South China Sea

Cryptocurrencies RedotPay lands in Seoul with crypto cards

RedotPay, a Hong Kong-based blockchain fintech company, has arrived in South Korea with its cryptocurrency-based payment cards and is poised to disr...

Electric vehicles BYD’s Atto 3 overtakes Tesla’s Model Y as best-selling EV in South Korea

China’s BYD Co. has dethroned Tesla Inc. in South Korea with its compact sport utility vehicle, the BYD Atto 3, becoming the best-selling impo...

Mergers & Acquisitions Soon for sale: Altos Ventures-backed Cafe Knotted operator

Silicon Valley-based Altos Ventures-backed Good Food For Good (GFFG), operator of South Korea’s popular dessert cafe, Cafe Knotted, will likel...

Korean chipmakers South Korea asks US for tailored approach to chip tariffs

South Korea has officially requested that the US take a distinct approach in its ongoing probe into foreign semiconductor technology and related dow...

Central bank South Korea Inflation Flat in April, Possibly Paving Way for Policy Easing

South Korea’s headline inflation remained flat in April, possibly paving the way for the central bank to loosen monetary policy further to sup...

Automobiles US auto parts tariffs take effect; Korea avoids heavy hit

The US has eased tariffs on automotive parts that took effect on May 3, offering a sigh of relief to South Korean suppliers, who said a worst-case s...

Mergers & Acquisitions CJ CheilJedang scraps $3.5 bn green bio sale, shifts gears to expansion

CJ CheilJedang Corp., South Korea’s largest food and beverage company, said on Wednesday it has scrapped a planned sale of its green bio busin...

Business & Politics Trump Jr. meets Korean business chiefs in back-to-back sessions

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of US President Donald Trump, spent his one-and-a-half-day visit to South Korea in back-to-back private meetings wi...

K-pop K-pop stocks surge as China set to loosen cultural ban after 9 years

Shares in South Korea’s leading entertainment companies are rallying amid growing signs that China will likely lift its longstanding ban on Ko...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Hanwha Ocean shares sink after KDB's sale of 4.2% stake

Investors rushed to dump Hanwha Ocean Co. shares early Tuesday after its second-largest shareholder, Korea Development Bank, cashed in on a 4.2% sta...

Asset management Mirae Asset bets on China as Korean investors’ US focus draws concern

South Korea’s leading asset manager Mirae Asset Financial Group is increasingly unveiling China-focused investment products as Chairman P...

Energy South Korea nears Czech nuclear deal; Doosan, related stocks fly high

South Korea’s nuclear energy stocks surged this week as momentum builds around a landmark nuclear power project in the Czech Republic, with in...

Markets Kakao shares sink on SK Telecom’s stake sell-off news

Kakao Corp. shares underperformed its peers and the broad market on Friday after SK Telecom Co. sold off its entire stake in the South Korean platfo...

IPOs LG Electronics eyes India IPO delay, says plan in flux

LG Electronics Inc. is mulling putting off an initial public offering of its wholly owned subsidiary in India amid growing volatility in the global ...

Aerospace & Defense South Korea’s renewed stock market darlings: Weapons makers

South Korea’s defense industry is once again capturing investor attention, as exports of tanks, armored vehicles and other weapons systems soa...

E-commerce StockX in merger talks with Naver’s online reseller Kream

StockX, the world’s most popular online resale marketplace, is in talks to merge with Kream, a resale unicorn under South Korea’s tech g...

Korean chipmakers SK Hynix makes strides in CXL technology, escalating rivalry

SK Hynix Inc., the leading global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip provider, has moved faster than its rivals in the commercialization of the next-g...

Batteries POSCO Future M to make spherical graphite as it cuts dependence on China

POSCO Future M Co., South Korea’s leading battery materials maker, is set to manufacture spherical graphite – a critical material for ba...

Economy China bans export of Korean goods containing its rare earth metals to US

The Chinese government has warned South Korean companies of retributions for exporting any product containing its critical metals to US military con...

Electronics LG Display eyes turnaround on China's shift to OLED

LG Display Co., the world’s top large-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel maker, will likely swing to profit this year for the fir...

Games S.Korea’s Krafton to nurture 6 new game studios in India

Krafton Inc., the publisher of global mega-hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG), has selected six new Indian game studios to...

Food & Beverage India: Tantalizing frontier for K-food’s global ambitions beyond China

South Korea’s processed food exports to India have surged to a record 6 trillion won ($4.1 billion), marking a significant milestone in the gr...

Tech, Media & Telecom LG CNS breaks into US smart city market

LG CNS Co., the information technology service unit of South Korea’s LG Group, has won its first public-sector smart city contracts in the US,...

Asset management South Korea’s young rich vs old rich: Coins, art outpace bonds, funds

Young South Korean millionaires, placing bold wagers on unconventional financial assets such as cryptocurrencies and art, are gaining ground fast, g...

Automobiles Kumho Tire eyes Poland, Serbia, Portugal for 1st European plant

Kumho Tire Co., South Korea’s No. 2 tire maker, is evaluating Poland, Serbia and Portugal as a potential site for its first plant in Europe as...

Corporate strategy Orion behind original Choco Pie to invest $580 million in new plants

Orion Corp., a South Korean confectionery and snack manufacturer, will inject 830 billion won ($580 million) over three years to expand snack manufa...

Economy South Korea to boost aid for chipmakers to $23 billion, expanding extra budget

South Korea’s government is planning to increase support for chip makers to around $23 billion, proposing a bigger-than-expected supplementary...

Economy S&P reaffirms South Korea’s AA credit rating with stable outlook

S&P Global Ratings has reaffirmed South Korea’s sovereign credit rating at AA with a stable outlook, citing the country’s resilient ...

Aerospace & Defense South Korean defense industry thriving on strong overseas demand

The South Korean defense industry's current heyday is expected to continue for a while as global demand for Korean-made weapons and combat systems h...

Asset management Mirae Asset’s default option retirement funds top $700 mn in assets

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. now manages over one-third of South Korea’s default-option retirement funds, with the assets it operates un...