[Newsmaker] Woori Financial Group fully privatized after 23 years: FSC

Woori Financial Group’s decadeslong journey toward privatization neared its final stage Monday, as financial authorities said the banking group is now “technically fully privatized,” greenlighting five investors in acquiring most of the remaining stake in the firm owned by the government. The Public Fund Oversight Committee under the Financial Services Commission sold a combined 9.3 percent stake in Woori Financial of the 15.13 percent owned by the state-run Korea Deposit Ins

MarketNov. 22, 2021

[Newsmaker] Netflix’s ‘Hellbound’ may be the next big Korean hit

Netflix’s fantasy thriller “Hellbound” directed by Yeon Sang-ho is off to a good start in following in the footsteps of global sensation “Squid Game.” A day after being released Friday, Yeon’s Netflix series topped the Top TV show on Netlflix chart, according to streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol. “Squid Game” grabbed the No. 2 spot on the chart Saturday. The global hit TV series directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk had stayed atop FlixPatrol’s T

FilmNov. 21, 2021

[Newsmaker] Hite Jinro to see sales boom under ‘living with COVID-19’: analyst

Hite Jinro, the country’s biggest beer and soju maker in terms of market share, is expected to become the “main beneficiary” of the liquor industry as the country shifts back to normal under its “living with COVID-19” scheme, an industry analyst said Friday.  “With the resumption of entertainment facilities operating under the ‘living with COVID-19’ scheme, the recovery of related sectors in the metropolitan area is a sign of upward momentum

IndustryNov. 19, 2021

[Newsmaker] Netflix hikes subscription fees by 17 percent in Korea

Streaming giant Netflix announced on Thursday a subscription fee increase of up to 17 percent, its first hike since launching the service in South Korea in 2016. The streaming platform’s standard plan will cost 13,500 won ($11.45) a month, up 12.5 percent from the previous 12,000 won, and the premium plan will go up 17.24 percent to 17,000 won from 14,500 won. The basic plan will remain unchanged at 9,500 won. Local users will be notified of the price changes 30 days before their renewa

TechnologyNov. 18, 2021

[Newsmaker] Ex-lawmaker’s home, Hana Bank head office searched in Daejang-dong scandal

South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday searched ousted lawmaker Kwak Sang-do’s home and former office as well as Hana Bank’s head office as they pressed on with an investigation into alleged bribery and corruption in the Daejang-dong land development scandal. The raid on Kwak’s home and former office came around a week after Kwak was officially expelled from the National Assembly and lost his immunity from arrest on Nov. 11. In early October, Kwak, who was affiliated with the

Social AffairsNov. 17, 2021

[Newsmaker] Kingmaker or safe choice, opposition hopes for ‘Kim Chong-in effect’

Kim Chong-in, a veteran election campaigner often referred to as "kingmaker," is once again at the center of attention in the political arena, with the conservatives betting on him to help them win next year’s presidential election. In recent weeks, the main opposition People Power Party has been openly reaching out to Kim to head Yoon Seok-youl's election campaign and wrest power from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea in the March presidential election. "We hope

PoliticsNov. 16, 2021

[Newsmaker] Small business revenue bounces back amid ‘living with COVID-19’

Small business revenue has returned to pre-pandemic levels after the government kicked off the “living with COVID-19” scheme designed to gradually open up the economy, according to new data. According to Korea Credit Data’s database on Monday, revenue from small businesses during the first week of November saw a 10.4 percent jump on average compared to the same time one year ago. It was also up 2.6 percent compared to the previous week. Compared to the same week in 2019, befo

IndustryNov. 15, 2021

[Newsmaker] Kim Jong-un’s prolonged absence from public stokes speculation

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been missing from public view for more than a month, fueling speculation over his whereabouts, as it marks his longest absence since 2014.   The last time Kim appeared in a public setting was on Oct. 11 when he delivered a speech at a rare defense exhibition in Pyongyang that showcased the country’s new weaponry, according to state media. 　 Since then there have been reports of him sending letters to foreign leaders and his people, but he ha

North KoreaNov. 14, 2021

[Newsmaker] Gov’t sets W649b in loans for tourism industry in 2022

Gradually pivoting to a return to normal from the pandemic, the Korean government has mapped out efforts to attract foreign travelers and boost domestic tourism. The 6th National Tourism Strategy Meeting to discuss ways to attract tourists and revitalize the travel economy, chaired by the prime minister, was held Friday. The government made plans to inject 649 billion won ($550 million) in tourism loan funds next year, which is a 55 billion-won increase from this year, to aid the industry for

CultureNov. 12, 2021

[Newsmaker] Higher-than-expected inflation to continue for time being, says BOK chief

South Korea’s central bank chief said Thursday that the economy is likely to see faster-than-expected inflation for the time being, due to the global supply bottleneck and the spike in oil prices. In an opening speech at an economic meeting with investment bankers and experts, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol pointed to the nation’s spiking consumer prices, which gained 3.2 percent on-year -- the sharpest rise since January 2012, when the corresponding figure stood at 3.3 percent.

