[THE INVESTOR] Jeju Air, Korea’s largest low-cost carrier, will launch new routes and expand the number of airplanes in the third quarter to meet demand in the busiest time of the year. The air carrier on July 20 will launch three new routes leaving from Incheon International Airport. They are to Sapporo in Japan, Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, and Phuket in Thailand, the company said on July 4. With the new addition, Jeju Air will serve six Japanese cities, including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka,

[THE INVESTOR] With Volkswagen’s decision not to offer further compensation to the Korean consumers hit by the emission-rigging scandal, a local consumer rights agency is taking action on behalf of any VW owners who were hit by the carmaker’s false advertisements, local news reported on July 4. Korea Consumer Association announced that it will begin consumer redress activities for VW owners who were deceived by the carmaker’s false advertising that promoted the cars as low-emission and environme

[THE INVESTOR] With the deterioration of manufacturing sector here, industry experts are concerned that producers may opt for low-cost facilities overseas with local jobs fleeing to other developing countries. According to a report by Hyundai Research Institute, the contribution level of the manufacturing industry to the country’s economic growth has decreased from 3.5 percent in 1970s to 1.4 percent most recently. Experts cite that the decreasing measure of the added value in manufacturing as t

[The INVESTOR] South Korea’s leading cosmetics brand Hera opened its first store in China on July 1, its parent company AmorePacific said on July 4. The first store opened at an upscale department store Shin Kong Place in Beijing, with the second one to follow at Hanguang Department Store in the same city on July 28. Hera, which was launched in 1995, has become one of the most popular cosmetics brands in South Korea and other Asian countries, especially in China. Hera’s first store in Beijing /

[THE INVESTOR] The UN-operated Green Climate Fund has decided to inject US$ 256.6 million in climate change projects in nine developing countries, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said July 1. The decision was made during the 13th board meeting of the GCF, held at its headquarters in Songdo, Incheon, from June 28 to 30. The newly approved projects include solar energy development program in Chile, projects to make coastal communities in Vietnam more resilient to climate change impacts and su

[THE INVESTOR] A local design firm has publicly accused the Lotte World Mall in Seoul for ripping off its design for their building on July 1. Local design house 2CM claims that the exterior design of the main entrance to the mall’s luxury stores Avenuel bears a close resemblance to their design concept called “Star Collection,” which was also published in a booklet by Architecture@Work, an international trade fair showcasing architectural designs and supplies. Lotte World Mall / The Investor“Th

[THE INVESTOR] Major local air carriers are expanding their services to Tokyo and Sapporo in Japan and Da Nang in Vietnam, in response to the growing number of tourists to the area, Incheon International Airport Corporation said on July 1. Asiana Airlines has launched a new direct route to Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido prefecture, on the date. The new flights are scheduled to operate daily on its Boeing 767 aircraft, which carries 250 people. Jin Air, Korean Air’s budget flight, has added two dai

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s major automakers are set to strengthen their sport utility vehicle lineup in the US market, local news reported. Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, which currently sell four SUV models sold in the US, are planning to double the number by 2020, an industry insider was cited in the report. Against the rising demand for SUVs in the US, sales of Hyundai’s Santa Fe and Tucson in May jumped by 88 percent and 90 percent on-year in the country, respectively, while sales of Kia’s Sorent

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s exports continued to drop from a year earlier in June, but the rate of drop slowed significantly, the government said July 1. Exports came to US$ 45.3 billion last month, down 2.7 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Exports have decreased for the 18th consecutive months in June. The rate of decline, however, slowed from a 6 percent drop in May. The imports shrank at a faster rate, falling 8 percent on-year to $33.

