NHN Q3 net up 38.7% on robust IT, payment business

NHN Corp., a South Korean leading information technology company, on Tuesday said its third-quarter net profit jumped 38.7 percent from a year earlier, buoyed by increased revenue from its payment and IT services, including cloud. Net income came to 44.5 billion won ($37.6 million) on a consolidated basis in the July-September period, up from 32.1 billion won a year earlier, according to its regulatory filing. Its operating profit gained 18.6 percent to 27.9 billion won and sales grew 14.8 per

Nov. 9, 2021

Seoul stocks rebound on Wall Street gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday as investor sentiment was uplifted by overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 24.47 points, or 0.83 percent, to 2,984.67 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.29 percent amid market optimism that the economic recovery is able to accommodate the inflation risks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.07 percent. In Seoul, top cap Samsung Electr

Nov. 9, 2021

S. Korea, Chile sign MOU on hydrogen energy cooperation

South Korea and Chile signed a memorandum of understanding Tuesday to expand cooperation in the low-carbon hydrogen sector, Seoul's industry ministry said Tuesday. South Korea's Second Vice Industry Minister Park Ki-young held a signing ceremony with Chilean Minister for Energy and Mining Juan Carlos Jobet in Seoul for the agreement, which calls for exchanging technologies of producing, storing, transporting and using clean hydrogen, according to Seoul's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Nov. 9, 2021

Samsung, SK hynix withhold key data in US request for chip biz info

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. on Tuesday submitted information on their chip businesses to the United States but withheld some key data considered trade secrets in an apparent delicate balancing act. The two South Korean chipmakers made the filings about two months after the US Department of Commerce requested data on the ongoing chip crisis that has hobbled global automakers and other electronic product manufacturers. Washington had asked major chipmakers to "voluntarily"

Nov. 9, 2021

Number of tour agencies dips 6% in 2 years amid pandemic

The number of travel agencies in South Korea has declined nearly 6 percent over the past two years in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed Tuesday. There were 21,231 tour agencies in Asia's fourth-largest economy as of end-September, down 6.1 percent from two years earlier, according to the data from the Korea Tourism Association. The number fell to 21,540 a year earlier from 22,609 in September 2019 and continued to go south this year. The decrease came as pandemic-indu

Nov. 9, 2021

Yoon & Yang partners with Cadmus to meet new demand for legal services

South Korean full-service law firm Yoon & Yang said Monday it has partnered with US-based consulting service company Cadmus Group to address the new demand for legal services in the wake of Korea’s toughening regulation over occupational safety. The partnership will allow Yoon & Yang to assist Korean companies with identifying risks and help them be better prepared for their disaster response mechanism, Yoon & Yang said in a statement. Under a memorandum of understanding si

Nov. 8, 2021

S. Korean minister to discuss cooperation on chips with US

South Korea’s Industry and Trade Minister Moon Sung-wook will discuss measures to strengthen the country’s cooperation with the United States on ongoing supply chain issues, at a time when the US is asking chipmakers to reveal their trade secrets. Minister Moon is scheduled to depart for Washington, DC, on Tuesday, to meet with his US counterpart, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the government said Monday. The list of agenda items includes issues like supply chains, reduction

Nov. 8, 2021

Amid fast-growing national debt, potential GDP growth to hit near zero

South Korea is expected to see its national debt grow at the fastest clip relative to the size of the economy among major countries, while its growth rate of potential output per capita will fall to the near-zero range without policy changes, according to economic reports Monday. Sparking concerns over a further loss of momentum for the country’s economy, the International Monetary Fund estimated that Korea’s general government gross debt to gross domestic product would increase t

Nov. 8, 2021

S. Korea, Singapore aim to strike digital trade deal this year

South Korea and Singapore agreed Monday to conclude their digital trade pact this year in a move to deepen broader trade and economic ties, Seoul's trade ministry said. The agreement was made during the meeting between Seoul's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and Singaporean Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng held in Seoul. "The two sides agreed to speed up working-level negotiations with a goal to conclude the Digital Partnership Agreement (DPA) within this year, as their talk

Nov. 8, 2021

Seoul stocks down for 2nd day on bio losses

South Korean stocks lost for the second straight session Monday as financial, bio and tech stocks plunged. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 9.07 points, or 0.31 percent, to close at 2,960.2 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 551 million shares worth some 10.2 trillion won ($8.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 502 to 352. Foreigners sold a net 122 billion won, while retail investors bought 366 billion w

