Coupang kicks off massive sales for China’s Singles Day

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has launched a three-day “Singles Day Mega Sale” to celebrate China’s annual shopping bonanza. The massive sales, from Nov. 10 to 12, was inspired by the Chinese version of US’ Black Friday. During the event, Coupang plans to woo Chinese customers with daily special offers using its “Rocket Jikgu” overseas delivery service. The firm will hand out coupons for an additional 10,000 won off purchases of 60,000 won or more.

Nov. 11, 2021

Commercial air taxi demonstrates flight in Gimpo

A dream team with the goal of trialing commercial air taxis by 2025 demonstrated Thursday its commercial Urban Air Mobility system, or UAM. The team consists of Korea Airports Corp., Hanwha Systems, Korea Transport Institute, Tmap Mobility and SK Telecom. UAM is a new air transportation system that involves private electric aircraft taking off and landing vertically. It can travel faster than cars as it is free from traffic on land, shortening the time to reach a destination to 20 minutes fr

Nov. 11, 2021

[News Focus] Google’s new billing policy for Korea is under scrutiny again. Why?

When Google announced on Nov. 4 that it was changing its controversial in-app payment policy in South Korea to comply with a revision to the Telecommunications Business Act, dubbed the “anti-Google law,” it appeared that Korea had become the first country in the world to check the US tech behemoth’s growing control of the app ecosystem. But, less than a week after the announcement, Seoul officials are finding themselves caught in yet another tussle between Google and local d

Nov. 11, 2021

[From the Scene] Versatility drives Renault Samsung’s Busan plant

BUSAN -- While factories usually have one flagship item manufactured on one assembly line to maximize productivity, Renault Samsung Motors’ Busan automotive plant has increased competitiveness by making its lines able to produce more than one. With the versatile assembly line, the Busan plant is in fully geared up to boost exports of Renault Samsung’s global flagship sport utility vehicle XM3, known as Arkana overseas, said Lee Hae-jin, director at Renault Samsung Motors’ man

Nov. 11, 2021

Know your customers: Top bankers hit playgrounds of digital natives

In a studio decorated with colorful mascot dolls, NH NongHyup Bank CEO Kwon Joon-hak, who leads South Korea’s fifth-largest commercial bank, on Tuesday made his YouTube live debut. Co-hosting the one-hour event with a comedian, Kwon ditched the image of an unapproachable corporate representative, and transformed into a “guy next door” making jokes with customers online. “I’m a little nervous but will do my best to have a great time with our customers participating

Nov. 11, 2021

Seoul stocks down for 2nd day amid inflation woes

South Korean stocks closed lower Thursday, taking a cue from the estimate-beating inflation data in the United States that fanned concerns about faster-than-expected rate hikes. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) retreated 5.25 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 2,924.92 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 563 billion shares worth some 13.3 trillion won ($11.3 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 630 to 215. Fore

Nov. 11, 2021

Citibank Korea strengthens community outreach programs, ESG drive

As part of efforts to grow together with the local community, Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup, has carried out diverse social contribution programs, while beefing up management activities focused on environmental, social and governance factors, or ESG, the lender said Thursday.  Based on three principles, including employee participation, long-term commitment and leading activity, the foreign bank has continuously fostered a volunteer culture among employees for its corp

Nov. 11, 2021

Daewoo Shipbuilding bags W487b order for 2 LNG carriers

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Thursday it has signed a 486.7 billion-won ($410.9 million) deal to construct two LNG carriers. DSME will deliver the 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carriers to Maran Gas Maritime Inc. (MGM), a gas shipping unit of Angelicoussis Shipping Group, the largest shipper in Greece, by November 2024, the shipbuilder said. The Greek shipping group has been the largest buyer of DSME, which has placed orders for 112 ships since 1994, the shipbuilding

Nov. 11, 2021

KIC, cooperative federations to coinvest $300m with foreign hedge funds

South Korea’s sole sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corp. said Thursday that it has teamed up with two Korean institutional investors to deploy a combined $300 million for co-investment with non-Korean hedge funds in a bid to increase foreign alternatives exposure. Under the plan, the three entities -- KIC, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives -- will create a joint venture before the end of 2021 and start their first co-inv

Nov. 11, 2021

At COP26, KB chief vows ‘positive strategy’ for green shift

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo shared the banking group’s plans in combating climate change at an invitation-only meeting of senior officials across global sectors and governments held Wednesday at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the firm said Thursday. At the 9th High-Level Meeting of Caring for Climate, held online and offline simultaneously, Yoon was invited on behalf of the global finance sector to speak on the topic of achieving a j

Nov. 11, 2021

[Newsmaker] Higher-than-expected inflation to continue for time being, says BOK chief

South Korea’s central bank chief said Thursday that the economy is likely to see faster-than-expected inflation for the time being, due to the global supply bottleneck and the spike in oil prices. In an opening speech at an economic meeting with investment bankers and experts, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol pointed to the nation’s spiking consumer prices, which gained 3.2 percent on-year -- the sharpest rise since January 2012, when the corresponding figure stood at 3.3 percent.

