soars while drugmakers suffer

In 2021, South Korea’s two biggest financial technology firms, Naver and Kakao, saw their market capitalization expand on-year, while drugmakers faced a dip in market value. As of last week, Naver, the country’s largest internet portal, had seen a 36 percent jump in its market cap at 63 trillion won ($53 billion), while the market value for Kakao, which runs the country’s largest messenger app for smartphones, almost tripled at 115 trillion won. The hike mainly came from Kaka

Dec. 19, 2021

Korean food companies go vegan to target meat-alternative market

Plant will become the new beef on our dinner tables soon, with more Korean food companies coming up with their own versions of plant-based meat alternatives to cater to global vegan population of some 79 million and growing. CJ CheilJedang said Sunday its launching a vegan brand called PlantTable due to a growing interest in vegetarian food here in Korea and around the world. The food company said it will launch two types of vegan Bibigo Dumpling products in Singapore and Australia sometime

Dec. 19, 2021

[Newsmaker] Demand for wine, Korean beef surge in 2021, says E-mart

Customer demand for wine and Korean beef has shown rapid increase this year, as an alternative to dining outside, said the local discount chain E-mart on Sunday. The discount retailer tracked the changes in the type of products sold from 2019 to November this year. According to the store’s data, wine leaped from 10th place in 2019 to sixth in 2021, with sales jumping by 32 percent from 2019.  More Korean consumers have started venturing into higher-priced wines compared to the sta

Dec. 19, 2021

Samsung’s new China team signals strategy reboot

Samsung Electronics has reportedly launched a new China team under the direct supervision of vice chairman and Chief Executive Officer Han Jong-hee, signaling a change in its strategy to reenter Asia’s largest market that is already dominated by homegrown manufacturers. According to media reports, Samsung Electronics has kicked off a new operation, loosely translated as the China Business Innovation Team. The unit is dedicated to businesses ranging from mobile handsets to semico

Dec. 19, 2021

Competition heats up for used EV batteries

The competition to enter the used battery business for electric vehicles is heating up among domestic and global car and battery makers, amid market prospects that the market size would grow to hit 20 trillion won ($16.8 billion) in less than 10 years, data showed. According to data from SNE Research, a consulting firm based in Korea, the global market size of used EV batteries is anticipated to surge to 20.2 trillion won by 2030, up by 1,124.24 percent compared to two years ago. By 2050, it mi

Dec. 19, 2021

Challenging big tech, banks enter delivery service market

South Korea’s commercial banks are rushing into the delivery service market, challenging the country’s big tech and retail companies that have blurred boundaries between finance and tech industries. According to Shinhan Bank, it will start its food delivery beta service Wednesday. The delivery app, dubbed “Ddaeng-gyoeyo,” is a separate app from the bank’s all-in-one mobile app “Shinhan SOL.” The service will also be operated through a third-party deli

Dec. 19, 2021

Hankook Tire resumes operations at its plants in S. Korea after strike

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's sixth-largest tiremaker by sales, said it resumed operations at its two plants in South Korea on Sunday, 26 days after a strike began over this year's wage deal. The deal reached Friday includes a 6 percent increase in basic monthly pay, 5 million won ($4,200) in performance-based pay and a bonus of 2 million won per worker. The agreement ended the strike that began Nov. 24. It marked the first strike since the foundation of the company's labor un

Dec. 19, 2021

Hyundai, Kia say eco-friendly cars surpass 10% of their global sales

Hyundai Motor Group said Sunday that environment-friendly vehicles topped 10 percent of its global car sales for the first time this year amid growing demand for electric cars. The country's top automotive conglomerate said its two carmakers, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., sold a total of 656,479 eco-friendly vehicles globally in the January-November period, 10.7 percent of their entire sales of 6.12 million units. The growth marks a sharp increase from 2015, when the annual sales of such ca

Dec. 19, 2021

[Photo News] Korean Air drones inspect airplanes

Korean Air said Thursday that it has developed drones for airplane inspection. At an airship hangar located in Gangseo-gu, eastern Seoul, Korean Air demonstrated a group of drones inspecting a Boeing 737 aircraft in front of officials from the Ministry of Land and Transportation. The drone used in the demonstration weighs only 5.5 kilograms and is relatively small in size, with the width and length both coming in at 1 meter. Four drones move in groups when they inspect an airplane, sharing

Dec. 18, 2021

Seoul stocks to gain ground next week on eased uncertainty over US monetary policy: analysts

South Korean stocks are expected to gain momentum next week, as investor sentiment will be buoyed by eased uncertainty about the US monetary policy, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Kospi closed at 3,017.73 points Friday, little changed from 3,010.23 points a week ago. The key stock index retreated on Monday and Tuesday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting. But local stocks rebounded for three straight sessions to Friday, as the outcome of t

Dec. 18, 2021

Top green bond seller in Korea plans debt boost abroad

South Korea is among the world’s biggest seller of green bonds, and one of its top issuers is planning to tap the global debt market more aggressively next year to provide sustainable funds to local companies operating abroad. Export-Import Bank of Korea, the nation’s second-largest issuer of green notes, plans to sell about $12 billion to $12.5 billion of bonds offshore in 2022, compared with around $11 billion this year, said Lee Dong-hoon, the treasurer of the bank. It expects ab

Dec. 18, 2021

What will the Fed’s expected rate hikes mean for Korean market?

The US Federal Reserve recently said it would wrap up its pandemic-era bond purchases in March, signaling as many as three rate hikes by the end of 2022. While the South Korean financial authorities have expressed confidence that the expected rate hikes will have minimal impact on the local market, experts were divided on the matter as of Friday. The nation’s First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-won said Thursday that the US Fed’s latest decision was within market expectations, res

Dec. 17, 2021

British helicopter operator pre-orders 'Butterfly' air taxis being co-developed by Hanwha

British helicopter operator Bristow Group Inc. has pre-ordered about 20-50 electric air mobility aircraft being jointly developed by South Korea's Hanwha Systems Co. and US Overair, according to industry sources Friday. Overair, the California-based air taxi startup, signed a memorandum of understanding with Bristow on Thursday (local time), to collaborate on the development and commercialization plans for "Butterfly," an all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, or

Dec. 17, 2021

Seoul stocks rise for 3rd day on foreign buying

South Korean stocks rose for a third straight session on Friday, as foreign investors snapped up local stocks on eased uncertainty about the US monetary policy. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) increased 11.32 points, or 0.38 percent, to close at 3,017.73 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 438 million shares worth some 11.2 trillion won ($9.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 510 to 344. Foreigners bought a n

Dec. 17, 2021