Korea’s 1st travel bubble opens to a slow start

South Korea’s first travel bubble with Saipan kicked off quietly on Saturday morning with just a handful of passengers traveling under the scheme amid a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections. Two flights from Asiana Airlines and low-cost carrier Jeju Air departed from Incheon Airport for the main island in the Northern Mariana island chain. Though a total of 92 passengers were on board both flights, only six people on board the Asiana flight were traveling under the quarantine-free travel a

July 25, 2021

Deferred loan payments for businesses total W108tr under COVID relief program

Deferred loan and interest payments owed by businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea added up to an alarming 108 trillion won ($97 billion) this month, data showed Sunday. Since the launch of the deferral program in February last year, the combined amount of loans yet to be repaid totaled 99.7 trillion won as of Friday, data provided by the five major commercial banks here showed. Additionally, overdue payments set to be paid in installments amounted to 8.4 trillion won and overdu

July 25, 2021

Hyundai Motor to improve safety of second life battery energy storage system

South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor said Sunday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with safety standards company UL to strengthen the safety of its second life battery energy storage system, also known as SLBESS. The move will see both companies work together in adopting the UL Signature Solution to strengthen credibility, jointly developing exclusive UL evaluation standards, as well as collaborate in “multiple aspects” for demonstration projects in North Americ

July 25, 2021

Kakao looks to join W100tr club with financial subsidiaries’ IPOs

The combined market capitalization of Kakao and its affiliates is anticipated to reach 100 trillion won ($86.8 billion), as South Korea’s fifth-largest business group’s two financial subsidiaries ready themselves for initial public offerings. 　 As of Friday’s closing bell, the mobile messenger giant and its two listed affiliates Kakao Games and Neptune marked an aggregate market cap of 74.84 trillion won, according to the Korea Exchange on Sunday. Of that total, Kakao’s

July 25, 2021

Kia to suspend local plant on COVID-19 infections

Kia Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, said Sunday it will suspend one of its eight domestic plants on Monday as dozens of workers at the factory were infected with COVID-19 in recent days. The No. 1 Sohari plant's suspension may be extended depending on the result of coronavirus tests on its workers, a company spokesman said. The Sohari plant in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, has an annual output capacity of 320,000 units and mainly produces the Stinger sports car, the K9 flags

July 25, 2021

5 financial firms' H1 interest income likely up 11% on increased loans

The interest income of South Korea's five major financial groups likely jumped 11 percent in the first half from a year earlier on extended loan growth amid low market rates, industry sources said Sunday. KB, Hana, Shinhan, Woori and NH Nonghyup are expected to report a combined 20.38 trillion won ($17.7 billion) worth of interest income from January to June, up from 18.43 trillion won in the same period of last year, it said. KB, Hana, Woori and NH Nonghyup posted interest income of 5.41 tr

July 25, 2021

US firm HAAH to submit LOI for SsangYong Motor: sources

The head of US-based vehicle importer HAAH Automotive Holdings Inc. has said the company is set to submit its letter of intent this week to acquire SsangYong Motor Co., industry sources said Sunday. HAAH Automotive Holdings founder Duke Hale said HAAH is the optimal company to acquire financially troubled SsangYong and will submit an LOI by Friday, a person familiar with the matter said over the phone. SsangYong's Indian parent Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. had been in talks with HAAH to sell i

July 25, 2021

S. Korea to raise up to $1.5b via overseas debt sale

South Korea is planning to float up to $1.5 billion worth of overseas bonds during the second half of the year to capitalize on favorable funding conditions, financial sources said Sunday. According to the sources, the finance ministry has recently completed the process to pick a lead manager for the planned debt sale. The ministry's move came as ratings on Asia's fourth-largest economy remain high in the face of the pandemic. Last year, major global rating agencies, such as Fitch, did not lo

July 25, 2021

[Photo News] Smart devices useful during COVID-19 pandemic

Visitors are looking around electronic products displayed at the 11th Korea Smart Device x Small Electronics Trade Show 2021, an annual trade fair for small electronics. Robot speakers are showing off their moves at a booth set up in the trade show.  Small home refrigerators featuring cute character designs attract visitors to the trade fair. “Watch YouTube videos in an old-fashion way!” A local company exhibits smartphone holders look like old-fashioned TVs. An exhibitor de

July 24, 2021

[Weekender] Electric personalities: New breed of influencers

Not content with stopping at fast-food tills, toll booths and bank tellers, tech is coming for influencers’ jobs, too. A new wave of artificial intelligence-created digital characters has leapt across the uncanny valley -- the chasm in appeal for renderings that are unsettlingly, but not convincingly lifelike -- and risen to the fore of the marketing world, in some cases clinching deals worth millions of dollars. Korean companies have developed their own virtual influencers, but they a

