More convenience stores close after midnight amid rising labor costs

More South Korean convenience stores are staying closed or going cashierless in the hours between midnight and early morning -- a trend industry insiders say is being pushed by a rise in labor costs. According to industry sources, the number of GS25 stores closed between midnight and 6 a.m. accounted for 16.4 percent in 2020, up 2.8 percentage points from 13.6 percent in 2018. Just over 1 in 5 7-Eleven stores are opting to remain closed in the early hours, an increase from 2018 when the figure

July 14, 2021

Daewoo Shipbuilding wins W725b order for offshore platform

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Wednesday it has secured a 725 billion-won ($630 million) order to build a fixed offshore facility from Qatar's oil and natural gas company North Oil Co. The fixed platform, a type of offshore platform used for the production of oil and gas, will be used to increase the production of oil in the Middle Eastern country's largest oil field, Al-Shaheen, Daewoo Shipbuilding said in an emailed statement. The shipbuilder plans to deliver th

July 14, 2021

Banks' household loans swing to upturn in June

South Korean banks' household loans swung to an upturn in June following the previous month's one-off decline, central bank data showed Thursday. Outstanding bank loans to local households came to 1,030.4 trillion won ($896 billion) as of end-June, up 6.3 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marks a turnaround from the 1.6 trillion-won on-month decline in May, which was attributed to repayments of loans by customers after the initial public

July 14, 2021

HanmiGlobal, Hewlett Packard Enterprise join forces to bring data centers to Korea

Construction project management firm HanmiGlobal will work with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a cloud service provider, to promote South Korea as the next data center hub of Asia, the two firms announced Wednesday. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding on the marketing and management of data center construction projects, as political uncertainties in Hong Kong are prompting foreign companies to consider relocating their data centers in Asia. Under the agreement, HanmiGlobal w

July 14, 2021

S. Korea to expand investment in New Deal initiative, eyes more job creation

South Korea said Wednesday it plans to expand its investment in its signature New Deal policy projects in a bid to create more jobs and better prepare for the post-pandemic era. Under the "New Deal 2.0" initiative, the government will invest 220 trillion won ($191 billion) in pushing for digital and green energy projects and promoting inclusive economic growth by 2025, up from its earlier investment plan of 160 trillion won. It is an upgraded version of the New Deal 1.0 drive unveile

July 14, 2021

SKT unveils new metaverse platform Ifland

South Korean mobile carrier SK Telecom on Wednesday launched a new metaverse platform dubbed “Ifland,” kick-starting its 5G virtual service business. The name signifies a virtual world where users can be anyone they wish, meet anyone they want to and make so many possibilities real. The platform is launched for Android devices first and will later be open to iOS and other virtual reality devices. With a goal of growing Ifland into a leading metaverse platform by drawing mille

July 14, 2021

Banks' loan delinquency rate rises for 2nd month in May

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans rose for the second straight month in May due to an increase in overdue corporate and household loans, the financial watchdog said Wednesday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.32 percent at the end of May, up from 0.3 percent the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Banks' loan delinquency rate hit a record low of 0.28 percent in March. Compared with a year earlier, t

July 14, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding wins W910b in orders for 4 LNG carriers

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Wednesday that it has signed deals worth a combined 911 billion won ($792 million) to build four LNG carriers. A 454 billion-won deal with a Bermudian company calls for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a unit of KSOE, to build and deliver two LNG carriers by September 2025, KSOE said in a regulatory filing. Under a 458 billion-won deal with a European company, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., another subsidiary of KSOE, will build a

July 14, 2021

Hyundai Heavy workers end weeklong strike after tentative deal

Unionized workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., South Korea's top shipbuilder, stopped their weeklong walkout after a tentative deal was struck, the union said Wednesday. The workers started their strike on July 6, occupying a shipbuilding crane in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to press the management to offer tangible proposals after the wage deal fell through. The tentative deal includes a basic pay raise of 41,000 won ($35.6) for 2020, reversing a wage freeze that was include

July 14, 2021

Airlines to resume flights to Saipan this month

South Korean airlines will resume flights to Saipan later this month as scheduled despite a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. The Seoul government recently signed a quarantine-free travel bubble agreement with Saipan to allow group tours of fully vaccinated Koreans to such holiday destinations. The government is in talks with Guam and Singapore to sign travel bubble deals in preparation for an increase in outbound travel demand as early as late this year. Among local carriers, Jeju Air Co. resu

