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Park Han-sol

Korea Times Finance Reporter

Park Han-sol reports on Korea's financial regulators, along with fintech and insurance. She previously wrote about the art world, from biennales and exhibitions to fairs and auctions, with a focus on Seoul and the figures shaping the scene. Before joining The Korea Times, she spent a year at ABC News' Seoul bureau, contributing to coverage of major Asia-Pacific events.

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Economy

Youth loan defaults raise questions about Korea's policy lending model

“I defaulted twice on 3 million won ($2,120) Youth Sunshine Loans. The government ended up covering everything, so all my debts were settled with no problem,” read a post shared in July on an online forum for recipients of basic livelihood assistance. As stories like this are becoming more common in Korea, questions are being raised whether government-backed lending for young people is addressing the root cause of financial hardship or merely delaying it. While the programs are intended to help young borrowers bridge temporary cash shortages, experts warn that the worsening employment and income conditions are leaving more young adults unable to repay their debts. One of the clearest signs is the Youth Sunshine Loan, a state-backed program that provides living expenses to job seekers, entry-level workers and young entrepreneurs aged 19 to 34 with annual incomes below 35 million won. According to the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, the share of these loans that had to be repaid by the state-run guarantee agency after borrowers failed to make payments rose from 4.8 percent in 2022 to

9h agoBy Park Han-sol
Youth loan defaults raise questions about Korea's policy lending model
Economy

Financial regulator chief faces criminal complaint as leveraged ETF backlash widens

Financial Services Commission Chairman (FSC) Lee Eog-weon became the latest senior government official, Thursday, to face a criminal complaint over the rollout of single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, as criticism continues to grow over the high-risk products’ impact on recent market volatility. Rep. Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul Metropolitan Council member from the main opposition People Power Party, said he had filed the complaint with prosecutors, accusing the FSC chief of dereliction of duty and abuse of authority. Lee alleged that the regulator approved the high-risk products without conducting sufficient due diligence, including stress tests designed to assess how they would perform under extreme market conditions. “There is a possibility that Chairman Lee instructed FSC officials not to carry out stress tests. Had thorough testing been conducted, it might have revealed serious risks that would make it difficult to introduce the products before the local elections,” he said. Single-stock leveraged ETFs, which allow invest

23h agoBy Park Han-sol
Financial regulator chief faces criminal complaint as leveraged ETF backlash widens
Companies

MBK-Young Poong alliance slams Korea Zinc's criminal complaint over US project name

Korea Zinc on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against its largest shareholders, MBK Partners and Young Poong, over the alleged unauthorized use of the name of “Project Crucible,” the integrated smelter project the company is pursuing in partnership with the U.S. government. MBK and Young Poong immediately pushed back, accusing Korea Zinc of undermining legitimate shareholder activities and calling the complaint a “serious infringement” of shareholder rights. The project, which involves a planned $7.4 billion investment in Tennessee, aims to begin trial operations in 2029 to produce critical minerals and semiconductor-grade sulfuric acid. The complaint marks another escalation in the protracted ownership battle between Korea Zinc and the MBK-Young Poong alliance. Korea Zinc alleges that the alliance registered a domain name combining the project name with the state of Tennessee on June 27 and distributed invitations in early July for a reception attended by Tennessee government officials that featured the Project Crucible name. The company claims those actions created the imp

1d agoBy Park Han-sol
MBK-Young Poong alliance slams Korea Zinc's criminal complaint over US project name
Banking & Finance

KakaoBank posts record $230 mil. H1 profit on loan, fee income growth

KakaoBank posted a record first-half net profit of 328 billion won ($230 million), up 24.4 percent from a year earlier, as steady loan growth and higher fee and platform income continued to lift earnings, the internet-only lender said Wednesday. Operating revenue rose 5.5 percent on-year to 1.65 trillion won during the January-June period. Non-interest income — including investment services offered through its platform, debit card fees and bond interest — accounted for 36 percent of the total, underscoring the bank’s efforts to diversify its revenue streams. Its loan portfolio stood at 48.2 trillion won at the end of the second quarter. While maintaining tight control over household lending, the bank continued extending credit to borrowers with low and mid-range credit scores, as well as self-employed workers and small business owners. Loans to sole proprietors accounted for 48 percent of net loan growth in the first half. The company said its customer base expanded to 27.63 million, with roughly 1 million new users joining during the first six months of the year. The lender expec

