[Photo News] Empty Myeong-dong

Shops in Myeong-dong, which has been a popular shopping district in Seoul for decades, are seen vacant despite growing numbers of foreign tourists visiting Korea, Wednesday.

June 22, 2022

Korea’s household, corporate debt twice size of GDP: BOK

Debt owed by South Korean households and companies in the first quarter of this year reached a combined 3,468.4 trillion won ($2.6 trillion), or 219.4 percent of South Korea’s gross domestic product, the Bank of Korea said Wednesday, warning a rate hike could worsen repayment burdens and hurt people’s purchasing power. The central bank, set to raise borrowing costs in July amid red-hot inflation, said in a report on financial stability that household and company debts fell by 0.1 pe

June 22, 2022

First annual trade deficit since 2008 expected this year

South Korea is expected to record this year its first annual trade deficit since the global financial crisis in 2008, the Korea International Trade Association said in a report released on Wednesday. The country is projected to post an annual trade deficit of $14.7 billion due to high oil prices, with $703.9 billion in exports and $718.5 billion in imports, KITA’s Institute for International Trade said. Exports are likely to rise above $700 billion for the first time ever, or up 9.2 perc

June 22, 2022

Citibank partners with KB, Toss Bank for W8tr performing loan portfolio transfer

Citigroup’s South Korean subsidiary has said it will cooperate with local financial giant KB Kookmin Bank and the internet-only Toss Bank on transferring its unsecured personal loan portfolio worth some 8 trillion won ($6.1 billion). The move is part of Citibank Korea’s decision announced in October last year to shut down its retail banking operations in phases, after its monthslong attempt to find a buyer of the business failed. Its parent firm and US banking giant Citigroup decide

June 22, 2022

Lotte Mart adopts AI system for quality control of fruits

South Korean retail giant Lotte Mart said Wednesday it has adopted an artificial intelligence-based screening system for better quality control of fruit products, an industry first here. The AI screening system, using near-infrared light, collects and analyzes data from fruits ranging from weight and sugar content to water content and ripeness. The new technology also allows to detect internal defects such as browning, overripening or cracked seeds that could speed up the fruit rotting. Curr

June 22, 2022

GM Korea to launch GMC pickup brand in H2

INCHEON -- GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Wednesday it will launch the GMC brand in the second half, with the Sierra Denali set to be released as the brand's launch model in the Korean market. GM's decision to launch the GMC brand is part of the Detroit carmaker's multi-brand strategy in which the Korean unit produces compact SUVs in Korea and brings in large-sized SUVs and pickups from the United States. GMC is GM's premium SUV and pickup tru

June 22, 2022

BOK chief to attend BIS meeting

South Korea's top central banker will head to Switzerland this week to attend the general assembly of the Bank for International Settlement (BIS), his office said Wednesday. BOK Gov. Rhee Chang-yong will leave for Basel on Thursday to attend the annual BIS meeting over this weekend, according to the BOK. Rhee is to meet with top central bankers of other countries and exchange views on the latest economic and financial market situations, it added. He will also attend a BIS board meeting duri

June 22, 2022

Foreign currency deposits up in May amid increased corporate savings

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea grew in May due to increased corporate savings, central bank data showed Wednesday. Residents' outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits reached $89.17 billion as of end-May, up $2.18 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Residents include local citizens, companies, foreigners staying here for more than six months and foreign firms. The data excludes interbank foreign currency deposits.

June 22, 2022

Childbirths hit record low in April; deaths jump to all-time high

The number of babies born in South Korea fell to a record low in April amid the chronically low birthrate, while that of deaths hit an all-time high due to rapid aging and the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday. A total of 21,124 babies were born in April, down 7 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest for any April since 1981, when the statistics agency started compiling related data. South Korea is struggling with a chronic declin

June 22, 2022

Line Plus to allow remote work from abroad

Line Plus, the global arm of messaging app provider Line Corp., said Monday that it will implement a new work system called “Line Hybrid Work 2.0” in July, which includes guidelines on working remotely from abroad. Starting July 1, Line Plus employees will be able to work remotely from anywhere in the world that has a time difference of less than four hours with Korea, for up to 90 days. This will allow employees to work from the company’s major markets including Japan, Taiw

