Most Popular
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Yoon, Lee end first talks with differences, agree to meet more
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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What is Hybe’s next move?
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China outpaces Korea in smaller OLED shipments for 1st time
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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Samsung Electronics Q1 operating profit soars; chip biz returns to profit
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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[Herald Interview] Mom’s Touch seeks to replicate success in Japan
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Police to open alleged stalking probe over pastor over Dior bag scandal
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Online food market hits new high in 2021 amid pandemic
South Korea's online food market jumped more than 35 percent to touch an all-time high in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. The value of online food transactions in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 58.5 trillion won ($48.8 billion) last year, up 35.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea and industry sources. The tally covers online transactions of food, groceries, farm produce, meat and fisheries goods, as well as food delivery se
Feb. 7, 2022
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S. Korea's foreign reserves decline for 3rd straight month in January
South Korea's foreign reserves shrank for the third straight month in January due to a decline in dollar-converted value of holdings in other currencies, central bank data showed Monday. The country's foreign reserves came to $461.5 billion as of end-January, down $1.6 billion from the previous month, according to the data provided by the Bank of Korea (BOK). This marked the third straight month that foreign reserves have contracted since October when the amount hit a record high of $469.2 bil
Feb. 7, 2022
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Mercedes-Benz fined W20.2b for emissions fiddling
Mercedes-Benz has been fined 20.2 billion won ($16.84 million) by the nation’s antitrust watchdog for fiddling with emissions readings in its diesel cars here. According to the Fair Trade Commission on Sunday, the German luxury carmaker falsely advertised some of its diesel vehicles as capable of reducing 90 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, the main culprit of fine dust, and that it satisfies Euro 6 environmental standards. These claims were advertised extensively through the brand&
Feb. 6, 2022
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Samsung Display offers OLED testing platform for free
Samsung Display has launched a new platform where its vendors can test their raw materials for OLED panels free of charge, the company said Sunday. The “Sync-OLED” platform, co-developed with the supercomputing center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, allows suppliers to run simulations on their materials and predict how they will affect the performance of OLED panels. The new platform is expected to shave costs significantly for partners. When partn
Feb. 6, 2022
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Samsung SDI to recall modules for Ford, Stellantis EVs
Samsung SDI will voluntarily recall 1,163 battery modules inside some 100 Ford and Stellantis vehicles in the US due to welding issues, according to the governmental National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Sunday. While putting battery cells together into modules, components called bus bars were not welded properly, which could lead to a loss of propulsion of electric vehicles. The bus bars were manufactured by South Korean subsupplier Next+. As the recall is due to welding issues
Feb. 6, 2022
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Financial firms to pay out record bonuses on upbeat earnings
Employees at South Korean financial firms will receive up to four times their monthly salary as their bonuses for 2021, backed by booming business, sources said Sunday. Woori Bank, one of the major commercial lenders here, has recently agreed with its union to hand its employees performance bonuses worth 300 percent of their monthly salaries plus some 1 million won ($830), according to industry sources. The nation’s No.1 commercial bank by performance, KB Kookmin Bank and its long-time
Feb. 6, 2022
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Apartment purchases by young people hit record high last year: data
The proportion of apartments bought by people in their 30s or younger reached an all-time high last year amid "panic buying" over soaring housing prices, data showed Sunday. The buyers of this age group accounted for 31 percent of the country's total apartment sales in 2021, up from 29.2 percent in 2020, according to the data compiled by the Korea Real Estate Board. The agency began compiling the related data in 2019, and the figure for the year came to 28.3 percent. In Seoul, 41.7
Feb. 6, 2022
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Game developers brace for new industry safety law
Korea’s major game developers are taking preemptive measures to cope with the new industrial safety law and prevent another “crunch mode” controversy. Under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which took effect from Jan. 27, business owners can face a minimum prison term of one year or a fine of up to 1 billion won ($835,000) if a fatal accident at the workplace causes a death or more than one injured person. The punishment depends on whether the owners are found guilty of n
Feb. 6, 2022
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S. Korea's fishery output up 1.2% in 2021
South Korea's fisheries output rose 1.2 percent last year from a year earlier on the back of improved production from the aquaculture sector, data showed Sunday. The total fisheries output amounted to 3.76 million tons in 2021, compared with 3.71 million tons tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. In terms of value, the output came to 9.24 trillion won ($7.7 billion), up 5.6 percent on-year, the data showed. The aquaculture sector led t
Feb. 6, 2022
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Goldman Sachs expects two BOK rate hikes in H2
Goldman Sachs expects the Bank of Korea to raise its benchmark rate twice more in the second half of this year to 1.75 percent, and later continue hikes to 2.5 percent, according to a report published by the US bank Friday. “We continue to expect the rate curve to steepen along with gradual monetary policy normalization,” the report said. Korea continues to see elevated inflation but the risk is contained by moderating import prices, weakening housing prices, and measures to counte
Feb. 4, 2022
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The making of AI bankers at South Korean bank
Virtual staff members powered by artificial intelligence have increasingly become a fixture at South Korea’s retail banks. NH NongHyup Bank, one of Korea’s top five commercial banks, has added human elements to its so-called “AI bankers” to connect with Korean customers. According to NH NongHyup Bank, names of the two virtual staff members -- male staff Jeong Eden and female staff Lee RohWoon -- were given by staff and executives of the banks through open discussion.
