Education startup Ringle raises W10b

Ringle English Education Service, a South Korean education technology startup that provides 1:1 English tutoring services, said Tuesday that it had raised 10 billion won ($8.8 million) from investors as part of its Series A funding. The latest investment, which was led by returning investor Must Asset Management, puts Ringle at a valuation of 100 billion won. The edtech startup is running Series A funding until the end of April. Founded in 2015, the company has maintained a 300 percent grow

March 31, 2021

Kakao Bank CEO’s term extended for another 2 years

Kakao Bank, the banking arm of mobile giant Kakao, on Wednesday said that its board decided to extend CEO Yoon Ho-young’s term for another two years. Yoon has led the country’s second internet-only bank since 2016. On Tuesday, the board also appointed three new members -- Jin Woong-sub, former head of the Financial Services Commission, Oh Pyeong-seob, former vice president of KB Kookmin Bank, and Choi Soo-yeol, a partner at Samdo Accounting Firm.  By Park Ga-young (gypark@h

March 31, 2021

[Herald Interview] Local firm aims to turn Korea into hub of hair-transplant tourism

South Korea could become a hub of hair-transplant tourism in Asia, said Han Bio Chairman Kang Da-witt, introducing the technology that his company developed to treat hair loss. Han Bio, a Seoul-based company that develops cell therapies based on natural killer cells and stem cells, last year developed a technology that can be used in the mass culturing of dermal papilla cells, a population of cells that play pivotal roles in hair formation, growth and cycling. During an interview with The Ko

March 31, 2021

S. Korea to boost eco-friendly energy tech to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050

South Korea said Wednesday it aims to acquire core technologies in eco-friendly energy sectors, such as highly-efficient solar panels and large-scale wind turbines, to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Last year, South Korea unveiled its carbon neutrality goal to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and nurture eco-friendly industries. Under the plan, the country aims to develop new technologies to meet its target, such as improving efficiency in solar panels from the current level of 27 percent to

March 31, 2021

[Herald Interview] Korea-Germany economic ties to be fueled further by post-coronavirus market: KGCCI

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which weighed down most of the world’s economies last year, the bilateral economic relationship between South Korea and Germany gained momentum even in the midst of market turbulence. While the auto and biopharma businesses flourished last year, it is the green growth and hydrogen energy sectors that are likely to pick up speed down the road, according to the chief representative of German businesses here. “Germany and South Korea are already moving

March 31, 2021

Hyundai Mobis vows to evolve into software platform leader in future mobility market

Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Motor Group’s auto parts maker, on Wednesday unveiled its blueprint to shift the focus of its business model from conventional automotive component hardware to future mobility software and to transform itself into a platform-oriented company. It also presented new mobility solutions and urban shared mobility concept cars -- the M.Vision X and M.Vision POP -- to shape up the transformation of mobility in the future market context. “In light of the automotive

March 31, 2021

Seoul stocks fall on valuation pressure, dollar appreciation

South Korean stocks retreated Wednesday on the increase in the value of US currency and the valuation pressure of local stocks. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.58 points, or 0.28 percent, to close at 3,061.42 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 14.2 trillion won ($12.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 476 to 378. Foreigners sold a net 297 billion won, while retail investo

March 31, 2021

Wall Street's crypto endorsement pushes Bitcoin

The booming adoption of digital coins by institutional players pushed the price of a bitcoin to new heights Wednesday. Bitcoin soared to a record high of 71.6 million won ($63,200) in the morning Wednesday, according to Upbit, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange that trades 184 coins. Wednesday’s rally came after a series of institutional endorsements from big players in various industries that began earlier this year. On Tuesday, PayPal, which has 375 million users, launched a

March 31, 2021

S. Korea sees limited chance of inflation exceeding BOK's 2% target

South Korea's consumer prices are not expected to sharply rise to top the central bank's 2 percent target even as the country faces upward inflationary pressure, a senior government official said Wednesday. First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said prices of agricultural and livestock products are expected to stabilize on the back of efforts to increase supply and curb the spread of bird flu. "There is a limited possibility that the growth of consumer inflation will surpass the Bank

March 31, 2021

KT offers first mobile fee discounts for foreign subscribers

KT is rolling out a mobile fee discount program exclusively for non-South Korean nationals, becoming the first mobile carrier here to do so, the firm announced Wednesday. While many local subscribers are eligible for family plans, which entail discounts and benefits such as shared data usage, most foreigners have been left out of such benefits as many are here without their families. KT’s new plan for non-Koreans will group five foreign customers with the same nationality and offer a

