South Korea will bring together the world’s 46 manufacturers of coins, medals and banknotes this week to discuss the future of the minting industry amid the emergence of new technologies across the globe. The state-run coin and bank note manufacturer, Korea Minting and Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. (Komsco), will host the biannual Mint Directors Conference from Monday to Thursday, the organizers said Sunday. The upcoming event will mark the 30th of its kind and the second

Market April 22, 2018

Many Asian countries have long been home to cold noodle dishes, and in contemporary times, they have become a popular way to fight the heat during summer. And in Korea, naengmyeon is the cold noodle dish of choice to fight the humid summer. Long lines of people brave the heat outside for at least 30 minutes to get into Seoul’s top restaurants for cold noodles -- their decades of history keeping them popular despite their unfashionable locations in run-down inner-city areas.  A typical bowl of na

Culture April 20, 2018

Raonsecure, a biometric technology solution provider to financial firms in South Korea, offered a theater presentation at RSA Conference 2018 in San Francisco, California, highlighting the “momentum for overseas business in America,” the company said Thursday. Raonsecure‘s presentation was made on Wednesday along with some 30 companies at the conference. Raonsecure was the only Korean company to be invited by US company Intel to give presentation.  (Raonsecure)The 30-minute session involved an o

Technology April 19, 2018

Recent political rows surrounding the chiefs of the Financial Supervisory Service are expected to put the brakes on the Moon Jae-in administration’s ambitious financial reform drive, while leaving the financial regulator struggling in a leadership void. Speculations, meanwhile, quickly spread Tuesday after the resignation of former lawmaker and civic activist Kim Ki-sik, on who would be the next candidate, and whether Cheong Wa Dae would still take a chance with a non-bureaucrat. Kim offer

Market April 17, 2018

Since April 2016, Lee Min-ho has been an ambassador for state-run Korea Ginseng Corp.’s tonic product Good Base: Red Ginseng & Aronia. Now serving his compulsory military term, Lee has maintained his stint for a third year representing the company’s tonic with extracts of aronia berry, known as “king‘s berry” or “Europe’s equivalent to ginseng.” A KGC official explained that it is allowed by law to use promotional pictures taken prior to enlistment until the termination of a contract.  Lee Min-h

Industry April 16, 2018

This is the 54th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. Living with fine dust has become a new norm for South Koreans, with pedestrians wearing masks and outdoor sports events often being canceled due to poor air quality. Fine dust checking apps bring yet more scientific ways to accurately measure the levels, not to mention air purifiers becoming a requisite for indoors.But with the government struggling to deal with the dust problem and

Market April 15, 2018

The Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kim Ki-sik on Friday stressed the need to secure retail investors’ trust in investment funds held by public, in a meeting with chief executives of asset management companies in South Korea, according to the watchdog. In a closed-door meeting with CEOs of 15 asset management companies that took place in headquarters of the Korea Financial Investment Association, Kim also called on the CEOs to boost the returns of their pension funds and strengthen inte

Market April 13, 2018

The prices of cryptocurrency tokens severely fluctuated immediately after being listed on South Korea‘s cryptocurrency exchanges including Bithumb, Thursday.The price of encrypted tokens Mithril and Aelf surged 11,100 percent and 90 percent, respectively, within 30 minutes after Bithumb announced the listing of the tokens at 6 p.m. Thursday. The gains also immediately evaporated. Upon the initial coin offering at 6 p.m. Thursday, Mithrill traded at 250 won (23 cents) per token on Bithumb.

Market April 13, 2018

The Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday launched inspections targeting nonbanking financial companies in South Korea, following its probe on the banking industry. The targets of the probe include 25 life insurance companies, 31 damage insurance firms and eight card companies, as well as savings banks and securities firms.The FSS will reportedly look into evidence of gender discrimination in the employment process and personal ties between applicants and high-ranking officials of companies.

Market April 12, 2018

South Korea‘s four securities firms have been slapped with a combined 3.4 billion won ($3.2 million) in fines for their failure to identify and verify assets owned by bedridden Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee under false-name accounts, watchdogs said Thursday.The amount of the fine equals 55 percent of face value of Lee’s financial assets under the accounts not owned by the chairman, which came to 6.2 billion won as of August 1993. The four companies -- Mirae Asset Daewoo, S

Market April 12, 2018

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 13th installment. - Ed.Despite having easy access to thousands of financial products in South Korea, as one of the world’s most wired countries, consumers often find most of them irrelevant and largely fail to figure out which offers the biggest financial advantage. In a bid to simplify the myriad of choices, former owner of a street food vender Kim Tae-hoon co-foun

Market April 12, 2018

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service on Monday began an investigation into Samsung Securities over it lacking internal controls to detect or correct a computational input error that caused slipshod dividend payments over 40,000 times larger than intended.The watchdog denounced the firm for its “severe” systemic flaw that enabled erroneously created virtual stocks to be traded like real assets.At a press conference Monday to unveil its plans to look into the fourth-larges

Market April 9, 2018

A labor union of South Korean bank employees is demanding bank branches here close during lunchtime in forthcoming collective bargaining talks.  The Korean Financial Industry Union was reported as saying Monday the proposal was designed to guarantee bank clerks get an hourlong lunch break. The KFIU is an umbrella group representing labor unions of over 30 financial institutions, including local commercial banks, provincial banks and co-ops.Korean banks, with few exceptions, are open to cust

Market April 9, 2018

A South Korean brokerage mistakenly paying 1,000 shares in dividends instead of 1,000 won ($0.93) due to a computational error Friday has exposed a major loophole in the nation’s stock trading system, prompting immediate intervention by regulators.Starting Monday, the Financial Supervisory Service will launch an inspection into internal system flaws at Samsung Securities, the nation’s fourth-largest brokerage, where the incident happened last week, officials said Sunday. The authorit

Market April 8, 2018

Contrary to market expectations for Celltrion to avoid short selling by moving from the second-tier Kosdaq market to the first-tier Kospi in February, the ratio of the firm’s short sellers have increased since then, data showed Thursday. Of the entire daily trading from Feb. 9 to Monday, short selling accounted for 13.8 percent. The figure saw an upshot from the yearly estimate until Feb. 9 this year, at 8.4 percent. By month, the average short selling ratio came to 13.6 percent in March,

Market April 5, 2018