Kakao's co-CEO offers to resign over massive service disruption

A top executive of Kakao Corp. offered to step down Wednesday to take responsibility for the recent disruption of the company's mobile messenger KakaoTalk and other related services. The announcement by Kakao's co-CEO Namkoong Whon came as Kakao services, ranging from KakaoTalk to online banking and ride-hailing services, have resumed complete operation. Earlier in the day, SK C&C, which hosts Kakao's data servers, started to fully supply electric power to Kakao's disrupt

Oct. 19, 2022

GM Korea targets turnaround in 2023 with focus on exports

CHANGWON -- General Motors Co. said Wednesday it is targeting to transform its South Korean operations into a "profitable and sustainable business" next year by increasing exports of next-generation vehicles. GM Korea Co. reported net losses for eight consecutive years through 2021 and expects losses to narrow further this year. To help achieve a turnaround, GM Korea plans to produce a next-generation crossover utility vehicle (CUV) model in its Changwon plant, about 300 kilometers sou

Oct. 19, 2022

S. Korea seeks reform of shipbuilding industry's labor structure

South Korea plans to seek a structural change in the labor market of its shipbuilding industry, the finance ministry said Wednesday, amid growing criticism over shipbuilders taking advantage of subcontractors. "Recently, the overall conditions for our shipbuilding industry have been improving, with the number of orders rising following the recovery of the global shipbuilding market, coupled with higher prices," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said during a meeting with economy-related m

Oct. 19, 2022

Posco Holdings Q3 operating profit down 71% on typhoon damage

POSCO Holdings Inc., the holding firm of South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO, on Wednesday said that its third-quarter operating profit dropped 71 percent as some of its steel-processing facilities remain shuttered after a typhoon. Its operating income stood at 900 billion won ($633 million) in the July-September period, compared with an operating profit of 3.1 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. The operating profit was 17.8 percent lower than the average estima

Oct. 19, 2022

Seoul shares open nearly flat amid earnings season

South Korean stocks opened nearly flat Wednesday as investors took to the sidelines amid earnings reports and woes over aggressive rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had inched up 0.49 points, or 0.02 percent, to 2,250.44 points as of 9:20 a.m. Auto and steel companies advanced, while chemical and financial shares declined. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics traded flat, and chip giant SK hynix lost 1.67 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor added 0.3 percent,

Oct. 19, 2022

SK C&C says it has completed power supply to Kakao servers

SK C&C, which hosts a data center for Kakao Corp., said Wednesday it has started to fully supply electric power to the tech firm's disrupted servers, a move that could lead to a full normalization of Kakao services. "The power supply rate reached 100 percent at around 5 a.m.," an SK C&C official said. A fire at Kakao's data center near Seoul on Saturday caused the worst server outage ever for South Korea's dominant messenger and its internet portal Daum. The fire

Oct. 19, 2022

LG Group chief visits joint EV battery plant in Ohio

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo visited a joint venture between the group‘s battery making affiliate and U.S. carmaker General Motors Co. in Ohio, industrial sources said Tuesday. 　 　Koo has recently toured the No. 1 plant of Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution Ltd. that hived off from LG Chem last year, according to the sources. 　 　Ultium Cells’ No. 1 plant is set to produce EV batteries during the second half of the year, with two more plants under c

Oct. 18, 2022

Korea's Comeup aims to become world's top startup accelerator program

SMEs and Startups Minister Lee Young said on Tuesday that it plans to nurture Comeup, the ministry's startup accelerator program, as one of the top five startup events globally in five years. “Ramping up engagement from private sectors, we plan to place Comeup as the world’s fifth largest startup event in five years,” said Lee during a press conference at Maru 100 in southern Seoul. Lee added the government will make room for startup companies to enter global markets more

Oct. 18, 2022

Korea’s employment performance falls short of OECD average: FKI

South Korea has been outpaced by most members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding key labor-related indicators, a local business lobby found Tuesday. According to the Federation of Korean Industries, Korea ranked 29th for its employment rate among 37 OECD members in 2021, a drastic fall from the 23rd position it had maintained between 2016 and 2000. Though Korea saw its ranking for men’s employment rate climb from 20th in 2000 to 12th in 2016, it slid t

Oct. 18, 2022

Korea’s employment performance falls short of OECD average: FKI

South Korea has been outpaced by most members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding key labor-related indicators, a local business lobby found Tuesday. According to the Federation of Korean Industries, Korea ranked 29th for its employment rate among 37 OECD members in 2021, a drastic fall from the 23rd position it had maintained between 2016 and 2000. Though Korea saw its ranking for men’s employment rate climb from 20th in 2000 to 12th in 2016, it slid t

