Celebrating its 30th anniversary of business in South Korea this year, McDonald’s Korea pledged Tuesday to make continuous efforts to foster communication with customers and boost the local economy.Since kicking off here in 1988, the year of the Seoul Olympic Games, the US-based fast-food franchise has expanded from a 100-employee business to one of the largest and most popular casual restaurants.Over the past three decades, the burger brand has set various new trends in the local food industry,

The state-run Korea Development Bank’s chief Lee Dong-gull on Monday upped the pressure on ailing Kumho Tire’s resistant labor union, saying it flip-flopped on a verbal agreement on the company’s sale to China’s Doublestar over the weekend.Lee called for the labor union to meet the deadline set by creditors for Friday by holding a general vote of all employees, but the union immediately refused the proposal, arguing that it had never consented to the sale plan.“We suggest that the union holds a

Trademark rights, which determine whether a name, sign, or expression may be commercially monopolized by a specific business entity, are often a subjective notion that constantly interacts with the changing society, according to an intellectual property litigation expert.“One of the most distinctive characteristics of trademarks is that they are strongly influenced by consumer sentiment at a given time,” Kim Un-ho, partner in the IP Practice Group at law firm Lee & Ko, told The Korea Herald in a

The United States’ latest decision to nudge up its key interest rate and the consequent “reversal” of policy rates with South Korea appeared Thursday to have a limited impact on Asia’s fourth-largest economy.Washington’s signal for the start of a belt-tightening monetary policy over the coming years, however, increased pressure for Seoul’s central bank to consider its own rate hikes despite the tepid economic recovery pace, low inflation and unabated household

South Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were the world’s top two applicants in industrial design rights in 2017, according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization.The number of designs under the Hague System grew by 3.8 percent last year to reach 19,429 designs, marking 11 consecutive years of growth, WIPO said Wednesday in a press release.The Hague System is a leading international application and registration procedure administered by WIPO. It allows d

Despite its active involvement in the blockchain industry and intellectual property sector, South Korea still remains a step behind when it comes to standard essential patents related to blockchain, data from the Korean Intellectual Property Office showed Wednesday.The number of blockchain-related patents in the world’s top five regions in intellectual property -- South Korea, the US, Japan, China and the European Union -- stood at 1,248 as of the end of January this year, KIPO said in a release

Speculations rose Tuesday that South Korea may have to make compromises concerning its free trade deal renegotiation with the US, as it seeks to be exempted from the Trump administration’s new steel tariff. The possibility escalated after Seoul’s top economic policymakers expressed optimism over the tariff exemption, with days remaining until the measure takes effect. “I expect to have some good results within the week,” Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-gyu

South Korean financial companies’ investments in Vietnam have grown by more than 500 percent over the past 10 years, in particular marking an uptick since last year, on the back of President Moon Jae-in’s Southeast Asia-friendly initiative, data showed Monday.The volume of investments made by domestic financial companies to the Southeast Asian state stood at $123 million last year, up 509.88 percent from 10 years prior, according to statistics from the Overseas Economic Research Inst

Even in developed economies that uphold high standards on intellectual property -- including South Korea -- the severity of damage caused by the production and distribution of counterfeits is not to be underestimated, according to a senior official of a leading European business advocacy organization here.“Despite recent fluctuations in global ranking, South Korea offers a fairly good legal framework for intellectual property rights,” Sven-Erik Batenburg, director of legal and international affa

The Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday urged foreign financial companies operating here for more efforts in anti-money laundering actions amid increasing cross-border transactions and the rapid advancement of financial technology services.Underlining the country’s upper hand in information and communication technology and innovation, the watchdog also encouraged companies from advanced countries to actively share their financial technologies and operating know-how.The 10th annual se

South Korean construction conglomerate Booyoung Group has been charged with falsifying stock ownership involving Chairman Lee Joong-keun, according to the nation’s antitrust watchdog on Wednesday.The Fair Trade Commission said through a release that it pressed charges against five Booyoung affiliates for falsely reporting Lee‘s stocks as belonging to other family members or executive members during an earlier corporate disclosure processes. In a separate track, the watchdog also imposed a total

Global payment solution provider Visa said Wednesday that it has appointed Patrick Yoon as the country manager to lead its Korean office. The incoming business chief has worked at various branches of Standard Chartered bank, steering strategy, business development and mergers and acquisitions, officials said. For the past four years, he led the retail finance headquarters at SC Korea.Before joining SC in 2005, Yoon also served in the investment department of Morgan Stanley in the United States.&

Amid a global economic recovery boosted by extended investment and trade, South Korea is expected to maintain its 3 percent growth momentum throughout year 2018 and 2019, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.In its interim economic outlook report issued Tuesday, the organization forecast global economic growth for this year at 3.9 percent, up from its previous suggestion of 3.7 percent. The figure for next year was also increased from 3.6 percent to 3.9 percent.

Shin Chang-jae, chief executive officer and chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance, received over 34 billion won ($32 million) in stock dividend last year, ranking first among top officials of the insurance industry. The life insurer decided to allocate 5,000 won per common stock for the fiscal year 2017 and to pay 102.5 billion won in total dividends, up 25.6 billion won or 33.3 percent from the previous year, officials said Tuesday.Shin, who is also the insurer’s largest shareholder with 6.9 m

South Korea’s top policymakers are taking all efforts this week to lift the US President Donald Trump administration’s incoming tariff on steel imports, which is slated to take effect on March 23 and consequently deliver a heavy blow to local steelmakers and the nation’s export-reliant economy.Also, in relation to the increasing level of trade protectionism and tariff retaliation around the globe, they have gestured at soon joining a comprehensive free trade partnership in the

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on experts in the intellectual property sector. This is the sixth installment. -- Ed.For several years, especially when the patent battle was heating up between Samsung Electronics and Apple, intellectual property was largely considered an issue exclusive to global tech companies.But the unprecedented technological advancement amid the “fourth industrial revolution” trend has drastically narrowed the conventional gap between market champions

Amid the fallout of the US administration’s latest tariff on all steel imports, the South Korean government is facing criticism for its “lax” countermeasures to an issue that is likely to cause multitrillion won losses to local industries over the upcoming years.The key problem, observers say, is the lack of a policy headquarters, as the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae remains reluctant to raise government-level conflicts with Washington amid ongoing denuclearization talks co

Since 2014, KB Financial Group has renewed one business record after another, raising its yearly net profit to a record-high benchmark, moving a step ahead of rivals and cementing its position as industry champion.At the heart of such progress was Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, who is noted for his strategic balance between the group’s signature banking sector and prominent nonbanking businesses.In September last year, Yoon was reappointed as the financial holding company’s chairman, marki

LG Group acquired the highest number of patents at the European Patent Office last year, outrunning Samsung Group and other European rivals, a report from the European Patent Office showed Thursday.In global ranking, the South Korean conglomerate stood at No. 3, next to Chinese IT giant Huawei and German engineering group Siemens. (from EPO report for 2017)Seoul’s patent application volume in Europe declined 8.2 percent from a year earlier, taking a sudden dip from the 6.5 percent on-year growth

The amount of corporate bond issuance here took a drastic upturn last month as companies took pre-emptive actions to secure funds ahead of the central bank’s impending key interest rate hike, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association.The total amount of bonds issued in February stood at 53.31 trillion won ($49.87 billion), up 1.6 trillion won from a month earlier, on the back of corporate bonds and asset-backed securities, data showed Wednesday.Of the total, the corporate bon