March 31, 2021

Dual-class share system needed for unicorns’ local IPOs: KRX chief

The head of South Korea’s sole stock bourse operator on Wednesday said that allowing a dual-class share system in the country would help more unicorns -- privately held startups valued at 1 trillion won ($884 million) or higher -- to consider listing in the local market. “Both the country’s ruling and the main opposition parties have discussed matters related to adopting dual-class voting rights. If the government allows the system, we believe that it will likely attract (pro

March 31, 2021

S. Korea launches committee on carbon neutrality in transport sector

South Korea said Wednesday it has launched a committee on carbon neutrality with automobile firms in line with efforts to effectively reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050. The committee will pave the way for the government to expand cooperation with local carmakers, including Hyundai Motor Group, in rolling out policies related to carbon neutrality, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "In the long term, we plan to beef up our competitiveness in the electric and hyd

March 31, 2021

S. Korean EV battery makers see global market shares dip in Jan.-Feb.

South Korea's three electric vehicle (EV) battery makers saw their global market shares fall in the first two months of the year amid Chinese rivals' big advances, a market tracker said Wednesday. Worldwide consumption of EV batteries stood at 25.2 gigawatt hours (GWh) in the January-February period, up 102.4 percent from a year earlier, according to SNE Research. South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd., which spun off from LG Chem Ltd. in December last year, shipped 4.8 GWh equival

March 31, 2021

YouTube Music's Android users more than double on-year in Feb: data

YouTube Music ranked as the second-most popular music streaming platform among South Korean Android users last month, with listeners on the platform more than doubling from the previous year, data showed Wednesday. The music streaming service from YouTube had 2.61 million users in February, compared with just 1.22 million the previous year, according to mobile analytics firm WiseApp based on its data on local Android smartphone users aged 10 and older. Local music streaming giant Melon, operat

March 31, 2021

Korean Air, Asiana to merge under one brand in 2024: Korean Air president

Korean Air aims to launch a single integrated entity with Asiana Airlines, its biggest acquisition to date, in 2024, its chief executive president said Wednesday. Explaining to reporters the post-merger integration plan, which it reported to Asiana’s main creditor earlier this month, Woo Kee-hong said Asiana Airlines would operate as a subsidiary of Korean Air for two years before being integrated into one brand. “Once Asiana Airlines become a subsidiary of Korean Air, the proces

March 31, 2021

Bourse operator to look into measures to improve short-selling scheme before May enforcement

The South Korean bourse operator said Wednesday that it will check on its regulations on stock short selling, a trading technique that has been temporarily banned here since March last year, before its resumption in May. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) banned short selling of stocks from March 16 for a six-month period, in a move to ease a market rout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The temporary ban was extended twice until May 2, and short selling is set to resume on May 3. "W

March 31, 2021

Korean multistrategy hedge fund is APAC's top performer of 2020: Preqin

A multistrategy hedge fund by a South Korean manager logged the highest annual net return for 2020 in the Asia-Pacific region, data showed Wednesday. The hedge fund, Gudo TAO Fund 1, net returned 124.99 percent, topping the list of Asia-Pacific-based multistrategy hedge funds through 2020, according to data from international market data tracker Preqin. The fund outperformed peers managed by Singapore’s Caygan Capital as well as Hong Kong‘s Factorial Management and BRIC Neutron A

March 31, 2021

BOK's green efforts rank 13th among G20 peers: report

Despite advocacy work on climate action, the Bank of Korea turned out to have lagged behind major economies in terms of concrete policy actions to limit financing for businesses with climage-related risks, a report showed Wednesday. According to a list of the Group of 20 nations ranked by green initiatives -- published by the non-profit Positive Money, the Bank of Korea took 13th place with the aggregate score of 11 out of 130, giving it a rating of D- on a scale of F to A+.  China top

March 31, 2021

Trade terms up for 11th straight month in February

South Korea's terms of trade rose for the 11th consecutive month in February, as exports have shown signs of a gradual recovery, central bank data showed Wednesday. The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of trade terms -- increased 6.4 percent last month from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the 11th straight month of an on-year rise since April last year, when the trade terms logged the first on-year hike in over two yea

March 31, 2021

Loss rate for auto insurance drops in 2020 amid pandemic

Non-life insurers' loss rate for their car insurance businesses dropped last year, thanks to fewer car accidents amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The nation's 12 non-life insurers posted an average loss rate of 85.7 percent last year, compared with 92.9 percent a year ago, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The loss rate refers to the proportion of coverage a non-life insurer pays to its policyholders from insurance premiums. The higher the loss

March 31, 2021