South Korea needs to strengthen its trilateral alliance with the United States and Japan in trade and investment to overcome global geo-economic challenges and supply chain disruptions triggered by COVID-19, said Jun Kwang-woo, chairman of the Institute for Global Economics. The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have increasingly polarized the world economy, which centers around the US and China. This caused a shift in the global economic paradigm, leading to closer links between nati

Economy May 16, 2023

HMM, South Korea’s largest LNG shipping firm, will join a bid to acquire a 100 percent stake in Hyundai LNG Shipping after selling the LNG carrier operator to a local private equity firm nearly 10 years prior. According to industry sources on Friday, HMM delivered its intent to participate in the takeover bid to IMM Private Equity and IMM Investment, which together own a 100 percent stake in Hyundai LNG Shipping. Hyundai LNG Shipping is the largest LNG carrier operator in the country, op

Industry May 12, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group will spend some 2 trillion won ($1.59 billion) to build a plant dedicated to manufacturing electric vehicles in the southeastern coastal city of Ulsan, in a move to strengthen its footing as a "first mover" in the EV sector, it said on Tuesday. The new plant, located on a 230,000-square-meter site, will be Hyundai Motor’s new car plant set up at home in 29 years. With construction starting in the fourth quarter of this year, the plant is expected to become ope

Industry May 9, 2023

Morphing into a customer-centered financial platform company through open digital innovation, fostering digital talent and strengthening technological capabilities is one of the key strategies Hana Financial Group pushes forward. Based on big data, the banking group is developing products and services tailored to customer groups while converting offline branches into financial platforms where customers can satisfy their needs through human touch. The digital channel plays the role of an all-in-o

Market May 2, 2023

  Business leaders from South Korea and the United States signed dozens of non-binding deals and discuss ways to enhance cooperation in semiconductors, future vehicles and clean energy on Tuesday. During President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the US marking the 70th anniversary of the US-South Korean alliance, two events hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries – the Korea-US Business Roundtable and the Korea-US Business Forum were held at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washingt

Industry April 26, 2023

South Korea reinstated Japan to its “white list” of trusted trading partners in more than three years in a push to revive economic cooperation between the two countries, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday. The ministry released a notification on Japan’s restored status in an amendment of the export and import notification of strategic materials. With the change, Japan will be included the list of 28 other countries who are granted simplified procedures for

Economy April 24, 2023

KB Kookmin Bank recently gained a green light from the country’s financial regulator to continue its mobile telecommunications business after its four-year experiment as a regulatory sandbox program. It is the first lender in the country that has ventured into the mobile telecommunications market, dominated by three major telecommunications carriers. But a question remains: Why would the bank want to continue a business which has been in the red for years and has little relevance to its ma

Market April 23, 2023

South Korea’s securities and asset management firms are racing to capture a bigger piece of the Outsourced Chief Investment Officer market as they expect that more firms and institutional funds will entrust the management of their cash reserves to them. “Institutional investors and private companies used to manage their own investment through an in-house finance team, but once they see an increased amount of cash hoarding, they tend to outsource because it requires complex and prof

Market April 13, 2023

State-run Industrial Bank of Korea aims to double its overseas profits in the next three years by establishing entities in Vietnam and Poland, its president said Tuesday. “We will expand our (global) network ... such as converting the Vietnam branch into an entity and setting up a new entity in Poland to support small- and mid-sized firms entering overseas markets,” IBK President and CEO Kim Sung-tae said during a press conference held to mark his first 100 days in office. By 2025,

Market April 11, 2023

Hyundai Card said on Friday that global rating agency Fitch revised its outlook on the Hyundai Motor Group's credit card unit to positive from stable while retaining its credit rating at BBB. It is the card company's first revision from the ratings firm in 11 years, as its rating and outlook had stayed at BBB stable since July 2012. In a rating action commentary released on March 30, Fitch attributed the rating upgrade mainly to Hyundai Motor Group -- the parent company of Hyundai

Companies April 7, 2023

Financial authorities and prosecutors jointly raided tech giant Kakao Corp. on the suspicion that it participated in stock price manipulation during its takeover of K-pop agency SM Entertainment. The Financial Services Commission on Thursday sent a team of 40 investigators to Kakao and its affiliate Kakao Entertainment in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province to seize internal documents and other related data. Authorities are looking into the possibility that Kakao violated the Capital Markets Act when

Companies April 7, 2023

Top conglomerate leaders have traveled over 2.5 million kilometers, equivalent to the distance of 64 1/2 rounds around the Earth, to lead diplomatic efforts in support of Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030. Since June last year, the World Expo Bidding Committee, a business-led civilian organization made of 11 companies including SK, Samsung and Hyundai, have visited 84 countries for negotiations related to the final vote regarding the host city of the global fair, according to the Kor

Industry April 4, 2023

The Busan Expo bidding committee hosted a welcome lunch on Monday for delegates from the Bureau International des Expositions, who visited the port city for a six-day on-site inspection ahead of its vote for deciding the host city of the World Expo 2030. “Before their busy schedule in Seoul and Busan for the next five days, I hope the delegates have a comfortable time during this lunch. (The inspection) will be a tough process, but I want you know that Korea and Busan are ready for it,&r

Industry April 3, 2023

  South Korea will exempt visa-free foreign entrants from using the electronic travel authorization system, or K-ETA, normally required when entering the country until next year, in a bid to rekindle tourism, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. Of 112 visa-waiver countries, the exemption scheme for the Electronic Travel Permit System will be applied to 22 select countries with a large volume of visitors and low rates of visa application rejection, including the United States, Japan, Hong K

Economy March 29, 2023

South Korea will continue to tighten its belt by reducing more than 10 percent of its discretionary expenditure while planning to funnel the budget into boosting national security and creating jobs for young people. Next year's budget plan is expected to remain at around 670 trillion won ($515.9 billion), up about 4.8 percent from this year's 638.7 trillion won, which was proposed as a mid- to long-term plan by the government. The budget will be earmarked for enhancing economic vital

Economy March 28, 2023