Founder's arrest leaves Kakao's future in doubt

Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has been plunged into crisis, as its founder and top decision-maker Kim Beom-su was arrested on Tuesday on charges of stock price rigging linked to last year's takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment. With a leadership vacuum and a dent to its reputation, concerns are rising over the impact of the disruption on the tech giant’s drive for corporate restructuring and growth in burgeoning technologies i

IndustryJuly 23, 2024

Seoul shares snap 4-day losing streak, tracking US gains

Seoul shares closed higher Tuesday to snap a four-day losing streak, tracking an overnight rebound in US tech stocks. The local currency rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 10.78 points, or 0.39 percent, to close at 2,774.29. Trade volume was moderate at 416 million shares worth 11.3 trillion won ($8.15 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 494 to 365. Foreign investors purchased 241.2 billion won worth of local shares, while retail investors an

MarketJuly 23, 2024

Hanwha Asset Management unveils new ETF brand Plus

Hanwha Asset Management, the sixth largest player in terms of net assets in the local exchange-traded fund market, introduced its new ETF lineup brand Plus, on Tuesday. The asset manager has changed its ETF brand name from Arirang to Plus. It was the first time for the asset manager to change its brand name since it launched its ETF product here in 2009. “Through Plus, Hanwha Asset Management will focus on supporting new technologies that enrich the future of humanity for a sustainable tom

MarketJuly 23, 2024

Nongshim to build smart farm in Saudi Arabia by 2025

Nongshim announced on Tuesday that it has been selected for South Korea's smart farm export project that aims to establish and operate a pilot greenhouse in Saudi Arabia. The project is initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and led by the Korea Agriculture Technology Promotion Agency, according to the company. The agreement ceremony took place at Nongshim's headquarters in Seoul, attended by Nongshim CEO Lee Byung-hak, Korea Agriculture Technology Promotion A

CompaniesJuly 23, 2024

Hyundai to bring electric buses to Japan's UNESCO-designated island

Hyundai Motor Company is expanding its presence in Japan’s commercial vehicle market by supplying electric buses to the Iwasaki Group for use on Yakushima Island, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Last Thursday, Hyundai signed a letter of intent with Iwasaki Group, a transportation and tourism service provider in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. The agreement sets the stage for Hyundai to supply its “Elec City Town” zero-emission electric buses t

MobilityJuly 23, 2024

Bacardi teams up with The Shilla Seoul for Patron tequila summer package

Bacardi Korea has partnered with The Shilla Seoul for a luxury summer room package "Simply Perfect Vacation," featuring its premium tequila brand, Patron, the company announced Tuesday. As part of Bacardi Korea’s premium marketing strategy, the Simply Perfect Vacation package focuses on providing consumers with a unique experience with Patron, a premium tequila made from the finest blue weber agave from Jalisco, Mexico. With the package running throughout August, Bacardi Korea an

IndustryJuly 23, 2024

Celltrion’s third plant in final validation process, operation set for December

Celltrion has begun the final validation process for its third plant in Songdo, Incheon, before commencing commercial production, the South Korean biosimilar giant announced Tuesday. The validation process is a critical step before the commercial production of drugs, which involves objectively verifying and documenting that products are manufactured to meet predefined standards from drug development to production. Celltrion invested some 270 billion won ($194 million) for the third plant's

IndustryJuly 23, 2024

[From the Scene] What it's like working as intern at K-food giant

Vien Yeung, a 29-year-old Chinese American from the University of California, Berkeley, and a current MBA candidate at Harvard Business School, has chosen to spend her summer at Korea's food giant, CJ CheilJedang. With her graduation set for March 2025, Yeung's decision to work at the company stems from her ambition to gain international experience for her future career. “I wanted to get my MBA to reach the executive level, potentially becoming a chief marketing officer one day,&

CompaniesJuly 23, 2024

Samsung's Galaxy to feature enhanced gaming with Krafton's 'Dark and Darker Mobile'

Samsung Electronics and Krafton have partnered to optimize the forthcoming game "Dark and Darker Mobile" for the latest Galaxy series, set to be installed next month, according to the tech giant on Tuesday. The two firms have integrated advanced 3D graphics technology, Vulkan, into the game, enhancing visual realism and supporting Dolby Atmos sound effects. Key models, including the Galaxy Z Fold6, Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra, will feature Ray Tracing technology to deliver li

IndustryJuly 23, 2024

[Photo News] Hyundai EV charging alliance in Indonesia

Hyundai Motor Group made a new partnership with six Indonesian private charging operators last Friday at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show 2024. This alliance makes charging much easier for local Hyundai EV owners. With the “myHyundai” app, Hyundai drivers can now access charging stations from any alliance member without needing separate memberships or payment methods. This is the first roaming system of its kind in Indonesia. The alliance covers 696 charging stations at