Nov. 8, 2021

[Herald Interview] KidsLoop aims to personalize learning for every kid

Artificial intelligence is on track to fundamentally change education, making personalized learning possible for every child, said Robert Hardman, chief technology officer of KidsLoop. In a recent interview with The Korea Herald, he also said artificial intelligence would be a necessity, not a luxury, in education in just a matter of five years. Hardman cited the example of medicine to explain the process of how AI can personalize education. “Medicine decoded the human genome that the

Nov. 8, 2021

Let automakers enter used car market: consumer group

　A consumer group said on Monday that large automakers should be allowed to enter the secondhand car market where consumers are suffering due to opaque pricing and insufficient after-sales maintenance service. 　Nearly 2.52 million used cars are sold annually in South Korea -- 1.32 times the sales volume of new cars -- and over 55 percent of those sales are direct transactions between individuals. 　The reason direct sales account for a huge chunk of the market is because there is no competitive

Nov. 8, 2021

75% of restaurant owners face labor shortage

Some three-quarters of restaurants say they are experiencing a labor shortage, as young people continue to shun jobs in the service industry while COVID-19 has limited foreign workers from entering the country. According to a report on the labor shortage in the restaurant industry by the Korea Foodservice Industry Research Institute on Monday, 74.9 percent of 207 restaurant owners polled in a September survey said the worker crunch has worsened. Only 4.8 percent said the situation had improved

Nov. 8, 2021

Korbit adopts P2E scheme to upgrade metaverse platform

Korbit, a local cryptocurrency exchange, said Monday that it adopted a “play to earn” scheme as part of efforts to upgrade its nascent metaverse platform. Play to Earn, commonly known as P2E, is a system in which players can gain rewards for playing games within the platform. Korbit’s attempt to incorporate P2E is a move meant to attract not only cryptocurrency traders, but also to reflect growing interest in the metaverse. “In Korbit Town, people without any exposur

Nov. 8, 2021

The hits keep coming: 2022 set for parade of blockbuster IPOs

South Korea’s initial public offering market is expected to regain momentum as a number of big players are set to go public next year. But the stock market needs to gain its upward momentum first to revive investor interest, according to investment banking sources and market experts Monday. Some mega deals, such as lithium-ion battery maker LG Energy Solution, local builder Hyundai Engineering, and online grocery delivery platforms SSG.com and Market Kurly, are getting ready for listings

Nov. 8, 2021

[Herald Interview] Landmark Seoul hotels become homes, offices

Reeling from diminishing demand for cross-border business and tourism in the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s hotel industry has been undergoing a drastic transition in recent months. Landmark hotels in Seoul are turning into residential apartments and offices through redevelopment projects as owners look for a more lucrative business. At the same time, others are looking to upgrade their accomadations to ultraluxury brands, both foreign and local, according to a local real estate profe

Nov. 8, 2021

S. Korea to bring in urea from Vietnam

In a bid to ease its urea shortage, South Korea said Monday it plans to import 200 metric tons of the main component of diesel exhaust fluid from Vietnam next week, and fly in an additional supply from Australia. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the government has decided on how much powdered urea it plans to import from the Southeast Asian nation, while adding 7,000 liters to the initial 20,000 liters of solution it seeks to fly in from Australia. On top of all that, it is cu

Nov. 8, 2021

Would insurers pay out if ‘Squid Game’ happened in real life?

The megahit Netflix series “Squid Game” depicts a dystopian world where 456 people compete in a series of extreme survival games on a remote island. The sole winner takes all the prize money, while everyone else bites the dust. In the real world, all the “Squid Game” deaths would be eligible for insurance coverage, according to a local insurance company. The question is whether those death benefits would differ depending on how the player died, it added. According to a

Nov. 8, 2021

Korea has sharpest wage growth among midlevel employees in OECD: report

In Korea, wage goes sharply up between the 10th year to the 20th year in employment, due to a widespread seniority-based salary system, a report said Monday. According to an analysis by professor Lee Sang-hee of Korea Polytechnic University, South Korea saw the sharpest hike in one’s salary of 15.1 percent in the 10-year period, compared to other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  The OECD average was a 5.9 percent increase.  Professor Lee

Nov. 8, 2021

Automotive chip shortage to continue until 2023: think tank

The automotive semiconductor shortage is expected to continue until 2023, and the government and related industries should be prepared to handle rising demand, an automotive think tank said Monday. According to the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, or Katech, the global shortage of automotive semiconductors that started around the end of 2020 will continue to affect the global car industry for the first half of 2022. Even after 2023, some companies may still feel its effects. This year

Nov. 8, 2021