Inflation growth hits over 3% for fourth straight month in January

South Korea's consumer prices rose more than 3 percent for the fourth consecutive month in January due mainly to high prices of oil products and dining out amid soaring energy prices and a global supply chain crisis, data showed Friday. The consumer prices advanced 3.6 percent on-year last month, compared with a 3.7 percent gain in December, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The country's consumer inflation has increased more than 3 percent every month since October last year

Feb. 4, 2022

Coffee drinkers get less buzz for their buck as chains up prices

From Seoul to Seattle, the soaring cost of coffee beans is trickling into the cups of consumers. Some of the world’s biggest roasters and sellers of coffee are upping menu prices, having flagged that customers would be paying more as beans began to surge last year. Higher wages and other costs have also added to the rising charge for a daily cup, which is in turn increasing the inflationary pressures coursing through the global economy. Futures for arabica coffee jumped 76% in 2021, hitt

Feb. 3, 2022

Lotte, GM bet $11m in EV battery materials startup Soelect

A consortium led by Lotte Ventures, a startup investment unit of South Korea’s No. 5 conglomerate Lotte Group, injected $11 million into Soelect, a North Carolina-based firm that manufactures next-generation materials for electric vehicle batteries. According to the Soelect Thursday, the consortium, comprised of Lotte Ventures, General Motors Ventures and KTB Network, will support the US startup to commercialize its EV battery technology. The startup develops materials that go inside

Feb. 3, 2022

Tax probe launched over irregular asset transfers to children

SEJONG -- The nation’s tax authority said Thursday that it has launched a full-fledged investigation into people engaging in irregular transfers of assets to their children. The action is aimed at turning up the heat on people, who sought to evade gift taxes by transferring their homes to children at prices lower than those on the trading market, according to the National Tax Service. Over the past several years, more and more homeowners were found to have chosen to give their homes to t

Feb. 3, 2022

Hanwha to supply K9 howitzers to Egypt in record deal

Hanwha Defense announced Thursday that it will export the K9 self-propelled howitzer and other support vehicles to Egypt in a 2 trillion won ($1.6 billion) deal, the largest-ever supply deal for the locally-developed weapons system. Under the deal, the firm plans to supply the K9 howitzers, the K10 ammunition resupply vehicles and the K11 fire control vehicles. Technology transfer is also included in the deal for the local production of the K9. The firm said the first batch of K9 howitzers w

Feb. 3, 2022

[Subway Stories] Passengers down by 25% last year amid pandemic

Seoul Metro saw the number of passengers drop by 25 percent last year compared to pre-pandemic levels, new data revealed on Thursday. The subway operator said some 1.95 billion passengers used the city’s subway system in 2021, which also connects to neighboring areas such as Incheon and Gyeonggi. The figure stood at 2.67 billion in 2019 and 1.93 billion in 2020, based on the subway lines operated by Seoul Metro. This highlights the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on one of the largest s

Feb. 3, 2022

Will Sampyo become first to get punished under new industry safety law?

Following a deadly landslide accident on Saturday, the industry is keenly focused on whether Sampyo Industry will become the first company to get punished under the new industry safety law that came into effect last week.  The accident occurred at Sampyo’s quarry in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday. All three missing workers who were making holes for demolition work were discovered dead this week.  Sampyo is the local manufacturer of con

Feb. 3, 2022

2 in 3 young Koreans positive about meat alternatives: survey

More than two out of three Koreans in their 20s and 30s feel positive about plant-based meat alternatives and believe that they are better for the environment than animal meat, a survey showed Thursday. According to a survey conducted by Shinsaege Food, 67.6 percent of 1,000 respondents aged between 20 and 39 said they feel good about consuming meat replacements. Some 71 percent said meat alternatives are necessary because they take up less land and water, and produce less greenhouse gas than

Feb. 3, 2022

[Newsmaker] Celltrion to supply COVID-19 self-test kits to US

Celltrion USA, the US subsidiary of the Korean biotech firm, said Thursday it signed multiple deals to supply COVID-19 self-test kits worth 400 billion won ($330 million) in the US by the first quarter of this year. The latest deals involve some 10 government agencies and companies, including the Defense Logistics Agency and the e-commerce giant Amazon. Two kinds of test packs will be supplied: DiaTrust COVID-19 Ag Home Test and DiaTrust COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test, both developed in partnership

Feb. 3, 2022

External risks remain high for Korean market, BOK says

South Korea’s central bank said Thursday that the global market was relatively stable during the three-day Lunar New Year holiday this week, but external risks remain high on the Korean market. “During the Lunar New Year holiday, which took place this year from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, stocks and rates in major economies rose, alongside a weak dollar trend, due to easing of the global risk-avoidance tendencies,” BOK Senior Deputy Gov. Lee Seung-heon said after a meeting to review th

