S. Korea's online food market grows explosively in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in 10 years in 2021 due to surging energy costs and high prices of farm products, data showed Friday, indicating a build-up in inflationary pressure for Asia's fourth-largest economy. Consumer prices rose 2.5 percent this year from a year earlier, accelerating from a 0.5 percent on-year gain in 2020, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the steepest on-year rise since 2011, when consumer inflation spiked 4 percent.

Feb. 15, 2021

S-Oil expected to continue recovery this year

S-Oil, South Korea’s No. 3 refiner, is expected to see an improvement in profits this year, continuing a recovery momentum from the final quarter of 2020, according to the industry sources Sunday. S-Oil said the company expects a recovery based on the increasing profitability of the company’s petrochemical products, including propylene oxide and polypropylene. S-Oil noted the company plans to increase production capacity for propylene oxide through which the company managed to off

Feb. 14, 2021

S. Korea’s top streamers make W671m a year

South Korea’s top 1 percent of streamers earned an average of 671 million won in 2019, according to data released Sunday by the National Tax Service. 　 According to a report by Yang Kyung-sook of the ruling Democratic Party here, the top 1 percent of tax-registered streamers by income, or 27 individuals, made a total of 18.1 billion won, accounting for around 21 percent of the total income made by all local one-person media creators registered with the tax office. The number of one-perso

Feb. 14, 2021

Nexon provides all-time high dividends to its parent company in 2020

Nexon, South Korea’s largest game developer, has paid a record amount of cash in dividends to its parent company NXC after posting all-time high earnings last year, according to the Japanese electronic disclosure system Sunday. According to the Electronic Disclosure for Investors‘ NETwork, Nexon provided a dividend of 29.9 billion yen (320 billion won) to its parent company last year. In total, Nexon provided 61.4 billion yen of dividends through last year, up around 30 percent fr

Feb. 14, 2021

Tesla launches Model Y in Korea

Tesla’s Model Y has officially launched in South Korea, with prices starting from 59.9 million won for the lowest trim and is eligible for government subsidy. The automaker started sales of its latest pure electric vehicle crossover here on Friday, presenting three trims -- the standard range, long range, and performance models. The Model Y’s standard range model offers up to 340 kilometers of range on a single charge, while the long range model can go up to 511 kilometers. The

Feb. 14, 2021

Hyundai’s Santa Fe, GV80 among best new cars of 2021

Four vehicles of South Korea’s leading automaker Hyundai Motor Group have been included in a ranking of 12 best new cars of 2021, compiled by a US automotive third-party car listings brand Autotrader. The four are Hyundai Motor’s Santa Fe, Genesis GV80, Kia’s Sorento and K5. Hyundai Motor, Genesis and Kia are all automotive brands owned by Hyundai Motor Group. The 12 vehicles have been selected by a team of experts, who collectively tested and scored new models using a ran

Feb. 14, 2021

Recovery of pandemic-hit labor market tipped to be modest: BOK

South Korea's job market is expected to recover modestly from the coronavirus pandemic as it will take more time for the number of people employed to recover to a pre-crisis level than to decline, according to a recent report by the Bank of Korea (BOK). South Korea has rolled out about 280 trillion won ($251 billion) worth of stimulus measures to cushion the impact of the pandemic, but companies have hired fewer workers than expected amid persistent uncertainties over the global health crisis.

Feb. 14, 2021

Tough settlement talks await SK Innovation

With a defeat after a two-year legal battle against LG Energy Solution in the United States, the only desirable option for SK Innovation to minimize impact seems to be settling with their domestic archrival, according to industry sources on Sunday. In a final ruling made by the US International Trade Commission on Wednesday, SK Innovation was slapped with a 10-year ban on importing lithium-ion battery products to the US, with a grace period up to four years, for stealing trade secrets from LG.

Feb. 14, 2021

Telcos pin hope on further 5G adoption this year

South Korean mobile carriers are aiming for mass user migration to 5G networks this year after failing to meet their subscriber targets in 2020 amid the pandemic. The country ended last year with a total 11.85 million 5G subscribers, with SK Telecom Co., the country's largest wireless carrier, leading the pack with 5.48 million users, followed by KT Corp. at 3.62 million and LG Uplus Corp. at 2.75 million, according to ICT ministry data. The total figure fell short of initial forecasts of arou

Feb. 14, 2021

Coupang chooses NYSE for IPO to take advantage of dual-class share

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang appears to have chosen to go public in the US, not in its home base, to keep its chief’s control over the company under a dual-class share system that is not allowed here. The initial public offering application filed at the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed that shares that will be issued by the Seoul-headquartered firm will consist of two classes of common stocks - Class A with one voting right and Class B with 29 voting rights. Only th

