Govt. seeks to submit extra budget bill in early March: finance minister

South Korea's finance minister said Tuesday the government is seeking to submit an extra budget bill in early March in a bid to provide targeted support to merchants and businesses hit hard by the pandemic. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said in a parliamentary session that the country is considering expanding the recipients of the fourth round of emergency relief funds, including to merchants whose yearly sales top 400 million won ($364,000). "We are reviewing ways to provide additional su

Feb. 16, 2021

Scientists develop AI system capable of reading human emotions

A team of researchers led by professor Kim Hyun-bum from Incheon National University have developed a human emotion detection system using fifth-generation networks and artificial intelligence. Researchers claim the virtual emotion detection system called 5G-I-VEmoSYS can recognize at least five kinds of emotion -- joy, pleasure, a neutral state, sadness and anger -- through body movements and other signals. “Emotions are a critical characteristic of human beings and separate humans fr

Feb. 16, 2021

Market watchdog to tighten grip over illegal short selling

South Korea’s market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday vowed to toughen its supervision of illegal short selling this year to promote fair market competition. “We will ramp up inspections on illegal practices of short selling by strengthening the work capacity of our special investigative team in charge of detecting securities fraud,” the FSS said in its 2021 policy plan. The FSS has a team of in-house investigators focused on probing financial crime cases un

Feb. 16, 2021

Samsung top tablet vendor in Europe, Middle East, Africa in Q4: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the top vendor in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2020, a report showed Tuesday, amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. Samsung shipped 4 million tablets in the EMEA market in the October-December period for a 28.1 percent market share, according to industry researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). The figures were up from a year ago when the South Korean tech giant shipped 3.2 million tablets for a 24.8 perc

Feb. 16, 2021

Restructuring inevitable for Renault Samsung for survival: chief

The chief of Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Tuesday restructuring will be "inevitable" for the company's survival amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic and lower demand for its models. In a message to employees, Renault Samsung Chief Executive Dominique Signora made the comments as the company struggles with lower vehicle sales and high labor and manufacturing costs. "There is an urgent need to cut costs (through restructuring) to ride out this crisis as the company's overa

Feb. 16, 2021

Imprisoned Samsung heir allowed to meet execs after 4-week virus isolation

Lee Jae-yong, the de-facto leader of Samsung Group, has ended his mandatory isolation in a correctional facility and is allowed to meet group executives, industry insiders said Tuesday, raising speculation that South Korea's top conglomerate may speed up its decision-making for potential investments. Lee, the group's heir, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by the Seoul High Court on Jan. 18 in a retrial of a bribery case involving former President Park Geun-hye and was put behind bars agai

Feb. 16, 2021

S. Korea's power generation falls for 2nd year in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's electricity generation fell for the second consecutive year in 2020 as demand dipped amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The amount of electricity generated by the nation's power plants came to 552,165 gigawatt hours (GWh) last year, down 1.9 percent from the previous year, according to the data from state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco). It marked the second time generation dropped in two consecutive years, since the 4.1 percent decrease in 1998, whe

Feb. 16, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korea’s electric car exports shoot up 66% in 2020: KITA

　South Korea’s exports of electric vehicles advanced nearly 66 percent on-year in 2020, data showed, despite the overall slump in the automobile industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 　Outbound shipments of electric vehicles came to $3.9 billion in 2020, the first time the figure surpassed that for hybrid cars, whose exports came to $2.5 billion last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association. 　Electric vehicles accounted for more than half of the

Feb. 16, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on tech, auto gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday on strong advances by tech and auto stocks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 16.27 points, or 0.52 percent, to 3,163.27 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top cap Samsung Electronics gained 1.07 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 0.38 percent. Leading chemical firm LG Chem moved down 0.51 percent, and rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI slipped 0.12 percent. Giant internet portal operator Naver jumped 4.02 p

Feb. 16, 2021

Samsung remains 2nd in Indian smartphone market in 2020: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the second-largest smartphone vendor in India last year, a report showed Tuesday, as its offline sales declined amid the pandemic. The South Korean tech giant shipped 29.7 million smartphones in India in 2020, down 4 percent from a year earlier, for a 20 percent market share, according to market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). "Samsung remained in its second spot in the 2020 ranking, with its online-heavy portfolio driven by the Galaxy M series and t

