Hyundai Livart introduces Giorgetti, expands luxury furniture

Hyundai Livart, a furniture brand under Hyundai Department Store, is introducing a luxury Italian furniture brand to South Korea, as it bids to expand into the luxury segment. The company said Wednesday it is opening a showroom for Giorgetti at two Hyundai Department Stores -- the Trade Center branch in Samseong-dong and Pangyo branch in Gyeonggi Province -- on Thursday. Some 50 products from the Italian brand, ranging from chairs, tables and sofas to kitchenware, will be made available at

Aug. 25, 2021

Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation revamps scholarship program

Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation has revamped its scholarship program to foster 1,100 talents in the next five years, the foundation said Wednesday. Renamed Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Scholarship, the scholarships will support talented people in five different categories: global, future industry, international cooperation, social innovation, and art and culture. The foundation seeks to provide the recipients not only with financial support, but with education opportunities to groom t

Aug. 25, 2021

Is South Korea headed for asset bubble collapse?

The rupture of Japan’s bubble in the 1990s after a decade of economic prosperity has been cited as an important case study for the South Korean economy given the similarities between the two countries’ economic structures, and their financial and legal systems. The prosperity in Japan brought about a rapid acceleration of asset prices some 30 years ago, when real estate and stock market prices became “overheated.” After the bubble burst in 1992, Japan entered a long peri

Aug. 25, 2021

Hyundai Card’s ratings unaffected by Fubon’s acquisition: Fitch

Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings said Wednesday that Hyundai Card’s ratings will remain unchanged, even after Fubon Life Insurance and Fubon Commercial Bank‘s acquisition of 20 percent shares in the credit card operator.　 According to Fitch, Hyundai Card will maintain its current rating as BBB (stable) because it will receive all necessary support from its parent company, Hyundai Motor Group. Fitch Ratings said it expects Hyundai Motor Group to continue to have strong control

Aug. 25, 2021

FSC chief nominee: 'cryptocurrencies are not real'

  Financial Services Commission Chairman nominee Koh Seung-beom expressed skepticism on Wednesday over the value of cryptocurrency as a financial asset, confirming his tone in line with the regulator’s move to tighten its grip on local crypto exchanges. “International organizations, including the Group of 20 and the International Monetary Fund, as well as a lot of market experts, find it difficult to consider virtual currencies as a financial asset, and think they could not f

Aug. 25, 2021

KRX aims to make South Korea’s ETF market global

South Korea’s exchange-traded fund market has witnessed a major change this month with the number of funds available on the market surpassing 500 for the first time, marking a quantum leap from its beginning 19 years ago when it had only four products. Following an increase in the number of products available, the daily turnover of the country’s ETFs has surged to become the third-largest in the world, according to the Korea Exchange. The bourse operator aims to make the locally li

Aug. 25, 2021

Samsung ranks 3rd in Western European tablet market in Q2: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the third-largest tablet vendor in Western Europe in the second quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, as the South Korean tech giant tries to catch up to industry leader Apple Inc. Samsung logged a market share of 18 percent in the Western European tablet market in the April-June period after its Galaxy Tab shipments dropped 18 percent from a year ago, according to market researcher Canalys. Apple was the leading supplier with a market share of 36 percent

Aug. 25, 2021

LG Electronics introduces cloud-based remote healthcare solution for hospitals

LG Electronics Inc. on Wednesday introduced a cloud-powered remote healthcare solution for hospitals as the tech giant eyes to expand its presence in the telehealth market. LG said its remote healthcare solution with medical-use displays is based on virtual conference platforms and can be used for online diagnoses of patients. Its solution, which the company developed together with local digital healthcare firm eZ Caretech Co., is compatible with hospitals' electronic medical records or hospit

Aug. 25, 2021

S. Korea to prioritize supplying homes to stabilize prices: minister

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday the government will focus on supplying homes as planned in the second half in a bid to curb high-flying home prices. The minister said a tight supply for homes has somewhat eased since August as more people have begun to move into newly built apartments. "Increasing housing supply sufficiently is a key to stabilizing the property market," Hong said at a government meeting on the housing market. "The government will do its best to prov

Aug. 25, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on US gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, taking a cue from overnight gains on Wall Street that were largely generated by easing concerns about the US Federal Reserve's tapering timeline. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 11.68 points, or 0.37 percent, to trade at 3,149.98 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Kospi got off to a solid start after rallying for the past two sessions. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite advanced 0.52 percent as investors are op

