[Newsmaker] Demand for apartments higher despite rate hike

South Korea’s demand for apartments in the capital and its surrounding areas only got higher, despite the central bank’s recent decision to end 15 months of record-low interest rates, data showed Friday. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the index measuring supply and demand for apartments in Seoul and the surrounding area inched up 0.9 point on-week to 111.7 as of Monday, compared with 110.8 last week. When the index is higher than 100, it signals that there are more buyer

Sept. 3, 2021

SPC Group to open 18th Shake Shack in Hongdae

SPC Group will open its 18th Shake Shack store in the bustling Hongdae district in Seoul in September, the company said Friday. While the store is currently under renovation, Shake Shack has decorated the fence around the store with a colorful mural by media artist Vakki depicting burgers and milkshakes in an “urban playground,” SPC said. Shake Shack has featured similar art on the fence of every one of its stores across the country. To celebrate the opening of the Hongdae bran

Sept. 3, 2021

Bithumb to ban foreigners without mobile phone identification

Bithumb, one of South Korea’s four major cryptocurrency exchanges, said Thursday that foreigners who fail to verify their identities via mobile phones will not be allowed to use the platform. The decision came as the exchange gears up to register with the financial authorities by Sept. 24 -- the deadline under the revised Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information. As a result, foreigners who cannot provide verification via Korean mobile phones will not be ab

Sept. 3, 2021

Naver to announce research results on Korean-language AI model at EMNLP 2021

Naver, the largest internet business in South Korea, will present seven research papers on natural language processing in artificial intelligence at a globally renowned academic conference, the company said Friday. Set to be held in the Dominican Republic from Nov. 7 to 11, the Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing 2021 is a global conference with 25 years of history. At the upcoming conference, Naver will unveil its hyperscale Korean-language model Hyper Clova and introduce dat

Sept. 3, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korea’s trade in camping goods hits new high in 2020 on pandemic

　South Korea’s exports and imports of camping goods reached a fresh high in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, a report showed. 　Asia’s fourth-largest economy exported and imported $399 million worth of camping equipment last year, an all-time high and up 40 percent from the previous year, according to the report from the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute. 　In the first half of this year alone, the country’s trade in camping gear stood at $293 million, above the

Sept. 3, 2021

Facing criticism over racism, Japanese cosmetics firm DHC pulls out of S. Korea

Japanese cosmetics firm DHC announced on Thursday that it was withdrawing its business from South Korea later this month amid growing criticism over the company’s racially discriminatory stance against Koreans. In a statement on its website, DHC Korea said it had strived to satisfy customers with great service and products but “regrettably decided to end its operation in South Korea.” The closure of the business is scheduled for Sept. 15, nearly 20 years after it entered the

Sept. 2, 2021

Inflation pressure mounts as prices leap 2.6% in Aug

Consumer inflation rose 2.6 percent last month, staying above 2 percent for the fifth month in a row, on the back of higher agricultural product and international crude oil prices, Statistics Korea reported Thursday. It is the first time since 2017 that consumer inflation has remained above 2 percent for five consecutive months. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil prices, rose 1.3 percent last month from a year earlier. Given that the government plans to dole out 11 trillio

Sept. 2, 2021

Samsung pushes harder into midrange market with Galaxy A52s 5G

Alongside the highest-end foldable smartphone series Galaxy Z, Samsung Electronics is making a stronger push in the midrange phone market, launching an upgraded version of the Galaxy A52 model. The South Korean smartphone vendor on Thursday announced the release of the Galaxy A52s 5G in the domestic market at 599,500 won ($513) on Friday. The newest A series model hit stores in India, the biggest midrange phone market for Samsung, on Wednesday, two days before the Korea launch. The Galax

Sept. 2, 2021

DuPont Korea appoints new CEO

DuPont Korea said Thursday the company has appointed Shin Dong-man as its new chief executive officer. Shin, 50, has served as the sales director of DuPont’s mobility and materials group in the Asia Pacific region. He will maintain the position, while heading the overall Korean operation, the firm said. Shin has built his career in the field of industrial materials, mainly silicon, for the past 25 years, the company said. The CEO is recognized for developing DuPont’s flagship e

Sept. 2, 2021

Seoul stocks snap 4-day winning streak on profit-taking

South Korean stocks ended a four-session winning streak Thursday as investors sought to lock in recent gains amid concerns of inflation. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 31.17 points, or 0.97 percent, to close at 3,175.85 points. Trading volume was moderate at 731.76 million shares worth some 13.99 trillion won ($11.8 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 472 to 371. Foreigners offloaded a net 380.8 billion won

