[THE INVESTOR] South Korea will invest 43 billion won (US$38.40 million) in developing a new electric vehicle battery with a range of some 400 kilometers per charge by 2020, the Trade ministry said on Sept. 21.The government and 27 battery firms and private research institutions, including industry leaders Hyundai Motor and LG Chem, will work together to produce the advanced battery that will pave the way for a 400-km EV ride from Seoul to Busan on a single charge, according to the ministry. Hyu

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s producer prices dropped slightly from a year earlier in August following a decline in prices of coal and petroleum products, central bank data showed on Sept. 21.The producer price index for August came to 99.02, down 1.7 percent from the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.Producer prices serve as an indicator of future consumer inflation.The August index marked a slight increase from a revised 98.91 in the previous month.Price

[THE INVESTOR] KOSDAQ opened higher at 676.56, up 2.05 points (0.30%) on Sept. 21.

[THE INVESTOR] KOSPI opened lower at 2,022.81, down 2.90 points (0.14%) on Sept. 21. 

[THE INVESTOR] KOSDAQ closed higher at 674.51, up 7.87 points (1.18%) on Sept. 20.

[THE INVESTOR] KOSPI closed higher at 2,025.71, up 9.93 points (0.49%) on Sept. 20. 

[THE INVESTOR] Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said on Sept. 20 that he will make full efforts to keep the country’s sovereign credit ratings high and foreign exchange reserves stable to deal with rising uncertainties in the global financial market.“South Korea is a small, open economy that is vulnerable to external shocks,” Yoo said in a Seoul meeting on international financial development.“As the global financial market has been experiencing widening volatility, it is hard to say how the South Kore

[THE INVESTOR] Shinhan Bank, South Korea’s fourth-largest bank by assets, said on Sept. 20 that it has set up a branch in Myanmar as part of its diversification strategy. Shinhan Bank said it won final approval to start operations in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, from the local financial authorities last week.It marked the first time for a South Korean lender to set up a branch in the Southeast Asian country. This has has raised the number of its overseas branches to 147 in 20 countries

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea will likely see its per capita gross domestic product touch the US$30,000 mark in 2018, a parliamentary report forecast on Sept. 20.If the mark is reached in two years, it will have taken 12 years since South Korea reached the $20,000 level in 2006.Other leading economies of the world have spent 8.2 years on average in raising their per capita income from $20,000 to $30,000.Switzerland needed only two years to make the jump and Japan spent five years, while it took 13

[THE INVESTOR] Honest Fund, South Korea’s peer-to-peer personal loans and investments service provider, has attracted investments worth 6 billion won (US$5.36 million) from multiple institutional investors, the firm said on Sept. 20. The latest investments were made by local venture capital firms and private equity firms including KB Investment, Hanwha Investment and Shinhan Capital. The cumulative sum of investments the firm has received stands at 9.2 billion won since it was set up in 2015. Ho

[THE INVESTOR] All new buildings in South Korea that are higher than one story will be required to be earthquake-resistant from next year, the government said on Sept. 20.In addition, all those with 16 floors or more must have their earthquake-proof designs verified.The measure was set following a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the nation’s southeastern region on Sept. 12, the most powerful tremor to be recorded here, and the nearly 400 aftershocks since.The region was again struck by an afte

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed to cooperate to effectively treat and eventually eradicate cancer, Seoul’s Health Ministry said on Sept. 20.The agreement was made at a meeting of health ministers of the three countries, which was presided over by US Vice President Joe Biden in New York on Sept. 19 (local time), the ministry said in a press release.“The three countries agreed to construct an international consortium and make public results and data from every r

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea‘s leading water purifier maker Coway said on Sept. 20 its chief executive has resigned taking responsibility for selling defective products that caused a series of class action lawsuits.Coway CEO Kim Dong-hyun will be replaced by Lee Hae-seon, a former co-head of CJ Cheiljedang, CJ’s food subsidiary, the company said in a regulatory briefing. Lee’s appointment will be confirmed in meetings of shareholders and the board slated for Oct. 31, it said.  Coway's new CEO Lee

[THE INVESTOR] The investment rate of South Korean companies continues to be sluggish following the 2008 global financial crisis despite a recent recovery in new commitments by large businesses, a report said on Sept. 20.In the 2009-2015 period, corporate investment grew at an annual average of 1.2 percent, compared with an average of 5.7 percent over an eight-year period prior to the 2008 financial crisis, according to the report from the Korea Economic Research Institute.The slow growth follow

[THE INVESTOR] KOSDAQ opened higher at 667.16, up 0.52 points (0.08%) on Sept. 20.

[THE INVESTOR] KOSPI opened lower at 2,014.50, down 1.28 points (0.06%) on Sept. 20. 

[THE INVESTOR] KOSDAQ closed higher at 666.64, up 6.49 points (0.98%) on Sept. 19. 

[THE INVESTOR] KOSPI closed higher at 2,015.78, up 16.42 points (0.82%) on Sept. 19. 

[THE INVESTOR] The Korean subsidiary of China’s Huawei Technologies and its executives on Sept. 19 were indicted by the prosecutors for leaking its rival’s technologies and trade secrets. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Huawei Korea’s executive, identified only by his surname Kang, is suspected of leaking business secrets from telecom equipment developer Ericsson-LG, where he was previously employed.Ericsson-LG is a joint venture of Sweden-based Ericsson and South Korean tech

[THE INVESTOR] The turnover rate of deposits in South Korea hit a record low in more than 11 years in July, according to the Bank of Korea on Sept. 19.The deposit turnover rate for July recorded 20.3, the lowest since February 2005 when it stood at 18.1, the central bank said.The rate is calculated monthly based on the amount of withdrawals and the average account balance. Less turnover means fewer withdrawals, signaling that people are holding on to their cash instead of spending or investing.T