Retail sales up 13% in July on strong demand for delivery services

Retail sales in South Korea advanced 13 percent in July from a year earlier, data showed Thursday, on the back of strong demand for food delivery services amid the prolonged social distancing measures. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 12.9 trillion won ($11 billion) last month, compared with 11.4 trillion won tallied in the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Sales from offline stores moved up 7 percent

Aug. 26, 2021

BOK delivers 1st pandemic-era rate hike amid rising inflation, household debt

South Korea's central bank delivered its first pandemic-era rate hike Thursday to fight rising inflation and rein in surging household debts, ending 15 months of record-low interest rates as the economy showed signs of improving. The monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) voted to raise its key rate by 0.25 percentage point to 0.75 percent in this year's sixth rate-setting meeting. It marked the first rate hike since May last year, when the BOK cut the key rate to a record low of 0.

Aug. 26, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher ahead of US Jackson Hole meeting

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday ahead of the meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as investors seek clues about the US Federal Reserve's stance about its tapering timeline. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 5.97 points, or 0.19 percent, to trade at 3,152.78 points in the first 20 minutes of trading. After a three-day winning streak, the KOSPI got off to a solid start as investors expect the Fed to not hurry its timeline to roll back its stimulus amid surging

Aug. 26, 2021

Govt. to dole out cash handouts to ordinary people before Chuseok holiday: minister

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday the government plans to provide pandemic emergency relief funds to people hit hard by the pandemic before next month's fall harvest Chuseok holiday. The country plans to provide 11 trillion won ($9.4 billion) to people in the bottom 88 percent income bracket under this year's second extra budget of 34.9 trillion won. Hong said the government has decided to start the provision of cash handouts to the recipients before the Chuseok holiday scheduled for

Aug. 26, 2021

Regulator tightens curbs on bank credit loans to tackle household debt

South Korea's financial authorities have called on local banks to tighten their screening for unsecured loans as part of efforts to cope with rising household debt, sources said Thursday. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recently required all commercial lenders to submit their plans to adjust caps on credit loans extended to individual borrowers by Friday. Banks have thus come up with or are mapping out plans to cut back on caps on unsecured loans, according to the sources. Nonghyup Ba

Aug. 26, 2021

6 companies to recall nearly 49,000 vehicles over faulty parts

BMW, Mercedes-Benz and four other companies will voluntarily recall nearly 49,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Thursday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The companies, including Audi, Hyundai Motor Co. and Suzuki MAN Truck & Bus Korea Ltd., are recalling a combined 48,797 units in six kinds of models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said

Aug. 26, 2021

S. Korean team develops most perfect graphene films

A research team at the Daejeon-based Institute for Basic Science has succeeded in growing single-crystal graphene films that have no wrinkles, folds or adlayers, paving the way for technological advancement in a wide range of fields and industries, including semiconductors, displays and solar cell products. Led by professor Rod Ruoff, the research, titled “Single Crystal, Large-area, Fold-free Monolayer Graphene,” has been published in the leading science journal Nature. Graphene

Aug. 26, 2021

Apple, Google app store models face new threat in South Korea

South Korea is poised to become the first country to impose curbs on the lucrative app stores run by Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, setting up a potential showdown with the Biden administration. President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party used its parliamentary supermajority to push out of committee a bill that would ban companies from forcing developers to use their online payment systems. The ruling party’s heft in the National Assembly suggests the Telecommunications

Aug. 25, 2021

HMM union puts strike on hold for more negotiations

Unionized sailors at South Korea’s largest shipper HMM have suspended plans for a strike and will hold a new round of wage negotiations with management next week, union representatives said Wednesday. “The union leaders and the chairman of the land-based workers’ union held talks with HMM’s CEO Bae Jae-hoon the previous day, and as a result we decided to negotiate again on Sept. 1,” HMM’s longshore union said in a press release Wednesday. Earlier in the w

Aug. 25, 2021

NPS reserve fund tops W900tr in H1

The National Pension Service had a reserve fund of 908.3 trillion won ($777.7 billion) as of end-June, logging a 7.49 percent financial gain over the past six months, a preliminary estimate showed Wednesday. The world‘s third-largest pension fund has generated 74.5 trillion won in investment returns from January to June, as its stock holdings at home and abroad outperformed their benchmarks. This beat the earlier projection in 2020 where the NPS assets under management will stand at ju

