STX donates W130m to Itaewon foreign victims' families

Korean general trading firm STX said Thursday it has donated 130 million won ($95,000) to the families of foreign victims of the Itaewon Halloween tragedy, as it seeks to offer comfort for their losses. The company said it donated money to the family and multiculturalism division of the Seoul Metropolitan Government for them to then deliver to the bereaved families. "We would like to convey our condolences to the foreigners who lost family members on foreign soil due to a sudden accident,&q

Nov. 10, 2022

Dairy company Purmil reverses course on business termination

South Korean dairy company Purmil's announcement of its business termination, which stirred nationwide controversy for unilaterally firing its employees, had been upended as of Thursday. According to a statement from Purmil, the company will be normalizing its business operations but will still downsize 30 percent of its workforce to increase management efficiency. The announcement was made after an agreement was reached between management and labor, it added. The company intends to continu

Nov. 10, 2022

Mortgage rules to be loosened as slowing market threatens economy

South Korea will ease lending rules for those looking to buy their first home in the capital and in the greater Seoul area starting Dec. 1 to prevent a property market slowdown prompted by higher interest rates from hurting economic growth. According to an interagency government meeting led by the Finance Ministry on Thursday, such home buyers will be able to borrow up to 50 percent of the property value, up from as low as 20 percent currently approved, and take out mortgage loans on properties

Nov. 10, 2022

Doosan Enerbility wins W1.6tr construction order for El Dabaa

South Korean plant builder Doosan Enerbility said Thursday it won an order worth 1.6 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for a construction job at the El Dabaa plant, the first nuclear power plant project in Egypt. Doosan Enerbility will be responsible for the supply of 82 pieces of equipment including turbine generators, key components for nuclear power plants that extract thermal energy from pressurized steam and convert it into electrical energy. Doosan Enerbility is scheduled to construct cooling fa

Nov. 10, 2022

Coupang turns profitable 8 years after launch of Rocket Delivery

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. turned a profit in the third quarter this year – a first after years of losing money since the launch of its ultrafast Rocket Delivery service in 2014. The company logged $90.7 million in net income during the July-September period in a dramatic turnaround from last year’s net loss of $324 million, Coupang founder and CEO Kim Bom said in a conference call early Thursday. Its revenue increased 10 percent to $5.1 billion during the same period

Nov. 10, 2022

FTX’s acquisition of Bithumb seen killed by liquidity crisis

FTX’s plan to buy South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb appears to have gone up in smoke, with billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire being rocked by a liquidity crisis, industry watchers said Thursday. Crypto exchange giant Binance’s announcement on Wednesday to back out of its plans to acquire FTX is likely to halt the ongoing deal between the Bahamian crypto exchange platform and Bithumb, according to experts. “Investors have been wary of the crypto market because of

Nov. 10, 2022

[Photo News] Flying car concept

A concept model of Hyundai Motor's personal air vehicle S-A1 is displayed Thursday at the 2022 K-UAM Confex exhibition, an urban air mobility event, held at a hotel in Yeongjong Island, near Incheon. It runs through Friday.

Nov. 10, 2022

Prices of food, daily necessities soar

Prices of major food items such as flour, cheese, tofu and chicken have risen over 20 percent in the past year, while prices of daily necessities such as detergents and shampoo have also jumped. Milk prices will surge again next week, which means the prices of bread, ice cream and coffee will also climb. According to the Korea Price Research Center on Thursday, the price of a 1-kilogram pack of flour (CJ Beksul all purpose flour) surged 37.7 percent from a year ago to 1,900 won in the second wee

Nov. 10, 2022

Twitter Korea likely to lose legal battle against dismissed employees

Twitter Korea Ltd., the US social media giant’s Korean office, is highly likely to lose a potential legal battle against its abruptly laid-off employees under the local labor law if they decide to file a class action lawsuit against their employer, according to labor experts here. “Regardless of whether (Twitter Korea) had urgent managerial reasons behind the layoffs, there seems to have been no efforts to overcome them. The employer should have talked to a representative of laborers

Nov. 10, 2022

Homeplus to expand home meal replacement products

South Korean discount chain Homeplus said Thursday it will combine its home meal replacement and meal kit product lines for the launch of a new brand called “Homeplus Signature Home Meal” to satisfy consumers’ demand for easy-to-prepare, nutritious meals. The new brand will offer high-quality products at reasonable prices, according to the retailer. The product lineup offers hansik, or Korean food, meal kits for at-home diners, as well as meals suitable for camping and as drink

