Prosecutors mull defining luna as security

South Korean prosecutors are considering whether to view the troubled cryptocurrency luna as a security, a move which could put the coin developers and those complicit under scrutiny for not only fraud, but also for violations of the Capital Markets Act. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office’s Financial and Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team has met with crypto experts and financial authorities to review if luna can be categorized as a security, the prosecution said Tuesda

Sept. 13, 2022

KB opens Korea's largest premium private banking branch

South Korea’s KB Financial Group said Tuesday it has recently opened the nation’s largest premium private banking branch in Seoul in a bid to provide a fuller range of services to its wealthy clients. The seven-story building, named after the bank’s recently launched premium banking service “KB Gold ＆ Wise the First,” is located in Seoul's posh district of Apgujeong. The floor space, themed on books and art, consists of 15 consulting rooms and 1,400 vaults. At the

Sept. 13, 2022

Hanmi Pharmaceutical scores 1st US FDA approval

Hanmi Pharmaceutical has scored its first approval from the US Food and Drug Administration with its novel biomedicine Rolontis. Rolontis -- Hanmi Pharmaceutical's treatment for neutropenia, a disease that occurs when a specific type of white blood cells is lacking so that the body cannot fight infections, especially those caused by bacteria -- was given the FDA’s approval on Friday, according to the Korean firm’s US partner Spectrum Pharmaceuticals’ announcement. Neutropenia's

Sept. 13, 2022

LG, Parsons come together for AI-generated design projects

  LG Corp. and Parsons School of Design will collaborate to combine contemporary art and design practices with artificial intelligence technology, LG's tech arm LG AI Research said Tuesday. LG AI Research, which runs a hyperscale AI platform called Exaone, will carry out joint research projects for advanced AI technologies and emerging research domains with experts in fashion, design and media at Parsons for three years. Through the partnership, artists and designers will explore the inters

Sept. 13, 2022

After weeklong repair, Posco resumes production at typhoon-hit plant

South Korean steel giant Posco said Tuesday that it has resumed operation of steel production at its manufacturing plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, a week after the factory had been stalled due to heavy rain on Sept. 6 linked to Typhoon Hinnamnor. Over the four-day national Chuseok holiday that wrapped up Monday, an accumulated 30,000 employees and subcontractors worked around the clock to fully repair the facilities, Posco said. Key facilities at the plant, including all three blast

Sept. 13, 2022

JYP overtakes entertainment giant CJ ENM in market cap

The market capitalization of JYP Entertainment, one of South Korea’s four major K-pop powerhouses led by producer Park Jin-young, has remained higher than that of Korea's largest entertainment firm CJ ENM for three consecutive weeks, data showed Tuesday. According to Korea Exchange on Tuesday, JYP shares closed Thursday at 63,000 won ($45.81) per share, while its market cap closed at 2.23 trillion won, just before the Chuseok holiday. On the same day, CJ ENM shares settled at 91,000 w

Sept. 13, 2022

SK-backed AI chip outperforms Nvidia's GPU

Sapeon, an artificial intelligence-powered chip designer backed by South Korea's SK Group, unveiled Tuesday a test result that its first commercialized product X220 has outperformed US graphic processor giant Nvidia's newest product A2. The chips for data centers in two varieties, X220-Compact and X220-Enterprise, were both superior to Nvidia's A2 in terms of AI processing speed and power consumption, according to a benchmark test result in MLPerf's inference. The large-scale AI cloud service pe

Sept. 13, 2022

LG selects 9 startups for future growth engine

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it has chosen nine startups that could lead the tech company's future growth in digital health, metaverse and electric mobility. LG's San Francisco-based North American Innovation Center wrapped up its two-day Fall Innovation Festival last week, where it announced nine most-promising startups in the three sectors, with entrepreneurs, investors and influencers in attendance. The nine winners for the Mission for the Future program were chosen from approxi

Sept. 13, 2022

S. Korea seeks to introduce tighter rules to improve fiscal health

South Korea's finance ministry said Tuesday it will push to introduce fiscal rules that would mandate a sharp drop in the deficit in case the national debt exceeds 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The move came in line with the Yoon Suk-yeol government's push to implement a belt-tightening policy as part of effort to improve the country's financial soundness following years of expansionary fiscal spending. During the emergency economic ministers' meeting, the government decided to pus

Sept. 13, 2022

Seoul shares open higher ahead of US inflation data

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Tuesday as investors await the new US inflation data ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate-setting policy meeting next week. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) soared 43.34 points, or 1.82 percent, to 2,427.62 in the first 15 minutes of trading. US stocks rallied Monday (local time) amid hopes that the likely slowdown in the August inflation would prod the Fed to go easy on its future rate hikes if it were to stick to its third consecut

Sept. 13, 2022

Exports down, trade deficit widens during first 10 days of Sept.

