Apple to launch new budget iPhone SE in S. Korea next week

Apple Inc. will launch its newly upgraded iPhone SE smartphone in South Korea next week, the country's telecom operators said Friday, as the US tech giant aims to expand its leadership in the budget-friendly smartphone market. Last week, Apple unveiled its low-end iPhone SE featuring better battery life and access to 5G connection, as well as the iPad Air and new green versions of the iPhone 13. Apple's latest iPhone SE will go on sale in South Korea next Friday. The new budget 5G phone will be

March 18, 2022

SC Bank Korea's 2021 net dips 50% on one-off costs

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Friday its net profit tumbled more than 50 percent in 2021 from a year earlier on large one-off costs. Combined net income stood at 127.9 billion won ($106 million) last year, down 50.3 percent from a year earlier, said the local unit of British banking giant Standard Chartered Bank. The lender said the bottom-line plunge is blamed on one-off costs worth 252.7 billion won resulting from a special early retirement program in the fourth quarter of last year. Its

March 18, 2022

Omicron spread feared to constrain private spending recovery: finance ministry

The South Korean economy has extended its recovery momentum on the back of robust exports, but the fast spread of the omicron variant is feared to constrain the recovery of private spending, the finance ministry said Friday. External economic uncertainties also heightened as volatility in raw material prices and market fluctuations amplified due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called the Green Book. "South Korea's exports have ma

March 18, 2022

Seoul stocks open higher as investors eye Ukraine peace talks

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Friday, as investors placed hopes on the ongoing fourth round of Ukraine-Russia peace talks after eased Fed uncertainties. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 3.9 points, or 0.14 percent, to trade at 2698.41 points as of 9:15 a.m. Large caps traded mixed in Seoul. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.7 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix retreated 0.81 percent. Internet portal operator Naver advanced 0.44 percent, and

March 18, 2022

Samsung, Apple to vie over midrange 5G phones

Samsung Electronics unveiled its new midrange smartphones -- Galaxy A33 5G and A53 5G -- at the Galaxy A event held Thursday, a week after its smartphone rival Apple came out with the latest iPhone SE series. The new lineup is part of the South Korean tech giant’s move aimed at giving Android users access to 5G connectivity at a more affordable price and to lure more people into its own Galaxy ecosystem. “We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to experience the positive impa

March 17, 2022

BOK chief nomination delayed amid Moon-Yoon friction

President Moon Jae-in and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol are seen as bickering over replacing the Bank of Korea governor, whose term ends on March 31 ahead of the May inauguration day, sparking concerns of a leadership void that could add another layer of uncertainty to economic worries. The BOK, which is expected to lift the nation’s key rate in response to a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, is walking a thin line between stemming currency depreciation and inflation at ho

March 17, 2022

Seoul stocks rise more than 1%, Korean won surges on Fed's hike, eased Ukraine woes

South Korean stocks rallied by more than 1 percent as the US Federal Reserve's monetary meeting results largely fell within investors' expectations and optimism for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The Korean won soared by the largest margin in two years against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 35.28 points, or 1.33 percent, to close at 2,694.51 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 535 million shares worth some 11.6 trillion won ($9.6 billion), w

March 17, 2022

Duty-free purchase limit scrapped for Koreans

South Korea’s Finance Ministry will no longer limit duty-free item purchases to $5,000 for outbound Korean nationals starting Friday, it said Thursday. But a government cap on how much is exempt from tax remains unchanged. Duties are exempt for purchases up to $600 of goods, one bottle of liquor worth up to $400, 200 cigarettes, and up to 60 milliliters of perfume. The Finance Ministry explained that the tax exemption limit in other countries are also around $500 and $600 and there was n

March 17, 2022

Korea to remove tariff on rare gases for chip manufacturing amid Ukraine war

SEJONG -- The Korean government will lower tariffs on a portion of imports for three major rare gases -- neon, xenon and krypton -- which are used during the process of manufacturing semiconductors down to zero percent, starting from next month. The action of slashing tariffs for a certain portion of imports of the three gases, but not for all, comes as part of the government’s countermeasures against the Ukraine-Russian war, the Ministry of Finance and Economy said Thursday. Deputy Prim

March 17, 2022

More Koreans end marriage at older age: data

More South Koreans are choosing to divorce at an older age, government data showed Thursday, with divorce rates among people 60 and older increasing as the nation rapidly approaches a super-aged society. The average age for males and females going through divorce here both rose 0.8 year on-year to 50.1 and 46.8, respectively, last year, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. In the last decade, the average age for males rose 4.7 years, while the age for females rose 5.2 years. While