Feb. 16, 2021

Hospitality industry's headcount dips on coronavirus impact

South Korea's hospitality industry has cut nearly 370,000 jobs over the past year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Local accommodations and restaurants had a combined workforce of 1.965 million as of January, down 367,000 from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. January marked the first time since February 2020 that the country's hospitality sector had fewer than 2 million workers. The tumble comes as South Korea has been gripped by the no

Feb. 16, 2021

Bond yields gather pace on hopes of economic recovery

Bond yields in South Korea are climbing at a fast pace on hopes of an economic recovery and more stimulus measures in major economies, analysts said Tuesday. The final offer rate on 10-year Treasurys came to an annual 1.871 percent on the local bond market Monday, the highest return in 21 months. The yield was close to levels months before the outbreak of the new coronavirus in South Korea in January last year. Rising bond yields means falling prices, which reflect investors' weaker appetite

Feb. 16, 2021

S. Korea's export prices up for 2nd month in January

South Korea's export prices rose in January, marking the second straight monthly gain, supported by a modest recovery in exports and a slight decline in the Korean currency's value against the US dollar, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, gained 1.8 percent in January from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the second consecutive month of on-month rise. In Decemb

Feb. 16, 2021

Netflix's subscriber numbers surge in Korea due mainly to pandemic

Global streaming giant Netflix saw its subscriber numbers soar in South Korea last year due to changes in people's media usage patterns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a report said Monday. According to the report by market research firm Nielsen Korea, the monthly unique visitors to Netflix in South Korea in November last year surged 64.2 percent, compared with January of the same year. Netflix also ranked second after YouTube in the ranking of mobile video operators. The US-based company

Feb. 15, 2021

Hyundai-Tesla battle looms in EV market

Tension is escalating in the fast-growing all-electric vehicle market this year, as Hyundai Motor unveiled Monday the interior design of its Ioniq 5 model. Market eyes were especially fixed on the South Korean automaker’s pricing strategy as the teaser release came in the wake of US competitor Tesla’s recent product launch and apparent penetration price policy to meet the government’s subsidy requirements. With the Ioniq 5 model set to be unveiled in full via an online wor

Feb. 15, 2021

Local research team develops human cochlea-like acoustic sensor

South Korean researchers have developed an artificial intelligence-based acoustic sensor that resembles the human cochlea, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Monday. The research team, led by KAIST professors Lee Keon-jae and Wang Hee-seung, said they used an ultrathin piezoelectric membrane to mimic the basilar membrane in the cochlea, which acts as an analyzer to translate frequency of sounds. Equipped with machine learning-based speaker recognition, the new acoust

Feb. 15, 2021

Hyperconnect deal hints another record year for Korean VCs

Korea’s venture capital firms are expected to see another strong year, following a record performance in 2020, amid a rise in the valuations of domestic startups and increased options for an investment exit. Hyperconnect, the operator of the video chatting app Azar, last week signed a deal to sell to Match Group, a US tech company that owns a slew of dating apps including Tinder and OkCupid. The deal valued at $1.7 billion will bestow handsome returns to domestic venture capital firms li

Feb. 15, 2021

Local stock brokers’ profits rise thanks to 2020 bull run

Local brokerage firms benefited from recent stock market rallies after a March plunge in 2020 as the companies’ profits jumped sharply, data showed Monday. The combined operating profit of South Korea’s 20 local stock brokers, including Mirae Asset Daewoo and Korea Investment & Securities came in at 7.85 trillion won ($7.1 billion) last year, up 36.7 percent from 5.74 trillion won posted in the previous year, according to data compiled by state regulator Financial Supervisory S

Feb. 15, 2021

Civic group suggests cutting down old trees to tackle climate change

Preserving trees isn’t always the answer to climate change, a local environmental group said Monday. South Korea needs to cut down old trees and plant new ones to help maintain local forests’ carbon-absorbing capacity, the Seoul-based Climate Change Center said. It cited a report written by the Gyeonggi Research Institute that said old forests can’t properly absorb carbon. “South Korea successfully turned barren mountains into forests by planting trees after the Kor

Feb. 15, 2021

Seoul stocks jump 1.5% on tech gains

South Korean stocks jumped 1.5 percent Monday on strong advances by tech stocks. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 46.42 points to close at 3,147.0 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.6 billion shares worth some 16.6 trillion won ($15.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 569 to 278. Foreigners bought a net 728 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 347 billion won. Institutions offloaded a net 421

Feb. 15, 2021