GM Korea to adjust workforce, production amid chip shortage

GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Wednesday it will adjust vehicle production and relocate workforce in its plants amid an extended global chip shortage. GM Korea and its union agreed to switch to a one-shift system, or regular daytime shift, from the two-shift system at the No. 1 Bupyeong plant from May 1, "to flexibly respond to market demand," the company said in a statement. The union also accepted the company's plan to relocate 1,200 workers in the No

April 20, 2022

Non-pricing policy must for well-coordinated global climate change responses: Seoul's finance chief

South Korea's top economic policymaker has stressed the need to balance market mechanisms against non-pricing policy measures in coordinating global efforts to fight climate change, his office said Wednesday.Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks during an online meeting of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Actions held Tuesday."The proper combination of market mechanisms, such as an emissions trading system, and non-price policy support is a must in responding to climat

April 20, 2022

[Graphic News] Imported car sales dip 8.7% amid chip shortages

　Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea fell 8.7 percent in March as chip shortages continued to affect vehicle production, an industry association said. 　The number of newly registered foreign vehicles fell to 24,912 units last month from 27,297 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association said in a statement. 　The three bestselling models last month were Mercedes-Benz’s E 250 sedan and E 350 4MATIC sedan and BMW’s 520 sedan, it said. &n

April 20, 2022

Seoul stocks open lower on tech losses

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, despite overnight gains on Wall Street, as large-cap tech shares lost ground on profit-taking. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 8.88 points, or 0.33 percent, to reach 2,710.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, US stocks rose ahead of the corporate earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.45 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index soared 2.15 percent. In Seoul, big-cap tech and bio sh

April 20, 2022

Wheat import prices hit over 13-year high in March

South Korea's wheat import prices soared to an over 13-year high in March on the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a global supply chain bottleneck, data showed Wednesday, exerting upward pressure on food prices here. The country's import prices of wheat amounted to $402 per ton last month, up 8.8 percent from the previous month and the highest level since December 2008, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. Compared with a year earlier, the per-ton

April 20, 2022

S. Korea ranks 2nd among OECD nations in R&D spending as portion of GDP: report

South Korea placed second in research and development (R&D) spending as a portion of its gross domestic product (GDP) among major developed countries in 2020, but its tepid growth in recent years calls for more policy support, a report said Wednesday. South Korea's R&D expenditures reached 93.1 trillion won ($75.4 billion) in 2020, accounting for 4.81 percent of GDP, according to a recent report by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the country's largest business lobby. That made

April 20, 2022

IMF slashes Korea’s growth forecast to 2.5%

SEJONG -- The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday predicted that the growth of the Korean economy would stay in the mid 2 percent range this year in the wake of the war between Ukraine and Russia, alongside the ongoing pandemic. In its latest world economic outlook report, the IMF revised down its forecast on the gross domestic product growth of Korea by 0.5 percentage point from its earlier suggestion of 3 percent to 2.5 percent. The figure is lower than the growth prediction of 2.7 percen

April 19, 2022

LX International buys biomass power plant operator in renewable energy push

LX International Corp., the trading arm of South Korea's LX Group, said Tuesday it has bought a major stake in a local biomass power plant operator as it pushes to expand its renewable energy business. LX International will take over a 63.3 percent stake in Poseung Green Power Co., in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, from DL Energy Co. for 95 billion won ($76.7 million), a deal that was approved by its board earlier in the day, the company said in a release. A biomass power plant produces st

April 19, 2022

Han Sung Motor partners CJ Logistics for Superrace Championship

Han Sung Motor, Korea‘s official Mercedes-Benz dealer, announced Tuesday that it has signed a brand partnership with CJ Logistics to support the Superrace Championship, which the logistics company hosts this weekend. The CJ Logistics Superrace Championship is the only stock car race in Asia and is the biggest motor sports event in South Korea. The two-day race kicks off this Saturday at the AMG Speedway in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The partnership comes in response to consumer’s

April 19, 2022

[Photo News] Consequence of supply shortage

Units of Hyundai Motor’s compact vehicle Casper ready for shipment are sparsely parked at Gwangju Global Motors, a joint venture manufacturing plant between the carmaker and the Gwangju city government on Tuesday. Located in South Korea’s southwestern city of Gwangju, the plant is capable of manufacturing 200 vehicles a day, but suspended its operations due to a prolonged supply shortage triggered by the Shanghai lockdown.

