Retail sales up 9.7% in July amid eased virus curbs

Retail sales in South Korea rose 9.7 percent on-year in July amid eased COVID-19 curbs and the growth in people's outdoor activities, the industry ministry said Tuesday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers came to 14.17 trillion won ($10.48 billion) last month, compared with 12.9 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It marked the fifth consecutive month of on-year growth. Sales from offline stores

Aug. 30, 2022

BOK chief sees no change in Seoul's monetary policy despite Powell's hawkish remarks

The Bank of Korea (BOK) will not change its current monetary policy of pushing for "piecemeal" rate increases to combat inflation despite US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's hawkish remarks at the recent Jackson Hole meeting, its top official said Tuesday. At the annual conference held over the weekend in Wyoming, Powell hinted at continuing the Federal Reserve's rate hikes for some time to rein in runaway inflation, a comment interpreted in the market as raising the possibility of

Aug. 30, 2022

Industry ministry seeks W10.7t in 2023 budget for chip, nuclear sectors

The industry ministry said Tuesday it has requested 10.74 trillion won ($7.95 billion) in its budget for next year to spur semiconductors, nuclear energy and other advanced industry sectors, and to strengthen supply chains. The budget for 2023 marked a 3.7 percent drop from this year's 11.16 trillion won, as the ministry has been focusing on the development of key future strategic technologies while ensuring financial soundness, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The p

Aug. 30, 2022

S. Korea seeks slowest growth of budget spending in 6 years for next year

South Korea on Tuesday proposed a budget of 639 trillion won ($473.5 billion) for next year in the slowest spending growth in six years as it seeks to implement a belt-tightening policy to improve fiscal health. The proposal represents a 5.2 percent hike from this year's budget of 607.7 trillion won and compares with an 8.9 percent on-year increase for the 2022 state budget. But it marks the slowest growth since a 3.7 percent rise for the 2017 budget and a 6 percent on-year fall from this year's

Aug. 30, 2022

Tax revenue up W37.3t in first seven months of this year

South Korea's tax revenue grew 37.3 trillion won ($27.8 billion) in the first seven month of this year from a year ago as the collection of corporate and income taxes amid the economic recovery, the finance ministry said Tuesday. Tax revenue amounted to 261 trillion won in the January-July period, compared with 223.7 trillion won the previous year, according to the ministry. In July alone, tax revenue increased 800 billion won on-year to 42.7 trillion won. South Korea has posted a surplus o

Aug. 30, 2022

Seoul shares open higher amid persistent rate hike woes

South Korea's stock market opened higher Tuesday, as investors digested the possibility of the US Federal Reserve continuing its aggressive monetary tightening. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 16.05 points, or 0.66 percent, to trade at 2,442.94 as of 9:15 a.m. The market has faced renewed fears about aggressive rate hikes since last Friday when Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at the annual Jackson Hole meeting that the US central bank will keep rates at an elevated

Aug. 30, 2022

LG Energy Solution, Honda to build $4.4b battery plant in US

LG Energy Solution said Monday it is building a new 5.1 trillion won ($4.4 billion) electric vehicle battery plant in the US in a joint venture partnership with Japanese auto giant Honda -- the first of its kind signed between a Korean battery maker and a Japanese carmaker. The world’s second-largest EV battery maker held a signing ceremony of the new deal in Seoul later in the day, with LG Energy Solution CEO Kwon Young-soo and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe in attendance. The plant, with an

Aug. 29, 2022

TV war looms as Samsung, LG head to IFA this week

South Korean tech rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are heading to Berlin this week to show off their latest home appliances, including flagship TVs, during the IFA trade show that kicks off Friday (local time). Keen interest is being paid to whether Samsung will showcase its latest OLED TVs during the annual gathering. After a nearly nine-year hiatus, Samsung started rolling out OLED TVs early this year, but no high-profile promotional event has been held, raising speculation abou

Aug. 29, 2022

More self-employed work alone in Korea

SEJONG -- The number of self-employed people without employees came to the highest in 14 years in South Korea amid the surge in food deliverymen and business startups among retirees, state data showed Monday. The nation’s self-employed is split into two groups: those who hire several workers as micro-business owners, and those who do not hire any employees. The latter are also called own-account workers. According to Statistics Korea, the number of own-account workers, who work alone, re

Aug. 29, 2022

Seoul stocks slump, snapping 3-day winning streak; Korean won falls to lowest level against US dollar in 13 years

South Korean stocks tumbled Monday as investors grappled with renewed concerns over the US central bank's aggressive monetary tightening. The Korean won dropped to its lowest level against the US dollar in 13 years. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 54.14 points, or 2.18 percent, to close at 2,426.89, ending its three-day rise. Trading volume was moderate at 441.63 million shares worth 7.79 trillion won ($5.77 billion), with losers far outnumbering winners 822 to 86. Ins

