Lotte Chilsung fined W1b over unfair practice

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has decided to fine leading beverage maker Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. and its wine-selling affiliate a combined 1.1 billion won ($978,000) for hampering market competition. Lotte Chilsung unfairly supported its wholly owned unit MJA Wine for 10 years since 2009 in a bid to improve the affiliate's profitability, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). Lotte Chilsung supplied wines to its affiliate at lower prices and shouldered lab

April 6, 2021

Seoul’s hotel transactions, occupancy shrink by half

Hotel transaction volume in South Korea’s capital city of Seoul fell sharply in 2020 as travel restrictions stemming from the coronavirus pandemic sent shock waves through the accommodation industry, data showed Tuesday. The 22 hotel transactions that closed in Seoul last year amounted to 701.8 billion won ($624.8 million), down 53 percent from a year prior, according to data from real estate services firm GenstarMate. In the meantime Seoul’s hotel occupancy rate, a key indicator

April 6, 2021

SK to buy 16% stake in Vietnam's largest retailer

SK Group said Tuesday it will make a strategic investment in VinCommerce, Vietnam's largest retail group, to tap into the fast-growing e-commerce segment in the Southeast Asian market. SK said its Southeast Asian investment arm signed a deal to buy a 16.3 percent share in VinCommerce for 460 billion won ($410 million). VinCommerce, a retail subsidiary of Masan Group, operates about 2,300 convenience stores and supermarkets in Vietnam, taking about 50 percent of the nation's retail sector. In

April 6, 2021

S. Korea's wearable device market grows over 50% in 2020: data

South Korea's wearable device market grew more than 50 percent last year, industry data showed Tuesday, due to rising demand for IT products amid the pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend.  Domestic shipments of wearable products, including smartwatches, wireless earphones and electronic wristbands, totaled 12.76 million units in 2020, up 50.7 percent from a year ago, according to the data from market researcher IDC Korea. Wireless earphones accounted for 74 percent of the market with 9.39

April 6, 2021

LG Innotek establishes AI-powered patent analysis system to boost R&D

LG Innotek Co., a major electronics parts maker in South Korea, said Tuesday it has established an artificial intelligence (AI) powered patent search and analysis system to beef up its research and development (R&D) efforts. With its deep learning technology, the affiliate of LG Electronics Co. said the system leverages sentence recognition algorithms which it developed with LG AI Research, an AI technology research hub for LG Group. Its solution can execute real-time analysis of context a

April 6, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korea's pet fish market to grow 35% by 2025

　South Korea said it will seek to expand the size of the local pet fish market by 35 percent through 2025 by developing more homegrown species while encouraging the public to adopt them. 　Under the goal, the size of the local pet fish market will reach 657 billion won ($581 million) in 2025, up 35 percent from 487.3 billion won tallied in 2020, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. 　Over the period, the number of farms raising pet fish will increase to 186 from the current 151

April 6, 2021

S. Korean stocks open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street on the back of strong US jobs data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 12.36 points, or 0.40 percent, to reach 3,133.19 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The strong start followed overnight gains on Wall Street, which got a boost from better-than-expected US jobs data released Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.13 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite adde

April 6, 2021

LG Electronics partners KT to develop cross-platform AI services

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it plans to develop cross-platform artificial intelligence (AI)-powered services with KT Corp., South Korea's major telecom operator, to expand use of its human-like algorithm. LG and KT plan to commercialize services that support AI platforms from both companies after developing a joint interface. The two companies recently verified compatibility between LG's ThinQ and KT's GiGA Genie AI platforms. The South Korean tech giant tested its smart mirror to find

April 6, 2021

Foreign IBs hike S. Korea's 2021 growth outlook to 3.8%

Major global investment banks (IBs) have again upgraded their outlook for South Korea's 2021 economic growth amid growing hopes of a recovery, a report showed Tuesday. As of end-March, nine major global IBs, including Barclays, BoA-Merrill Lynch and Citi, forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 3.8 percent this year, up 0.2 percentage point from their median outlook a month earlier, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance. It represents the fourth straight

April 6, 2021

Brokerages’ shares rise on investments in emerging firms

Shares in local brokerages have risen over the past few days as their investments in rising fintech companies have gained attention from investors. 　 Shares in Hanwha Investment and Securities rose 61 percent from Wednesday, following local media reports that Dunamu, the operator of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, is mulling a New York Stock Exchange listing. The IPO rumor boosted the investment arm of Hanwha, which owns 6.15 percent or 2.07 million shares in Dunamu,

