The Korea Herald

GM Korea's June sales dip 21 pct on weak local demand

GM Korea, the South Korean unit of General Motors, said Monday its June sales fell 21 percent from a year earlier due to weak domestic demand. GM Korea sold a total of 43,692 vehicles in June, down from 55,077 units tallied a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Exports declined 13 percent to 32,237 from 37,019 over the cited period. Domestic sales also plunged 37 percent to 11,455 units from 18,058 during the same period, it said. The sales slump was mainly affected by the sharp decli

Industry July 3, 2017

Mobile shopping exceeds online purchases made on PCs: data

South Korea's mobile shopping sales surpassed those of online purchases made on personal computers for the first time last year, industry data showed Monday, with the country having one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world.Mobile shopping sales surged 45.7 percent to 35.5 trillion won ($30.9 billion) in 2016, from 24.4 trillion won for the previous year, according to the figures provided by the Korea Online Shopping Association. (Yonhap)Online shopping sales using personal co

Industry July 3, 2017

Mobile shopping exceeds online purchases made on PCs: data

Seoul to host int'l imagination industry forum

Seoul City said Monday that it will host an annual international forum on the present and future of the so-called imagination industries like cartoons, animation, games, VR and AR later this week. "The 2017 Seoul International Imagination Industry, titled "Attractions of Media, Media of Attractions," will open Wednesday for a three-day run at the S-Plex Center in Seoul," a city official said. (Yonhap)Among the participants are Dennis Hong, an American mechanical engineer and roboticist; Kenji O

Industry July 3, 2017

Seoul to host int'l imagination industry forum

Mortgage approvals by 6 retail banks hit 7-month high in June

Mortgage lending by six major retail banks grew to a seven-month high in June, as more people sought to receive mortgages before the government tightens lending regulations for home mortgages, data showed Monday. The value of home loans at the six banks, including Shinhan, Kookmin and Woori, rose by 2.7 trillion won ($2.36 billion) to 383 trillion won at the end of June. It was the fastest monthly growth since November last year, when mortgage lending by the six banks grew by 3.1 trillion w

Economy July 3, 2017

SsangYong's June sales fall 10 pct on lower demand

SsangYong Motor said Monday its June sales fell 10 percent last month from a year earlier due to slowing demand in emerging markets. The South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra sold 12,697 vehicles in June, down from 14,167 units a year earlier, the carmaker said in a statement. Domestic sales rose 8.1 percent to 10,535 units last month from 9,750 units a year earlier. But exports plunged 51 percent to 2,162 autos from 4,417 during the same period, the statement said. In the Jan

Industry July 3, 2017

Taekwang Power gets nod for $2.3b power plant project in Vietnam

Taekwang Power Holdings, a unit of South Korean textile and shoemaker Taekwang, said Monday that it has received approval from the Vietnamese government to build a $2.3 billion power plant in the Southeast Asian country.Taekwang Power has been seeking to build the plant with total capacity of 1,200 megawatts in the northeastern Nam Dinh Province, with a slew of South Korean firms, including Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and POSCO Engineering & Construction, participating in the project.

Industry July 3, 2017

Court dismisses suit by teacher fired for smelling student’s hair, touching toes

A high school teacher filed a lawsuit against the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, saying that he was fired due to groundless sexual harassment claims made against him. The court dismissed the case Sunday.Witnesses claimed that the plaintiff made numerous female students uncomfortable during his years of teaching, including smelling a student’s hair and saying he enjoyed the smell of it. (Yonhap)He was also accused of touching another student’s toes under the table of a dessert cafe, as

Social Affairs July 3, 2017

Court dismisses suit by teacher fired for smelling student’s hair, touching toes

Korean stocks almost flat in late Monday morning

South Korean stocks traded almost flat Monday morning, with top market cap Samsung Electronics and No. 2 SK hynix falling on profit-taking.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 0.32 point, or 0.01 percent, to 2,392.11 as of 11:15 a.m.Market kingpin Samsung Electronics shed 0.38 percent, and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, dropped 2.08 percent.In contrast, Naver, the country's top Internet portal operator, gained 0.24 percent, and Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, rose 0.31 percen

