Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun said she would donate some 30 billion won ($24.4 million) of her personal funds in a bid to revive her group’s cash-strapped shipping unit Hyundai Merchant Marine, the firm said Thursday.  Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun“We have decided to raise share capital by issuing 6 million shares (at 5,000 won apiece) through a third-party allotment,” Hyundai Merchant Marine said in a regulatory filing. Hyun and her mother Kim Moon-hee will buy around 30 bil

The Chinese arm of South Korea’s biggest entertainment agency, SM Entertainment, is expected to list its shares in China following its partnership with Alibaba, a local brokerage said Thursday. EXO (SM Entertainment)The K-pop giant established two corporate entities, in Beijing and Shanghai -- both 100 percent owned by SM Entertainment -- through its subsidiary Dream Maker Entertainment in late 2015. “Dream Maker has the possibility to go public on the stock market in mainland China or Hong Kong

South Korea’s stock market will see another booming year with a record-high volume of initial public offerings in 2016, but a bearish market sentiment could hamper expectations, analysts said. Korea Exchange and Eugene Investment & Securities expect this year to rank as the best for IPOs with over 130 companies going public on the main bourse KOSPI and the secondary tech-heavy KOSDAQ to raise a combined 11 trillion won ($9 billion), beating the record high of 10.9 trillion won in 2010. Despite r

Local banks and brokerage firms are rushing to attract more customers ahead of a new regulation that would allow the entry of a new savings product entailing bigger tax benefits, industry sources said Tuesday. (Yonhap)Starting from March 14, lenders and securities companies will be able to introduce the tax-exempt Individual Savings Account.With the ISA, users can manage a broad range of financial products including cash deposits, funds and stock investment accounts, from a single account. The g

World powers Friday agreed an ambitious plan to cease hostilities in war-racked Syria, but the Munich deal left out the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda's local branch, leaving analysts to doubt its viability.The 17 countries agreed "to implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities to begin in a target of one week's time," said US Secretary of State John Kerry after extended talks co-hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.The International Syria Support Group also agreed that "sustai

Police said Friday they have strengthened security measures as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's recent nuclear and long-range rocket tests.Kang Sin-myeong, the National Police Agency (NPA) Commissioner-General, has ordered local police agencies and stations to establish and intensively execute field training exercise (FTX) plans, according to the NPA.The instructions were made a few days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying a satellite in what the

The South Korean stock market nosedived on the first trading session after the Lunar New Year holiday Thursday, battered by concerns over the gloomy global economy and geopolitical risks stemmed from North Korea’s long-range rocket launch. An electronic board behind the statues of a bear and bull, the symbols of the fall and rise of stocks, installed inside Korea Exchange in Seoul, shows a plunge in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes Thursday, as they were affected by a sharp fall in global stock mark

South Korea ranked top among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in terms of research and development spending as a proportion of gross domestic product, a report showed Thursday.According to the OECD report on the global state of science, technology and industry, Korea has superseded Israel as the world’s most R&D intensive country, spending 4.29 percent of GDP for this purpose in 2014. OECD countries spent an average of 2.37 percent of their GDP, the same level

The government’s 21 trillion won ($17.4 billion) fiscal stimulus for the first quarter of the year will be insufficient to offset the growing downside pressure on the economy, analysts said Thursday.  Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho speaks at a meeting with economy-related ministers in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)Following a spate of disappointing economic data, the government unveiled Wednesday a new stimulus package which includes an extra 6 trillion won in public spending on top of the original 13

Consumer confidence has slipped in January to a six-month low as households fretted about the economic outlook on the back of China’s slowdown and stock market tumble.The composite consumer sentiment index for January came to 100, compared with 102 the previous month, according to the data released by the Bank of Korea on Wednesday.(Yonhap)“Consumers view on their financial situation got worsened as recent oil price drop and China’s sluggish economy weighed on their outlook for the country’s eco

The fourth-quarter reporting season kicked off Tuesday amid low expectations as Korea’s listed firms continue to suffer from sluggish exports and a global slowdown.This week, some 32 companies listed on the main KOSPI bourse are planning to report their results for the October-December period in 2015.Analysts have been constantly revising down their outlook amid a series of weak quarterly performance reports by major Korean companies despite their efforts to restructure operations throughout las

The Korea Herald  publishes a series of articles looking at the performance of various sectors on Korea’s main bourse KOSPI. The following is the first installment. -- Ed.The Korean cosmetics industry will continue to be a bright spot for investors as companies continue to expand overseas beyond the Asian market with strong sales of skin care products at duty-free shops abroad expected to underpin strong growth, analysts said. Customers cram a duty-free store located at Lotte World Tower in Jams

An appeals court on Thursday ruled in favor of the government and dismissed a compensation suit filed by South Korean atomic bomb victims, who were conscripted into the Japanese military or drafted to work in Japan during its 1910-45 colonial rule.Upholding a lower court's ruling, the Seoul High Court turned down the suit filed by 79 members of an association of Korean victims of the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.The plaintiffs filed the suit in August 2013, representing some 2,600

A former employee of at the Seoul branch of U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs was slapped with a fine Thursday for selling structured notes without the government's approval. In South Korea, only registered brokerage houses can create structured notes by packaging debt with derivatives to offer customized bets, but the New York-based lender was not authorized to make such deals. The former chief of Goldman Sachs' Seoul branch was indicted in October on charges of selling six structured notes li

India’s largest lender started operations of its first branch in Korea on Wednesday, as trade between the two Asian economies flourishes.B. Sriram, managing director of State Bank of India, speaks during a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday.“SBI Seoul branch will supplement existing channels of financial intermediation between India and Korea, partnering growth in bilateral trade between the two countries and also the flow of investments from one to the other,” B. Sriram, managing director o

Sluggish exports dragged down the average operating rate of Korea’s manufacturing industry to 72.7 percent last month, marking the lowest level since April 2009, government data showed Wednesday.According to a report by Statistics Korea, the nation’s overall industrial output also fell for the second straight month in November. Overall industrial production dropped 0.5 percent last month from a month earlier, after a 1.3 percent on-month decline in October, the agency noted. In the aftermath of

South Korea’s private sector debt reached a record high in proportion to its gross domestic product at nearly double the national economic output in the third quarter this year, data from the Bank of Korea showed Monday. Loans extended to households and private companies stood at a record 182.6 percent of the country’s GDP at the end of September, hitting the highest level in the country’s history, the data noted. The country’s private debt-to-GDP ratio remained under 180 percent through the fir

South Korea finance ministry said Tuesday that it has successfully issued yuan-denominated foreign exchange stabilization bonds in the world's No. 2 market.The move comes after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) approved the issuing of upwards to 3 billion yuan (US$463 million) worth of bonds on Dec. 8.The sale marks the first time ever that a foreign government has floated yuan-based bonds in China."The sale took place at 5:30 p.m. Korea time with the bonds that mature in three years having an i

Prosecutors said Tuesday they have formally arrested a former lawmaker on charges of accepting a bribe in return for a business favor.The district court in the southeastern city of Daegu issued a warrant to arrest Sim Hag-bong, citing considerable reason to believe he committed the crime and concerns that he may try to flee or destroy evidence.Sim is accused of accepting 40 million won (US$34,000) from a company by arranging a public official so that the company could be selected in a government

President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday that history should be taught "correctly" for young South Koreans in what could be the latest move to advocate for state history textbooks."I think history achieved by our elders should be taught correctly in order for our country to leap forward," Park said during a luncheon she hosted for the elderly at Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office.The invited guests included those who turned 100 this year, aged residents of foreign countries, and retire