Posco Chemical Co., a unit of South Korean steel giant Posco, said Wednesday it plans to acquire a 15 percent stake in a Chinese manufacturer of artificial graphite anode material as part of efforts to bolster its battery materials business. The decision, reached at a board meeting earlier in the day, enables Posco Chemical to invest 26.1 billion ($22.1 million) in Inner Mongolia Sinuo New Material Technology Co. and participate in the management of the company, the company said in a regulatory

Industry Nov. 10, 2021

Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. (HHIH), the world's largest shipbuilding group, said Wednesday it will launch a 34 billion-won ($28.8 million) fund to support promising startups in the digital health care and bio industries. The fund will help the company advance into the digital health care market and seek new business opportunities, HHIH said in an emailed statement. HHIH will invest in telemedicine, digital therapeutics, artificial intelligence-based diagnostics and new biomedicine de

Industry Nov. 10, 2021

South Korean banks' loans to households grew at a slower pace in October, central bank data showed Wednesday, amid the government's tightened regulations on lending amid worries about soaring household debt. Banks' household loans stood at 1,057.9 trillion won ($897.3 billion) as of end-October, up 5.2 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea. The on-month growth slowed from a 6.4 trillion won rise in September. It is also much smaller than an increase of 1

Economy Nov. 10, 2021

Teenagers accounted for a quarter of offenders recently caught by police over allegedly supplying sexually exploitative materials across the internet, authorities said Wednesday. The cyber crime division of the National Office of Investigation said 1,625 alleged offenders were rounded up during its special crackdown campaign period against offenses connected to sexually exploitative online material between March and October. They included 919 producers and distributors, and 706 consumers of su

Social Affairs Nov. 10, 2021

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top wireless carrier, said Wednesday its third-quarter net income rose 88 percent on-year thanks to growth in 5G users and equity gains. Net income stood at 736.5 billion won ($623.3 million) in the July-September period on a consolidated basis, compared with 391.8 billion won a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing. Operating income rose 11.71 percent to 400 billion won over the same period, while sales increased 4.99 percent to 4.96 trillion won.The tel

Industry Nov. 10, 2021

A North Korean spy in South Korea has been indicted for allegedly working to send defectors from her country back home, according to legal sources Wednesday. The 40-something female North Korean security ministry agent, whose name was kept private, was indicted by prosecutors in Suwon, south of Seoul, in May on charges of violating the national security law. The agent, who arrived in the South guised as a defector in December 2018, is suspected of having provided contact information of another

North Korea Nov. 10, 2021

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday he is open to an independent counsel investigation into a massive corruption scandal implicating one of his former aides. Lee of the ruling Democratic Party has previously rejected the main opposition People Power Party's calls for a special counsel probe into allegations that the former aide colluded with a private investor to reap astronomical profits from an apartment development project undertaken in Seongnam, south of Seoul,

Politics Nov. 10, 2021

President Moon Jae-in plans to hold a televised town hall meeting Sunday evening, in which he will discuss virus containment measures and people's livelihoods, a presidential spokesperson said Wednesday. The town hall meeting, which will be broadcast live on KBS TV from 7:10 p.m. for 100 minutes Sunday, marks Moon's second appearance on a TV talk show since 2019. "President Moon Jae-in plans to have candid discussions with the public on the subjects of containment to overcome the coronavi

Politics Nov. 10, 2021

South Korea on Wednesday reported suspected cases of highly pathogenic bird flu from a local farm, a day after detecting similar cases from a nearby farm for the first time in months, the agricultural ministry said. The latest suspected cases of the avian influenza were reported from a duck farm in the central county of Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, which raised around 23,000 ducks, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. They were found as the health authorit

Social Affairs Nov. 10, 2021

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has said that Washington's recent request on South Korean and major global chipmakers to submit trade data was an "inevitable" measure under "unprecedented" circumstances of a global supply shortage, according to South Korea's industry ministry Wednesday. Raimondo made the remarks during her meeting with Seoul's Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook held in Washington, a day after Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. submitted their busine

Foreign Affairs Nov. 10, 2021

Police will begin providing prime minister-level security services to the presidential candidates of the ruling and main opposition parties this week, officials at the National Police Agency (NPA) said Wednesday. Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, and Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party, will receive the same level of police protection as the prime minister, the National Assembly speaker and the Supreme Court

Politics Nov. 10, 2021

Bond issuance in South Korea rose sharply in October from the previous month due to increased debt sales by financial firms and the government, data showed Wednesday. The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 65.4 trillion won ($55.4 billion) last month, up 8.4 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. Last month's increase compares with a 9.6 trillion-won on-month plunge recorded in September. Sales of fi

Economy Nov. 10, 2021

South Korea's military reported seven additional COVID-19 cases Wednesday, bringing the total caseload among its personnel to 2,095, the defense ministry said. An Army conscript based in Dongducheon, 40 kilometers north of Seoul, tested positive after developing symptoms. Two Army officers, a civilian worker and a draftee of a unit under the direct wing of the defense ministry also contracted the virus after their family members were infected. Additionally, two Army conscripts tested positive

Defense Nov. 10, 2021

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl was set to visit the liberal stronghold of Gwangju on Wednesday to apologize for remarks seen as praising a former authoritarian president accused of bloodily quelling a democracy uprising in the southwestern city. The two-day visit to Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, comes about three weeks after Yoon raised the ire of voters there by claiming many people believe former President Chun Doo-hwan did well in politics, except for his blo

Politics Nov. 10, 2021

South Korea's new coronavirus cases bounced back to above 2,400 for the first time in six days Wednesday amid growing concerns over a resurgence of infections as the country began its "living with COVID-19" scheme last week. The country reported 2,425 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload to 385,831, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Wednesday's tally marked a sharp hike from 1,715 reported a day earlier. The daily infection tally has stayed in the

Social Affairs Nov. 10, 2021