Nov. 10, 2022

Regulator proposes opening information-sharing channel with financial firms on overseas markets

South Korea's financial regulator on Thursday proposed opening an "information-sharing channel" with local financial institutions on overseas market conditions to better respond to offshore developments and minimize their impact on domestic markets. Lee Bok-hyun, head of the Financial Supervisory Service, made the proposal during a meeting in Seoul with officials of financial holding groups, banks, brokerages and insurers handling global businesses. "I propose building an inf

Nov. 10, 2022

Seoul shares open lower on Wall Street losses

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday on an overnight dip on Wall Street amid the upcoming US midterm election results and a crash in cryptocurrencies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index had declined 11.13 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,413.28 points as of 9:15 a.m. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.95 percent Wednesday, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 retreating 2.48 percent and 2.08 percent, respectively. Investors are paying keen attention to the

Nov. 10, 2022

S. Korea to begin eased lending rules next month

South Korea will carry out eased lending rules for first-time homebuyers and owners of one home next month as the once red-hot housing market appears to be entering a downturn amid rising interest rates, the land ministry said Thursday. The government has adopted stricter lending rules and other regulations to help stabilize the country's real estate market in recent years. In response, the government came up with the latest measures amid growing concern about a possible failure of the prop

Nov. 10, 2022

Regulator to ease bank capital rules amid liquidity concerns

South Korea’s top financial regulator on Wednesday eased capital rules for banks seeking to contribute to the government-led fund aimed at stabilizing the local bond and stock markets, in a bid to contain the spillover of liquidity stress. A local insurer’s decision two days ago to reverse its postponement of redeeming its dollar bonds worth $500 billion after being pressured to meet the original deadline had added to growing volatility gripping the bond and short-term money markets.

Nov. 9, 2022

Korea declares road map to become hydrogen industry powerhouse

SEJONG -- South Korea on Wednesday unveiled a road map to take the lead in the global hydrogen industry over the next seven years, stressing the energy business would drive the growth of the nation's economy. At the meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said the plan is to have 600 hydrogen businesses of global competitiveness, from the current 52, by 2030. To achieve this goal, the government will ease "unreasonable regulatio

Nov. 9, 2022

Samsung not interested in slidable phones: analyst

Foldable phones may have prompted the demand for devices with an expandable screen, but Samsung Electronics seems not interested in slidable phones due to lukewarm marketability, an analyst said Wednesday. “The market for foldable phones overlaps with that for slidable phones. It will be difficult for slidable phones to create its own market,” said Yi Choong-hoon, CEO and top analyst of Seoul-based display market tracker UBI Research at a conference. “Samsung seems uninterested

Nov. 9, 2022

S. Korea, Africa seek cooperation to boost sustainable agriculture

SEOGWIPO, Jeju Island -- Researchers and government officials from South Korea and Africa gathered on Wednesday in a bid to discuss cooperative measures aiming to boost sustainable development of agriculture in the second-largest continent based on innovative technology. “Although Africa is one of the regions that show great growth potential for agriculture industry, more than 23.5 million people suffer from food crisis -- those who are forced to skip one or two meals in a day -- due to cl

Nov. 9, 2022

Minister calls regulatory reform, globalization key to boosting startup ecosystem

South Korea’s biggest startup festival event Comeup 2022 kicked off in Seoul on Wednesday, with SMEs and Startups Minister Lee Young stressing regulatory reform and globalization as the two keywords for the nation’s startup ecosystem. “Regulations that are limiting potential of innovative startups are those that have been implemented during the industrial period. We will be bold in loosening such regulations to help startups open up their wings,” said the minister during

Nov. 9, 2022

Seoul shares up for fourth day ahead of US midterm election results

South Korean stocks extended their winning streak to a fourth day Wednesday with investors paying keen attention to the US midterm election results. The Korean won surged against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 25.37 points, or 1.06 percent, to close at 2,424.41 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 675 million shares worth some 9.2 trillion won ($6.7 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 575 to 272. Institutions bought a net 348 billion won and

Nov. 9, 2022

[Photo News] Night of blood

A total lunar eclipse, also called "blood moon," was observed in South Korea on Tuesday evening. According to the Gwacheon National Science Museum, the lunar eclipse also blocked Uranus, a rare occasion that could be seen from the country only once between year 1600 and 2300.

Nov. 9, 2022