South Korea's exports fell 16.6 percent on-year in the first 10 days of September due mainly to fewer working days over the Chuseok holiday, with its trade deficit widening on high energy costs, data showed Tuesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $16.25 billion in the Sept. 1-10 period, compared with $19.48 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports also went down 10.9 percent on-year to $18.69 billion during the cited period, resul

Sept. 13, 2022

SK hynix to run overseas working program for employees

SK hynix Inc. said Tuesday it will start an overseas working and training program to help its employees have a broader perspective of the global semiconductor industry. The Global eXperience Program (GXP) will run for five weeks from the end of October at SK hynix's overseas branches as well as at the offices of other chip companies, including Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML, the world's second-largest memory chip maker said. Employees can pick their destination from the list

Sept. 13, 2022

Number of 'marginal firms' jumps nearly 24% in 2 years

The number of South Korean firms unable to service their debts with earnings soared nearly 24 percent in 2021 from two years earlier amid the prolonged coronavirus outbreak, a report showed Tuesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy had 2,823 "marginal companies" last year, up 23.7 percent from 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, according to the report by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI). Marginal companies refer to corporations whose interest coverage ratio

Sept. 13, 2022

[Herald Interview] ‘Huge amount of future will be happening through Asia’

Grand plans laid out by Seoul and Busan show how South Korea will play a major role as Asia's influence grows, according to futurist Richard Yonck. “One of the things that are very apparent to me is that a huge amount of the future is going to be happening through Asia,” Yonck, founder of Intelligent Future Consulting, told The Korea Herald in Seoul on Sept. 5. Mentioning the Seoul Vision 2030 plan and the government efforts to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan, the futurist said t

Sept. 13, 2022

Korea’s economic growth ebbs on US, China slowdown

South Korea’s gross domestic product -- the value of all goods and services created in the country -- improved slightly in the second quarter but underperformed that of most OECD countries on the US and China slowdowns, the latest Bank of Korea data showed Monday. The central bank found that the GDP rose 0.7 percent on-quarter in the April-June quarter, an incremental improvement from the 0.6 percent in the previous quarter. The latest growth rate ranks 20th among 35 countries -- including

Sept. 12, 2022

Renault QM6 enhances luxury appeal

Renault Korea has enhanced the luxury appeal of its popular sport utility vehicle QM6. One distinctive feature is the use of Alcantara fabric for the highest Premiere trim. Alcantara is a suedelike fabric noted for its durability and carbon-neutral manufacturing process. A substitute for leather and vinyl, the fabric is increasingly being used in luxury vehicles. For the QM6, seats and armrests are covered in black Alcantara. Driving assistance features have also been bolstered. From the midrang

Sept. 12, 2022

Korean Air in talks with Asian airlines to share US route

South Korea’s flag carrier Korean Air is reportedly in talks with multiple Southeast Asian airlines to share its Incheon-Los Angeles route in an apparent attempt to get antitrust approval from US regulators in its acquisition of the cash-strapped crosstown rival Asiana Airlines, according to industry sources on Monday. The unprecedented talks come in response to the US requiring Korean Air to submit plans on how to ensure competition by giving a specific name of the air carrier that will o

Sept. 12, 2022

Memory down cycle to unseat Samsung

Samsung Electronics is projected to see a 19 percent drop in quarterly sales during the July-September period, which will drop the tech giant to the second place in the world's semiconductor market by sales following Taiwan-based foundry company TSMC's swift rise to the top, data showed Monday. The third-quarter revenue of Samsung's chip business -- which oversees memory products, foundry services and non-memory products like mobile processors -- is forecast to amount to $18.29 billion, down 19

Sept. 12, 2022

Jeju Air raises W320b to modernize fleet

Jeju Air, South Korea’s leading budget carrier, said Monday it has raised a combined 320 billion won ($232 million) as part of a new fleet modernization plan. The airliner said it secured the funds by selling 273 million new common shares starting Aug. 26. This paid-in capital increase will be used to boost the company's facility budget, it added. AK Holdings, Jeju Air’s largest stakeholder, issued 130 billion won-worth of exchangeable bonds to partake in the paid-in capital increase

Sept. 12, 2022

Samsung chief visits Mexico during Chuseok holiday

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has held talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Thursday and visited key locations of Samsung's business ranging from electronics to construction during the four-day Chuseok holiday in South Korea, the tech giant said Monday. During the talks, the 54-year-old discussed Samsung Electronics' current business affairs in Mexico and the long-term partnership with Samsung and Mexican companies, while expressing an appreciation

Sept. 12, 2022