Companies increasingly adopt 'vaccine leave' amid accelerating inoculation drive

Samsung Electronics Co., Hyundai Motor Co. and other major South Korean companies are increasingly adopting "paid vaccine leave" for their employees as the country's vaccine rollout gathers pace and more workers get vaccinated. The companies, including retail giant Lotte Group, pharmaceutical firms and game publishers have introduced vaccine leave from one to three days depending on their employees' symptoms after vaccinations, industry sources said Wednesday. On Tuesday, Hyundai Mot

June 2, 2021

Starbucks’ reusable cup pilot program to kick off on Jeju

Starbucks Korea will ditch single-use cups at four of its stores on Jeju Island from next month, serving its coffee in reusable cups instead, the company announced Wednesday. Starting from July 6, customers at the four stores located at Seohaean-ro, Aewol, Chilseong and Hyeop-jae will be served beverages in reusable cups that require a deposit fee of 1,000 won ($0.90), refundable upon return. They can reclaim the deposit at any of the four stores or at a multiuse cup return machine installed

June 2, 2021

Inflation surge puts S. Korea on edge

South Korea’s consumer prices grew at their sharpest pace in nearly a decade in May, data from Statistics Korea showed Wednesday, feeding inflation concerns and drawing divided reactions from officials and experts. The consumer price index gained 2.6 percent on-year in May, marking the fastest pace of growth since April 2012. The corresponding figure for April 2012 also stood at 2.6 percent. The price index gained 2.3 percent on-year in April, which sent jitters across a market still a

June 2, 2021

Seoul braces for Tylenol shortage as vaccine rollout gathers speed

As the COVID-19 vaccination campaign gathers speed in South Korea, branded Tylenol is running short as people rushed to secure the painkiller to prepare for potential side effects of the jabs, industry data showed Wednesday. Worried about a serious supply shortage similar to those of masks and hand sanitizers in the early stage of the pandemic, experts set out to encourage people to go for alternative medicines with the same key ingredient and function. The top three convenience store chain

June 2, 2021

Singer IU buys W13b residence in Seoul in cash

Singer and actress IU has purchased a high-end villa unit in Cheongdam-dong, a posh district in Seoul, for 13 billion won ($11.7 million) in cash, according to news reports Wednesday. The singer bought a residential unit of Eterno Cheongdam, currently under construction by Hyundai Engineering & Construction, according to local news outlet Biz.Hankook. The 20-story villa with four floors underground has one or two residential units on each floor starting from the second floor above ground.

June 2, 2021

Ruling party mulls universal cash relief before Chuseok

The ruling Democratic Party is considering a new round of COVID-19 emergency cash handouts for all nationals before the Chuseok holiday as social distancing rules have continued to weigh on the local economy, according to party officials Wednesday. “Another round of universal COVID-19 response stimulus checks backed by a second extra budget is urgently needed,” said Yun Ho-jung, the ruling Democratic Party floor leader.  “(The party) will kick off a review of fiscal stra

June 2, 2021

Hyundai Glovis debuts EV-optimized shipping system

Hyundai Glovis, the logistics arm of Hyundai Motor Group, said Wednesday that it has established the world’s first marine shipping system optimized for electric vehicles, in step with the swiftly expanding eco-friendly car market. The company has recently renewed its manual for EV ocean transportation and applied it to the loading, shipping and unloading procedures. Due to the battery cell installed at the bottom layer of the vehicle, EVs require additional care than conventional int

June 2, 2021

KITA, SME Ministry co-host trade fair to promote Korean exports to Central and South America

The Korea International Trade Association helped local small and medium-sized companies and startups tap the Central and South American markets with a two-day trade fair for South Korean consumer goods this week, the state-run agency said Wednesday. The K-Consumer Goods and Exports Fair was held Tuesday and Wednesday, both online and offline at Seoul’s Coex and Bogota’s Corferias convention center, in cooperation with Seoul’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It was KITA’s

June 2, 2021

Corporate loan growth accelerates in Q1 amid pandemic

Loans extended to companies in South Korea grew by the largest amount in three quarters in the first quarter of the year as loan demand by the service sector increased amid the pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The outstanding amount of corporate loans came to 1,435.8 trillion won ($1.3 trillion) at the end of March, up 42.1 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading also marked the largest on-quarter gain since a 69.1 tr

