Naver doles out hefty bonuses to executives

Naver gave out hefty stock bonuses to its 98 executives worth a combined 3.1 billion won ($2.78 million), the company said Tuesday, after the tech giant raked in record-high profits last year. CEO Han Seong-sook received 1,000 treasury stocks of the firm, amounting to 355 million won based on Thursday’s closing price of 355,000 won apiece. Chief Operating Officer Choi In-hyuk, Chief Communications Officer Chae Sun-joo and Chief Financial Officer Park Sang-jin received 700 shares each,

Feb. 2, 2021

Seoul stocks up for 2nd day amid US rallies, eased China concerns

South Korean stocks advanced for the second straight day Tuesday to finish just short of the 3,100-point mark in tandem with global stock rallies and eased concerns over China's liquidity squeeze. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 40.28 points, or 1.32 percent, to close at 3,096.81 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 874 million shares worth around 18.9 trillion won ($16.9 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers

Feb. 2, 2021

Delivery app Yogiyo in legal battle over price guarantee policy

Delivery Hero Korea, the Germany-based company behind major food delivery app Yogiyo, is facing a court battle ahead of the planned sale of its stake in the app. South Korean prosecutors last week indicted DH Korea under the country’s monopoly regulation and fair trade act, accusing it of having coerced restaurants to offer lower prices on the Yogiyo platform than on competing platforms, according to the legal circle on Monday. It is alleged that between July 2013 and December 2016 the

Feb. 2, 2021

Average jeonse price sets new high in greater Seoul

Soaring prices for jeonse, a two-year housing lease that requires a lump sum deposit, have been putting a financial burden on tenants despite the government‘s protection measure that extends contract periods by two more years with a price cap, data showed Tuesday. According to KB Kookmin Bank, the average jeonse price in the greater Seoul area in January exceeded 400 million won ($358,710) for the first time since the bank started to collect relevant data in June 2011. It took only fi

Feb. 2, 2021

Korean sovereign wealth fund takes W23.7tr in investment return

Korea Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund owned by the South Korean government, said Tuesday that it earned 23.7 trillion won ($21.8 billion) from investment last year despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The whopping 23.7 trillion-won profit amounts to 4.6 percent of the government’s budget last year, standing at 513 trillion won, and 1.8 times higher than the amount of corporate tax tech giant Samsung Electronics paid in 2019, at 13.2 trillion won. The KCI’s ret

Feb. 2, 2021

Kakao Bank to target loan market for low credit borrowers

Kakao Bank, South Korea’s second internet-only lender, will expand loans for those with low to moderate credit scores and make a foray into the business loan area within the year, the company’s CEO said on Tuesday. Yoon Ho-young, CEO of the lender, told reporters that loans for the low- and mid-credit borrowers will be “significantly” increased from last year’s 1.38 trillion won ($1.24 billion). The size and interest rates for such loans will be dependent on the m

Feb. 2, 2021

[Feature] Evolving cosmetics: science in facial care

At-home skin care is evolving more than ever as facial creams are getting borderline therapeutic. An increasing number of pharmaceutical firms are branching out into the cosmetics business, aiming to apply therapeutic science, such as stem cell, probiotics and microbiome, to help treat skin trouble and aging. For biotechs, it is a way of making use of their factory production lines that can double as a cosmetics manufacturing site when operation rate is low and to secure cash flows during the

Feb. 2, 2021

Govt. launches review of details about more pandemic emergency handouts

The finance ministry on Tuesday launched a review over how to draw up a fourth round of emergency handouts designed to help people cope with economic slumps caused by the pandemic. South Korea is likely to seek to draw up an extra budget to provide more pandemic relief funds in March or April to assist merchants and businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since last year, the country has drawn up three rounds of emergency relief funds totaling 31.4 trillion won ($28.1 billion), including

Feb. 2, 2021

Hyundai Capital floats $600m in green bonds

Hyundai Capital Services Inc., South Korea's leading auto finance company, said Tuesday that its has issued global green bonds worth $600 million. The five-year bonds, which were sold to overseas investors, carry an annual interest rate of 1.25 percent, or the yield on five-year US Treasurys plus a spread of 92.5 basis points. The interest rate is 37.5 basis points lower than the guidance rate and the lowest-ever rate that Hyundai Capital has offered to offshore investors. Hyundai Capital sai

Feb. 2, 2021

Mercedes-Benz Korea seeks cancellation of hefty fine for manipulating emissions

Mercedes-Benz Korea has requested a Seoul court cancel a multibillion-won fine imposed on the company for manipulating diesel emissions in the country, judicial sources said Tuesday. The German carmaker filed a lawsuit against the environment ministry in October with the Seoul Administrative Court, seeking the cancellation of a 77.6 billion-won ($69.3 million) fine over its emission manipulation, the sources said. Details on the upcoming hearing schedules have yet to be disclosed. As for the