Feb. 4, 2022
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Kakao Mobility to launch Pet Taxi service in March
Traveling with a pet has never been easy for Kim Hye-in, a 30-year-old Pomeranian owner. “I hate to confine my dog in a stuffy cabin whenever I take public transport. It suffocates her,” Kim said. Sometimes bus drivers stop her from hopping on board with her fluffy companion. For pet owners like Kim, “pet taxis” are an appealing alternative. From vet pick-ups to pet ambulances, chauffeur service for pets have sprung across the country since 2017 when the service got th
Feb. 4, 2022
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Samsung, Hyundai hardly seen at 2022 Beijing Olympics
For major South Korean companies like Samsung and Hyundai, the Olympics have been, for many years, a golden opportunity to raise brand awareness and promote products. But in the 2022 Beijing Olympics that officially kicked off on Friday, they don’t seem to be taking the sports event as a major arena for their marketing blitzes any more. For this Winter Games, Samsung Electronics has not published any press releases promoting their sponsorships, a marked departure from when it launched pr
Feb. 4, 2022
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[KH Explains] Why do spinoff IPOs anger South Korean investors?
The market debut of LG Energy Solution last month was literally a festive event, with investors in and out of the country pouring in an astronomical sum of money to buy new shares of the company eyeing to be the world’s top battery maker. But shareholder rights activists in South Korea say that the mega deal was another case in which a split-off was done intentionally to take the battery subsidiary public, a process that undermined the interests of parent company shareholders.
Feb. 4, 2022
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Samsung Electronics may face first labor strike over collapsed wage talks
Samsung Electronics could see its first labor strike in the tech giant’s five decades of history after wage talks with labor unions fell apart. Despite months of back-and-forth deliberation, representatives of the unionized workers filed for an arbitration to Korea’s National Labor Relations Commission, a government agency under the Labor Ministry, on Friday at 3 p.m. The move pushes Samsung and its four labor unions to reach a wage agreement within 10 days, which could lead to a
Feb. 4, 2022
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Seoul stocks surge more than 1% on tech gains
South Korean stocks climbed more than 1 percent on Friday, rising for a three-day winning streak, on the back of tech gains, analysts said. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) surged 42.44 points, or 1.57 percent, to close at 2,750.26 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 527 million shares worth some 11.1 trillion won ($9.3 billion), with gainers far outnumbering losers 767 to 122. Institutions and
Feb. 4, 2022
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[Newsmaker] Consumer prices grow over 3 percent for 4 consecutive months
SEJONG -- The nation’s consumer prices climbed 3 percent or more for the fourth consecutive month, despite the Bank of Korea’s three interest rate hikes between August 2021 and January. Statistics Korea said Friday that consumer prices grew 3.6 percent in January, compared to a year earlier. After the growth breached a 3 percent threshold -- 3.2 percent -- for the first time in more than nine years in October, it rose to 3.8 percent in November and 3.7 percent in December. This mar
Feb. 4, 2022
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Turkey renews SK Bioscience’s vaccine manufacturing certification
SK Bioscience, the vaccine unit of Korea’s SK Group, said Friday the Turkish health authority has renewed a certification for making and exporting vaccines for flu, chickenpox and shingles, paving the way for the company to participate in a vaccine deal bid in Turkey. The Good Manufacturing Practice certification was renewed for the firm’s vaccine manufacturing factory L House located in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, since it was first granted the certification in 2019. In the
Feb. 4, 2022
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S. Korea to sell W4tr of Treasury bills in February
South Korea plans to sell 4 trillion won ($3.33 billion) worth of Treasury bills this month to support its fiscal policy, the finance ministry said Friday. The bills, which have a maturity of 63 days, will be sold in three separate auctions in February, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Treasury bills are usually floated to raise money to cover short-term financial shortfalls and are generally sold with a maturity of less than a year. (Yonhap)
Feb. 4, 2022
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Renault Samsung's Jan. sales more than double on SUVs
Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of Renault S.A., said Friday its vehicle sales more than doubled last month from a year earlier on robust sales of SUV models. Renault Samsung sold 13,314 vehicles in January, jumping from 6,152 units a year earlier, despite the extended COVID-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales rose 27 percent on-year to 4,477 units from 3,534, while exports more than tripled to 8,837 units from 2,618 on strong demand for its XM3 an
Feb. 4, 2022