Feb. 3, 2022

Samsung SDI sets up new ESG body

Samsung SDI has established a new organization to accomplish its environmental, social and governance goals, including a full transition to renewable energy by 2050. According to the South Korean battery firm Thursday, its board of directors formed a sustainable business management committee to bolster ESG efforts. Also, an ESG strategy team, which previously belonged to the firm’s strategy division, has been elevated to a sustainable business management bureau directly under the chief fi

Feb. 3, 2022

KT to set up medical checkup centers in Russia with Medsi Group

South Korean communication technology firm KT said Thursday it would join hands with Russia’s Medsi Group to establish health checkup centers in the country, which has been experiencing a lack of access to medical infrastructure for clinical diagnostics. The two companies look to complete a feasibility review of the medical centers in Moscow and Vladivostok within this year, according to KT. The new centers will feature Korean-style health examination services, reflecting Russians‘

Feb. 3, 2022

Korea Shipbuilding wins ship orders totaling W704b

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Thursday it has received 704 billion won ($583 million) worth of ship orders. Korea Shipbuilding obtained four separate orders from shippers in Europe and Oceania to build two liquefied natural gas-powered roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships, one LNG bunkering ship and six 2,800 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container carriers, the company said in a statement. The ships will be delivered to the unidentified clients beginning in the s

Feb. 3, 2022

Daewoo Shipbuilding wins orders totaling W1.8tr from Europe

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Thursday it has received a combined 1.8 trillion won ($1.5 billion) worth of orders from Europe. Daewoo Shipbuilding will build two liquefied natural gas carriers for Maran Gas Maritime Inc., the gas shipping unit of Greece's biggest shipping firm Angelicoussis Shipping Group, and six container ships for an unidentified European shipper, the company said in a statement. The two LNG ships and six container carriers will begin being delivered

Feb. 3, 2022

Internet-only K-Bank logs 1st profit in 2021 since launch

K-Bank, a South Korean internet-only bank, on Thursday reported its first profit since its launch in 2017 thanks to a sharp increase in customers and interest income. Net profit came to 22.4 billion won ($18.6 million) in 2021, a turnaround from a loss of 105.4 billion won a year earlier, according to the company's interim earnings report. This marked the first annual net profit that the internet-only bank has posted since it was launched in 2017. K-Bank is controlled by a consortium of teleco

Feb. 3, 2022

Krafton invests $5.4m in Indian sports game developer

Krafton Inc., a South Korean gaming giant behind the global smash hit "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG), said Thursday that it has invested $5.4 million in an Indian sports game developer, Nautilus Mobile. It is Krafton's first investment in an Indian game development studio. Nautilus is a sports game developer that developed a cricket game franchise. "Real Cricket" has been downloaded more than 100 million times globally and has more than 10 million monthly active us

Feb. 3, 2022

S. Korea requires Google, Netflix and 3 others to provide stable online services this year

South Korea's ICT ministry said Thursday it has required tech giants Google, Meta Platforms and Netflix, as well as local rivals Naver and Kakao, to comply with the country's revised law requiring them to provide stable services. In 2020, South Korea passed a legal revision holding online content service providers accountable if they fail to maintain stable services amid growing complaints against streaming giants Netflix and Google after their services experienced outages. The revised law, in

Feb. 3, 2022

Online shopping hits record high in 2021 amid pandemic

Online shopping in South Korea hit a record high in 2021, led by strong demand for food delivery services and electronics amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 192.9 trillion won ($160 billion) last year, up 21 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the largest value since the statistics agency began compiling related data in 2001. Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile

Feb. 3, 2022

Samsung teams up with Amdocs for 4G, 5G solutions in US

Samsung Electronics will collaborate with US-based software solutions firm Amdocs to deliver fourth- and fifth-generation private wireless network solutions to boost the connectivity of firms in the United States, according to the company Thursday. The partnership will allow the companies to advance wireless communications such as increasing download speed, and to simplify the deployment of 5G-ready Citizen Broadband Radio Service solutions for industries ranging from education to utilities, m

Feb. 3, 2022

S. Korean builder sentiment hits 17-month low in Jan.

South Korean builders' business sentiment hit the lowest level in one year and five months in January due to seasonal and several negative factors, a poll showed Thursday. The country's construction business survey index (CBSI) stood at 74.6 last month, down 17.9 points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Construction and Economy Research Institute of Korea. The January figure was the lowest mark in 17 months and represented the first on-month decline in three months. The i

Feb. 3, 2022