AmorePacific adds fuel to eco-friendly packaging

South Korea’s top-tier cosmetic manufacturer AmorePacific is making efforts to reduce excessive plastic consumption, addressing the impact that the beauty industry has on the natural environment, officials said Monday. The company’s eco-friendly initiative is built on the “4R strategy” -- recycle packaging material, reduce petroleum-based plastic, reuse plastic containers, and reserve empty containers. Such moves also come in line with the Korea Cosmetics Association

Feb. 22, 2021

[Contribution] The SsangYong Motor tragedy and the opportunities that it offers

When governments interfere in markets, the result is often questionable. This happened in Korea in the late 1990s when a decision in favor of “Korea Inc.” was driven, instead of allowing foreign original equipment manufacturers to come to Korea. The industry is still suffering from this decision, now culminating in the third insolvency of SsangYong Motor since 1997. The suppliers again will have to pay the bill. Even though the Korean government is offering generous loan propos

Feb. 22, 2021

'Partnership with Naver might work on raising Mirae Asset's stock price'

Local brokerage Mirae Asset Daewoo could see a boost in stock price in a partnership with Naver which runs fintech and artificial intelligence businesses, a report said on Monday. Mirae Asset Daewoo has been maintaining a partnership with the online platform company since it created a fund with the internet firm in December 2016. In line with the partnership, the two companies made an investment of 500 billion won ($451.4 million), respectively, to buy each other’s shares and run joint

Feb. 22, 2021

Posco CEO apologizes for accidents at steel mills

Posco Chairman Choi Jung-woo apologized for not being able to put a stop to accidents at the company’s steel mills and reiterated his vow of making them “zero hazard” plants during a parliamentary committee hearing on Monday. “I am deeply sorry for having caused worries to people and the bereaved families. We have put safety as the utmost priority and made various efforts under such context but fell under expectations,” Choi said during the hearing. The parliamen

Feb. 22, 2021

Seoul stocks retreat despite sound economic data

South Korean stocks retreated below the 3,100-point mark Monday, erasing morning gains despite strong export data. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 27.87 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 3,079.75 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.8 billion shares worth some 18 trillion won ($16.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 510 to 339. Foreigners sold a net 316 billion won, and institutions offloaded a net

Feb. 22, 2021

Asiana converts two more passenger planes to carry cargo

Asiana Airlines said on Monday it has converted two of its Airbus A350-900 passenger aircrafts to cargo planes as it seeks to expand its freight business. The move will give the airline an additional 23 tons of space to carry cargo per plane, bringing its air cargo fleet to a total of four. Two other passenger planes were converted last year. In a statement, the airline boasted last year’s record breaking sales from its cargo business reached 2.14 trillion won ($1.9 billion), up 64 perce

Feb. 22, 2021

US-based NeoImmuneTech eyes W96b IPO in Korea

NeoImmuneTech, a US immunotherapy drug development company, said Monday that it was looking to raise as much as 96 billion won ($86.9 million) in fresh funds via an initial public offering on the South Korean bourse next month. Under the plan to be listed on Korea’s tech-heavy Kosdaq, NeoImmuneTech seeks to issue 15 million depository receipts in a price band between 5,400 won and 6,400 won. The exact share price will be determined through a book-building process for institutional investo

Feb. 22, 2021

LG may ditch plan for rollable smartphone upon biz restructuring

LG Electronics Inc., a South Korean tech firm, may scrap a plan to develop a smartphone with a rollable display, industry observers here said Monday, amid growing speculation that the South Korean tech giant will ditch its money-losing mobile business. LG reportedly told its parts suppliers, including Chinese display maker BOE, to put the rollable smartphone development project on hold, according to industry sources. The parts makers may request compensation from LG in the future for their deve

Feb. 22, 2021

NPS beefs up US equities exposure to $43.9b

South Korea‘s public pension fund, the National Pension Service, has boosted its United States stock exposure to $43.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, a US filing showed Monday. The world’s third-largest pension fund, which was managing 807.3 trillion won ($729 billion) of assets as of November, saw its US stock exposure rise by $5.8 billion over the October-December period of 2020, according to its filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing also showe

Feb. 22, 2021

Watchdog to step up supervision of insurers' overseas alternative investments

South Korea's financial watchdog said Monday it will keep closer tabs on local insurance companies' overseas alternative investments amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes as insurers suffered losses from some overseas alternative investments last year in the wake of the prolonged coronavirus outbreak. South Korea's life and non-life insurance firms have been rapidly expanding their investments in overseas alternative investments in a bid to cope with low interest rates

