transactional diplomacy

Business & Politics S.Korea's Han, Trump discuss transactional diplomacy in 1st direct talks

South Korea’s Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo spoke with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday to discuss various issues of mu...

Retail Baemin, Yogiyo see record transaction drops in Feb amid Coupang's rise

South Korea’s top and third-ranked food delivery apps, Baedal Minjok (Baemin) and Yogiyo, saw their biggest-ever monthly drops in transaction ...

Private equity South Korea emerges as private equity firms’ global hub

New York-based Apollo Global Management and London-based Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) have joined the ranks of global private equity firms that ...

Real estate Macquarie to sell Seoul hotel to KB Asset for $119 million

Macquarie Asset Management is poised to sell a four-star hotel in Seoul for about 170 billion won ($118.7 million) to South Korea’s KB Asset M...

Business & Politics China likely to lift ban on South Korea’s K-wave as early as May

BEIJING – China will likely lift its ban on Hallyu, or Korean popular culture in the country, as early as May, moving away from its “wol...

Cryptocurrencies Koreans flock to cryptos amid Trump-fueled crypto craze

The number of South Koreans investing in cryptocurrencies recently broke past 15 million — about 30% of the country’s population —...

E-commerce Coupang CEO to reduce stake in e-commerce platform

Coupang Inc. founder and Chief Executive Bom Kim will sell shares and donate additional ones in the South Korean e-commerce platform for tax payment...

Cryptocurrencies Growing dollar-backed stablecoin trades may destabilize Korean economy

Trading in dollar-backed stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to the US currency, in South Korea hit a record high amid complex and costly currency ...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Hyundai Marine Solution wins $60 mn ship maintenance contract

HD Hyundai Marine Solution Co., HD Hyundai’s marine industry comprehensive solution company, signed its largest long-term maintenance contract...

Corporate bonds Qcells’ residential solar financing unit raises $253 mn through ABS

Hanwha Q Cells Co., the solar power unit of South Korea’s chemicals-to-defense conglomerate Hanwha Group known as Qcells in overseas markets, ...

Markets Korea to fine Credit Suisse, Nomura $40 mn on short sales

South Korea’s top financial regulator has recently notified Credit Suisse and Nomura Securities of a decision to fine them a combined 54.0 bil...

Retail Used goods platform Gugus shines in slowing luxury market

Gugus, South Korea’s largest online retailer of secondhand luxury goods, posted double-digit growth in revenue and transactions in the first q...

Tech, Media & Telecom SK Telecom brings forward 6G era with low-latency tech

South Korea’s information and communications technology (ICT) major SK Telecom Co. has developed a new technology jointly with US tech giant I...

Webtoons Piccoma sees record transaction value in Japan on K-webtoons

Piccoma, a Japanese digital comics app, enjoyed its largest-ever transaction value last year in the home of manga, thanks to the growing popularity ...

Banking & Finance Korea Investment leads Mongolia Mortgage Corp.'s global bond issuance

Korea Investment & Securities Co. (KIS) announced on Tuesday its successful completion of the lead management for a $225 million global bond iss...

Real estate Korean office, warehouse transactions plunge in Q1-Q3

The South Korean commercial real estate market saw its transaction value during the first three quarters of this year reach 10.9 trillion won ($8.4 ...

Private equity KKR promotes Keith Kim in Seoul office to partner

KKR & Co. Inc. has promoted Keith Kim (Kim Yang-han), managing director at the private equity giant’s Seoul office, to partner.Kim, who ma...

Foreign exchange Korea, Indonesia to facilitate bilateral trade in won, rupiah

The central banks of South Korea and Indonesia agreed to facilitate the settlement of bilateral trade in their currencies from next year as the elec...

Shareholder activism KT&G faces another legal battle with Korean activist fund

Singapore-based private equity firm Flashlight Capital Partners Pte. said Monday that it has filed court injunctions against KT&G Corp., beginni...

Korean chipmakers Average fixed transaction DRAM price in Sept bottoms out at $1.30

The average fixed transaction price of DRAMs last month stayed at $1.30, maintaining its sluggishness in the $1 range for the ninth consecutive mont...

E-commerce Live commerce app Grip aims to expand into Japan, US in 2024

Imagine you're using a shopping app. You talk to the seller, ask questions and receive answers in real-time on a livestream video. Now and then, the...

Retail SK Telecom's T deal sees 81.5% transaction amount increase in H1

South Korea's SK Telecom Co. announced on Monday that the transaction volume of its artificial intelligence (AI)-curated text commerce T deal in the...

Debt financing Hyundai-LG’s Indonesia battery financing chosen as Asia deal of 2022

The $711 million financing organized by Hyundai Motor Co. and LG Energy Solution Ltd. last year for their battery joint venture in Indonesia has bee...

Business & Politics S.Korea attracts investment of $940 mn from 6 European companies

South Korea has attracted investment worth $940 million from six high-tech European companies to build factories and R&D centers.The six compani...

Business & Politics US emerges key to Korea’s nuclear power plants exports to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, which is seeking to build two 1.4 gigawatts (GW) nuclear power plants, is demanding that the US allow uranium enrichment, according to...

Mergers & Acquisitions Korea's Kakao Pay to buy 51% of US financial firm Siebert

Kakao Pay Corp., the mobile payment and digital wallet service unit of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp., announced on Thursday it has signed an a...

Logistics Hanjin launches global C2C purchase platform Hoot Town

Hanjin Transportation, a logistics and B2B/B2C delivery business subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanjin Group, has launched Hoot Town, a global co...

Fintech Apple Pay to shake up S.Korea's digital payment market

The launch of Apple Pay in South Korea on Tuesday is poised to shake up the country’s digital payment market as the sector leader Samsung Pay ...

Real estate Number of commercial building transactions in Seoul hits all-time low

The number of commercial and office building transactions in Seoul hit an all-time low in January.Realty Planet, a big data-based commercial real es...

Tech, Media & Telecom BC Card shows one-stop payment int'l network at MWC 2023

BC Card, the only credit card company from South Korea taking part in this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, is displaying at ...