June 2, 2021

Banks' bad loan ratio hits record low in Q1

The nonperforming loan ratio at South Korean banks declined to a record low in the first quarter due to a drop in overdue corporate loans, data showed Wednesday. The ratio of bad loans to total lending came to 0.62 percent at the end of the first quarter, down 0.02 percentage point from three months earlier, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service. From a year earlier, the ratio fell 0.16 percentage point. In the first quarter, fresh overdue lending to companies reached 1.8

June 2, 2021

Samsung tops Chilean smartphone market in Q1: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the top smartphone vendor in Chile in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, although its market share declined after its rivals grew sharply in the South American nation. The South Korean tech titan represented 42.1 percent of the Chilean smartphone market in the January-March period after its shipments jumped 63 percent on-year to a record 1.2 million units, according to the latest report from market researcher Strategy Analytics. "Samsung'

June 2, 2021

Samsung unveils new enterprise SSD with advanced data management tech

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip supplier, on Wednesday unveiled its new enterprise solid state drive (SSD) leveraging advanced data management technology that offers a longer lifespan. The South Korean tech giant said its new enterprise SSD, the PM1731a, features a Zoned Namespace (ZNS) solution that maximizes available user capacity and bolsters the lifetime of a server system. "These improvements will enable enterprise customers to handle big data and artificial

June 2, 2021

SsangYong Motor offers unpaid leave, wage cut to employees in self-rescue efforts: sources

Financially troubled SsangYong Motor Co. has offered unpaid leave and a wage cut to its employees in its efforts to stay afloat, industry sources said Wednesday. SsangYong Motor, under court receivership, offered a two-year unpaid leave to half of its 4,732 employees, while demanding them to accept an extension of lower wages and suspended welfare benefits until June 2023, a person familiar with the matter told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. The company also offered an additional 20 percen

June 2, 2021

KT teams up with VR, content developers in 'metaverse' tech

KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, said Wednesday it has teamed up with local virtual reality (VR) content and visual effects companies to develop "metaverse" services in a move to boost its efforts in virtual platforms. The metaverse refers to virtual environments, in which users interact with one another often through virtual or augmented reality technology, and is found in the form of online games or social networking services. KT said in a statement it has formed the "M

June 2, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on strong economic data

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday as strong economic data fueled expectations of an increase in corporate earnings and quick economic rebound from the pandemic. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 6.23 points, or 0.19 percent, to 3,228.1 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks were lifted by the announcement that South Korea's consumer price index rose 2.6 percent on-year in May, marking the fastest on-year increase since April 2012. Top cap Samsun

June 2, 2021

Conglomerates' internal trading dips 8.7% in 2020 on tough rules

Transactions among affiliates of South Korea's major family-controlled conglomerates fell nearly 9 percent in 2020 from a year ago due to tough regulations, data showed Wednesday. The value of in-house transactions by 2,197 units of 54 business groups came to 158.9 trillion won ($143 billion) last year, down 8.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by corporate tracker CEO Score. Internal transactions accounted for 11.7 percent of their total sales in 2020, down from 12.5 percent

June 2, 2021

Global monitor panel shipments dip in Q1 on Samsung's exit, chip shortage: report

Global monitor panel shipments declined in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, mainly due to Samsung Display Co.'s exit from the monitor LCD display manufacturing business and a shortage of semiconductors. The worldwide monitor panel shipments fell 8.6 percent on-quarter to 39.9 million units in the January-March period, according to the latest report from market researcher TrendForce. "TrendForce indicates that SDC will exit the monitor LCD panel manufacturing busin

June 2, 2021

S. Korean investors' Tesla buying hits 1-year low in May

South Korean investors' purchase of shares in electric vehicle leader Tesla Inc. hit a one-year low in May amid a drop in its price, data showed Wednesday. Domestic investors bought a net $80.8 million worth of Tesla shares in May, the lowest amount in one year, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. It was down 45 percent from the previous month and less than one-tenth of the $939 million in January, when Tesla's share price hit an all-time high. The May tally also repre

June 2, 2021

Consumer price growth hits over 9-year high in May

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in more than nine years in May on higher prices of farm and oil products, data showed Wednesday, underscoring that inflationary pressure is building up amid an economic recovery from the pandemic-caused slump. The consumer price index rose 2.6 percent on-year in May, faster than a 2.3 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the fastest on-year increase since April 2012, when th

June 2, 2021

Auto sales rise 41% on robust overseas demand

South Korean carmakers' sales rose 41 percent last month from a year earlier on strong overseas demand amid a quicker-than-expected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and a lower base effect, industry data showed Tuesday. The country's five carmakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a combined 608,430 vehicles in May, up from 432,621 units a year ago, according to data from the companies. Their domestic sales fell 13

June 1, 2021