won pegged stablecoins

Cryptocurrencies South Korea accelerates stablecoin framework amid global race

Just one week after electing President Lee Jae-myung, an apparent backer of stablecoin adoption, South Korea is swiftly moving to clear the path for...

Real estate GIC resumes Seoul Finance Center sale in major Korean property deal

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC is resuming the sale of Seoul Finance Center, a landmark office tower in Seoul's central business distri...

Markets Markets in honeymoon with Lee: Kospi, won rally; bond yields spike

South Korea’s financial markets showed strong gains on Thursday, with shares surging to an 11-month high and the won hitting a seven-month hig...

Business & Politics Liberal Lee Jae-myung wins election as South Korean president

South Korea’s liberal politician Lee Jae-myung has been elected the country's next president. Lee has pledged to revive Asia’s fourth-la...

Cryptocurrencies Korea’s stablecoin trade at $42 bn; BOK balks at non-bank stablecoin deals

South Korea’s central bank is cautious about non-banks and fintech firms issuing and handling stablecoins amid a global cryptocurrency rally, ...

Shareholder value Shinhan expands global IR push to woo foreign investors

Shinhan Financial Group Co. is stepping up efforts to attract foreign investors with back-to-back global investor relations (IR) campaigns, as South...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD Hyundai Group joins S.Korea’s 100 trillion won market cap club

South Korean shipbuilding conglomerate HD Hyundai Group has joined South Korea’s elite club of conglomerates with a market capitalization exce...

Real estate Cushman & Wakefield, Avison Young to lead Orange Center sale in Seoul

Cushman & Wakefield and Avison Young have been appointed to oversee the sale of Orange Center, a prime office tower in Seoul’s central bus...

Automobiles Kumho Tire shuts Gwangju plant after fire, derailing record sales run

Kumho Tire Co. has suspended all operations at its Gwangju plant in South Korea after a fire destroyed 50-60% of the production lines in one of its ...

Banking & Finance Samsung flexes financial muscle as insurance, card units top rankings

Samsung Group’s financial affiliates are closing in on KB Financial Group for the top spot in South Korea’s financial services sector, u...

Machinery Hyundai Rotem lands $301 mn Taiwan driverless train deal

Hyundai Rotem Co. has won a 420 billion won ($301 million) order to build autonomous electric trains for Taiwan’s Taichung Metro, adding to a ...

Rights offerings POSCO Future M to raise $771 million to bolster battery materials business

POSCO Future M Co., South Korea’s leading battery materials maker, is set to raise 1.1 trillion won ($771 million) through a rights offering a...

Mergers & Acquisitions MBK’s Lotte Card sale gains momentum amid Homeplus fallout

North Asia-focused private equity firm MBK Partners’ second attempt to exit Lotte Card Co., South Korea’s fifth-largest car issuer, is g...

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...

Shipping & Shipbuilding HD KSOE secures $1.8 bn in container ship orders

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) secured orders for 22 container ships worth a total of 2.54 trillion won ($1.8 billion) ...

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...

Earnings KB Financial logs 61% profit growth, rebounding from ELS fiasco

KB Financial Group Inc. on Thursday reported a 61% jump in first-quarter profit, led by a nearly threefold rise in earnings at its flagship unit Koo...

Steel POSCO to invest in Hyundai Steel’s Louisiana plant

South Korea’s top steel maker POSCO has decided to invest in Hyundai Steel Co.'s first overseas plant in Louisiana and collaborate on research...

Sovereign wealth funds Korea’s WGBI inclusion moved to next April; Seoul works on policy steps

South Korea’s much-anticipated inclusion of its bonds in the FTSE World Government Bond Index (WGBI) has been postponed to April 2026 from Nov...

Korean stock market South Korean stocks, currency dive amid deeper US tariff turmoil

The South Korean stock market logged its biggest daily loss of more than 5% in eight months on Monday, joining its Asian peers bruised by panic sell...

Entertainment Kakao Entertainment sheds loss-making units, revives IPO prospects

Kakao Entertainment Corp. has been divesting unprofitable music labels and digital content platforms, which it has gobbled up over the past few year...

Real estate Asia Property to buy WeWork building in Seoul

Seoul-based real estate investment firm Asia Property has been picked as the sole preferred bidder for an office building currently occupied by cowo...

Real estate Shinhan REITs picked as sole bidder for BNK Digital Tower

Shinhan REITs Management is expected to acquire BNK Digital Tower, an office building in the affluent neighborhood of Gangnam in southern Seoul, aft...

Batteries SK On to supply 100 GWh of EV batteries to Nissan

SK On Co. has landed a deal to supply nearly 100 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electric vehicle batteries to Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co., which cou...

Games Krafton invests in 10 overseas game startups in 2024

Krafton Inc. invested in 10 overseas game developers in 2024 in search of the next big franchise intellectual property (IP) following its mega-hit t...

Debt financing MBK chairman to leverage own funds to pay Homeplus suppliers

Michael ByungJu Kim, the co-founder, partner and chairman of Northeast Asia-focused private equity firm (PEF) MBK Partners Ltd., is expected to leve...

Real estate Kumho Petrochemical's Seoul headquarters put on market

IGIS Asset Management Co., has put Kumho Petrochemical Group’s headquarters building, Signature Tower in central Seoul, up for sale – a ...

Korean games Nexon becomes 1st Korean game publisher with over 4 trillion won in sales

Nexon Co., the parent of Nexon Games Co., became the first Korean game developer to achieve the 4 trillion won ($2.8 billion) sales milestone in 202...

Sovereign bonds Foreigners return to Korean debt market; Korea on course to join WGBI

Foreigners scooped up South Korean government bonds in January despite the country’s ongoing political upheavals, betting big on the country&r...

Corporate restructuring Samsung Life, Samsung Fire sell $193 mn in Samsung Electronics shares

Samsung Life Insurance Co., South Korea’s largest life insurer, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., the country’s No. 1 non-lif...