Feb. 22, 2021

BOK likely to freeze key rate at record low: experts

South Korea’s central bank is widely expected to freeze its base rate at a record low of 0.5 percent this week over lingering economic uncertainty with a flare-up in new coronavirus cases, experts said Monday. The Bank of Korea is slated to hold its monetary policy board meeting slated for Thursday. “Affected by the virus resurgence, the nation’s job market and private spending have remained sluggish. So, there’s a high chance for the central bank to maintain its base r

Feb. 22, 2021

Finance minister calls for preparations to submit extra budget

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki instructed officials Monday to thoroughly prepare to submit an extra budget proposal next week in a bid to buttress smaller merchants hit hard by the pandemic. The finance ministry is working on details about this year's first supplementary budget to provide another round of emergency relief funds to merchants and shop owners battered by the pandemic and virus restrictions. The ruling Democratic Party and the government are in consultations over the size of an extr

Feb. 22, 2021

Service output in 15 provinces, cities dips last year amid pandemic

Service output in 15 provinces and major cities declined last year as the new coronavirus outbreak dealt a blow to the face-to-face service segments, data showed Monday. The country's service output fell 2 percent last year, according to Statistics Korea. Excluding Seoul, six cities and nine provinces posted an on-year fall in service output in 2020. Service output in Seoul -- home to about one-fifth of the country's 51.6 million population -- gained 1.1 percent in 2020 on the back of robust g

Feb. 22, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding wins W540b in orders from Asia, Europe, Africa

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Monday that it has bagged orders worth a combined 540 billion won ($489 million) from Asia, Europe and Africa. The orders include nine ships -- three oil tankers, two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, three petrochemical carriers and a container carrier, Korea Shipbuilding said. The three very large crude-oil carriers to be built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. will be delivered to an Asian company from the second half of 2022.

Feb. 22, 2021

Hyundai Motor's honorary chairman to relinquish all directorship positions at affiliates

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday its honorary chairman will step down from all management positions at affiliates next month after 20 years of efforts to improve the carmaker's brand awareness and product quality. Hyundai Motor Group Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo will step down from his executive director position on the board of Hyundai Mobis Co., the group's auto parts affiliate, at a shareholders meeting on March 24, a company spokesman said. The honorary chairman's director term was orig

Feb. 22, 2021

LG launches new office-use projectors in S. Korea

LG Electronics Inc. on Monday launched new office-use laser projectors as the South Korean home appliance maker eyes to expand its presence in the business projector market. Two new models of LG ProBeam laser projectors -- BUPST and BF60PST -- are available in South Korea, according to the company. ProBeam is a business projector brand, which LG unveiled last year. For home-use projectors, the company has been using the CineBeam brand. LG said the two new ProBeam projectors boast 6,000 ANSI l

Feb. 22, 2021

Seoul stocks open tad higher on chip gains

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Monday on advances by chip heavyweights, backed by strong exports data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 5.41 points, or 0.17 percent, to 3,113.03 points in the first 15 minutes amid foreign and institutional buying. South Korea's exports rose 16.7 percent on-year in the first 20 days of February on strong shipments of chips and autos, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Samsung Electronics added 0.97 percent,

Feb. 22, 2021

S. Korea's exports grow 16.7% in first 20 days of Feb.

South Korea's exports rose 16.7 percent on-year in the first 20 days of February on strong shipments of chips and autos amid the pandemic, customs data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $30.4 billion in the Feb. 1-20 period, compared with $26 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports advanced 24.1 percent on-year to $31.6 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.21 billion, the data showed. By sector, outbound shipments of

Feb. 22, 2021

S. Korean drug firms enjoy bumper year in 2020 despite pandemic

Major South Korean drug and biopharmaceutical companies saw their sales surge in 2020 from a year earlier despite the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Monday. Eleven local pharmaceutical companies in Asia's fourth-largest economy, including Green Cross Corp. and biopharmaceutical behemoth Celltrion Inc., registered sales of more than 1 trillion won ($910 million) last year. The remainder are Kolmar Korea Co., Celltrion Healthcare Co., Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp., Yuhan Corp.

Feb. 22, 2021

Foreign investors net-sell S. Korean stocks this year

Foreign investors have remained net sellers of South Korean stocks due to their massive selling of top-cap Samsung Electronics Co., data showed Monday. As of Friday, offshore investors had sold a net 5.51 trillion won ($4.99 billion) worth of local stocks during the 33 sessions this year, according to the data from industry sources. Foreigners have been in net-selling mode for the past year, with their net selling amounting to 29.78 trillion won. Their net-selling position this year resulted

Feb. 22, 2021