Apartment purchases by children surpass W100b in value

A growing number of young South Koreans under 10 years old have purchased apartments across the nation with financial support from their parents, a lawmaker said Monday, raising concerns over inheritance for real estate speculation.  The number of apartment purchases by the elementary-school kids and younger came in at 552 from September 2017 to last month, which amounted to 104.7 billion won ($88.2 million), according to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport submitt

Oct. 4, 2021

Online-only lender Toss Bank commences operation

The country’s third internet-only lender Toss Bank is slated to begin operation Tuesday, heating up the competition in the fast-growing online banking market, according to industry sources Monday. The lender, controlled by Viva Republica, the operator of fintech app Toss, will start its banking services, including offering credit loans, savings and deposits, with a primary focus on expanding mid-range interest rate loans.  Earlier in June, when the online bank received a final appro

Oct. 4, 2021

Lee Soo-man named in leaked offshore data, S.M. Entertainment denies wrongdoing

South Korean entertainment mogul Lee Soo-man, who founded S.M. Entertainment, has been named in a major offshore financial data leak known as the “Pandora Papers.” Local media outlet Newstapa, which is part of a global investigation team into the files leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, reported Sunday that a “pile of evidence” has been found for paper companies set up in connection to Lee in Hong Kong. S.M. Entertainment, home to some

Oct. 4, 2021

Hyundai Glovis to launch new brand for hydrogen and EV battery logistics business

Hyundai Glovis, the logistics arm of Hyundai Group, said Monday it will launch “Ecoh,” a new environmentally friendly business brand which will focus on hydrogen distribution and recycling of electric vehicle batteries. The company also said it would expand its hydrogen distribution and infrastructure operations to nine hydrogen shipping centers by 2030 and supply hydrogen to a total of more than 360 charging stations nationwide. The move comes as part of its plan to expand its eco

Oct. 4, 2021

22 firms fined W10.4b for price fixing

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Monday it has decided to fine 22 companies a combined 10.4 billion won ($8.8 million) for colluding to fix prices over projects to set up firefighting equipment. Johnson Controls Korea and 22 firms colluded to fix their quotations between 2011 and 2017 for 304 rounds of bidding by 13 builders to select operators in charge of installing firefighting equipment, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). Setting up firefighting-related devices and

Oct. 4, 2021

[From the Scene] At Expo Dubai, a journey through Korea’s present, future

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The Korea Pavilion at the pandemic-delayed Expo 2020 Dubai finally opened Friday, taking visitors on a journey of the present and future of Korea. The fifth-largest exhibition site at the fair, which was the world’s largest event since the global virus crisis, the Korea exhibit dazzled visitors with 1,597 colorful, rotating cubes mounted outside the building in what is meant to represent the dynamism of its culture and people. Inside, a plethora of advance

Oct. 4, 2021

SK Innovation to double EV battery researchers by 2023

South Korean battery maker SK Innovation Co. said Monday that it plans to double the number of researchers to develop electric vehicles (EV) batteries from the current level by 2023. SK Innovation CEO and President Kim Jun made the announcement at a global forum in San Francisco on Saturday (US time). The forum is meant to recruit battery researchers and beef up SK Innovation's network with the US universities and research institutes. SK Innovation did not elaborate on the current level of its

Oct. 4, 2021

Farmland the size of Gangnam converted to solar farms during Moon administration

President Moon Jae-in‘s aggressive push for renewable energy has incentivized increasingly more farmers to repurpose their land as solar farms, drawing concerns over South Korea’s food security. According to Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy data obtained by Rep. Yoon Young-seok of the main opposition People Power Party, farmland amounting to the size of Gangnam -- the third largest district in Seoul – has been transformed into solar farms over the past five years. I

Oct. 3, 2021

No nuclear, no coal, but no LNG too?

South Korea’s energy policy faces mounting uncertainties as two ministries appear to hold different views over liquefied natural gas, or LNG. According to industry sources Friday, the Environment Ministry is mulling to exclude LNG from its green classification system set for launch later this year. The classification system aims to evaluate the environmental sustainability of industries and judge which one is green and promote public and private investments. Industries excluded from

Oct. 3, 2021

[Weekender] Standing on their own: North Korean refugees test startup dreams

Ahn Myeong-hee, a 31-year-old defector from North Korea, was overwhelmed by the hardworking people, the rapidly changing social phenomena and the highly competitive environment when she first arrived in the South. “One day I was standing at a subway station and watching people walking fast. It made me think that I’d really have to live my life to the full to become successful,” Ahn said. “At the same time, I appreciated the fact that you can see the outcome as much as t

