Posco International expands motor core business in full swing

Posco International aims to take 20 percent of the world market for automotive motor cores, kicking off its auto parts business in earnest this year, the company said Monday. In its investor relations presentation Thursday, the general trading company unveiled new plans and targets for its motor core products, produced by its subsidiary Posco SPS (Steel Processing & Service). Motor cores are used in generating electricity within a motor, and have a wide range of applications, from autom

Feb. 1, 2021

Korean experts say AstraZeneca vaccine 62% effective

AstraZeneca’s viral vector vaccine had 62 percent efficacy against some 8,900 clinical candidates aged 42.2 on average, according to Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Monday. The ministry is running a three-leg review of each COVID-19 therapy or vaccine that has applied for emergency use in Korea. So far, Celltrion’s antibody therapy, AstraZeneca’s viral vector vaccine and Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccines have made the applications, in that order. The Dr

Feb. 1, 2021

S. Korea to add 3,000 electric car charging stations this year

South Korea plans to set up 3,000 rapid charging stations for electric vehicles by the end of this year to expand the use of eco-friendly cars, the Finance Ministry said Monday. “Creating convenient charging infrastructure is a very important task to keep pace with the expansion of electric vehicle supply,” said Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki while presiding over a meeting to promote “Big 3” industries. Big 3 industries refer to green cars, biohealth, and non-memory chips

Feb. 1, 2021

Nexon raises staff pay to draw talent

New and existing employees at South Korean gaming giant Nexon have been given a generous pay boost as part of a drive to attract talent amid the coronavirus outbreak, the company said Monday. Nexon said it raised the annual starting salary of new developers and other staffers who joined the company starting this year to 50 million won ($44,722) and 45 million won, respectively. The average starting salary of university graduates at a company with 500 or more employees is 344.7 million won,

Feb. 1, 2021

KB Kookmin Card completes stake acquisition of Thai lender

Credit card issuer KB Kookmin Card said Monday that it has completed the acquisition of a controlling stake of J Fintech, a Bangkok-based loan provider, speeding up the pace to infiltrate the Southeast Asian market. With the latest takeover, the credit card business becomes the first South Korean company to make an official entry to the Thai lending industry. The card company invested 24 billion won ($21.4 million) to acquire the 50-pecent stake in the Thai lender, while the remaining 50 pe

Feb. 1, 2021

Yanolja names new CIO to speed up IPO

Accommodation booking platform operator Yanolja announced Monday that it has appointed a new chief investment officer to lead the discovery of new growth engines. The newly named CIO, Choi Chan-seok, is a seasoned expert in mergers and acquisitions and investor relations. While leading investment and M&A deals at mobile gaming firm Netmarble, he played a key role in acquiring water purifier rental firm Coway and US mobile game developer Kabam, and helped the game company to invest in both

Feb. 1, 2021

Carmakers' Jan. sales rise 4.8% on SUVs

South Korean carmakers' sales rose 4.8 percent last month from a year earlier helped by strong demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs) amid the COVID-19 pandemic, industry data showed Monday. The five carmakers in South Korea -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a combined 597,213 vehicles in January, up from 569,929 units a year ago, according to data from the companies. Their domestic sales jumped 17 percent to 116,270 u

Feb. 1, 2021

SK chief named to lead country’s top commerce chamber

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, 60, was chosen Monday as the new chief of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and will succeed incumbent Chairman Park Yong-maan. For the first time, the KCCI is to be led by a figure at the helm of one of the so-called Big Four chaebol -- Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG. SK Group is South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate in terms of assets, as of 2020.　 Chey’s appointment was also seen as a signal that the country’s industries are

Feb. 1, 2021

Innocean Worldwide recruits brand strategy expert to empower digital growth, M&A

Innocean Worldwide, the advertising subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, has appointed a new global chief strategy officer, in a move to add fuel to its global growth and digital transformation, officials said Monday. This marked the first time that the company has created a top post to supervise its global strategy and appointed an outside expert for the role. The company named Nicholas Kim, 50, a Korean American who formerly served as chief strategy officer at Publicis Groupe in New York, for

Feb. 1, 2021

LG Energy Solution No.1, Samsung SDI No.2 in global EV battery patent

LG Energy Solution has the most patents for electric vehicle batteries that are officially registered with the patent offices of five major countries, industry data showed Monday. According to the global patent information service WIPS ON, LG Energy Solution’s EV battery patents -- excluding utility patents -- registered with patent offices in Korea, Japan, China, Europe and the US amounted to 23,610, the largest among battery companies in the world. LG Energy Solution was followed by