Feb. 2, 2021

S. Korea to spend nearly W3tr for overhead cable maintenance

South Korea's ICT ministry said Tuesday it will invest 2.85 trillion won ($2.55 billion) until 2025 for the maintenance and replacement of aged and messy overhead electrical and telecommunications cables across the country. Over five years, the ministry plans to spend 1.4 trillion won for cable maintenance, while investing 1.45 trillion won to put them underground, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. The move comes after the country spent 2.6 trillion won for cable maintenance in aro

Feb. 2, 2021

S. Korea to offer info on 'virus-safe' restaurants via Kakao platform

South Korea said Tuesday it has teamed up with the mobile giant Kakao Corp. to provide local consumers with information on restaurants that have strictly followed sanitary guidelines to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The service offers locations of restaurants that have employees wear protective masks at all times and provide separate utensils for communal dishes and pots, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Kakao operates South Korea's most popular mo

Feb. 2, 2021

OTT use jumps in S. Korea amid pandemic

Over 66 percent of South Koreans used over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services, last year amid the stay-at-home trend driven by the pandemic, a survey showed Tuesday. South Korea's OTT usage rate stood at 66.3 percent in 2020, compared with 52 percent the previous year, according to a survey of 6,029 people over the age of 13 by the country's media regulator, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). YouTube was the most popular OTT service here, with its usage rate at 62.3 perce

Feb. 2, 2021

S. Korea's sovereign wealth fund earns $21.8b in 2020

South Korea's sovereign wealth fund said Tuesday it earned $21.8 billion from investment, boosted by stock rallies, as the coronavirus pandemic prompted central banks to cut rates and pump liquidity into markets. Choi Hee-nam, chief executive of Korea Investment Corp. (KIC), told reporters that its return on investment was 13.7 percent last year, compared with 15.39 percent in 2019. It marked the second straight year that the KIC posted a double-digit return on investment. Over the past two y

Feb. 2, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street rallies

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, taking a cue from US stock rallies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 18.12 points, or 0.59 percent, to 3,074.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.55 percent, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.76 percent, and the S&P 500 gaining 1.61 percent. Market kingpin Samsung Electronics rose 0.33 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix hiked 2.4 percent. Intern

Feb. 2, 2021

S. Korea's whisky imports hit 21-year low in 2020

South Korea's imports of whisky plunged to a 21-year low in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and a change in alcohol consumption here, government data showed Tuesday. The value of whisky imports amounted to $132.5 million last year, down 13.9 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. It was the lowest level since the $115.9 million recorded in 1999 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. An industry official said whisky consumption fell furth

Feb. 2, 2021

Public sector's hiring dips nearly 18% in 2020

South Korea's public sector employment tumbled nearly 18 percent in 2020 from a year ago due to a one-off factor, government data showed Tuesday. Public institutions in Asia's fourth-largest economy hired 27,490 new employees last year, down 17.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the state portal All Public Information in One (ALIO). State-run companies cut their employment by about 32 percent, and hiring by quasi-governmental institutions sank about 20 percent. Yet last year's tally

Feb. 2, 2021

Consumer prices grow at less than 1% for 4th month in Jan.

South Korea's consumer prices grew by less than 1 percent for the fourth straight month in January, data showed Tuesday, indicating that the country's inflationary pressure remains low amid the pandemic. The consumer price index rose 0.6 percent on-year in January, compared with a 0.5 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the fourth consecutive month that the on-year growth rate of the consumer inflation stayed in the 1 percent r

Feb. 2, 2021

Samsung’s M&A target list draws market attention

All eyes are on what companies would be on the shopping list of Samsung Electronics, after the tech giant’s announcement last week captured the attention among industry officials and market watchers.　 Multiple chip-related companies have emerged as potential acquisition targets for the South Korean tech giant, according to market watchers. Dominant speculation suggests that Samsung is likely to be looking for a company that is related to the automotive chip business, or one that is corr

Feb. 1, 2021

POBA to allocate W300b to Koramco for real estate investment

South Korea‘s institutional investor, the Public Officials Benefit Association, is poised to commit 300 billion won ($268.6 million) to alternative asset manager Koramco Asset Management for its investment in commercial real estate, Koramco said Monday. Using the fresh fund, Koramco will mainly target prime office buildings in Seoul and the neighboring Bundang business district in Gyeonggi Province. The fund will be managed under the POBA guideline where 60 percent of the cash will be de

Feb. 1, 2021