Market July 3, 2017

Rise in household debt will not affect consumption due to rising

South Korea will not undergo a sharp drop in consumption despite the ever-rising household debt, a private think tank said Monday, citing growth in property and financial asset value.Households where the head of the family was over 55 have witnessed a 94.51 percent rise in income and 78.32 percent increase in savings in 2015 compared with 2001, according to a report by the Korea Economic Research Institute. The value of their property and financial assets surged 157.35 percent and 98.3 percent,

Economy July 3, 2017

Rise in household debt will not affect consumption due to rising

Pay disparity widens between senior managers, ordinary workers

Senior managers at big service sector firms earned 4.2 times more than rank-and-file workers last year, highlighting the widening wage gap in earnings that began with the 2008-09 global financial crisis, according to official data Monday. A service worker's average monthly wage rose to 1.67 million won ($1,460) last year from 1.61 million won in 2009, according to data by the Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Employment and Labor. In comparison, a senior manager's average monthly wage stoo

Economy July 3, 2017

Pay disparity widens between senior managers, ordinary workers

Hyundai tops JD Power satisfaction rankings in China this year

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor said Monday it took the top spot in J.D. Power's customer satisfaction survey in China this year despite declining sales in the wake of a diplomatic row between the two countries.In 2017, Hyundai Motor took the No. 1 position back in China after losing it to Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroen Automobile, a joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Corp and PSA Peugeot Citroen, last year in J.D. Power's Sales Satisfaction Index, the company said in a statement. In this photo

Industry July 3, 2017

Hyundai tops JD Power satisfaction rankings in China this year

Hanwha Galleria to withdraw duty-free business from Jeju airport

Hanwha Galleria, a local duty-free operator, will remove its business from a local airport amid a sharp decrease in the number of Chinese tourists following a diplomatic row over the deployment of a US missile defense system here, industry sources said Monday.The duty-free operator has recently delivered its intention to the Korea Airports, the country's airport operator, to return its duty-free business license at Jeju Airport, which is valid until April 2019, and received written consent from

Industry July 3, 2017

Hanwha Galleria to withdraw duty-free business from Jeju airport

Electricity supply remains stable despite temporary shutdown of 8

South Korea's electricity supply remained stable last month despite the temporary shutdown of eight old coal-fired power plants as part of the government's efforts to reduce the country's air pollution levels, industry sources said Monday.Starting June 1, the thermal power plants, including four in central Chungcheong Province, were closed for 30 days. The closed plants have a combined generation capacity of 2.8 gigawatts, taking up about 2.5 percent of the country's total capacity. (Yonhap)The

Industry July 3, 2017

Electricity supply remains stable despite temporary shutdown of 8

Samsung Heavy bags $240m order for 2 shuttle tankers

Samsung Heavy Industries, a major shipbuilder here, said Monday that it has clinched a $240 million deal to build two shuttle oil tankers.Under the deal with AET, an affiliate of Malaysian shipping firm MISC, Samsung Heavy will build the two vessels by January 2020, the company said in a regulatory filing.A shuttle tanker is a ship designed to transport oil from an offshore oil field to a storage tank, and is equipped with a variety of offloading equipment.With the latest deal, Samsung Heavy has

Industry July 3, 2017

Multinational drug firms top list of approvals for clinical trials

Multinational pharmaceutical companies have topped the list in winning approvals from South Korea's drug regulatory agency for clinical trials this year, data showed Monday.According to the data by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, four major global drug manufacturers have won a combined 42 clinical trials during the first half of 2017. (Yonhap)Gilead Sciences Korea, the local unit of Gilead Sciences, won the approval of 13 clinical trials, followed by Novatis Korea with 11, Roche Korea with

Industry July 3, 2017

Multinational drug firms top list of approvals for clinical trials

Articles by Paige Shin