Feb. 1, 2021

Four ways the LG-SK battery lawsuit could end up

Almost three years have passed since LG Energy Solution sued SK Innovation through the US International Trade Commission and the US District Court of Delaware for allegedly stealing its electric vehicle battery trade secrets. As the legal wrangling nears a conclusion, the USITC is set to deliver its final ruling on Feb. 10. From South Korean Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun to congressmen in Georgia and Tennessee, pressure is mounting on both parties to patch things up, but a huge discrepancy i

Feb. 1, 2021

[News Focus] Naver’s global ambitions taking shape

Naver is more than just a South Korean version of Google. For many Koreans, it is the go-to site for searching, news, blogging, cloud services, shopping, fintech and many other things -- including killing time with cartoons. And the behemoth isn’t stopping there. Naver is aggressively investing in global platforms that cater to the social media generation throughout the world. For now, its main focus appears to be cartoons and K-pop.    Webtoons Web-based cartoons, or web

Feb. 1, 2021

Seoul stocks again cross 3,000 point threshold on foreign, institutional buying

South Korean stocks closed back over the 3,000-point threshold Monday, led by foreign and institutional buying and strong advances by bio shares. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 80.32 points, or 2.7 percent, to close at 3,056.53 points. Trading volume was high at about 958 million shares worth some 20.5 trillion won ($18.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 710 to 156. Foreigners bought a net 131 billion won and

Feb. 1, 2021

Renault Samsung's Jan. sales down 1.3% on weak domestic demand

Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Monday its sales fell 1.3 percent last month from a year earlier due to weak domestic demand. The South Korean unit of Renault SA sold 6,152 vehicles in January, down from 6,233 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales sank 17.9 percent on-year to 3,534 units last month on sluggish sales of SM6 sedans and QM6 SUVs. Exports rose 35.6 percent to 2,618 units over the cited period as the first batch of its flagship XM3 SUVs were shipp

Feb. 1, 2021

Retail investors see disappointing performance in January

Amateur share traders, who defended the market from a massive selloff by established investors, injected nearly half of last year’s investments in January, but their performance remained in negative territory, data showed Monday. According to the Korea Exchange, individual investors net purchased Kospi-listed stocks worth 22.34 trillion won ($19.97 billion) and 3.51 trillion-won worth of shares from the secondary Kosdaq market. The net buying figures, when combined, are equivalent to 40 p

Feb. 1, 2021

SK Telecom to sell Facebook’s VR device Oculus Quest 2 in S. Korea

SK Telecom said Monday it would begin sales of Facebook’s latest virtual reality device, the Oculus Quest 2, in South Korea, starting Tuesday. The Oculus Quest 2 will go on sale from 414,000 won ($370) at SK Telecom’s offline and online stores. The device is equipped with Qualcomm Technologies’ XR2 chipset and supports almost-4K resolution display. It also allows users to toggle between 72 hertz, 80 hertz and 90 hertz refresh rate modes. The standalone virtual reality head

Feb. 1, 2021

GM Korea's Jan. sales soar 76% on robust exports

GM Korea Co. said Monday its sales jumped 76.4 percent last month from a year earlier on solid vehicle sales abroad. The South Korean unit of General Motors Co. sold 36,126 vehicles in January, up 20,484 from the previous year, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales gained 19.7 percent on-year to 6,106 units last month, thanks to robust sales of the Chevrolet Spark minicar and the Trailblazer SUV. Exports soared 95.2 percent to 30,020 units over the cited period, it said. The Detroi

Feb. 1, 2021

NCSoft benefits most from listing transfer to Kospi

Forty-five companies, which first went public via South Korea’s tech-heavy Kosdaq market, saw at least a threefold surge in market valuation after they transferred to the nation’s main bourse market since 2000, data showed Monday. Of the 45 companies transferred to Kospi, 42 firms progressed with a combined market capitalization of 206.57 trillion won ($184.89 billion) as of Friday, jumping from 65.77 trillion won logged 20 years ago, according to the Korea Exchange. The three disap

Feb. 1, 2021

[News Focus] COVID-19 contributed to widening of income inequality: BOK

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened income inequality in the nation, as the social distancing rules cost jobs and increased poverty, the central bank said Monday.  The potential total wage loss rate -- which took into account the nation’s labor capability in lockdowns, the duration of lockdowns and the number of regular workers -- amounted to 7.4 percent last year, the Bank of Korea said in its regular report on the nation’s economy.  The rate was also calculated on the

Feb. 1, 2021

SsangYong's Jan. sales rose 13% on SUVs

SsangYong Motor Co. said Monday its sales rose 13 percent last month from a year earlier on improved demand for its recreational vehicles amid the COVID-19 pandemic. SsangYong Motor sold 8,648 vehicles in January, up from 7,653 units a year ago on strong overseas sales of the Rexton and Rexton Sport models, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales rose 1.6 percent to 5,648 units last month from 5,557 the previous year, and exports jumped 45 percent to 3,030 from 2,096, it said. SsangYo

Feb. 1, 2021