South Korean exports to China has jumped 162 times since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in 1992, far more than the overall outbound shipments of Asia’s fourth-largest economy that grew ninefold in the same period, data showed Tuesday. The data comes amid growing concerns of Korea’s increasing trade dependence on the world’s No. 2 economy, with the demand for memory chips having become a strong driving force behind Korea’s overall export growth. Korea’s

Cryptocurrency airdrop, which refers to a marketing stunt involving sending coins or tokens to wallet addresses, is legally subjected to gift tax, officials said Monday. The Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Tax and Custom’s Office said that crypto issuers delivering coins or tokens to wallets of traders for free is subjected to the nation’s gift tax under the Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act. The statement comes amid South Korea’s efforts to set a solid framework for c

Posco Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo recently touted battery materials as a key growth driver during his meeting with investors in Singapore, the steelmaker’s holding group said Sunday. The pledge came as Choi briefed officials from US-based investment giant BlackRock and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation – a state-run investment agency – of Posco’s performance so far in management and strengthening its financial soundness on Friday, according to Posco H

South Korea’s reliance on China for semiconductor exports jumped nearly 13-fold in the last two decades and Seoul needs to take action to resolve any associated risks, a report said Sunday. Semiconductor exports made up 39.7 percent of Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s total exports to China last year, a surge from 3.2 percent in 2000, said the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a major business lobby that represents some 300 companies including Samsung Electronics and SK

South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp. has decided to scrap its plan to sell some 10 percent of its ride-hailing arm to a private equity fund, the firm said Thursday. It currently holds a 57.5 percent stake. The latest decision comes as the result of a monthslong tug-of-war between the company and the firm’s union. The union has repeatedly asked the firm to halt the plan after Kakao in June announced the plan to sell “some 10 percent,” or as much as 19 percent, of Kakao Mobility

South Korean retail investors have been bagging up overseas exchange traded-funds in recent weeks as the global stock market has been struggling under bear market signals, data showed Tuesday. Retail investors interested in overseas investments have added more high-return, high-risk ETFs to their portfolios, seeking to profit from the volatile global market. Of the top 10 overseas investments from local investors from July 13 to Friday, seven were ETFs, latest data compiled by the Korea Secur

A South Korean bank’s rejection of a foreign customer’s request to open a new bank account due to the person’s full name being deemed “too long” is “discriminatory,” the state rights watchdog said Monday. A foreign resident here, whose name was withheld, filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea after a request to open a personal business account was rejected at a local bank branch in July last year, a document released by the

South Korea has become an aging society since 2000 and is now on track to become a super-aged society within five years when older people makes up 20 percent of its 50 million population. With the insurers‘ customers across Asia now expecting longer life spans, helping them build a healthier lifestyle has become a key goal for the businesses, says MetLife Asia’s chief marketing officer. “MetLife‘s response to the issue of an aging society was the 360Health solution, wh

Retail investors turned net sellers of South Korean stocks in recent weeks despite foreigners’ buying spree, data showed Sunday, putting the nation’s key stock index in a bear market rally. Overseas investors scooped up a net 4 trillion won ($3.08 billion) on the Kospi market from July 14 to Friday, data from the nation’s sole bourse operator Korea Exchange showed, driving the benchmark index’s slight rebound. The Kospi inched up 1.60 percent to 2,490.80 on Friday compa

Top commercial banks have come under fire for increasingly denying customer requests to lower their interest rate repayments, while profiting heavily from of their lending programs, data showed Wednesday. The growing criticism comes as borrowers have been facing heavier debt repayment burdens in recent months, with lenders keeping their borrowing rates in pace with the central bank’s aggressive rate hikes. Last year, the top five commercial banks -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and

The global entertainment industry’s obsession with revealing the finance industry’s deepest and darkest secrets on screen is nothing new. But in South Korea, the protagonists are no longer power-hungry brokers in suits – it’s everyday retail investors. JTBC’s “Cleaning Up,” a 16-episode remake of the British drama of the same name which aired from June 4 to July 24, is at the forefront of the change. It tells the story of how cleaners at a local broker

South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol administration has declared war on the nation’s “deep-rooted” practice of illegal short selling, but retail investors and onlookers are expressing skepticism on whether the practice could really be uprooted. On Thursday, financial authorities and top prosecutors warned that all profit and hidden money from illegal short selling will be confiscated if the prosecution’s recently revived Financial and Securities Crime Joint Investigation Te

Starbucks Korea on Thursday admitted that its summer giveaway bags had cancer-causing chemicals, and vowed to provide compensation to its customers with gift coupons. “We deeply apologize to our customers who are disappointed in us for the recent issue (surrounding the giveaway bags),” Starbucks Korea said in a statement. “On July 22, we have requested state-approved institutions to run tests on six unopened samples and five opened samples of our giveaway bags and detected

When algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD and its sister luna was introduced in 2018, it was widely touted as “revolutionary.” Now, the algorithmic disaster that has sent shockwaves across the cryptocurrency market was one that was “waiting to happen,” according ethereum founding member and crypto entrepreneur Joel Dietz. “It’s a project that had obvious design flaws,” Dietz told The Korea Herald in an interview conducted by video. “When I saw them

South Korean blockchain experts on Monday were divided over whether FTX, the crypto trading platform co-founded by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, is actually seeking to buy local exchange Bithumb. Skeptics claimed that the Bahamian crypto exchange has no reason to purchase Bithumb at the moment with the financial authorities seeking to tighten regulations here and with the “stable condition” of the Korean exchange operator. “For the moment, there is no reason for FTX to ent

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom signed a share-swap deal worth some 400 billion won ($305.3 million) to set up a new environmental, social and governance model, officials said Sunday. “We have signed a strategic partnership with SK Telecom on Friday to build a new cooperative agreement based on ICT innovation,” Hana said in a statement. Under the deal between the nation’s banking and telecommunications giants, SK Telecom will acquire a 3.1 percent sta

South Korea’s KB Financial Group on Thursday released its annual sustainability report for 2021 sharing its achievements in and insights on environmental, social and corporate governance. The report includes KB’s experience in dealing with key ESG issues such as climate change, green financing and diversity alongside the firm’s stance on corporate governance, ESG management and social responsibility. In October 2021, KB was officially endorsed by the Science Based Targets

South Koreans in their 40s and 50s now face higher chances of loan default and delinquency, with those who took out loans from more than one financial institution increasing by nearly 100,000 from last year, data showed Thursday. This has spurred concerns that a significant number of borrowers in those age groups could be taking out additional money to repay existing debts, with aggressive rate hikes in recent months requiring them to pay more in interest. Borrowers in their 40s and 50s who

South Korea’s top financial regulator pledged Tuesday to review lowering the regulatory barriers that limit the industrial sector from owning banks, to accelerate digitalization of the economy and global growth. “The goal of our financial regulatory overhaul is to create a new field, so that leading global players like (K-pop band) BTS can be born in our financial industry,” Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Joo-hyeon told a regulatory reform meeting. “We will

South Korea’s Kyobo Life Insurance and its second-largest shareholder -- a consortium led by Affinity Equity Partners -- are blaming each other for its recent failure to carry out an initial public offering. The blame game follows the nation’s sole bourse operator Korea Exchange’s decision on July 8 to reject an initial public offering by Kyobo, without citing a reason. Market watchers, however, cited Kyobo’s yearslong legal dispute with the consortium led by the Hong K