SK Innovation to issue 'green bond' worth $1b for US battery plant

SK Innovation Co., a South Korean refinery-to-battery company, plans to issue a green bond worth 1.09 trillion won ($1 billion) to expand its electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing capacity in the United States, officials said Wednesday. SK battery America Inc., the Korean firm's US subsidiary, will issue the green bond, a type of financing for eco-friendly projects, later this month to build its second EV battery plant in Georgia, a company spokesperson said. The new fund will be an exte

Jan. 6, 2021

Hyundai, Kia suffer 7.3% drop in US vehicle sales in 2020

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday their US vehicle sales fell 7.3 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hyundai and Kia, South Korea's two biggest carmakers, sold a combined 1,208,374 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market last year, down from 1,304,109 units the previous year, the companies said in separate statements. Hyundai's US sales fell 9.7 percent to 622,269 units last year from 688,771 a year ago, while

Jan. 6, 2021

Exports of kimchi hit all-time high through Oct. amid pandemic

South Korea's exports of kimchi reached an all-time high in the first 10 months of 2020, data showed Wednesday, on the back of growing global demand for healthier foodstuffs amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Outbound shipments of kimchi over the January-October period of last year came to $119 million, rising 36.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). The export volume also set a fresh high of 32,000 tons during the ci

Jan. 6, 2021

S. Korea's FX reserves up for 9th straight month in December

South Korea's foreign reserves rose for the ninth straight month in December last year, supported by an increase in investment returns, central bank data showed Wednesday. The nation's foreign reserves came to a record high of $443.1 billion as of end-December, up $6.72 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights a

Jan. 6, 2021

NPS to oppose Korean Air’s capital increase scheme

South Korea’s public pension fund the National Pension Service said Tuesday it would vote against Korean Air’s plan to issue new common shares, which is deemed pivotal to the planned takeover of debt-ridden rival Asiana Airlines. NPS, which was holding a 6.96 percent stake in Korean Air as of September, said in a statement the flag carrier’s move to issue new shares is detrimental to its shareholder value. The red flags range from Korean Air‘s hasty decision to acquire

Jan. 5, 2021

‘CMO’ a rising keyword in biologics, vaccine industry

If South Korea has not yet earned itself the moniker of the world’s biologics and vaccine factory, it appears committed to winning the title. As of Tuesday, rumors abound that the country’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical is being weighed as a potential contract manufacturer of the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19. Hanmi’s Plant No. 2 in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, can put out an annual volume of 100 million doses of DNA vaccine and 1 billion doses of messenger RNA vaccine. The plant was

Jan. 5, 2021

Stocks extend record rally for 6 trading days

South Korea’s stock market rallied Tuesday as investor appetite for equities in one of the world’s fastest-growing bourses continued to gain momentum.  The Korea Exchange’s main board Kospi jumped 1.6 percent to end at 2,990.57 points Tuesday. While off to a muted start in the morning, the index shot up approximately 30 minutes before the market close. The 916 constituents’ combined market cap approached 2,060 trillion won ($1.9 trillion). The Kospi, as a result,

Jan. 5, 2021

Korean Air to change articles of association for Asiana takeover

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Tuesday it will change its articles of association to help finance its planned acquisition of smaller rival Asiana Airlines Inc. Korean Air will hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Wednesday to amend its articles of association ahead of its 2.5 trillion-won ($2.3 billion) rights issue plan for March to sell more stocks aimed at funding the acquisition, a company spokeswoman said over the phone. The national flag carrier plans

Jan. 5, 2021

S. Korea’s chip exports to surpass $100b this year

South Korea’s chip exports are expected to grow 10.2 percent and surpass $100 billion this year, which would be the nation’s second-best performance since 2018, according to the Trade Ministry on Tuesday. Korea will again become the world’s second-largest semiconductor provider this year, following the US, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s first-ever market report focusing solely on semiconductors. The report said Korea’s shipments of chip

Jan. 5, 2021

Telcos eye more 5G users with cheap pay plans

South Korean mobile carriers are launching cheap payment plans to woo more 5G subscribers amid accelerating user migration to their high-speed 5G networks. LG Uplus Corp. said Tuesday it will release a new monthly data plan, offering 6 gigabytes of data at 5G speeds for 47,000 won ($43), following rival carrier KT Corp., which also launched late last year a monthly 5G plan at 45,000 won for 5 gigabytes of data. The new data plans are relatively more affordable than most existing 5G data plans