Feb. 14, 2021

Over half of S. Koreans in favor of tax hike on high earners: poll

More than half of South Koreans are in favor of raising taxes for high income earners to mitigate the polarization that has deepened during the pandemic, a poll showed Sunday. In the survey of 1,000 South Koreans aged 18 or older conducted last week, 57.4 percent of respondents agreed to a tax hike on high earners in the face of a widening income gap, while 39.3 percent disagreed, according to Realmeter. Nearly 83 percent of the respondents said the polarization has worsened during the COVID-1

Feb. 14, 2021

Woori Bank’s Indonesian unit wins higher capital grade

Woori Bank’s Indonesian unit has received a higher grade in capital requirement imposed by the Southeast Asian country’s market watchdog, bringing it one step forward in expanding its business portfolio in the region, officials said Sunday. As of December last year, Bank Woori Saudara raised a combined capital of 5.2 trillion rupiah, or approximately 413 billion won, which falls under a BUKU3 rating, the third-highest in Otoritas Jasa Keuangan’s four-tier bank capital class

Feb. 14, 2021

Convenience stores outperform pandemic-hit department stores in 2020

Convenience stores outperformed major department stores for the first time in terms of offline sales last year amid the country's yearlong social distancing scheme, data showed Sunday. The combined sales of the top three convenience store chains -- GS25, CU and 7-Eleven -- took up 31 percent of the total offline sales in local retail industry, up from 29.2 percent a year ago, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. On the other hand, the combined percentage of bi

Feb. 14, 2021

Household saving rate likely to rise in pandemic-hit economy: BOK

South Korea's household saving rate is likely to rise if a pandemic-hit economic crisis persists, in a potential move that could delay a recovery in consumption, a research note from the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed. The yearlong coronavirus pandemic has prompted consumers in South Korea to curb spending, mainly due to stricter social distancing measures, and stockpile cash. "It is true that the higher domestic household saving rate this year is mainly attributable to a contraction in spend

Feb. 14, 2021

Trade mediation agency resolves disputes worth W121b last year

South Korea's trade mediation agency said Sunday it resolved 120.7 billion won ($108.4 million) worth of unfair contracts through arbitration last year. The Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency said it mediated 1,308 cases of unfair trade, subcontract work, franchise operation and retail business last year. Through the agency's dispute settlement, smaller firms received compensation of 109.1 billion won last year. When taking saved litigation costs into account, the value topped 120 billion won,

Feb. 14, 2021

Air passenger traffic dips 68% in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's air passenger traffic plunged 68 percent last year in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the transport ministry said Sunday. In 2020, the number of passengers on domestic and international routes fell to 39.4 million from 123.3 million a year earlier as countries strengthened entry restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. In particular, the number of passengers on international routes plummeted 84 perc

Feb. 14, 2021

S. Korea's steel output dips below 70m tons on pandemic

South Korea's steel production fell below 70 million metric tons for the first time in four years in 2020 as demand from carmakers, shipbuilders and construction firms plunged amid the COVID-19 pandemic, industry data showed Sunday. The country produced a total of 60.71 million metric tons of steel in 2020, ranking sixth in terms of steel output, following China, India, Japan, Russia and the United States, according to data from the Korea Iron & Steel Association. It was the first time for

Feb. 14, 2021

SK Group has most affiliates among conglomerates

Energy-to-telecom conglomerate SK Group has the largest number of affiliated companies, data showed Sunday. SK Group, the country's 4th largest business group, had 144 affiliates as of Jan. 31, the most among 64 conglomerates subject to tighter curbs, such as limited inter-affiliate trading. Kakao Corp., the country's top mobile messenger and platform operator, came next in line with a total of 105 affiliates, including 99 non-financials and six financials. Private equity fund IMM Investment

Feb. 14, 2021

Brokerage houses chalk up sharp earnings increase amid bull run

Earnings of brokerage houses in South Korea soared to a record-high last year amid a stock rush, chasing closely after those of first-tier banks, data showed Sunday. The combined operating profit of the top 20 brokerages by capital base stood at 7.85 trillion won ($7.09 billion) in 2020, soaring 36.7 percent from the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service's regulatory filing. The brokerages' yearly net profit jumped 25.1 percent on-year to 5.96 trillion won. Their total

Feb. 14, 2021

Korean Air offers 'flights to nowhere' amid pandemic

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, has joined other airlines to offer "flights to nowhere" as a way to ride out the coronavirus crisis, the transport ministry said Sunday. Korean Air plans to use the A380 passenger jet on the route from Incheon to the East Sea, Busan, Jeju Island, the Straits of Korea and back to Incheon on Feb. 27, a ministry official said. The entertainment-packed flight to nowhere will take two hours and 20 minutes. It is priced at 219,000 won-70

Feb. 14, 2021