Nov. 11, 2021

KT services suffer disruptions in Seoul

KT Corp. said Thursday it has suffered disruptions in its mobile and internet services in western Seoul, less than three weeks after an outage crippled businesses across the country. KT said the services were interrupted for nearly two hours in the Yeongdeungpo and Guro districts due to an accidental cut in the fiber-optic cables at around 10:25 a.m. KT said up to 90 percent of the disrupted services had been recovered as of 1:15 p.m. Last month, KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo apologized for the abrupt d

Nov. 11, 2021

Paris Baguette lands in Indonesia

SPC Group said Thursday it opened the nation’s first Paris Baguette bakery in the Ashta District 8 shopping mall of Indonesia capital Jakarta. The move comes after the South Korean food company set up a joint venture with its local partner, Erajaya Group, last month. With a population of 270 million, Indonesia is SPC’s seventh market. The 189-square-meter space is located in the city’s biggest commercial area, the Sudirman Central Business District, and boasts more than 50

Nov. 11, 2021

Hanwha Defense wins ISO 37301 certification for compliance management

Hanwha Defense said Thursday it had become the first South Korean defense company to obtain certification for ISO 37301, a compliance management standard of the International Organization for Standardization. The ISO 37301, introduced by the international rule-setting body in April, examines whether a firm‘s compliance and risk management systems meet international standards. The ISO 37301 combines ISO standards with international agencies’ guidelines, including those from the Int

Nov. 11, 2021

Hanwha Q Cells to supply power to 154,000 Texas residents

Hanwha Q Cells said Thursday it will break ground on its first energy storage systems project in Texas in January. According to the solar business unit of Hanwha Solutions, the 380-megawatt-hour project, once completed in December next year, will be able to store enough electricity for 154,000 Texas residents to use for one day. Energy storage systems are giant batteries designed to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energy. When renewables such as solar and wind power generate m

Nov. 11, 2021

Hyundai Motor to build integrated data platform for mobility services

Hyundai Motor Group seeks to build an integrated data platform to provide real-time and tailored mobility services as part of its push toward the fast-evolving future industry, its division chief said Thursday. "Connected data is the basis of a platform. We plan to build a 'data lake' that utilizes data collected in real time from urban air mobility (UAM) and purpose-based cars (PBV), as well as passenger cars," Song Chang-hyun, the head of Hyundai's Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS)

Nov. 11, 2021

S. Korean economy to grow 3% next year on robust private spending: KDI

The South Korean economy is forecast to grow 3 percent next year as private spending is likely to pull off a robust recovery amid the vaccine rollout, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said Thursday. KDI's 2022 growth outlook, which remained unchanged from its estimate in May, is on par with the 3 percent growth estimates by the government and the Bank of Korea (BOK). The International Monetary Fund forecast 3.4 percent growth for Korea. "On the back of the COVID-19 vaccination drive,

Nov. 11, 2021

Retail sales in 15 provinces, cities rise in Q3

Retails sales in 15 provinces and major cities in South Korea increased in the third quarter as people increased outdoor activity amid the vaccine rollout and the economic recovery, data showed Thursday. Retail sales, a gauge of private spending, rose in nine provinces and six cities in the third quarter, except for the southeastern city of Ulsan, according to the data from Statistics Korea. "The vaccine rollout helped improve consumer sentiment, and the government's provision of emergenc

Nov. 11, 2021

Hanwha Q Cells to build energy storage facility in Texas

Hanwha Q Cells, the solar solutions unit of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, said Thursday it is developing an energy storage system (ESS) facility in the US state of Texas, expanding its foothold in the American renewable energy market. The Sputnik ESS facility, to be located in Hunt county, will work as an emergency generator to help the state maintain a stable power supply and ease the power system burden, the company said. It will be installed with batteries of 380 megawatt-hours, e

Nov. 11, 2021

Samsung Life Insurance net sinks 54% in Q3

South Korea's top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance Co. said Thursday its third-quarter net profit plunged more than 50 percent from a year ago, but its bottom line rose 30 percent in the first nine months of the year. Consolidated net profit stood at 159.1 billion won ($134.7 million) in the July-September period, down 54 percent from a year earlier, Samsung Life Insurance said in a regulatory filing. Revenue increased 12.9 percent on-year to 9.09 trillion won in the three-month period, whi

Nov. 11, 2021