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s consumer prices increased by less than 1 percent in June for the second consecutive month, government data showed on July 1.The country’s consumer price index rose 0.8 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the data by Statistics Korea. 　From a month earlier, the June figure remained the same. 　Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices increased 1.9 percent compared with last year, saw the same increase as a month ago.　(theinvestor@heraldcor

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea will dramatically increase its spending on robots and artificial intelligence next year, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said on June 30. The government decided to inject a total of 470 billion won (US$406 million) in the high-tech industry, a 49.6 percent increase over this year’s 314 billion won. The plan was approved during the National Science and Technology Council’s session to decide allocation of R&D projects for 2017. Artificial intelligence is

[THE INVESTOR] Bukwang Pharmaceutical ’s subsidiary Dyna Therapeutics has clinched a deal with Denmark’s Solural Pharma for its new anti-cancer drug, the company said on June 30. Solural PharmaDyna Therapeutic attained the exclusive rights to develop and sell SOL-804, which is used for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer, around the world. “Bukwang is continuously pursuing to develop new medicine and the establishment of Dyna is part of that effort,” an official of the company

[THE INVESTOR] Many outdoor gear and apparel brands are closing down their business in response to the sliding domestic sales in the already-saturated outdoor market. Fashion Group Hyungji recently decided to withdraw its outdoor apparel brand Northcape after five years in business. According to industry insiders, Hyungji has already notified its 70 franchise owners across the country. Actress Ha Ji-won and actor Ji Chang-wook model for NorthcapeIn 2011, Hyungji clinched a deal to exclusively se

[THE INVESTOR] Local pharmaceutical companies showed a less than 1 percent increase in their return-on-equity ratio in the first quarter of this year, data showed on June 30. The ratio -- a measure of corporate profitability -- of 80 public pharmaceutical companies rose just 0.2 percent on-year to 1.9 percent, according to Pharmscore, a provider of analysis on health and medical industry. Shareholders’ equity of the 80 firms stood at 15.059 trillion won (US$13 billion), up 1.89 trillion won from

 [THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s industrial output swung back to growth in May on the back of increased production in chips and petroleum products, a government report showed on June 30. According to Statistics Korea, total output increased by 1.7 percent from April, reaching an all-time high in 15 months. It jumped 4.8 percent from May 2015. Pixabay.comThe mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries led the increase, logging an output growth of 4.3 percent last month from a year ago. It

[THE INVESTOR] With German automaker Volkswagen AG deciding to pay US owners of defective vehicles as much as US$ 10,000 per car, Korean consumers are furious over the lack of similar compensation measures for them.Volkswagen decided to pay a total of US$ 14.7 billion to settle emission cheating claims with owners of 475,000 affected vehicles in the US on June 28 (local time). In response to this settlement, Audi Volkswagen Korea reaffirmed that it has no plans to compensate Korean consumers, be

[THE INVESTOR] Prosecutors will summon Park Dong-hoon, former head of Audi Volkswagen Korea, on July 5, to question him over the automaker’s emission scandal. Seoul’s Central District Prosecutor’s Office on June 29 said it will bring Park as a key witness to the case over VW cheating pollution emissions test for defective units. During investigation, if prosecutors find out Park took part in the scandal or ordered others to manipulate documents of emission and noise level tests, his status could

[THE INVESTOR] Exports by Korean pharmaceutical companies grew by 22 percent in 2015 from 2014, the highest on-year increase in five years. The export of pharma products in 2015 logged US$ 2.94 billion, as against the previous year’s US$ 2.41 billion, according to the data by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety released on June 29. Medicine exports have increased at an annual rate of 14 percent since 2011 when it posted US$ 1.77 billion. Broken down by countries, South Korea exported the most m

[THE INVESTOR] When Choi Sun-kyung, a 29-year-old office worker, hops on the subway to go to work, she immediately starts scrolling her smartphone. After responding to all the KakaoTalk messages she received overnight, she clicks the bright green app of Naver, Korea’s largest portal site. First, she skims the five headlines on the front page to see if any story catches her attention. Today, she reads a story on high youth unemployment rate and ongoing threats from North Korea. She then clicks on

[THE INVESTOR] Ssangyong Motor is likely to be the most affected in sales by the increased public concern over diesel vehicle’s impact on air pollution, as well as the government’s push to curb diesel-fueled cars as part of measures to counter fine dust in the country, local news reported on June 28. From January to May this year, a total of 40,946 cars were sold by Ssangyong Motor, the Korean unit of Indian auto giant Mahindra & Mahindra. Among them, 31,237 units, or 76.3 percent, were diesel-f