EconomyNov. 11, 2021

[Newsmaker] ‘Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall’ in Songhyeon-dong to house all bequeathed works

Nearly all of the artworks bequeathed by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee will be housed together at the “Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall,” which is to open in Songhyeon-dong, Seoul, in 2027. The announcement was made during a ceremony Wednesday to seal the agreement between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Seoul Metropolitan Government on building the new institution in Songhyeong-dong after considering two candidate sites in Seoul. Confusion about the i

Arts & DesignNov. 10, 2021

[Newsmaker] [KH Explains] Korea’s urea crisis

The sense of crisis is deepening in South Korea, as an acute shortage of a chemical called urea threatens to disrupt businesses across a vast spectrum from construction to retail.  Government officials are mobilizing diplomacy to secure urea supplies from overseas, but no immediate solution is in sight.  The Korea Herald looks at what is causing this sudden urea crunch and why this is such a hard problem to solve. 1. What is urea, anyway? Urea is a type of nitrogen made mainly of

IndustryNov. 9, 2021

[Newsmaker] Moon urges all-out efforts on urea shortages

President Moon Jae-in on Monday instructed his aides to use diplomacy and public reserves to stave off a urea shortage in the private sector, as the country runs low on diesel exhaust fluid after China tightened exports to avert its own power crisis. Urea solutions are used in diesel vehicles to reduce emissions, and about 97 percent of Korea’s imports came from China during the first nine months of the year, according to the Trade Ministry. Seoul has already asked Beijing to ease its exp

PoliticsNov. 8, 2021

[Newsmaker] Where Yoon stands on jobs, taxes and real estate

Yoon Seok-youl, the main opposition People Power Party’s standard-bearer for the next presidential election, has no known experience in economic matters. The novice politician was until March the country’s prosecutor general. But having been born to an economist father, Yoon has openly affiliated himself with two long-dead economists, Milton Friedman and Ludwig von Mises. Both were champions of free-market policies, minimal government intervention and laissez-faire capitalism. B

IndustryNov. 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] Death penalty sought for adoptive mother over toddler’s murder

Prosecutors again demanded death penalty for the adoptive mother in a highly publicized child abuse case that led to the death of a 16-month-old baby girl. At the Seoul High Court on Friday, prosecutors asked for the highest criminal penalty for the defendant, surnamed Jang, who was indicted in December on charges of fatally abusing her adopted daughter named Jeong-in from March to October 2020. The child was found to have suffered severe abdominal injuries and internal bleeding due to Jang&rs

Social AffairsNov. 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] Main opposition party set to pick presidential nominee

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) was set to pick its presidential nominee Friday as the two leading contenders appeared locked in a tight race. The nominee will be announced at a national convention at the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Seoul following a four-day poll of party members and the general public on who is best prepared to take on Lee Jae-myung, the nominee of the ruling Democratic Party. The four candidates in the PPP primary are former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl,

PoliticsNov. 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] Netflix promises to invest more into Korean content, doubles down on network fee issue

Netflix Vice President of Public Policy Dean Garfield, decked in a green tracksuit costume from the hit Netflix show “Squid Game,” entered the press conference room at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul on Thursday, accompanied by the theme song from the drama series. Garfield began his speech by talking about how Netflix is willing to invest more into creating Korean content. However, when addressing the most heated issue on paying internet service providers bandwidth usage fees,

TelevisionNov. 4, 2021

[Newsmaker] Marvel's 'Eternals' tops S. Korean box office on its first day

Marvel Studios' latest blockbuster "Eternals" has topped the South Korean box office on its opening day, data showed Thursday. The film posted 296,000 attendees on Wednesday, accounting for 88.9 percent of the day's total ticket sales, according to the data from the Korean Film Council. It marked the second-highest first-day record this year to date, following 400,000 visitors set by "F9," the latest chapter in the "Fast and Furious" series, in May. The new film

FilmNov. 4, 2021

[Newsmaker] Conglomerates cut emissions by 9.3% in 2 years

South Korean conglomerates managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9.3 percent over the past two years, according to a report on Wednesday, suggesting they face a tough task in meeting the government’s 2050 carbon neutrality target. CEO Score, a corporate tracker based in Seoul, said major companies in the country curbed more than 46 million tons of greenhouse gas output in 2020, compared to 2018 figures. The calculation is based on emissions data from 197 companies in South Kore

IndustryNov. 3, 2021

[Newsmaker] Despite regulatory moves, KakaoBank sees third quarter net profit rise

KakaoBank, the country’s largest internet-only lender by user base, on Tuesday said its net profit in the first three quarters rose 96.6 percent from a year prior, despite growing regulatory moves on household debts that slowed the lender’s growth in the third quarter. In its first quarterly report that reflects its post-IPO performance, the banking arm of mobile giant Kakao Corp., said it recorded 52 billion won ($44.3 million) in net profit in the third quarter of this year, a 28

MarketNov. 2, 2021