March 17, 2022

Samsung SDI hints at new EV battery plant in US

Samsung SDI CEO Choi Yoon-ho on Thursday hinted at the possibility of building the battery maker’s own plant in the US, a burgeoning market for electric vehicles where the company is setting up a joint venture with Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Fiat and Peugeot vehicles. “Adding to the joint venture with Stellantis, we think there needs to be our own production base in the US,” Choi told reporters after a general meeting of shareholders in Seoul. “We are conside

March 17, 2022

Ex-Samsung VP convicted for union busting

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an additional 16-month jail sentence to former Samsung Electronics Vice President Kang Kyung-hoon for his attempts to break up a labor union in South Korea‘s largest conglomerate. This is the final court ruling that found the executive guilty over his scheme to sabotage labor union activities at Everland, an operator of an amusement park in Korea. Everland was considered a key affiliate in Samsung’s corporate structure, and has been merged into S

March 17, 2022

Coupang Eats set to begin alcohol delivery

Coupang Eats, the food delivery service launched by South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, is getting into delivering drinks.  The company said on its webpage earlier this week that it will start allowing restaurants signed up on the platform to sell alcohol, in an effort to help them increase sales. The new service will be rolled out within the first half of this year.  Coupang Eats had kept alcohol off the platform since its debut in May 2019. The move was in contrast to its top tw

March 17, 2022

SK-Netflix battle over network usage fee resumes at high court

Netflix proposed ways to reduce the burden on network providers in the first appellate court hearing over whether the streaming service is liable to pay network usage fees to SK Broadband. The court hearing, held Wednesday evening at the Seoul High Court, is the first since a preliminary hearing took place in December. The case follows a district court ruling in June that gave SK Broadband an upper hand -- the first ruling in the world over which party is obliged to pay network usage fees. Bo

March 17, 2022

Microfilter products certified for removing microplastics

Microfilter Co., an affiliate of water purifier maker ChungHo Nais Co., said 37 of its products have been certified by NSF International for removing microplastics. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic, less than 5 micrometers in length, that are extremely difficult to detect. They are known to cause harmful effects to human body, including cell death and allergic reactions. NSF International is a US product testing, inspection and certification organization approved by the American Natio

March 17, 2022

Naver halts sales of items suggestive of Japanese colonial rule on Zepeto

South Korean IT giant Naver has become an open target on Thursday for selling fashion items suggestive of Japanese outfits that were popular when Korea was under colonial rule on its metaverse platform Zepeto. Fashion items evidently inspired by styles that were trending during the 1912-26 Taisho era were on sale from Tuesday, according to users. Naver seems to have not considered the cultural and political context of such fashion items for Koreans, some argued. The Taisho era was a time of rel

March 17, 2022

S. Korea to launch antidumping probe into copper pipes from China, Vietnam

South Korea's trade commission said Thursday it plans to launch an antidumping investigation into seamless copper pipes from China and Vietnam. The Korea Trade Commission under the industry ministry said it has decided to launch the antidumping probe on the judgment that cheap imports of such products caused damage to the related industry in South Korea. Seamless cooper pipes are commonly used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and cooling and heating systems due to their high levels of corrosi

March 17, 2022

T'way Air targets W3tr in sales by 2027 on expanded fleet

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Thursday it targets to achieve 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in sales by 2027, as it aims to expand its fleet and serve long-haul routes. T'way Air added an A330-300 chartered plane last month for operations on the Gimpo-Jeju route from later this month, with two more A330-300s scheduled to arrive by May. "We are planning to operate 20 large-sized planes and 30 mid- and small-sized ones by 2027 to achieve the (3 trillion won) sales target. To

March 17, 2022

Jin Air resumes Busan-Guam route amid vaccinations

Jin Air Co., the budget carrier unit of Korean Air Lines Co., said Thursday it has resumed flights to Guam to preemptively respond to pent-up travel demand despite the extended COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, Jin Air began operating two flights a week on the Busan-Guam route as South Korea moves to further ease virus curbs amid accelerating vaccinations. Jin Air also offers flights from Incheon to Guam, Fukuoka, Cebu, Indonesia's capital city of Dhaka and China's Xian mainly to meet travel dema

March 17, 2022

S. Korea's tax revenue up 10.8tr won in Jan.

South Korea's tax revenue increased 10.8 trillion won ($8.8 billion) in January from a year earlier amid the economic recovery and the collection of deferred taxes over the pandemic, the finance ministry said Thursday. The government collected 49.7 trillion won in taxes in January, compared with 38.8 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The higher tax revenue came as the South Korean economy is on a recovery track and the government collected deferred

March 17, 2022