Aug. 25, 2021

Netmarble, NCSoft up ante with new mobile games

Netmarble and NCSoft, two of South Korea’s major game developers, are competing for mobile game players with the back-to-back releases of new titles. Netmarble on Wednesday launched action role-playing mobile game Marvel Future Revolution in some 240 countries, including Korea, and early signs were positive as the game shot to No. 1 on the RPG charts on Apple’s App Store in 78 countries, based on prerelease downloads that were made available Tuesday. The first open-world Marvel

Aug. 25, 2021

Hanwha Asset buys shares in brokerage arm from group affiliates

Hanwha Asset Management said Wednesday it has bought shares in Hanwha Group’s brokerage arm, Hanwha Investment & Securities, from other nonfinancial group affiliates. The asset management firm acquired a combined 56.8 million common shares -- or a 26.46 percent stake -- in the brokerage house for 320.1 billion won ($274 million). Their sellers were auto parts maker Hanwha Global Asset, leisure service provider Hanwha Hotels & Resorts and department store operator Hanwha Galleria T

Aug. 25, 2021

Posco Chemical to spend W281b on two battery materials plants in China

Posco Chemical will invest 281 billion won ($240.8 million) to establish two battery material plants in China, its first overseas production base for the electric vehicle battery business, the firm said Wednesday. The envisioned 30,000-ton cathode plant and a 30,000-ton precursor plant will add to an existing battery materials production base in the Chinese city of Tongxiang, established in August 2019 and jointly operated by steelmaker Posco and its local partner Huayou Cobalt. Once complet

Aug. 25, 2021

Facebook, Netflix fined over privacy violations in S. Korea

A South Korean watchdog on personal information protection on Wednesday fined major foreign platform service providers nearly 6.7 billion won ($5.7 million) over privacy violations. The Personal Information Protection Commission meted out the penalty against Facebook, Netflix and Google and ordered them to fix the problems following its probe. Facebook was slapped with the heaviest penalty of 6.46 billion won. The commission said the US-based social network service provider created and stored

Aug. 25, 2021

SK Telecom launches new subscription platform

SK Telecom launched a new subscription-based e-commerce platform T Universe on Wednesday, aiming to attract 36 million subscribers out of the country’s total population of 51 million by 2025. In a press conference held Wednesday, the South Korean telecommunications firm said it has set a target of logging annual transactions worth 8 trillion won ($6.85 billion) by 2025. “T Universe aims to create a new universe of subscription services that benefits both customers and business p

Aug. 25, 2021

Consortium including GS buys stake in Hugel

A consortium including GS Group will buy a near half stake in South Korean botulinum toxin manufacturer Hugel for 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion), it was announced Wednesday. The deal involves the transfer of a 46.9 percent stake in Hugel currently held by the US private equity Bain Capital. Aside from GS, members of the consortium include CBC, Asia‘s largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm headquartered in Singapore; Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi-based investor; and

Aug. 25, 2021

Korea to build five hydrogen clusters with W1.2tr

South Korea will spend 1.27 trillion won ($1.07 billion) to establish five hydrogen clusters across the country and roll out necessary infrastructure there, as the nation prepares an aggressive transition to a hydrogen economy, the government said Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the five are: a green hydrogen production cluster in North Jeolla Province, a blue hydrogen production cluster in Incheon, a hydrogen storage and transportation cluster in Gangwon

Aug. 25, 2021

Seoul stocks gain for 3rd day amid tapering uncertainties

South Korean stocks advanced for a third consecutive day Wednesday amid increased investor caution over US tapering uncertainties. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 8.51 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 3,146.81 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 558 million shares worth some 12.7 trillion won ($10.9 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 571 to 281. Foreigners bought a net 30 billion won, and institutions

Aug. 25, 2021

Hyundai Motor suspends Ulsan plants on parts shortage

Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. suspended assembly lines in its mainstay factory Wednesday due to a parts shortage following infections among employees of one of its suppliers, company officials said. Hyundai Motor halted three out of five plants in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, earlier in the day due to lack of some modules from its contractor, a company spokesman said over the phone. The three production lines make Palisade, Kona, Avante as well as Ioniq 5 electric vehicles an

Aug. 25, 2021

Hanwha Solutions clinches $260m contract for high-pressure tanks in US

South Korean energy company Hanwha Solutions Corp. said Wednesday its newly acquired tank subsidiary signed a $260 million deal with US energy firm Sunbridge Energy Services to provide storage tanks for compressed natural gas (CNG). Hanwha Cimarron signed the 10-year deal with the Texas-based Sunbridge Energy to deliver tube trailers containing dozens of vessels that can store CNG and other pressurized gases, such as hydrogen. It is the first time Hanwha Cimarron has won a supply deal for high

Aug. 25, 2021