Oct. 18, 2022

Seoul shares up 1.36% ahead of corporate earnings

South Korean stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday as institutions and foreigners picked up issues ahead of corporate earnings of major companies this week. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 30.24 points, or 1.36 percent, to close at 2,249.95 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 572.65 million shares worth some 7.13 trillion won ($5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 800 to 88. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industr

Oct. 18, 2022

The Korea Herald to kick off forum on technology reshaping humanity

The Korea Herald, the nation’s largest English newspaper by circulation, holds its fifth annual business forum on Wednesday to shed light on the latest technology trends that could change the way people live as well as ways to make the transition smoother and more effective. Under the theme “Humanity in Tech,” the forum has invited policymakers, industry leaders and academics to explore the growing presence of blockchain and artificial intelligence in the digital age. Keynote s

Oct. 18, 2022

KakaoTalk loses 2 million users; Line, Telegram see bump in new members

Popular South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk lost some 2 million users following an outage which began Saturday and lasted hours, industry tracker data showed. The number of KakaoTalk users was estimated at 39.05 million on Sunday, down 2.07 million from Friday when the figure stood at 41.12 million, according to an analysis by industry tracker WiseApp on Monday. But as the country’s most popular messaging app suffered a loss of users in the wake of the app's longest outage to date si

Oct. 18, 2022

Kakao, SK C&C begin quiet dispute over data center shutdown

Kakao Corp. and SK C&C on Tuesday voiced subtle differences over how the weekend server outage went down at the SK facility -- which houses Kakao’s data center -- foreshadowing possibilities of future legal disputes over damage compensation. According to each company’s officials, SK C&C claimed that only some of the electricity to the data room containing Kakao’s servers were cut off by the fire, while Kakao insisted that a majority of its servers at SK C&C’s

Oct. 18, 2022

Is US export ban forcing Korean chipmakers to exit from China?

The long-term business prospects of South Korean memory chip giants like Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are at their lowest points in China, despite being granted a one-year waiver to temporarily steer clear of chipmaking tool import restrictions to their Chinese fab plants. Experts say the uncertainties will inevitably force Korean chipmakers to relocate their chipmaking facilities, especially the most advanced fabs. "It’s possible that Korean memory chip manufacturers may try to u

Oct. 18, 2022

Hyundai Mobis to supply chassis modules for Mercedes-Benz EVs

South Korean auto parts and mobility solutions provider Hyundai Mobis said Tuesday that it has begun mass-producing chassis modules for Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles, adding another global automaker to its client list. Mobis begun manufacturing its chassis module, a core automotive part that controls a vehicle’s stability while driving, from the third quarter at a newly established plant dedicated for Mercedes cars in Alabama in the US. A total of four electrified SUVs by the German ca

Oct. 18, 2022

Upbit to replace KakaoTalk login service amid data center fire fiasco

South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange Upbit is set to replace its fast login service via KakaoTalk next month, while in damage control mode from the recent Kakao data center fire fiasco. Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s No.1 crypto exchange by trading volume, will end its login service via KakaoTalk, fully replacing it with its own login system from Nov. 21, the firm’s spokesperson said Tuesday. “The new service will be adopted on Oct. 31 and fully kick off on Nov. 21 af

Oct. 18, 2022

S. Korea seeks more investment from Netherlands in chips, new energy fields

South Korea asked the Netherlands on Tuesday to make greater investments and enhance bilateral cooperation in semiconductors and such advanced industry fields as hydrogen and nuclear power generation, Seoul's industry ministry said. Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin made the request during a meeting with Hanneke Schuiling, the Dutch vice minister for foreign economic relations, in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "Chung noted that the South Korean gover

Oct. 18, 2022

Seoul shares open higher on US gains

South Korean shares opened higher Tuesday, tracking rallies on Wall Street that jumped ahead of corporate earnings announcements by major firms this week. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 25.84 points, or 1.16 percent, to 2,245.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.86 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.43 percent as investors geared up for third-quarter corporate earnings of such big-name firms as N

Oct. 18, 2022

[Newsmaker] Kakao Outage: What happens when a country heavily relies on one super app?

Tech giant Kakao has said most of its services have been restored following an extended outage that began Saturday. But as the country suffered a digital blackout for many hours, the dominance of its "super app" has been called into question. Launched in 2010 as a messaging app, KakaoTalk grew in popularity exponentially over the years and branched out to other areas such as shopping and banking. Kakao also launched in-house apps that work in connection with KakaoTalk, such as ride-hai

Oct. 17, 2022