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Anna J. Park

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.

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Economy

Ramyeon manufacturers' shares soar over price hike announcement

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkNongshim's share price jumped on Wednesday, as the country's largest ramyeon manufacturer announced earlier in the day that it will increase the prices of most ramyeon and snack products from next month. The food company's stock price rose to 311,500 won ($232) at Tuesday's closing, a 6.13-percent increase from the previous trading session. Both foreign investors and institutional investors led the share's price hike, while retail investors net-sold the stock, taking trading profits. Nongshim said it will raise its prices of ramyeon by 11.3 percent and snack products by 5.7 percent, on average. Specifically, the price of Shin Ramyeon will be increased by 10.9 percent, and Neoguri ramyeon by 9.9 percent. It will be the first increase since August of last year. The company explained that the price hike is unavoidable due to the increased cost burden of raw materials amid high global inflation. As the stock price of Nongshim, the country's top ramyeon manufacturer, which takes up nearly a 50-percent market share as of last year, soared, other major ramyeon

Aug 24, 2022By Anna J. Park
Ramyeon manufacturers' shares soar over price hike announcement
Economy

Global consumers consider downsizing digital streaming services: EY Korea

gettyimagesbankDigital service providers face increased challenges aheadBy Anna J. ParkThe outbreak of the pandemic sparked an increase in the reliance of online activities such as subscriptions to music or video streaming services. Now, amid the current global geopolitical uncertainties and unclear economic outlook, a significant percentage of households around the world are planning to reduce their digital streaming services, as they put more emphasis on value and improving well-being, a global survey showed. These results published are according to EY's latest report titled, Decoding the Digital Home Study, which surveyed some 20,000 households around the world. The annual report showed about 45 percent of the respondents think that they spend too much money on video content that they don't watch, and 34 percent say that they plan to reduce the number of hours they spend on online activities. Also, 27 percent of the surveyed households say that they are interested in reducing the number of digital streaming platforms they use. Digital service providers will face complicated new ch

Aug 24, 2022By Anna J. Park
Global consumers consider downsizing digital streaming services: EY Korea
Economy

FSC to accelerate financial deregulation by facilitating digital platform biz

Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Kim Joo-hyun speaks during a joint meeting on deregulation in the financial sector at the Government Complex Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of FSC By Anna J. ParkAiming to facilitate digital financial innovation in the country, the government has decided to deregulate further the financial sector by promoting financial companies' diverse online platform businesses, while strengthening the government's innovation-led growth initiatives.According to the Financial Services Commission (FSC) Tuesday, the financial authority as well as other related government ministries and financial industry associations, met earlier in the day at the Government Complex Seoul to hold the second installment of a joint meeting under the banner of promoting financial deregulation. FSC chief Kim Joo-hyun, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun, leaders of various financial associations, including the bank federation, investment compa

Aug 23, 2022By Anna J. Park
FSC to accelerate financial deregulation by facilitating digital platform biz
Banking & Finance

Mirae Asset's IFC purchase plan could fall through

gettyimagesbankMirae Asset explains 75% of capital raised, dispels market doubts By Anna J. ParkAs Mirae Asset Global Investments' plan of raising the necessary capital for the purchase of International Finance Center (IFC) Seoul, it faces unexpected stumbling blocks leading some financial industry watchers to cautiously speak of the possibility that the acquisition could fall through as the investment company still searches for an alternative plan to raise 4.1 trillion won ($3 billion) for the purchase deal, Tuesday.The firm originally planned to raise about half of the money by establishing a REIT, or real estate investment trust. But the option had to be scrapped, as the government put the brakes on REITs. The country's land ministry recently did not give the green light for Mirae Asset's planned REIT, owing to an excessive proportion of debt in the trust's structure. The land minister pointed out the REIT's structural design of raising 2.1 trillion won through debt while assigning the other 2 trillion won through equity investment represents an unbalanced weight of excessive debt

Aug 23, 2022By Anna J. Park
Mirae Asset's IFC purchase plan could fall through
Companies

L'Oreal Korea appoints new head

By Anna J. ParkL'Oreal Korea CEO Samuel du Retail / Courtesy of L'Oreal KoreaL'Oreal Korea announced Monday that it appointed Samuel du Retail as the new chief of its Korea operation. The new CEO has worked at the France-headquartered global cosmetics company since 1996. Over the past 26 years at the firm, du Retail has assumed various key roles, including finance, management and e-commerce. He served as CFO at L'Oreal China from 2006 to late 2011, which was followed by another CFO position representing the Western Europe operation of the company from 2012 to 2013. He went on to serve as global CFO of the consumer products division in France from 2013 to 2016, continuing working as general manager for the consumer products division in China from 2017 to 2020. Before his latest promotion, his previous role at the firm had been as a group e-commerce general manager in France from October 2020 to earlier this year. He's been attributed with the successful growth of L'Oreal and Maybelline in the Chinese market. He also led significant growth in the profitability of the company's e-commer