Aug. 29, 2022

Financial firm workers embezzled W170b over 6 years: lawmaker

Executives from financial firms were reaping astronomical salaries and bonuses amid increasing embezzlement, a lawmaker said Monday, quoting data. Data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Rep. Yang Jung-suk showed that a total of 327 embezzlement cases worth a total of 170 billion won ($126 million) had occurred at 78 financial firms from 2017 to August this year. According to the data, the amount of damage caused by embezzlements in the financial sector was increasing every yea

Aug. 29, 2022

Korea hit by market volatility after Powell’s hawkish speech

South Korea’s financial authorities and brokerages on Monday warned of volatilities stemming from US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole last week, with the private sector expressing more skepticism towards the associated risks. Powell on Friday delivered a hawkish remark saying that the rising interest rates will cause “some pain” to the US economy and that the US Fed will use their “tools forcefully” to combat the nation’s

Aug. 29, 2022

KT&G to build new packaging factory in Sejong

South Korean tobacco company KT&G said Monday it plans to build a new eco-friendly tobacco packaging factory in the central administrative hub of Sejong City. Under the 180 billion won ($133.5 million) project, the factory will be constructed at Sejong Mirae Industrial Estate, a government-developed area for local manufacturing companies, by 2025. KT&G said the factory will produce tobacco packaging such as cigarette papers and boxes, based on a cutting-edge logistics automation syste

Aug. 29, 2022

Minister says inflation law ‘highly likely’ to violate FTA

South Korean Minister of Trade Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang said Monday the US Inflation Reduction Act that bans tax benefits for electric vehicles built outside of North America is highly likely to breach the US-Korea FTA and WTO rules. Asked whether the act violated the US-Korea FTA or WTO rules during a parliamentary committee meeting on trade and industry, Lee said, “It is highly likely to be violating those rules and we will bring a complaint at the WTO if necessary.” T

Aug. 29, 2022

Probe launched over Morgan Stanley short selling in Korea

South Korea’s top financial watchdog is investigating stock short selling practices at Morgan Stanley’s Seoul office, people familiar with the matter said Monday, in the latest sign of a crackdown set to expand this week to regulate the practice that profits from a drop in stock prices. The Financial Supervisory Service will look at Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs next, an official at the watchdog said, noting: “These firms are the top priority because most of the short sellin

Aug. 29, 2022

Hanwha chief’s eldest son nominated as vice chairman

Kim Dong-kwan, the eldest son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, has been tentatively promoted to the group’s vice chairman as he is expected to take on a bigger role in the group’s management, Hanwha Group said Monday. The decision came about a year after the 38-year-old became the CEO of Hanwha Solutions, the group’s company with business areas in multinational energy services, petrochemical and real estate in September 2021. According to the announcement, Kim has a

Aug. 29, 2022

Execs paid over W500m up 13% in H1

Data from market intelligence firm FnGuide showed Monday that 885 officials at companies listed on the Korean stock market were paid 500 million won ($370,000) or higher in the first half of this year, up 13.3 percent from 781 people in the same period last year. According to FnGuide’s data, the total amount of the officials’ remuneration logged 1.23 trillion won, a 5.2 percent increase on year. About 57.1 percent of the officials were paid between 500 million won and 1 billion won

Aug. 29, 2022

Lotte grants W14b to KAIST for R&D

Lotte Group, South Korea’s fifth largest conglomerate, has decided to donate 14 billion won ($10.4 million) to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology for various research and development efforts, officials said Monday. The announcement came about half a year after Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin met KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung at the university in Daejeon, South Chungcheong Province, in February. According to the officials, Lotte Group’s 10 subsidiaries inc

Aug. 29, 2022

‘An alien working at Samsung,' S. Korean tech giant unveils new avatar

Samsung Electronics revealed Monday a teaser which featured its new virtual alien avatar named G-Nusmas. According to Samsung’s video posted online, the small blue extraterrestrial invader, originally from a planet called Nowus-129, accidentally arrived on Earth through a crash landing. The alien’s name is Samsung spelt backwards, while the name of its home planet is a whimsical wordplay on the address of the company’s headquarters. The alien’s full background story wi

Aug. 29, 2022

S. Korea's financial regulator inspecting Morgan Stanley for short selling

South Korea's financial watchdog has launched an inspection into Morgan Stanley as part of efforts to intensify monitoring of stock short selling that has been blamed for excessive market swings, industry sources said Monday. The inspection came about two weeks after Lee Bok-hyun, the head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), underlined the need to keep tabs on illegal short selling, saying his agency is preparing to inspect brokerages where such transactions have been concentrated d

Aug. 29, 2022