Korea seeks longer FX trading hours to win developed status from MSCI

SEJONG -- South Korea’s chief economic policymaker on Tuesday has confirmed the government’s intention to come up with measures to win developed market status from Morgan Stanley Capital International. The government has pushed for continuous attempts to campaign for Korea’s capital market -- such as stock and foreign exchange markets -- to be included in MSCI’s Developed Markets Indexes. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki commented on investors&rsquo

Jan. 25, 2022

Korean retailers jump into NFT craze

Nonfungible tokens, once monopolized by cryptocurrency exchanges and auction houses, are creeping into the retail industry, where top players are desperate to seek a new growth engine in a quickly saturating market. NFTs are digital tokens of physical or digital assets, mostly of music or art, that guarantee ownership through blockchain technology. Korean retail channels are also set to expand their footing into the burgeoning NFT business by selling art and fashion items. CJ Olive Networks

Jan. 25, 2022

HiteJinro launches wine gift packages for Lunar New Year

South Korean distiller HiteJinro said Tuesday it has launched its 2022 Lunar New Year gift packages consisting of 67 bundles of import wine collections. The gift set comes at a time when more people are opting to drink alone at home amid the protracted coronavirus pandemic. HiteJinro said it is targeting both beginners and devotees, and those in between. The holiday lineup includes Gernard Bertrand’s Art de Vivre red and white wine, released last year. The company noted that it feature

Jan. 25, 2022

LG innotek moves up payment schedule ahead of Lunar New Year holiday

LG innotek will pay a combined 144.5 billion won ($120.5 million) of payments to its suppliers weeks earlier than scheduled to support small- and mid-size businesses reeling from the pandemic, the company said Tuesday. The materials arm of LG aims to improve cash flow for partner companies struggling to operate their businesses, invest in facilities, and develop material components in the grip of an economic downturn. By the end of last year, LG innotek already moved up the payment timeline f

Jan. 25, 2022

S. Korea’s GDP growth hits 11-year high in 2021

South Korea’s economy grew at an estimated 4 percent on-year in 2021, posting the highest growth rate in 11 years despite omicron woes, central bank data showed Tuesday. The export-reliant economy’s strong recovery in outbound shipments, stable private consumption amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the government’s eased quarantine rules and supplementary budgets drawn up to cushion the blow to the economy worked as key catalysts, Hwang Sang-pil, head of the economic statistics burea

Jan. 25, 2022

Mercedes-Benz Korea to add more EVs, bolster online shop service this year

Mercedes-Benz Korea will focus on launching electric models to complete its EV-lineup in all segments this year, as well as bolstering the supply chain via its online shop, the company said Tuesday. After launching the full-change C-class model in the first quarter, the new EQB will be launched in the second quarter. It is the second compact SUV model following the new EQA. By year-end, the new EQE will be launched, the second model to be based on the modular architecture for premium EV after t

Jan. 25, 2022

More recycled chemical wastes seep into daily lives

Recycled materials are no longer expensive products for a niche market as major South Korean chemical firms roll up their sleeves to introduce them into the daily lives of average consumers. According to LG Chem Tuesday, it has completed the first shipment of a coating material made of bio raw materials such as waste cooking oil and palm residues. The material, named neopentyl glycol, or NPG, is used to coat cars, consumer electronics and drink cans. LG Chem’s eco-friendly NPG, manufac

Jan. 25, 2022

Korea’s virtual asset market to reach W1,000tr by 2026: report

Korea’s virtual asset market will reach 1,000 trillion won ($835 billion) by 2026, Boston Consulting Group Korea said Tuesday in its report Future of Asset 2022. According to the report, the country’s virtual asset market already surpassed 300 trillion won by the end of last year to take up 10 percent of the global market. With an average annual growth of 20 percent over the next five years, the virtual asset market will also create 40,000 jobs in the process, BCG Korea said. The

Jan. 25, 2022

SK Broadband rolls out new all-in-one OTT platform

SK Broadband Co., a major South Korean internet service provider (ISP), on Tuesday launched a new all-in-one platform that offers content from five streaming services, including Apple TV+. The company's latest PlayZ platform allows users to search and watch media content from five over-the-top services, including homegrown players Wavve, Tving and Watcha, as well as Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video. Users must be subscribed to each streaming service to get access to the content. Streaming gia

Jan. 25, 2022

Population mobility falls by most in nine years in 2021

The number of South Koreans who moved to different residences in the country declined by the most in nine years last year amid fewer housing transactions, data showed Tuesday. The number of people who changed their residences fell 6.7 percent on-year to 7.21 million in 2021, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the sharpest on-year fall since 2012, when population mobility declined 7.6 percent. The decline was mainly blamed on the base effect as people's mobility shot

