S. Koreans spend more time on mobile devices in 2020: report

South Koreans spent an average of 4.4 hours on mobile devices a day last year, up 19 percent from the previous year amid the pandemic, a report showed Wednesday. The country's increased use of mobile apps was in line with last year's global daily average of 4.2 hours, up 20 percent over the same period, according to the report from mobile data tracker App Annie. App Annie said the time South Koreans spent on financial apps last year especially increased, with the country's top five financial a

Jan. 13, 2021

S. Korea to sell W8tr of Treasury bills through Feb.

South Korea plans to sell a total of 8 trillion won ($7.3 billion) worth of Treasury bills in the first two months of the year to fund its expansionary fiscal policy, the finance ministry said Wednesday. The ministry plans to issue 2 trillion won in bills with a maturity of 63 days this month, and the remaining 6 trillion won will be floated next month, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Treasury bills are usually floated to raise money to cover short-term financial shortfalls a

Jan. 13, 2021

S. Korean retailer confidence worsens for Q1

A majority of South Korean retailers expect their business conditions to worsen slightly in the first quarter of 2021 than three months earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Wednesday. The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry said its retail business survey index (RBSI) stood at 84 for the January-March period of the year, down from 85 three months earlier. The figure is based on a poll of some 1,000 retail businesses across the nation. A reading below 100 means that pessimis

Jan. 13, 2021

NPS vows to beef up overseas investment through reshuffle

South Korea‘s public pension scheme, the National Pension Service, pledged Wednesday to add resilience to its capital deployment to overseas assets through a structural reorganization. Through the reshuffle, the NPS Investment Management will split its global public market division in two -- with one part dedicated to investing in foreign stocks and another in foreign fixed-income products. The move will allow the NPSIM to increase the in-house investment of foreign listed stocks and its

Jan. 13, 2021

S. Korea to inject W30tr into green energy exports

Seeking to boost a green-led economic recovery in the post-pandemic era, South Korea’s government vowed Wednesday to spend 30 trillion won ($27.39 billion) to support local exports of renewable energy and other clean technologies. “South Korea should take a lead in the global market for green and digital businesses by embracing the ongoing paradigm shift to a green and digital economy triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki s

Jan. 13, 2021

Value of newly listed bonds soars 24% in 2020

The value of listed bonds in South Korea jumped nearly 24 percent on-year to a new record high in 2020 due to a spike in government debt sale to tackle the coronavirus impact, data showed Wednesday. State, corporate and other bonds worth 769 trillion won ($702 billion) were newly listed on the local bourse last year, up 23.7 percent from the previous year and the largest ever, according to the data from the Korea Exchange. The jump came as the government sharply increased debt sales to finance

Jan. 13, 2021

Demographic shifts urge Korean insurers to adapt: Moody’s

The looming demographic shifts in South Korea are forcing domestic insurers to turn to new growth drivers, as the companies are likely to face flagging sales of their mainstream products and underwriting risks of their new products that lead to inadequate pricing, a report showed Wednesday. The report by Moody’s Investors Service cited Korea‘s fast aging population as a key attribute, adding that the working-age population is being met with a heavy financial burden to support the c

Jan. 13, 2021

S. Korea's money supply growth quickens in November

South Korea's money supply continued to grow quickly in November last year, as loans to households and firms increased amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2 stood at 3,178.4 trillion won ($2.9 trillion) as of end-November, up 0.9 percent, or 27.9 trillion won, from October, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 surged 9.7 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M

Jan. 13, 2021

Banks expected to tighten grip on loans in Q1 amid pandemic: poll

Banks in South Korea are expected to tighten their lending to households and the small business sector in the first quarter of this year, as credit risks will remain high amid the pandemic, a central bank poll showed Wednesday. The Bank of Korea's index measuring the banks' attitude toward fresh loans came to minus 8 for the first quarter. The lower the reading, the more likely banks will tighten their restrictions on lending. A reading below zero means that the number of lenders that will res

Jan. 13, 2021

Samsung to unveil another batch of shareholder-friendly measures this month

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to unveil another batch of shareholder-friendly measures, including big dividend payments, later this month, industry sources said Wednesday, in a move to smooth out the group leadership succession. Samsung, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone maker, is expected to announce its new shareholder return initiative for the 2021-2023 period on Jan. 28, along with its fourth-quarter earnings report. Local analysts widely expect that Samsung's new measur

