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.
Market watchers say the success of the stock market debuts of Millie and Doosan Robotics will serve as a gauge of Korea's initial public offering (IPO) market sentiment in the second half of this year.
Korea's housing market capitalization reached 6,209 trillion won ($4.5 trillion) last year, nearly three times the country's nominal GDP, which stood at 2,162 trillion won. The ratio of household debt to GDP, meanwhile, is much higher than that of other economies, leaving Korean households vulnerable to high interest rates, the central bank warned.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has issued a management caution against the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC) for its sloppy response to a failed overseas alternative investment worth 50 billion won ($37 million).
A Hollys Coffee shop in Seoul / Newsis Hollys plans to become first local coffee franchise to achieve IPOBy Anna J. ParkHollys Coffee's franchiser KG Hollys F&B has recently initiated procedures to go public, sending a request for proposal (RFP) earlier this month to major securities firms known for expertise in managing initial public offerings (IPOs).According to the investment banking industry, the firm will soon host presentation bids to appoint the main underwriters of the public offering process. Once the underwriters are selected, a series of procedures, ranging from due diligence, corporate valuation assessment and submission of a preliminary IPO review to the Korea Exchange (KRX) will follow over the next months. It is largely expected that the IPO of Hollys Coffee will be completed next year in line with the firm's original timeline set for 2024. “Until the end of 2024, I will extend our businesses horizontally and vertically to achieve the IPO goal,” Lee
gettyimagesbankFSC to announce measures to boost pet insurance market in Oct. By Anna J. ParkWith the increase in pet ownership and pet insurance products in the country, the number of pet insurance policy contracts rose significantly during the first half of this year. Pet insurance provides coverage for expenses incurred when a pet becomes ill. Eleven insurance firms are currently selling pet insurance plans. According to the insurance industry on Wednesday, the aggregate number of pet insurance policy subscriptions held by the 11 firms as of the first half stood at 87,911, a 22.3 percent jump from the same period last year. The 11 insurers received a total of 21 billion won ($15.7 million) in premiums from pet insurance holders during the first half, a similar amount to the total annual premiums of 21.3 billion won that insurance companies received from the policy-holders in all of 2021. Last year's entire annual premiums reached 28.8 billion won. Despite the recent increase in insurance plan sales, only 1.1 percent of the 7.99 million pets in Korea are insured. It is an improveme
A pedestrian walks by a row of ATMs on a street in Seoul in July. NewsisAuthorities to submit proposal to parliament after TF meeting later this weekBy Anna J. ParkThe coverage limit for deposit protection at local banks, which has been fixed at 50 million won ($37,700) for over two decades, is expected to remain unchanged for this year, according to market watchers. Since 2001, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) has insured up to 50 million won per depositor and financial institution. The policy direction on any changes of the coverage limit for deposit protection at local financial institutions will be clarified later this week, as the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the top financial policy maker in the country, is slated to hold a private and public joint task force (TF) meeting on Thursday, with the attendance of key officials from the FSC, the KDIC, banks, savings banks, insurance companies, and finance academics to share and discuss the results of the TF's research into the issue. The financial authorities are scheduled to submit their proposal on the issue to
gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkNaver Pay and Kakao Pay, the two leading mobile payment service businesses in Korea, are pit against each other in the Chinese and Japanese markets, as their domestic growth rates have somewhat slowed due to market saturation. Naver Pay announced on Tuesday that its mobile payment service can now be widely utilized in China, by scanning a QR code, at all affiliated stores of Alipay, a leading digital payment service in China.Naver Pay and Alipay+ logosThe company said customers can make payments by presenting Naver Pay's QR codes at every store which displays the “AliPay+” logo, including airports, department stores, retail shops and taxis in China. Customers can also make payments by scanning the QR code provided using Naver Pay's in-app camera. As Alipay+ is one of the official sponsors of the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, which will take place from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8, the Chinese digital payment app will be exclusively used at key event locations of the Asian Games venues, such as the athletes' villages. It means Korea's national team athlete
gettyimagesbankInternet-only banks' financial soundness deterioratesBy Anna J. ParkWith interest rates remaining high, the financial soundness of three internet-only banks ― K bank, KakaoBank and Toss Bank ― has begun to deteriorate, as their delinquency rates continue to soar to highs. The fact that the banks provide a larger proportion of their credit loans to medium- and low-credit borrowers is even more concerning. According to the latest data submitted by the banks to Rep. Yang Kyung-sook from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, the average delinquency rate for credit loans at the three banks stood at 1.2 percent. Delinquency rate refers to the percentage of loans within a bank's entire loan portfolio of which payments are delinquent. The three mobile-based lenders' credit loan delinquency rates have been rising sharply since June of last year. Prior to then, the figure was maintained at roughly 0.3 percent during 2021. But it rose to 0.42 percent in late June 2022, and spiked up to 1.04 percent in June this year. The figure rose further to 1.2 percent at the end of A
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the OECD Choi Sang-daeBy Anna J. Park Choi Sang-dae, former second vice minister of economy and finance, has been appointed as the Permanent Representative of Korea to the OECD earlier this month. Choi will officially begin his years-long duties in Paris, France, on Sept. 21. He is Korea's 13th ambassador to the OECD.Throughout his career of over 30 years in the Korean government, Choi has earned renown as a budget expert, taking up a range of key positions at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Budget, as well as the presidential office. Choi also worked as a senior economist at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., building a global career in the sustainable development field as well.Under the Yoon administration, the former second vice minister played a leading role in preparing and passing supplementary budget plans aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses and ensuring public welfare and livelihoods.Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the OECD Choi Sang-dae, former secon