MobilityJuly 23, 2024

Seoul shares open higher on Wall Street rebound

Seoul shares started higher Tuesday, led by gains in chipmakers and autos, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Following a fourth straight session of decline, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 32.30 points, or 1.17 percent, to 2,795.81 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, major US indexes gained ground as big-cap tech shares, including Nvidia, ASML, Microsoft and Alphabet, rebounded after their slump last week. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics ro

MarketJuly 23, 2024

Korean Air to buy up to 50 Boeing planes for strategic fleet upgrade

Korean Air is to purchase up to 50 new widebody aircraft from Boeing in its push to enhance fleet quality and meet sustainability goals. The deal price is estimated to reach some 30 trillion won ($23 billion), according to industry sources. The company declined to confirm. The national flag carrier signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing on Monday on the sidelines of the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, a premier aerospace trade show currently being held in the UK. Korean Air sai

IndustryJuly 22, 2024

Chief financial regulator nominee says to manage rising household loans

The nominee to head the Financial Services Commission said Monday that the authorities would manage rising household loans amid concerns that such fast-rising loans could hurt economic recovery and the financial system. "We are in a situation to remain guarded (against the pace of household loans)," Kim Byoung-hwan, a former vice finance minister who was nominated as the FSC chief, said during a parliamentary confirmation hearing. "Authorities will thoroughly manage such loans.&qu

EconomyJuly 22, 2024

Biden's withdrawal sparks mixed outlook for Kospi

Analysts here took a mixed view on how US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the November presidential race would affect South Korean shares, with growing uncertainty expected to hurt investor sentiment. Some brokerages expected the benchmark Kospi index to dip below the 2,650 level due to heightened short-term volatility. Others anticipated the main bourse would rise to 2,900 thanks to the recovery of shares in the semiconductor, automobile and rechargeable battery industries. These

EconomyJuly 22, 2024

Seoul shares fall over 1 pct as chip stocks slip

Seoul shares fell more than 1 percent Monday, hit by declines in semiconductor stocks. The local currency fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) tumbled 31.95 points, or 1.14 percent, to close at 2,763.51. Trade volume was slightly moderate at 456.1 million shares worth 10.3 trillion won ($7.42 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 673 to 211. Institutions and foreign investors dumped local shares worth a combined 105.3 billion won, while retail

MarketJuly 22, 2024

Samsung Electro-Mechanics to supply advanced substrates for AMD processors

Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the electronic parts manufacturing affiliate of Samsung Electronics, announced Monday that it would supply high-performance substrates for hyper-scale data centers to AMD, the US chip design firm. According to the company, the flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA) substrate offers larger surface areas and higher layer counts for dense interconnections, which means better operational efficiency and lower energy consumption. The product will be produced at the company’

IndustryJuly 22, 2024

Hanwha-HD Hyundai rivalry shifts to US warship maintenance

The competition between Korean conglomerates Hanwha and HD Hyundai to expand their work with the US Navy has heated up as both secured key certification for maintenance and repair projects this month. Hanwha Ocean, which was known as Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering before Hanwha Group’s acquisition last year, said Monday that it had signed a master ship repair agreement (MSRA) with the US Naval Supply Systems Command to secure the right to bid for maintenance, repair and operati

MobilityJuly 22, 2024

Goldman Sachs appoints veteran dealmaker to head Korea IB

Goldman Sachs has tapped Ahn Jae-hoon, a veteran dealmaker and a former vice president of SK Bioscience, to head its investment banking business in South Korea. The bank announced Monday that Ahn has been appointed as the head of its investment banking in Korea and co-country head. The positions have been vacant since the departure of David Chung in early June. Ahn will join the Wall Street bank as a managing director in mid-August from SK Bioscience, where he served as head of strategic plannin

IndustryJuly 22, 2024

[Herald Interview] Bacardi reshaping drinking culture in land of soju, beer

A slew of top-shelf whiskey labels are rushing to make their Korean debuts recently, fueling the growth momentum of the nation’s premium whiskey market in the coming years, according to Nick Ahn, the country manager of top spirit and wine producer Bacardi. "Just 10 years ago in Korea, soju and beer dominated social gatherings and work dinners, leaving little room for other options. But things have changed drastically," Ahn told The Korea Herald in an interview held in Seoul on Fr

IndustryJuly 22, 2024

Alibaba to launch B2B platform exclusively for Korean sellers

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com, owned by Alibaba Group, said Monday that it will launch an online platform to help Korean sellers expand into global online markets. The new platform, called the South Korea Pavilion, will be available starting Aug. 8 and will focus on business-to-business transactions, according to the company. "Despite the abundance of talented sellers in Korea across various fields such as food, cosmetics and auto parts, many still struggle to expand their online sal

CompaniesJuly 22, 2024