South Korean white hat hackers took the first place in the Defcon 26 Hacking Conference Capture the Flag Competition held in Las Vegas from Thursday through Sunday, according to Raonsecure Tuesday. White hat hackers refer to security experts who identify security flaws and defend against hacking attacks on a website, while Capture The Flag means an information security competition. (Raonsecure)This marked the second time that the team representing Korea, defkor00t, became the winner in the US co

Industry Aug. 14, 2018

South Korea’s stock markets sank Monday on emerging market instability triggered by the sliding Turkish lira coupled with negative investor sentiment toward listed Korean biotech companies. The top-tier Kospi dipped 1.5 percent to close at 2,248.45, the lowest since May 4, 2017, following a foreign sell-off of 172.5 billion won ($152.2 million). The second-tier Kosdaq shed 3.7 percent to close at 755.65. Foreign and institutional investors net sold shares worth 158.1 billion won on Kosdaq.

Market Aug. 13, 2018

South Korea’s exports to China maintained on-year growth, overcoming the downtrend until 2016, while new research by the central bank hinted at the need for Korea to shift away from its focus on exporting manufactured goods to China to continue the uptrend.From Aug. 1-10, the volume of Korean exports to China jumped 28.8 percent compared to the previous year, according to data compiled by the Korea Customs Service on Monday. This came alongside the on-year growth streak in 2018 until July.

Market Aug. 13, 2018

Preliminary earnings of South Korean listed companies are vindicating analysts’ downward revisions of their Q2 projections, due to a lingering US-China trade war impact, data showed Sunday. Of 145 companies listed on the top-tier Kospi, covering nearly three-quarters of the market cap or a combined 1,099.3 trillion won ($973.3 billion), 72 reported earnings within 10 percent of the market consensus, according to data compiled by KB Securities as of Thursday. Of the remainder, the majority

Market Aug. 12, 2018

Light of various colors from gold to different shades of blue fills a 7.8-kilometer man-made cave located some 12 kilometers southwest of Seoul.The dazzling beams from light-emitting diodes, coupled with an indoor temperature of around 12 degrees Celsius throughout the year, make Gwangmyeong Cave an ideal shelter from the notorious heat this summer.Opened to the public since 2011, the suburban theme park features the nation’s largest 41-meter dragon sculpture, a 194-meter wine cave with a tastin

Culture Aug. 9, 2018

South Korean financial technology startup Moin resumed its cross-border money transfer service without currency conversion fees double-charged to residents in China, starting Aug. 1, according to Moin on Wednesday. This came after Moin’s remittance service with China was suspended since May 2017.  Taking advantage of Moin’s prefunding scheme, those who receive money transferred from Korea will not be charged won-to-dollar and dollar-to-yuan conversion fees, unlike interbank meth

Market Aug. 8, 2018

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 20th installment. -- Ed.Since taking office in 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to level the playing field for offshore and domestic companies in financial services, declaring an end to bureaucratic “red tape.”For example, Indian financial authorities lowered regulatory hurdles in late 2016 that were set particularly for foreign business en

Market Aug. 7, 2018

South Korean remittance startup Sentbe said Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietcombank Remittance. The move will allow recipients to pick up wired money in an hour on average from some 2,500 automated teller machines or some 500 branches that belong to Vietcombank, as well as some 500 nonbank cash pickup centers, with up to 95 percent lower commission fees, the startup said. This is a step up from the Korean startup’s existing partnership with Vietnam. Vitecombank

Market Aug. 7, 2018

South Korea’s Kyobo Life Insurance has launched a variable life insurance product that covers an individual’s education expenses for college in line with the company’s original philosophy, the firm said Monday.Since it was founded in 1958, Kyobo, formerly known as Daehan Kyoyuk Insurance and short for “life insurance for educational expenses,” was the first to introduce insurance products for education cost to promote literacy in the nation torn by the Korean War at

Market Aug. 6, 2018

Before it backtracked, the claim of a South Korean company that it had discovered a “treasure battleship” in South Korean territorial waters was a ray of hope for digital asset investors in search of a financial bonanza.But the hope quickly diminished for investors holding what is thought to be a digital asset called Shinil Gold Coin, after a recent press conference by the Korean business entity. On July 26, officials of Seoul-based Shinil Group, declaring that it had changed its nam

Market Aug. 2, 2018

South Korea’s central bank on Tuesday unveiled plans to create an equivalent to China’s Alipay or WeChat Pay by the first half of 2019, in a move to cut “social costs” of consumers and merchants caused by card networks here. The new infrastructure for smartphone-based mobile wallet service will allow an online payment to be settled between customers and vendors without intermediaries like a card network, where card companies, payment gateway providers and virtual account

Market July 31, 2018

Peer-to-peer borrowers on South Korean lending platform Tera Funding had repaid 202.4 billion won ($180.6 million) in loans without becoming overdue, as of end-June, according to the startup on Monday. This marked the first time that a Korean P2P lending platform extended loans over 200 billion won and had the borrowing fully compensated, the startup said. Founded in 2014 by former banker and foreclosure freelancer Yang Tae-young, Tera Funding has been dedicated to financing projects for real es

Market July 30, 2018

This is the 59th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed.Asia Pacific Satellite, a communications satellite hardware manufacturer based in Seoul, has seen swift recovery following a plunge in the past few weeks. While the stock price has suffered a heavy fluctuation, analysts have said the future market performance of the manufacturer has a reason for an upsurge, on anticipation for an upcoming introduction of fifth-generational network her

Market July 30, 2018

Kang Seong-ju, chief executive of the state-run Korea Post, stressed the role of the postal network in an era of global e-commerce during an annual meeting with Kahala Posts Group members, officials said Sunday. Kang was one of 11 representatives of member nations that took part in the KPG meeting held in Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, on Thursday. Members at the latest meeting agreed on increasing the level of customs clearance information exchange between members to 80 percent by 2021. 

Industry July 29, 2018

Samsung Securities on Thursday was fined 144 million won ($128,500) and imposed a six-month suspension for parts of its business by the financial authorities over a failure to prevent a dividend fiasco that broke out in April this year. The brokerage arm of Samsung conglomerate will be banned from brokering equity securities transactions of new investors from Friday to Jan. 26, 2019, according to the Financial Services Commission. Incumbent Chief Executive Koo Sung-hoon was slapped with a three-

Market July 26, 2018