Jan. 5, 2021

Korean employers’ anxiety grows as industrial accident bill nears vote

Rival political parties on Tuesday reached an agreement to put the bill on industrial accident to a full parliamentary vote this week, seeking to approve the enhanced regulations for employers as early as within the week. With the apparently accelerated legislative timeline, business groups -- especially those speaking for large-size employers -- reiterated their concerns that the bill is set to exert excessive pressure on business operators. Reps. Kim Tae-nyeon and Joo Ho-young, the respecti

Jan. 5, 2021

S. Korea’s shipbuilding maintains world top post in 2020

Despite the extensive fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s shipbuilding industry maintained its top spot in the world in order volume last year, outrunning China with a last-minute clinching, data showed Tuesday. According to UK-based global shipping information provider Clarksons Research, the total amount for shipbuilding contracts across the world came to 17.92 million compensated gross tonnage as of Dec. 28. Of the sum, China and South Korea respectively accounted for 7.9

Jan. 5, 2021

NCSoft to launch entertainment JV with CJ ENM

South Korean game maker NCSoft and entertainment giant CJ ENM said Tuesday they will establish a new entertainment joint venture this year. According to the memorandum of understanding signed Tuesday, the joint venture will combine NCSoft’s advanced information technology and CJ ENM’s expertise in the entertainment business to create new content. Though the exact type of the new content the joint venture will create has not yet been unveiled, this is not the first time the compan

Jan. 5, 2021

Glimpse of tech world in 2021: Techs that help humans fight virus

As we live in a world continuing its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, attention to new technologies that might support humans in the war against the virus is growing more than ever. In the beginning of each new year, thousands of tech companies, experts and officials across industries gather at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to scope out what the future-shaping technologies will be. Unfortunately, 2021 will miss the original vibe of the huge show filled with new tech insigh

Jan. 5, 2021

BOK chief warns of bigger COVID-19 risks in 2021

South Korea’s monetary policy chief on Tuesday called for the nation to brace for potential risks stemming from the financial authorities’ decision last year to funnel massive liquidity into the market and extend loan forbearance periods, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We must focus on risk management and accelerating innovation, and debt issues and the excess flow of capital into the asset markets – which are the side effects of the coronavirus crisis – need to b

Jan. 5, 2021

Minister urges financial firms to funnel funds into new growth engines

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Tuesday called for banks and other financial firms to channel more funds into sectors like green cars and biotechnology to help the virus-hit economy come back strong. The country’s top economic policymaker underlined the importance of the financial industry’s role in helping the nation‘s economy rebound this year and moving toward becoming a pacesetting economy. “There is abundant liquidity in the market. But inflows into future growth

Jan. 5, 2021

Brokerages raise target prices of Samsung Electronics on chip market recovery

As tech giant Samsung Electronics’ stock has set fresh record highs for three consecutive sessions and crossed the psychological threshold of 80,000 won ($73.66), South Korean brokerage firms have raised their target prices for the firm on signs of a recovery in demand in the global memory chip market, reports showed Tuesday. Some analysts predicted the world’s top memory chip maker’s stock price to rise as high as 111,000 won, up from their prior average target price of 86,0

Jan. 5, 2021

South Korean consumers spend record amount of money on alcohol, tobacco

South Koreans’ spending on drinks and cigarettes reached a record high during the third quarter of last year, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday. Households spent 4.3 trillion won ($3.96 billion) on liquor and cigarettes between July and September – a 6.2 percent increase from the same period a year prior, data from the country’s central bank revealed. The figure marks the highest quarterly figure since records began at the central bank in 1970. The year-on-year jump is also th

Jan. 5, 2021

Home prices rise at fastest rate in 9 years in 2020

Home prices in South Korea rose at the fastest pace in nine years in 2020 despite a set of government measures to rein them in, data showed Tuesday. Housing prices in Asia's fourth-largest economy gained 5.36 percent last year from a year earlier amid low interest rates and ample market liquidity, according to the data from the Korea Real Estate Board. It represents the steepest on-year increase since the 6.14 percent hike recorded in 2011. Home prices in the South Korean capital of Seoul exp

Jan. 5, 2021

Samsung Heavy bags LNG carrier order for W199b

South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Tuesday that it has signed a 199 billion-won ($183 million) deal to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier for a local shipper. The vessel will be delivered to Pan Ocean Co. by April 2023, Samsung Heavy said in an emailed statement. With the latest order, Samsung Heavy has won orders to build 20 LNG carriers since November. The shipbuilder has yet to announce its order target for 2021. (Yonhap)

Jan. 5, 2021