July 24, 2021

S.Korea now has 15 unicorn companies

Fifteen local startups have officially reached unicorn status, according to the Ministry of SME and Startups on Tuesday. The ministry said that three startups -- Zigbang, Dunamu, and Market Kurly -- have joined a select group of firms with a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Not all companies with high valuations are given the unicorn status. Unicorn companies should neither be listed on the stock exchange nor merged with another company. Coupang, for instance, was excluded from the group of loc

July 24, 2021

Seoul stocks likely to tread on thin line next week amid earnings hope, virus woes

South Korean stocks are likely to face volatility next week as the virus resurgence continues to sap demand for risky assets, while optimism for robust earnings provides some relief. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 3,254.42 points Friday, down 0.69 percent from a week ago. The key stock index retreated in the first three sessions of this week, as daily virus cases again spiked, hitting a fresh high of 1,842 Thursday, despite the toughest virus curbs in the greater Se

July 24, 2021

[News Focus] Heatwave brings reality check for Korea’s power supply

South Korea has reactivated three nuclear reactors in the space of a week, as fears of a power supply shortage gripped the nation amid a smothering early-summer heat wave. At 1:10 a.m. on Friday, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power restarted operations of the 700-megawatt Wolsong No.3 nuclear reactor, the third switched on since July 18. It followed Shin Wolsong No. 1 and Shin Kori No.4 which went back online earlier than scheduled amid tight power supplies. All three had been closed for mainte

July 23, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding wins combined W1.56tr orders for 7 LNG carriers

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Friday it has signed orders worth a combined 1.56 trillion won ($ 1.4 billion) to build seven LNG carriers. A 678 billion-won deal with an Asian company calls for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a unit of KSOE, to construct three LNG carriers by the end of 2024, KSOE said in a regulatory filing. Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., another unit of KSOE, has obtained a 462.7 billion-won deal with a European company to build two LNG carr

July 23, 2021

Merck launches cost-effective, eco-friendly solvent for chip production

German material technology company Merck said Friday it has developed a new lineup of green solvents for use in photolithographic processes in semiconductor manufacturing. The new solvent lineup is called AZ 910 Remover, which according to the firm is N-methylpyrrolidone-free solvent designed for faster dissolution of photoresist patterns in a cost-effective and greener way with its outstanding resist-dissolution performance. Semiconductor production facilities traditionally use negative

July 23, 2021

Seoul stocks up for 2nd day on earnings hopes, ECB comments

South Korean stocks advanced for the second consecutive session Friday, largely as optimism for strong earnings and dovish signals from the European Central Bank (ECB) offset concerns over the extended virus curbs in greater Seoul. The Korean won strengthened against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 4.21 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 3,254.42 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 761 million shares worth some 12.7 trillion won ($11 billi

July 23, 2021

Hyundai E&C to continue coal power project in Vietnam despite criticism

Climate activists on Friday blasted South Korean builder Hyundai Engineering & Construction for its decision to continue its 1,200-megawatt Quang Trach 1 coal power project along with Mitsubishi and Vietnam’s Construction Corp. Seoul-based not-for-profit organization Solutions for Our Climate said the failure to scrap what was proclaimed to be Hyundai E&C’s final coal project “directly contradicts the company’s own ESG vision” and neutralizes the impact of

July 23, 2021

Thrasio-like Korean startup raises seed funding

NextChapter, a South Korean startup designed to acquire small online native brands active on ecommerce platforms including Coupang, has raised a seed round equity funding to scale up its business largely inspired by a success of US unicorn Thrasio. Joining the round were domestic venture capital houses Klim Ventures and Fast Ventures, as well as foreign VCs BlueRun Ventures and Goodwater Capital. The amount of equity funding remains to be undisclosed. NextChapter said the company will use the

July 23, 2021

Tongyang Life sells entire stake in Woori Financial

Tongyang Life Insurance sold its entire stake in Woori Financial Group on Friday to secure more capital, in preparation for a stricter rule on local insurers’ fiscal soundness. According to a regulatory filing, the company had decided to sell all of its 3.74 percent stake (27.04 million shares) in the banking giant to some 60 domestic and foreign institutions, during its shareholders meeting held Thursday. The sale price was 301.5 billion won ($262 million), which accounts 9.7 percent

July 23, 2021

Hyundai’s honorary chairman inducted into Automotive Hall of Fame

Hyundai Motor Group’s Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-Koo became the first Korean to be officially inducted into the international Automotive Hall of Fame, the automotive giant said Friday. His son, Chung Euisun, who is the incumbent chairman of the group, received the trophy and delivered a speech on behalf of his father at the ceremony for 2020 and 2021 inductees, held at the ICON Convention Center in Detroit, the United States on Thursday, the company said. “Honorary Chairman Ch

July 23, 2021