Jan. 25, 2022

S. Korean trade minister to visit US for talks on global supply chains

South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo will visit the United States from this week to discuss bilateral cooperation on global supply chains and other trade issues, the ministry said Tuesday. During his weeklong visit from Tuesday (US time), Yeo will meet his US counterpart Katherine Tai, lawmakers and governors to bolster economic ties between the countries. Yeo is scheduled to hold talks with Tai on Thursday to exchange views on the 10-year-old bilateral free trade agreement, the US-led Indo

Jan. 25, 2022

SK Telecom to ramp up development of flying cars

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top wireless carrier, said Tuesday it will speed up the development of urban air mobility (UAM) services. In 2020, South Korea unveiled its plan to commercialize UAM services by 2025 to help overcome urban traffic congestion by using unmanned drone taxis. Last year, SK Telecom signed a partnership with local defense company Hanwha Systems Co., Korea Airports Corp. and the Korea Transport Institute to develop the infrastructure and aircraft required for UAM service

Jan. 25, 2022

S. Korea eyes bigger low-rate loans for emerging countries' projects

South Korea said Tuesday it will seek to provide low-rate loans up to 11.4 trillion won ($9.5 billion) to emerging countries for their projects by 2024. The government plans to set the yearly approval ceiling of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) at 3.6 trillion won this year, and raise it to 3.8 trillion won next year and 4 trillion won in 2024, according to the finance ministry. The government also plans to set the implementation goal of the EDCF at 4.5 trillion won over the ne

Jan. 25, 2022

Market cap of top 30 groups jumps 33.2% over 4 years

South Korea's top 30 family-controlled conglomerates have seen their stock market capitalization spike more than 30 percent over the past four years, with Samsung Group taking the top spot, a market tracker said Tuesday. The combined value of 201 listed firms belonging to the leading business groups, known as chaebol here, came to some 1,504 trillion won ($1.26 trillion) as of Friday, up 33.2 percent from Jan. 2, 2018, according to the Leaders Index. The number of their listed units was up 16

Jan. 25, 2022

Seoul stocks open lower on Fed uncertainties, virus woes

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, as investors await the US Federal Reserve's stance about rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 19.65 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,772.35 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to end its two-day monetary policy meeting Wednesday (local time), which is expected to give clues on its monetary policy direction. South Korea's record high virus tally also added to the concerns about str

Jan. 25, 2022

S. Korea's economy grows 4% in 2021, highest in 11 years

South Korea's economy posted the highest growth rate in 11 years as consumption and exports bounced back from the pandemic-caused slump, central bank data showed Tuesday. The gross domestic product is estimated to have grown 4 percent in 2021, marking a turnaround from a year earlier when the economy contracted 0.9 percent, the worst performance since 1998, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The 2021 growth rate marked the highest tally since 2010, when the economy expanded 6.

Jan. 25, 2022

Corporate direct financing up 19% in 2021

Corporate direct financing by firms in South Korea jumped 19 percent on-year in 2021 driven by multiple massive initial public offerings (IPOs), data showed Tuesday. Local companies raised a combined 231.48 trillion won ($194 billion) by selling stocks and bonds last year, up 37 trillion won from the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Direct financing refers to raising funds directly from the stock and bond markets without borrowing from banks and othe

Jan. 25, 2022

Korea sees huge drop in employment in manufacturing industry

South Korea’s manufacturing industry saw a huge drop in the number of employed in recent years mainly due to the companies’ contracted local investment and restructuring among shipbuilding and auto making companies, data showed Monday.  According to the Federation of Korean Industries, the number of employed in the manufacturing industry dropped by 180,000 in 2019 from the corresponding figure in 2015. Such figures are tantamount to the combined number of employees at Samsung

Jan. 24, 2022

Kospi hits 13-month low on US rate hike worries

Worries over the sooner-than-expected rate hike by the US led South Korea’s benchmark Kospi to dip below 2,800 Monday, a first since Dec. 23, 2020, when it closed at 2,759. The Kospi fell 42.29 points or 1.49 percent from Friday to close at 2,792, sparking concerns over a prolonged slump. “Investors fear reduced liquidity. And the markets are catching up with the Fed, which has signaled two things: an earlier rate hike and tapering of the pandemic-era market support,” said Oh

Jan. 24, 2022

Seoul stocks tumbles to 13-month low ahead of Fed meeting

South Korea's main stock index plunged to a 13-month low Monday, as investors dumped local stocks ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi dived 42.29 points, or 1.49 percent, to close at 2,792 points. The Kospi closed below the 2,800-point mark for the first time since Dec. 23, 2020. Trading volume was moderate at about 468 million shares worth some 9.2 trillion won ($7.7 billi

Jan. 24, 2022