April 5, 2021

Hanjin KAL stocks plunge as hostile takeover bid comes to standstill

Shares of Hanjin KAL plunged Monday as a hostile takeover bid of an activist investor group came to a standstill the week prior. Hanjin KAL, the holding company of the Hanjin conglomerate that controls flag carrier Korean Air Lines, dipped 7.8 percent on the Korean bourse at Monday’s close, as nearly 300 billion won ($266 million) in market cap evaporated within a single day. Hanjin KAL‘s share price hit a 52-week low Monday morning, trading as low as 51,400 won apiece. This com

April 5, 2021

KITA provides market consultant program for exporters

In order to help out small and medium-sized exporters in the global market, the Korea International Trade Association and its business consultants have met to share successful case studies on the trade front, officials said Monday. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has faced a shift into a digital era and a new value chain,” said KITA Chairman Koo Ja-yeol during a meeting with KITA’s export consultants. “For (Korean) companies to gain momentum in the

April 5, 2021

Shipbuilding industry rebounds as global orders bundle in

South Korea’s shipbuilding industry is looking ahead to a prosperous year on the back of a global shipping volume recovery and heightened demands for eco-friendly vessels, industry data showed Monday. Of the 10.25 million compensated gross tonnage in global shipping order quantity from January to March this year, South Korean shipbuilders accounted for 5.32 million or 52 percent of the global volume, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday, citing data from global shipping

April 5, 2021

[From the Scene] Perks of being a hydrogen taxi driver

Lee is a 61-year-old taxi driver in Seoul. He takes pride in being able to support his two kids, who both speak four languages, and his wife, who gives piano lessons at an elementary school. But there is also something else he finds satisfaction in -- his car that runs on hydrogen. After spending his whole life working for Hyundai Mobis, an auto parts arm of Hyundai Motor Group, the retiree now drives a Nexo -- Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell powered SUV. Lee, who preferred not to give his

April 5, 2021

FSC chief says HAAH still considering in SsangYong Motor

Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo said Monday that SsangYong Motor’s likely investor, US automotive distributor HAAH Automotive, asked the government to give more time before it makes a decision on whether to submit a binding offer to invest in the cash-strapped commercial vehicle maker. “We have not yet received an investment proposal from HAAH Automotive, but it doesn‘t mean the company officially declined to salvage SsangYong. The company said it needs m

April 5, 2021

Concerns rise as South Korea’s household debt nears GDP

Household debt in South Korea surged to nearly 100 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, raising concerns that the central bank’s rate hikes may be placing a heavy burden on the household sector, a report showed Monday. The proportion of Korea’s household debt to its GDP -- the market value of all final goods and services produced in an economy during a certain period -- came to 98.6 percent at the end of June last year, according to the report from the Korea Inst

April 5, 2021

Posco Chemical to supply key EV battery materials to LG-GM JV

Posco Chemical said Monday it would supply anodes to Ultium Cells, a joint venture established by LG Energy Solution and General Motors in 2019. The refractory and secondary battery materials arm of South Korean steel giant Posco, it will provide anodes to Ultium Cells’ electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Ohio, which is set to begin the mass production of NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum) batteries that contain 90 percent nickel starting this year. “Thanks

April 5, 2021

Seoul stocks up for 3rd day on US infrastructure plan

South Korean stocks advanced for the third straight session on Monday as investors weigh the $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal in the United States. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 8.03 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 3,120.83 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 12.8 trillion won ($11.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 511 to 343. Foreigners

April 5, 2021

S. Korean Drug Ministry minimizes steps for biologic agent imports

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of South Korea announced Monday that it has minimized the steps required for the import of new biologic agents, such as COVID-19 vaccines. According to the revised rules, the government will no longer require foreign drug developers wishing to export their products to Korea to present certificates from their respective country. This would speed up the approval process here for foreign-developed biologic agents that are urgently needed to counter public h

April 5, 2021

Kumho introduces new all-season tire SOLUS TA51

Kumho Tire announced Monday that the company has launched the new all-season tire model SOLUS TA51 in South Korea. SOLUS TA51 is the tire maker’s first new product in three years, and comes in 34 different sizes, ranging from 16 inches (41 centimeters) to 19 inches. The tire product will be compatible with most car models in the local market, the company explained. It is a Korean market-only model. It is specially designed to be suitable for use in different weather conditions across

April 5, 2021