July 14, 2021

S. Korea's ICT exports hit record high in June

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products reached a record high in June, data showed Wednesday, on the back of robust global demand for semiconductors and displays as the global economy picks up steam from the pandemic-induced slump. Outbound shipments of ICT products stood at $19.3 billion in June, up 29.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The figure marks the highest ever for the month and the 13th

July 14, 2021

LG Chem to invest W10tr by 2025 in battery materials, renewables

LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's leading chemical firm, said Wednesday it will invest 10 trillion won ($8.7 billion) by 2025 to expand its battery material, renewable and bio businesses. The chemical unit under LG Group said it will speed up its transition to an eco-friendly business portfolio by expanding partnership with major industry players through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic investments, saying over 30 projects are currently under review. The parent of battery maker

July 14, 2021

ELS sales in S. Korea gain 12.8% in H1

Sales of equity-linked securities (ELS) in South Korea swelled nearly 13 percent in the first half of the year despite the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The value of ELS issues stood at 35.6 trillion won ($30.9 billion) in the January-June period, up 12.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. The figure, however, was down 5.1 percent from the 37.5 trillion won floated during the second half of last year. ELS refers to hybrid de

July 14, 2021

Hyundai launches Avante N high-performance model

Hyundai Motor Co. on Wednesday launched the Avante N high-performance model as it strives to strengthen its high-end product lineup. The Avante N is the first sedan of the carmaker's high-performance N brand. The sporty sedan comes with a 2.0-liter turbo flat power engine that can reach 100 kilometers in 5.3 seconds and an eight-speed wet double-clutch transmission (DCT), the company said in a statement. It is also equipped with side skirts, which minimize the amount of air that goes under th

July 14, 2021

SK Telecom launches metaverse platform

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest wireless carrier, said Wednesday it has launched a new metaverse platform in a move to capture growing demand for the technology as more users shift their daily activities to digital spaces amid the pandemic. The metaverse refers to a shared virtual space where users interact with each other through digital avatars. The technology has gained popularity over the past year as the pandemic limits in-person contact. SK Telecom said the mobile app-based platfor

July 14, 2021

S. Korea ranks 2nd in monthly capacity of 200mm wafers in 2020: report

South Korea had the second-largest monthly capacity of 200-millimeter-equivalent wafers last year behind Taiwan, a report showed Wednesday. The country, home to major chipmakers like Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., had a capacity of 4.25 million wafers per month, accounting for 20.4 percent of global wafer capacity as of December 2020, according to market researcher IC Insights. Taiwan was the capacity leader at 200mm or 8-inch wafers, taking 21.4 percent of the global capacity. The

July 14, 2021

Job growth extended to 4th month in June amid economic recovery

South Korea reported job additions for the fourth straight month in June, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign the job market has improved amid an economic recovery. The number of employed people reached 27.6 million last month, 582,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The June additions were lower than an on-year increase of 619,000 the previous month. The country has reported job additions since March when 314,000 jobs were added on-year, th

July 14, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower on increasing price pressure

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking US stock losses from increasing price pressure that fueled concerns of faster-than-expected inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 16.5 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,254.88 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a weak start as an estimate-beating 0.9 percent on-year increase in US consumer prices in June fanned market worries that the world's largest economy may hasten the timeframe for

July 14, 2021

Market volatility growing, but to have limited impact: vice finance minister

The government will strengthen its monitoring of financial markets as volatility increases due to a recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases here, First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said Tuesday. “As uncertainty related to virus variants persist, the possibility of increased volatility in the financial market in the future cannot be ruled out,” he said during a meeting on macroeconomic policies and financial affairs. With the quick spread of the more contagious delta variant lo

July 13, 2021

Celltrion says COVID-19 drug cuts risk of severe disease by 70%

Results of the final, phase 3 clinical trial of Regkirona, an antibody COVID-19 treatment developed by South Korean firm Celltrion, were presented at a conference in Europe, the company said Tuesday. According to the presentation made by Oana Sandulescu, an associate professor at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, at the 31st European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Regkirona, or CT-P59, has significantly reduced the rate of progression for severe sym

July 13, 2021