Sept. 2, 2021

Genesis to go all electric by 2025

Genesis, the luxury auto brand of Hyundai Motor Group, will completely phase out internal combustion cars by 2025, it said Thursday, becoming the first Hyundai-owned car brand to announce a full transition to electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun presented the EV-only vision for Genesis, appearing in a livestream video on its official YouTube channel. He said the brand will achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. “Genesis has been on an intensive, bold and successful

Sept. 2, 2021

[Newsmaker] Hyundai Heavy readies to become first-mover for eco-friendly ships via W1.08tr IPO

Hyundai Heavy Industries announced a blueprint to usher in a paradigm shift in the global shipbuilding industry of its planned market debut on the South Korean main board Kospi on Sept. 16. The major shipbuilder here unveiled its vision of being a first mover for eco-friendly ships during an online press conference with reporters Thursday, while also detailing specific plans for its initial public offering. “Developing eco-friendly and digitalized vessels, constructing smart shipyards

Sept. 2, 2021

S. Korea lays out new approach to trade on five major sectors

South Korea will take a new approach to trade on five core sectors in a bid to maximize its national interests, the country’s trade minister said Thursday. Presiding over his first trade committee meeting at the government complex in Sejong, newly appointed chief negotiator Yeo Han-koo called for a differentiated, creative and vigilant trade strategy on supply chain, vaccine, carbon neutrality and climate change, technology-based trade and digital commerce. “Korea will take ini

Sept. 2, 2021

S. Korea’s economy likely to meet annual 4 percent goal: BOK

South Korea is now more likely to meet its annual growth goal of 4 percent, with the economy on faster-than-expected track to recovery, despite woes stemming from the fourth and worst wave of the virus, a central bank official said Thursday. The anticipation comes as the Bank of Korea announced on-quarter growth of 0.8 percent for the economy in the April-June period. The figure was 0.1 percentage point higher than expected, preliminary data from the BOK showed. “With the higher-then-e

Sept. 2, 2021

LG Chem to set up Korea’s 1st hydro-treated vegetable oil factory

LG Chem said Thursday it will establish South Korea’s first hydrogen-treated vegetable oil factory to bolster its green product portfolio. The HVO factory will be built at the Daesan petrochemicals complex in South Chungcheong Province by 2024, according to the nation’s leading chemical firm. LG Chem will first form a joint venture with Dansuk Industrial, a local chemicals company, to build the factory together. HVO is a diesel substitute made from vegetable oil or waste cookin

Sept. 2, 2021

HMM unions accept wage deal, end labor strife

Labor unions of South Korea’s largest shipping company HMM on Thursday scrapped a strike plan after reaching a new wage deal with management. HMM officials and representatives of the two unions, separately representing land-based and longshore workers, agreed to a 7.9 percent increase in wages, a bonus payment amounting to 650 percent of their monthly salary and a 2.7 percent increase in welfare benefits. The deal, reached early Thursday morning after marathon negotiations, ended 77 d

Sept. 2, 2021

Sacha Askidjian tapped as new head of AVK Volkswagen division

Audi Volkswagen Korea has appointed Sacha Askidjian as the new managing director of the Volkswagen brand in Korea, the company announced Thursday. He will replace Stephan Krapp starting from Oct. 1, who will move to the company’s headquarters in Germany to take charge of pricing strategies of Volkswagen cars in Europe. Joining the Audi Volkswagen Group in 2000, Askidjian built a 10-year career in customer service and marketing at the group’s French office. He moved on to the gr

Sept. 2, 2021

New FSC chief stresses unity with FSS

Koh Seung-beom, the new chairman of the policymaking Financial Services Commission, vowed Thursday to bolster cooperation with the market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service in a gesture to ease the long-standing power struggle between the two agencies. “I’ve stressed that the FSC and FSS should move in unison. As the FSC’s new head, I will ramp up efforts to strengthen communication with the FSS’ chairman in terms of promoting financial policies,” Koh told repo

Sept. 2, 2021

Naver Webtoon inks deals with Hybe, DC Comics

Naver’s storytelling and comic platform has the greatest number of creators and users in the world. Some 6 million creators are registered with Naver Webtoon and its recently acquired Wattpad, and up to 167 million users visit the sites each month. The fact that Naver’s storytelling arm has a vast pool of creators and a global fandom appeals to top global entertainment companies with high-value intellectual properties that are interested in having characters or stories they own made

Sept. 2, 2021

[Graphic News] Samsung maintains 2nd spot in tablet market in Q2: report

　Samsung Electronics stayed on as the world’s second-largest tablet computer vendor in the second quarter of the year, a report showed, as it strives to catch up with industry leader Apple. 　The South Korean giant logged a market share of 18 percent in the April-June period, after shipping 8.2 million Galaxy Tab tablets, up 19 percent from a year ago, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. 　Apple defended its top position with a 35 percent share as its iPad shipments ju

Sept. 2, 2021