Housing prices on downward trend after peak: finance minister

South Korea's finance minister said Wednesday the country's housing prices are on a downward trend after being stabilized amid the central bank's rate hikes and tighter lending rules. Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will implement its real estate policy with a focus on expanding the home supply and rooting out property speculation in a bid to support a fall in home prices. "Stabilizing trends of housing prices have become more evident, and price falls have been accelerating,"

Feb. 23, 2022

Business sentiment rises for March but stays below par

South Korean's business sentiment improved slightly for March but remained below par amid the fast spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant, a central bank poll showed Wednesday. The business sentiment index (BSI) for local companies came to 88 for March, up three points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BSI for manufacturers climbed to 93 from 90 over the cited period, and that for non-manufacturing businesses also gained two points to 84. The index

Feb. 23, 2022

HDC, victims’ families agree on compensation over Gwangju accident

Bereaved families of six victims discovered dead at HDC Hyundai Development Co.’s construction site in Gwangju last month said they had reached an agreement with the firm Tuesday. Although the families did not disclose the exact amount of the compensation, they said they had to “give in a lot” in terms of the amount.  The agreement comes two weeks after the last victim was discovered at the construction site, almost a month after the facade and concrete floors of the 39-

Feb. 22, 2022

LG Energy Solution aims big after IPO

LG Energy Solution was listed on the main Kospi bourse in January, 30 years after the company took its first step as a pioneer in the rechargeable battery business in 1992. Its next goal is to become “a company that is trusted and loved by customers.” LG Energy Solution’s initial public offering set several records, raising capital of more than 10 trillion won ($8.3 billion) and attracting 114.1 trillion won in deposits from some 4.4 million retail investors. As the first K

Feb. 22, 2022

Majority of households forecast fall in home prices: BOK

SEJONG -- At least 1 in 2 South Koreans were found to have predicted home prices to go down in the coming year, amid a variety of tight regulations and rising interest rates, data from the Bank of Korea showed Tuesday. According to the monthly consumer survey conducted by BOK, the index for households’ outlook on housing prices sat at 97 in February, down three points from a month earlier. The index indicates that the number of households predicting a decline in housing prices was higher

Feb. 22, 2022

FTC grants conditional approval for Korean Air-Asiana merger over monopoly concern

The South Korean antitrust regulator granted a conditional approval on Tuesday for a merger between South Korea’s two biggest air carriers to prevent monopoly in the country’s aviation industry. The Fair Trade Commission’s decision was made after concluding that Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana Airlines might limit competition. After the merger, the two air carriers would operate around 48.9 percent of international flights from South Korea and 62 percent of domestic

Feb. 22, 2022

Amid digitalization drive, banks expand offline services for wealthy

South Korean banking groups are opening more offline asset management centers exclusively for the nation’s superrich, while closing regular branches and replacing them with mobile and artificial intelligence-based services. On Tuesday, Shinhan Financial Group said it upgraded and rebranded two of its wealth management centers in Seoul to focus on providing exclusive banking services for its clients with personal assets of over 10 billion won ($8.3 million). The wealth management centers

Feb. 22, 2022

Dunamu’s funding for startups tops W100b

Dunamu & Partners, the investment arm of Korea’s blockchain firm Dunamu, said Tuesday it has invested a combined 100.3 billion won ($83.9 million) in a total of 46 startups over the past three years. Dunamu said artificial intelligence and data startups make up almost half of the beneficiaries it has funded, while others in the fields of gaming, fintech, blockchain and digital healthcare are key recipients. Many of the startups showed strong performance in elevating corporate valu

Feb. 22, 2022

Market volatility escalates on Ukraine worries

Market volatility escalated Tuesday on news that Russia ordered troops into separatist-held eastern Ukraine, dragging down the nation’s stock indexes as well as virtual assets and sparking concerns that the geopolitical unrest is likely to expand short-term uncertainty in the financial market. The benchmark Kospi ended lower Tuesday as investors raced to dump risky assets, falling to 2,706.79, down 1.35 percent or 37.01 points from Monday’s closing. The Kospi, which has seen i

Feb. 22, 2022

BOK to beef up monitoring of economic fallout from Ukraine crisis

South Korea's central bank said Tuesday that it will closely monitor the development of escalating tensions in Ukraine on concerns that the geopolitical risk could increase market volatility and negatively affect the domestic economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the deployment of troops to two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine after recognizing their independence, which raised the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine, dampening hopes for a diplomatic solution. Policym