April 19, 2022

Video showing Ukrainian soldier "saved by" Samsung Galaxy smartphone goes viral

A video indicating that a Ukrainian soldier was saved from gun shots by a Samsung Galaxy smartphone came under the spotlight on Tuesday. Posted on social networking platform Reddit, the video shows the Ukrainian soldier reaching into his pocket to pull out what appears to be a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE or Samsung Galaxy S20. The smartphone has a bullet lodged in it, which appears to have protected the soldier from gun shots. The video didn‘t carry any text that illustrates what really happe

April 19, 2022

Three-way race begins for SsangYong Motor acquisition

A takeover battle for SsangYong Motor, the debt-ridden carmaker owned by India’s Mahindra Group, has kicked off between three rival bidders: two medium-sized enterprises and a private equity firm. KG Group, Ssangbangwool and Pavilion PE each submitted a letter of intent to acquire SsangYong Motor to the lead manager of the deal, EY Hanyoung, industry sources said Tuesday. After South Korean electric carmaker Edison Motors’ deal to purchase SsangYong Motor went up in smoke, Seoul Ba

April 19, 2022

[Newsmaker] Large retailers jump into e-commerce market for designer goods

Large retailers including Hanwha and Shinsegae are keen to jump into the e-commerce market for designer brands as existing online platforms are struggling to beat off a counterfeit luxury goods scandal. Online shopping malls for designer brands such as Mustit, Balaan and Trenbe have enjoyed a boom in Korea by offering convenience and prices lower than department stores or duty-free shops to the country’s growing number of luxury consumers who spent more during the pandemic. These online

April 19, 2022

Korean Air celebrates 50 years of serving American routes

South Korea’s flag carrier Korean Air said Tuesday that it has celebrated its 50th anniversary of operating American routes, stressing its role of bridging the countries both physically and culturally. A Korean Air Boeing 707 was the first aircraft operated by a Korean airliner to fly across the Pacific on April 19, 1972. It then made stops in Tokyo and Honolulu before landing in Los Angeles, officials recalled.　 The airline had two destinations in the US — LA and Honolulu —

April 19, 2022

LG CNS to build AI-powered smart farming platform

LG Group’s IT solutions unit LG CNS said Tuesday that it has joined the government’s new smart farming project to build an artificial intelligence-based platform that offers the ultimate guidelines for more efficient and high-yield farming. The project, launched by the Agriculture Ministry and the local government of South Jeolla Province, aims to create a 543,000 square-meter intelligent farm land in the rural city of Naju, some 355 kilometers south of Seoul, by 2023. Unlike mos

April 19, 2022

Central bank chief nominee hints additional rate hikes

South Korea’s central bank plans to give appropriate “signals” to quell inflationary pressure, the nominee for the Bank of Korea chief said Tuesday, confirming his stance for further rate hikes in months to come. Rhee Chang-yong, former director of the Asia and Pacific department at the International Monetary Fund, told lawmakers that the central bank will focus on placing a cap on the high inflationary pressure through “signals” at the moment, even if the move may

April 19, 2022

Samsung offers pickup repair service in Ukraine

Samsung Electronics is offering free pickup and delivery repair service for customers in war-torn Ukraine. According to its Ukraine unit on Tuesday, the Korean tech giant will pick up mobile devices to be repaired for customers living in areas where its service centers cannot be operated, and then deliver the devices to their homes. All of Samsung’s mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, are subject to the pickup service, with all costs being covered by the com

April 19, 2022

Number of food service employees rises amid economic recovery

The number of employees in the food service segment rose 1.2 percent on-year in October last year as the job market improved amid the economic recovery, data showed Tuesday. The number of people employed at restaurants and eateries reached 1.56 million last October, up 19,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The tally slowed from an on-year increase of 65,000 six months earlier. But it marked an improvement from October 2020, when such workers fell by a record number of 179,00

April 19, 2022

Banks' foreign currency deposits down in March amid strong US dollar

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea fell in March as South Korean companies withdrew US dollars for their planned overseas investments and individuals sold their dollars for profit-taking, central bank data showed Tuesday. Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by banks in South Korea reached $92.71 billion as of end-March, down $5.43 billion from a month ago, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign deposits include those held by foreigners who have s

April 19, 2022

Hite Jinro to strengthen marketing in Japan for soju sales

Hite Jinro Co., South Korea's leading beverage company, said Tuesday it will strengthen marketing efforts in Japan to boost sales of the traditional Korean liquor soju. Japan is Hite Jinro's second-biggest market for soju after the United States. Soju exports rebounded in 2020 and jumped 27 percent in 2021 from a year earlier amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement. The company didn't provide the value of exports. Hite Jinro advanced to Japan with its soju products in Novembe

April 19, 2022