Aug. 25, 2021

Kia, labor union reach tentative wage deal

South Korean automaker Kia Corp. and its labor union on Tuesday reached a tentative wage deal without strikes for the first time in a decade amid the extended COVID-19 pandemic. The deal includes an increase of 75,000 won ($64.30) in monthly base pay, a bonus of 200 percent of monthly salary plus 3.5 million won, and a one-off special bonus of 2.3 million won. The wage agreement is subject to a vote by union members on Friday, the union said. Last month, its bigger affiliate Hyundai Motor

Aug. 24, 2021

Labor strike looms at HMM, sparking logistics concerns

South Korea’s largest shipper HMM may be headed for its first labor strike, stoking fears of a major disruption in maritime shipping. Following a vote by longshore workers in favor of a walkout on Tuesday, remaining staff at the company will decide whether to join the collective action in a poll next Monday.  Demanding steeper pay raises, the unionized workers say they will not just stay away from work, but may just quit the company en masse if their demands are not met. On Tues

Aug. 24, 2021

Robots march into more business sectors in Korea

The advent of intelligent humanoid robots depicted in sci-fi films is still thought to be a thing of the distant future, but more South Korean companies in a wide range of industries have begun to adopt simpler robots in a bid to remain competitive in the long term. Not only telecom operators and search engines, but also tech startups that rely on online platforms are rushing to deploy robots in a bid to nurture the long-term potential of robots in connection with artificial intelligence, clo

Aug. 24, 2021

[News Focus] Home prices in Seoul up 10% since January

SEJONG -- Housing prices in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon have continued to spike in recent months, with mixed prospects on whether the surge could be tamed with government-led property regulations such as tighter mortgage rules. Real estate figures in the three areas act as a barometer for home prices nationwide. As of July, 50.3 percent of South Korea’s 51.67 million population were residing in the capital-centered metropolitan area. The average trading price of homes in Seoul

Aug. 24, 2021

HanmiGlobal among world’s top 10 construction project management firms: survey

HanmiGlobal, a South Korean construction project management service provider, has been named one of the world’s top 10 players in the field in a global survey, the company said Tuesday. It ranked 10th in the top 20 non-US firms in total global CM/PM fees in the 2021 ENR Top International Survey, released by Engineering News Record. CM refers to construction management and PM, project management. It climbed up a notch in the ranking from the previous year, as it achieved a combined $24

Aug. 24, 2021

Seegene to sell self-sampling swabs in Europe

South Korean biotech firm Seegene has cleared the final hurdle to market in Europe its new sample collection device for COVID-19 diagnostic tests. According to the firm Tuesday, the product, called Combo Swab, has received a CE mark and can be legally commercialized in the EU. A CE mark, required on most goods sold in Europe, shows a product’s conformity to EU’s health, safety and environmental standards. According to Seegene, the sample collection device can be used for its fou

Aug. 24, 2021

[Herald Interview] ‘Chaebol need sincere communication to fend off takeover attempts’

South Korean chaebol have been facing growing legal challenges from shareholders questioning the opaque influence exercised by members of their controlling families. With the market pressure to improve transparency in governance and management, the chaebol families need to communicate with the public with sincerity and take concrete actions, a seasoned lawyer said. “A majority shareholder who is not willing to communicate will inevitably be exposed to risks in management and will be co

Aug. 24, 2021

DataStreams CEO joins road safety campaign

DataStreams, a local big data and cloud solutions provider, said Tuesday that CEO Lee Young-sang has joined the Children’s Traffic Safety Relay Challenge. The road safety campaign was launched on social media in December last year by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in a bid to raise awareness of children’s road and traffic safety. DataStreams’ chief, as well as four executive members and employees, have joined the relay campaign following an invitation from TSE CEO

Aug. 24, 2021

Medytox hires top law firm, prepares for future lawsuits

South Korean drugmaker Medytox said Tuesday that it has hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a top international law firms, to better respond to intellectual property infringements and misappropriations of the company’s botulinum toxin product. Quinn Emanuel is a law firm specializing in intellectual property litigations, and they are widely known here for representing Samsung Electronics in the company‘s lawsuits against Apple and Huawei. “The US International Trad

Aug. 24, 2021

Korea to launch new mining agency on Sept. 10

South Korea will launch a new public agency to oversee metals, minerals and mining affairs next month, amid growing concerns over the future availability of raw materials critical to the country’s backbone industries, the government said Tuesday. The new entity, Korea Mine Rehabilitation & Mineral Resources Corp., will be officially formed on Sept. 10 by combining two existing bodies -- Korea Resources Corp. and Mine Reclamation Corp. Its launch received final approval from the Ca

Aug. 24, 2021