pre-pandemic

Economy S.Korea’s default risk dips below pre-martial law levels

South Korea’s financial market has stabilized with a sharp fall in the country’s default risk and some recovery of its currency value ag...

Automobiles Kia starts to produce Syros SUV in India

Kia Corp. started mass production of the Syros, a versatile sports utility vehicle (SUV) specifically designed to meet the needs of customers in I...

Business & Politics Ruthless Politics of South Korea Is Rooted in Cold-War History

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IPOs LS Group’s US magnet wire unit to go public with $1.4 bn value

The US magnet wire unit of South Korea’s leading electric power, materials and energy conglomerate LS Group is seeking an initial public offer...

Energy DS Dansuk wins $750 mn SAF material order from Phillips 66

South Korea's DS Dansuk Co., which operates bioenergy, battery, and plastic recycling businesses, said on Monday it signed a 1 trillion won ($750 mi...

Logistics CJ Logistics, Baropharm to cooperate on pharmaceutical logistics

South Korea's CJ Logistics said on Monday it signed a strategic partnership and exclusive pharmaceutical logistics contract with Baropharm, an integ...

Mergers & Acquisitions Acquisition loan rates dip to pre-pandemic levels in S.Korea

Interest rates on acquisition financing in South Korea are set to stabilize at the 5% level, rates last seen before COVID-19 swept the world, height...

Korean stock market S.Korean stocks log largest daily loss since pandemic

The South Korean stock market dropped more than 3% on Friday to breach the psychologically important barrier of 2,700 in almost two months, after we...

Electronics Samsung Galaxy Z foldable's pre-sales soars 40% rise in India

Samsung Electronics Co.'s latest foldable phones showed strong sales potential in India, the world's most populous country, with pre-sales for the G...

Korean startups PhyxUp closes in on pre-seed round with US advance

PhyxUp Health Inc., an early stage South Korean digital healthcare startup, will soon close a pre-seed funding round, said its founder and chief, wh...

Travel & Leisure S.Korea sees foreign visitors 95% of pre-pandemic

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) announced on Friday that the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea in May was 1.42 million, an increa...

Retail Duty-free stores: Golden goose gone for Korean retailers

South Korea welcomed a record-high number of post-pandemic foreign tourist arrivals for a single quarter in the first three months of this year, but...

Webtoons South Korean webtoon makers in quandary after pandemic

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic a few years back, social distancing was the rule of life. People stayed at home, with many of them killing ti...

IPOs World’s No.1 magnet wire maker SPSX mulls Korean IPO

Superior Essex Inc. (SPSX), the world’s top magnet wire provider under South Korea’s LS Group, is mulling an initial public offering in ...

Travel & Leisure S.Korea sees record-high foreign visitors after pandemic

South Korea saw a record-high number of foreign tourists post-COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2024. The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Spor...

Entertainment Korean theme parks recover to near pre-pandemic levels

Everland and Lotte World, South Korea’s two largest theme parks, posted their highest-ever profits in 2023, recovering from the COVID-19 pande...

Fashion Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior post weak profits in Korea post-pandemic

Global luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior saw worsening profitability of their South Korean operations last year after a few years of dece...

Korean games Netmarble Arthdal Chronicles pre-registration surpasses 1 mn

South Korean game developer Netmarble Corp. said on Tuesday that the pre-registration of its upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing ga...

Robotics CJ Freshway, Hanwha Robotics to team up for food robots

South Korea's CJ Freshway Corp. and Hanwha Robotics will jointly develop food robots. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding ...

Travel & Leisure South Korea’s luxury hotels bask in return of tourists post-pandemic

South Korea’s luxury hotels are enjoying the return of tourists following years of COVID-19 restrictions, which significantly hurt their sales...

Retail S.Korea’s duty-free industry going downhill

The South Korean travel retail industry, once considered the country’s golden goose, is forced to streamline operations given no signs of a dr...

Travel & Leisure Number of foreign tourists visiting Korea surpasses 11 million in 2023

The number of foreign tourists visiting Korea last year exceeded 11 million, reaching 63% of the pre-COVID level, with over 1 million arrivals month...

Food & Beverage Whisky imports hit record high in S. Korea amid falling wine interest

Soaring highballs propelled whisky consumption to record heights in South Korea last year, while pandemic-driven interest in wine waned significantl...

Electronics Samsung Galaxy S24 sees record Indian pre-orders in three days

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker, said its latest flagship smartphone Galaxy S24 series enjoyed record pre-orders i...

Electric vehicles Kia EV9 sweeps European awards, sees strong US pre-orders

The Kia EV9, the flagship large all-electric sport utility vehicle of South Korea’s No. 2 automaker, is sweeping major industrial awards in Eu...

Construction HD Hyundai taps RCE to go global with used heavy machinery

HD Hyundai Construction Equipment Co., the construction machinery provider under South Korean shipbuilding conglomerate HD Hyundai Group, will ventu...

Real estate Seoul office leasing turns lender’s market as vacancy rates at 2023 low

Office vacancy rates in South Korea’s capital city of Seoul fell to their lowest level this year last month as people returned to work follo...

Korean stock market EcoPro Materials' Kospi debut draws investors for short-term gains

Shares in EcoPro Materials Co., South Korean battery materials maker EcoPro Group’s unit that went public on Nov. 17, are skyrocketing as reta...

Bio & Pharma Doctornow signs business agreement with Spain’s Mediktor

South Korea's medical care startup Doctornow Inc. announced on Wednesday it signed a strategic business agreement with global artificial intelligenc...

Travel & Leisure S.Korea releases winter schedule for weekly int’l flights

South Korea will expand its number of weekly flights this winter to Japan and Southeast Asia, two regions expected to have high demand that season, ...