Aug 22, 2022By Anna J. Park
L'Oreal Korea appoints new head
Banking & Finance

KakaoBank shares plunge on KB block deal

The headquarters of KakaoBank in Pangyo district in Seongnam city, Gyeonggi Province / NewsisBy Anna J. ParkKakaoBank shares nosedived, Friday, with its stock price plummeting 8.17 percent to close at 28,650 won ($21.6). The plunge was mainly attributed to a block deal by KB Kookmin Bank, one of the digital lender's major shareholders. KB Kookmin Bank sold over 14.7 million shares, which is about 38 percent of the bank's entire stake in KakaoBank, for 28,704 won per stock in the block deal during afterhours on Thursday.As a result, KB Kookmin Bank's stake in KakaoBank fell to about 5 percent from the previous 8 percent and it is no longer the third-largest shareholder of the internet-only bank. Previously, KB Kookmin Bank held the third highest stake in KakaoBank, followed by Kakao's 27.2 percent and Korea Investment Value Asset Management's 23.2 percent stake. Now, KB's stake is lower than the National Pension Service's 5.66 percent. KB Kookmin Bank explained that the block deal sale was to improve the efficiency of its capital management, adding that the bank's cooperative relation

Aug 19, 2022By Anna J. Park
KakaoBank shares plunge on KB block deal
Banking & Finance

K bank's IPO up in the air due to valuation discrepancy

The headquarters of K bank in Seoul / Courtesy of K bank By Anna J. Park Despite K bank's strong determination to go public by the end of this year, the digital bank's targeted IPO schedule remains murky due to discrepancies over the lender's corporate valuation seen by the market and the company. K bank has been expecting its corporate value to be estimated at around 8 trillion won ($6 billion). The number came from the internet-only bank's main competitor, KakaoBank, whose market cap stands at around 14 trillion won as of this week. However, the investment banking sector currently views K bank's corporate value at the time of the IPO at around four trillion won at most. Since the gap in the bank's corporate valuation between the two sides is too big, some market watchers forecast that K bank's KOSPI debut within this year could be pushed back to sometime next year. The bank's hopes for the listing could also be discouraged further, considering the weak market sent

Aug 19, 2022By Anna J. Park
K bank's IPO up in the air due to valuation discrepancy
Cryptocurrency

Authorities to ban access to unauthorized foreign crypto exchanges

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkThe Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) has urged caution on the part of local clients of overseas cryptocurrency exchanges to verify whether they have been registered under the Korean financial authority. The KoFIU announced a total of 16 virtual asset service providers (VASPs) on Thursday, which had failed to register themselves with the financial authority, and are thus considered illegal business operators in Korea. The cryptocurrency exchanges include KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, ZB.com, Bitglobal, CoinW, CoinEX, AAX, ZoomEX, Poloniex, BTCEX, BTCC, DigiFinex and Pionex.The KoFIU said it had notified the investigative authority about the crypto exchanges' illegal business activities targeting Korean users by offering Korean-language services. The financial regulator added that it requested the Korea Communications Commission and the Korea Communications Standards Commission to block the firms' website access to local users to prevent their unregistered business activities in Korea. Back in July of last year, the KoFIU notified foreign-

Aug 18, 2022By Anna J. Park
Authorities to ban access to unauthorized foreign crypto exchanges
Economy

Digital assets continue to expand presence in both public, private sectors

gettyimagesbankMajor banks prepare for CBDC, while financial authorities aim to regulate the digital asset market By Anna J. ParkThere are many naysayers regarding the future of cryptocurrencies, calling them the contemporary version of the infamous speculation bubble surrounding Dutch tulips in the 17th century. Despite the presence of such pessimistic voices on digital assets, it is undeniable that central banks around the globe are researching the idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), with the possibility of making a fiat currency in a digital form.The Bank of Korea (BOK) has also been looking closely at the subject for the past few years and major banks in Korea have been cooperating with the central bank's CBDC pilot program.NH NongHyup Bank is one of the major local banks that have been joining the BOK's CBDC research project and the bank announced earlier this week that it has successfully completed its pilot transaction system developed in response. The bank stressed that the successful development of the pilot system has given the bank both a stable blockchain plat

Aug 18, 2022By Anna J. Park
Digital assets continue to expand presence in both public, private sectors
Banking & Finance

Life insurers to continue facing unfavorable external biz environment in H2

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. Park Major life insurance companies' earnings during the first half of this year showed a sharp year-on-year decrease amid rising interest rates and global monetary tightening policies. It is anticipated that the external business environment faced by local life insurers is not likely to change much during the second half of the year either. According to Kyobo Life's H1 earnings report, the life insurer posted a net profit of 320 billion won ($244 million) during the first half, which is a 47.5 percent plunge from the same period last year.The fall in year-on-year net profit is noteworthy given that the life insurer logged an increase in its revenue during the first half compared to the previous year. The firm's H1 revenue stood at 8.3 trillion won, which is a 13.6 percent year-on-year increase. It is also the highest H1 revenue posted by the firm during the past five years. At the same time, however, the firm experienced its lowest level of both operating and net profits in the first half of this year, out of its five-year records. The company explained tha

Aug 17, 2022By Anna J. Park
Life insurers to continue facing unfavorable external biz environment in H2
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