Oct. 2, 2021

Seoul stocks likely to face volatility next week: analysts

South Korean stocks are likely to face volatility next week amid concerns about energy shortages in China, as well as lingering uncertainties over the bond yield rates in the United States, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 3,019.18 points Friday, down 3.4 percent from a week ago. The weekly loss came as US political wrangling about raising its debt ceiling weakened investor sentiment. Spiking Treasury yields in the world's largest economy also f

Oct. 2, 2021

Solus Advanced Materials‘ bio biz sets off as Solus Biotech

Solus Advanced Materials, formerly known as Doosan Solus, said Friday it had split off its bio division as a wholly owned subsidiary Solus Biotech to target the global mRNA vaccine market. The new bio subsidiary will be led by Seo Kwang-byeok, the current CEO of Solus Advanced Materials, and target an annual revenue of 120 billion won ($100 million) by 2025. Solus Biotech supplies organic compounds to global manufacturers of cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical products. The firm commands 95

Oct. 1, 2021

Korean milk providers start to raise prices

South Korea’s major milk and dairy product providers are set to raise retail prices of their products next week. Namyang Dairy Products said Friday the company will increase retail prices of commercial milk products by an average 4.9 percent from Oct. 14. The firm said the prices of fermented and processed milk products will be risen 0.3 percent and 1.6 percent on average, respectively. For example, two packs of Delicious MilkGT, Namyang’s best-selling product, will be priced

Oct. 1, 2021

S. Korea’s stocks slump amid China’s Evergrande crisis, US tapering woes

South Korea’s stock market slumped in September on the back of the debt crisis involving Evergrande Group, one of China’s biggest property developers, and a hint by the US Federal Reserve that it would begin tapering. According to the Korea Exchange, the country’s stock market operator, the benchmark Kospi lost 4.08 percent to 3,068.82 points during September. The secondary tech-heavy Kosdaq shed 3.88 percent to close at 1,003.27 points during the same period. Kospi’s

Oct. 1, 2021

Seoul stocks slump on US inflation worries

South Korean stocks dipped Friday on concerns about early inflation in the United States and the extended virus curbs at home. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) retreated 49.64 points, or 1.62 percent, to close at 3,019.18 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 845 million shares worth some 12.8 trillion won ($10.8 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 779 to 125. Foreigners sold a net 300 billion won, while retail inves

Oct. 1, 2021

SsangYong's Sept. sales plunge 40% on lower demand

SsangYong Motor Co. said Friday its sales plunged 40 percent last month from a year earlier on weaker domestic demand. SsangYong Motor sold 5,950 vehicles in September, down from 9,834 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales dropped 53 percent to 3,859 units last month from 8,208, while exports rose 29 percent to 2,091 units from 1,626 during the same period, it said. From January to September, sales fell 17 percent to 61,854 autos from 74,707 during the same period

Oct. 1, 2021

S. Korean builder sentiment rebounds in September

South Korea's construction business sentiment bounced back in August from a month earlier due largely to seasonal factors, a poll showed Friday. The construction business survey index (CBSI) came to 94.9 last month, up 5.5 points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Construction and Economy Research Institute of Korea. However, the September figure remains below par. A reading below 100 indicates builders are pessimistic about the current state of the construction industry and

Oct. 1, 2021

Pandemic causes W8.82tr in damage to S. Korean culture, sports, tourism sectors

The novel coronavirus pandemic has caused a combined 8.82 trillion won ($7.4 billion) worth of damage to South Korea's culture, sports and tourism sectors since it broke out early last year, a government report showed Friday. The amount of consumer spending in the tourism and leisure sector decreased by an estimated 39.3 trillion won from January 2020-June 2021 when Korea's first COVID-19 case was reported, according to the report by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism submitted to parli

Oct. 1, 2021

[Newsmaker] Over half of young Seoulites can’t afford buying house without parents’ support: survey

Over half of young people living in Seoul say they couldn’t buy a home without the help of their parents, data showed Friday. According to a survey conducted by the Seoul Institute, a think tank under the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 53 percent out of 676 Seoul citizens ranging in age from 18 to 34 said that it would be impossible to purchase a house without financial support from their parents. The nationwide average is 46 percent. While 44 percent of respondents said that they would

Oct. 1, 2021

Korea's global battery market share rises, but so does foreign reliance on key materials

South Korea commands almost half of the world’s secondary battery market, but the country‘s reliance on imported materials is growing to an alarming level, data showed Friday. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy data obtained by Rep. Kim Kyung-man, the nation’s share of the global secondary battery market spiked from 34.7 percent in 2018 to 44.1 percent in 2020. The country is home to three of the world‘s major battery producers, LG Energy Solution

Oct. 1, 2021