Feb. 22, 2022

SK ecoplant acquires Singaporean recycling tech firm for $1b

SK ecoplant said Tuesday it has acquired TES, a Singapore-based electronic waste recycling company, for $1 billion as part of efforts to expand its presence in the burgeoning waste management market. The construction arm of SK Group said it signed a deal to buy a 100 percent stake in TES from Navis Capital Partners, a private equity firm, in Singapore on Monday. TES supplies waste management solutions for electronic devices and components to major IT equipment manufacturers. Its services inc

Feb. 22, 2022

LG, Google launch Expert AI Alliance

LG Group said Monday it has formed an alliance with Google to create a global artificial intelligence ecosystem. According to the South Korean conglomerate, the partnership named Expert AI Alliance, will utilize LG AI Research’s hyperscale AI “Exaone” to create a new customer experience. Google will provide its cloud to accelerate the learning process of Exaone. Thirteen founding members are LG AI Research, LG Electronics, LG Chem, LG Uplus, LG CNS, Google, Woori Bank, Shut

Feb. 22, 2022

Local streamer Watcha to launch new platform with music, webtoons

Watcha, a homegrown over-the-top service, said Tuesday it plans to kick off a new platform that provides music and webtoon contents in addition to its current video streaming service. The latest move comes amid growing competition in the local video streaming market led by global streaming giant Netflix, followed by homegrown players Wavve and Tving. "Watcha will evolve from our current video streaming service provider into an integrated entertainment subscription service ... this will allo

Feb. 22, 2022

Solus Advanced Materials to build new factory in Quebec

Solus Advanced Materials, which supplies electric vehicle battery materials to Tesla, will break ground on a new factory in Quebec, Canada, in July, the company said Monday. Once completed, the Quebec facility will begin the mass production of copper foils of up to 17,000 tons starting the second half of 2024. The annual production capacity could potentially expand up to 60,000 tons. Formerly known as Doosan Solus, the South Korean company manufactures copper foils that go inside EV batter

Feb. 22, 2022

[MWC 2022] Korean telcos set sight on groundbreaking 5G network tech

The chiefs of all three major telecommunication firms in South Korea -- KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus -- are poised to attend the forthcoming tech event Mobile World Congress 2022 onsite in Barcelona, Spain, where next-generation network technologies are set to take center stage. At the MWC 2022, which runs from Feb. 28 to March 3, Korean telcos will showcase how they have shifted gears in their radio access network technology. This shift has enabled mobile handsets to be connected with a core n

Feb. 22, 2022

Celltrion's autoimmune disease biosimilar wins further approval in Europe

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion Inc. said Tuesday that a high-concentration version of its autoimmune disease biosimilar Yuflyma has won approval from European drug authorities. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light to Celltrion's application to sell Yuflyma -- a biosimilar referencing blockbuster drug Humira by AbbVie Inc. The drug is used to treat patients with multiple chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, according to Celltr

Feb. 22, 2022

Household debt hits fresh high in Q4, but growth slows

South Korea's household debt reached a fresh high in the fourth quarter of last year, but it grew at a slower pace from the three months earlier amid tightened lending rules, central bank data showed Tuesday. Household credit came to 1,862.1 trillion won ($1.56 trillion) as of end-December, up 1 percent, or 19.1 trillion won, from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The gain slowed from a 1.9 percent on-quarter increase in the third quarter. Household credit

Feb. 22, 2022

Hugel's botulinum toxin wins approval in Austria

South Korea's leading botox maker Hugel Inc. said Tuesday its botulinum toxin product, Letybo, has won approval from Austrian drug authorities. The Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care granted the use of Letybo for the treatment of frown lines in adult patients. It marks the first time for a homegrown botulinum toxin product to win marketing approval from European authorities. The approval comes after Letybo received a positive recommendation from the Heads of Medicines Agencies for

Feb. 22, 2022

LG's OLED TV shipments double in 2021: report

LG Electronics Inc. shipped more than four million units of premium OLED TVs last year, double the volume from a year earlier, on steady demand for premium TVs, a report showed Tuesday. The South Korean consumer electronics giant shipped a total of 4.04 million OLED TVs last year, with record quarterly sales of more than 1.41 million units in the fourth quarter, market researcher Omdia said. Last year, the global OLED TV sector grew a whopping 80 percent on-year to hit sales of more than 6.5 mil

Feb. 22, 2022

Instant noodles rank 1st in food output in 2020 amid pandemic

Instant noodles captured the top spot in production among food products in South Korea in 2020 on a surge in exports amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The output of instant noodles, or "ramyeon" in Korean, stood at 1.93 million tons in 2020, up a whopping 231 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Ramyeon's ranking in terms of production was up 12 notches from the previous year. Strong exports were cited as the ma

Feb. 22, 2022