Jan. 13, 2021

S. Korea's agricultural exports up 7.7% to record high in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's exports of agricultural and livestock products advanced 7.7 percent on-year in 2020 on the back of growing demand for healthier foodstuffs amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of such goods reached a record high of $7.5 billion last year, compared with $7 billion posted in 2019, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Exports of ginseng jumped 9.3 percent to reach $229.8 million over the period

Jan. 13, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korea’s farm goods exports hit record high in 2020

　South Korea’s exports of agriculture products reached an all-time high of $7.57 billion last year on the back of strong demand for kimchi and processed foods, data showed. 　The record amount represents a 7.7 percent rise from the previous year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. 　Outbound shipments of fresh products rose 3.4 percent on-year to $1.43 billion. Those of processed goods increased 8.8 percent to hit $6.14 billion. (Yonhap)

Jan. 13, 2021

Mercedes-Benz model 1st to be exchanged under lemon law in S. Korea

South Korea's transport ministry said Wednesday that a Mercedes-Benz S Series model became the first model that will be exchanged for malfunctions under a local lemon law. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it held an experts' review committee meeting last month to decide whether the Mercedes-Benz S 350d 4MATIC sedan should be exchanged or refunded. The committee found the S 350d model's Idle Stop and Go (ISG) start-stop system is malfunctioning and ordered the German carm

Jan. 13, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on investors' bottom-fishing

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, as investors went bottom-fishing for certain large caps that suffered large losses during the key index's two-day slump from an institutional selling spree. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 15.32 points, or 0.49 percent, to 3,141.27 in the first 20 minutes of trading. The gain was largely led by chemical and tech top caps, as institutions and individuals bought on expectations of improved performance. Investor sentiment also imp

Jan. 13, 2021

S. Korea to invest over W380b in smart farm tech through 2027

South Korea's ICT ministry said Wednesday it will invest 386.7 billion won ($353.3 million) to develop smart farms over the next seven years as part of the country's efforts to introduce new technology to the agriculture sector. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it launched a foundation to research and test next-generation smart farm technology, such as big data and artificial intelligence, to develop automated farms with improved productivity and produce quality. The foundation, jointly op

Jan. 13, 2021

Hyundai Steel workers stage strike over wages

Thousands of unionized workers of Hyundai Steel Co. began a walkout Wednesday to demand higher wages and bonuses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the union said. The workers will go on strike for two days through Thursday, affecting production at five domestic plants of South Korea's second-largest steelmaker, the union said. Still, some 2,000 essential workers did not join the strike as they need to work at three blast furnaces in Dangjin, about 120 kilometers south of Seoul. The strike by the 8,

Jan. 13, 2021

Exports of OLED displays forecast to hit new high this year

South Korea's exports of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are expected to jump nearly 20 percent on-year to an all-time high in 2021 on growing global demand, sources said Wednesday. Overseas shipments of OLED panels are projected to soar 19.6 percent on-year to $13 billion this year, accounting for more than 70 percent of overall display exports, according to the industry ministry and the Korea Display Industry Association. Bolstered by the sharp increase, South Korea's overall di

Jan. 13, 2021

Dec. job loss largest in over 2 decades amid pandemic

South Korea reported the largest job loss in December since 1999 as a resurgence in new coronavirus cases dealt a blow to jobs in the service sector, data showed Wednesday. For the whole of 2020, the country also shed the largest number of jobs since 1998, when the country was in the midst of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, according to Statistics Korea. The number of employed people reached 26.5 million last month, 628,000 fewer than a year earlier and marking the 10th straight month of j

Jan. 13, 2021

Samsung unveils Exynos 2100 ahead of Galaxy S21 Unpacked

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday unveiled its new mobile application processor Exynos 2100 through an online event ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Unpacked event this week. The Exynos 2100, which is expected to power the upcoming Galaxy S21 series, is Samsung’s first mobile application processor integrated with a 5G modem. Manufactured on Samsung’s 5-nanometer extreme ultra-violet process node, the new processor comes with the most cutting-edge central processing unit and graphic

Jan. 13, 2021

[Herald Interview] Korea’s COVID-19 response overlooks patients’ well-being

This interview is the first installment in a three-part series in conversations with the former directors of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- now the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency -- as the country looks back on a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. -- Ed. Good health care should not be sidelined in efforts to find and isolate people with COVID-19 and their contacts, says respiratory disease specialist Dr. Jung Ki-suck. Jung is the immediate predecessor o

Jan. 12, 2021