June 22, 2022

Internet-only Toss Bank to raise W100b via stock offering

Internet-only bank Toss Bank said Tuesday that it will sell stocks to raise 100 billion won ($77.2 million) to fund business expansion. In a regulatory filing, the company said it will issue a total of 15 million common shares and 5 million convertible stocks at a price of 5,000 won per share. With the stock offerings, Toss Bank's total paid-in capital will amount to 950 billion won. Since its launch, Toss Bank has sold stocks worth 600 billion won to beef up its capital base. Launched in 2

June 22, 2022

Samsung expected to announce mass production of 3nm chip next week

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to announce mass production of 3-nanometer semiconductors next week, sources said Wednesday, beating its foundry rival TSMC in advanced chipmaking process. The next-generation 3nm chips will be built on the Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology, which Samsung said will allow up to 45 percent area reduction while providing 30 percent higher performance and 50 percent lower power consumption, compared with the existing FinFET process. The South Korean tech giant show

June 22, 2022

Seoul shares open lower despite Wall Street gains

Seoul shares opened lower Wednesday despite Wall Street's overnight rebound, as investor sentiment remained fragile amid bold monetary tightening in major economies and fears about a recession. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.71 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,400.22 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Wall Street made a comeback overnight, following a brutal week in the wake of the US Federal Reserve's rate hike of 0.75 percent, its steepest increase since 1994, to

June 22, 2022

Nuri opens new space era

GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province -- In its second attempt, South Korea successfully launched the nation’s first domestic rocket into orbit on Tuesday, a landmark step that opens a new era of homegrown space technology and lays the foundation for outer space excursion. After spending eight months on improving technical problems that caused an early shutdown of the third-stage rocket engine, the Nuri rocket (KSLV-II), weighing 200 metric tons, once again flew to outer space at the state-run

June 21, 2022

Over 300 Korean companies serve as building blocks of Nuri success

Tight collaboration of all parties concerned is key to a rocket launch, as a minor technical glitch could botch years of efforts. Behind Tuesday’s successful launch of South Korea’s first homegrown rocket Nuri were the joint efforts of over 300 companies at home. Korea Aerospace Industries, based in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, was the effective leader of the pack. KAI has been in charge of the assembly of all rocket parts supplied since joining the Nuri project in 2014. K

June 21, 2022

S. Korea joins elite space club as 7th member

The successful launch of South Korea’s homegrown space rocket Nuri, officially the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II, on Tuesday added the country as the seventh nation in the world to have developed a space launch vehicle that can carry a satellite of more than 1 ton. The list begins with Russia, the US and France. China, Japan and India later joined the exclusive club of spacefaring nations. Since initiating its first space rocket development mission in the early 1990s, it took nearly 30 y

June 21, 2022

Chaebol groups batten down the hatches

South Korea’s chaebol groups are expected to take a more cautious approach toward hiring and spending as they brace for rough times ahead amid widespread fears of an economic downturn. Samsung Group held a rare CEO meeting on Monday, almost five years since a weekly meeting of top executives across affiliates was suspended following the dissolution of the Future Strategy Office, also dubbed as the group’s control tower, in 2017. According to Samsung, a total of 25 CEOs of key aff

June 21, 2022

BOK warns inflation will rise further

The Bank of Korea said Tuesday that South Korea could see the annual increase in consumer prices this year top the 4.7 percent marked in 2008, the highest level in the last 20 years, as a global surge in materials and food costs adds pressure on Asia’s fourth-largest economy. “Given the surging oil prices and changes in the global economy, inflation for this year will surpass the estimate made in May,” the central bank said in a biannual report on consumer prices, revising up

June 21, 2022

Seoul shares rebound amid slowdown woes

South Korean stocks rebounded Tuesday from a fresh 19-month low the previous session on bargain hunting amid lingering concerns over high inflation and a global economic slowdown. The local currency fell against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 17.90 points, or 0.75 percent, to close at 2,408.93. The gain came after the index tumbled 2.04 percent to the lowest level since November 2020. Trading volume was a bit slim at 468.76 million shar

June 21, 2022

Yoon offers tax cut, more jeonse loans in 1st housing measures

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration on Tuesday unveiled the first batch of its real estate measures that offer lowering tax burdens for first-time homeowners and expanding tax deductions for tenants, taking the first step to realize its campaign pledge to “normalize” the housing market. The government will come up with detailed measures for the supply of 2.5 million homes and more no later than August.　 At a joint briefing, First Vice Minister of Economy and Finance Bang Ki

June 21, 2022