2d agoBy Park Han-sol
KakaoBank posts record $230 mil. H1 profit on loan, fee income growth
Banking & Finance

Hana Financial Group steps up financial inclusion push for 2nd half of year

Hana Financial Group is stepping up its financial inclusion efforts after already deploying 60 percent of its 3.1 trillion won ($2.18 billion) budget for 2026 in the first half of the year, the group said Wednesday. To spearhead the effort, it appointed Vice Chairman Lee Seung-lyul as its first chief inclusive finance officer, responsible for coordinating relevant strategies across the organization. The group’s second-half road map focuses on four pillars: broadening support for young people and small business owners, embedding financial inclusion more deeply into the group’s operations, strengthening protections for borrowers and combating financial crime, and expanding financing for the social economy. One of the flagship initiatives targets young adults struggling with housing. The group plans to introduce a support program built around rental fraud insurance to help protect tenants from losses linked to the country’s recurring “jeonse” deposit scams. Hana Bank has also stationed dedicated advisers at branches near universities and other locations popular with younger custom

2d agoBy Park Han-sol
Hana Financial Group steps up financial inclusion push for 2nd half of year
Banking & Finance

Banks get creative with deposit products as market volatility sends stock investors back to savings

Korean banks are rolling out a wave of themed deposit products as they compete to lure retail money back from the stock market amid heightened volatility, while also shoring up funding ahead of further interest rate hikes, according to industry officials, Tuesday. The benchmark KOSPI has swung wildly in recent sessions. After tumbling 17.2 percent over three trading days from July 28-30, the index posted a record one-day rebound of 17.9 percent on Friday. It has since traded in the 6,100 to 6,200 range. The market’s sharp swings have prompted many retail investors to move money from equities back into safer assets. As of July 29, outstanding time deposits at the country’s five largest lenders — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — stood at 973.5 trillion won ($680.8 billion), up by more than 24 trillion won from a month earlier. For banks, the influx comes at an opportune time. Encouraging customers to lock away cash now allows lenders to secure a stable source of funding before any additional rate hikes from the Bank of Korea make raising deposits more expensive. W

2d agoBy Park Han-sol
Banks get creative with deposit products as market volatility sends stock investors back to savings
Economy

Birth rebound boosts outlook for prenatal insurance market

Korea’s rebound in births is reviving interest in the market for prenatal insurance, prompting insurers to broaden coverage and introduce new policy riders as they compete to lock in young families as long-term customers, according to industry officials, Tuesday. Over the January-May period, 122,694 babies were born, up 15.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The country’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime — also rose to 0.85 in May from 0.75 a year earlier. The improvement has been attributed in part to a postpandemic rise in marriages and a temporary increase in the number of women in their 30s, the country’s prime childbearing years. In light of this, insurers are stepping up competition in the prenatal insurance market. The product is typically structured as a children’s insurance policy purchased during pregnancy, with optional riders covering risks before and after birth, such as congenital disorders and premature birth. For companies, these polic

Aug 4, 2026By Park Han-sol
Birth rebound boosts outlook for prenatal insurance market
Economy

Seoul's public housing tenants draw backlash for refusing to move out after 20-year leases

“We were promised 20 years of housing. We trusted the government and never made other plans in the meantime,” reads a statement issued in May by residents of a long-term public rental housing complex in Gangil-dong, eastern Seoul. Tenants of another complex in Seoul’s Songpa District echoed the sentiment, urging the city to reverse what they called “an unfair policy” and address “growing insecurity over our housing future.” “Our request is a legitimate exercise of our rights, both morally and legally,” they wrote in a statement in July. These residents are among the first participants in Seoul’s long-term lease housing program, launched in 2007 by the Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation. Designed for households without homes, the scheme offers apartments in exchange for a lump-sum deposit, typically around 80 percent of prevailing “jeonse” prices but often far less. In return, tenants can stay for up to 20 years, but the houses are not up for sale for occupants and are instead recycled to new eligible households. As the first wave of 20-year leases appro

Aug 3, 2026By Park Han-sol
Seoul's public housing tenants draw backlash for refusing to move out after 20-year leases
Economy

'Roller KOSPI': Record market swings leave investors split between euphoria, fear

“This isn’t a stock market driven by corporate fundamentals anymore. It’s basically a coin toss.” This was one investor’s verdict on X (formerly Twitter) after one of the most extraordinary weeks in Korean stock market history. On Friday, the benchmark KOSPI surged 17.91 percent, or 1,001.89 points, to 6,595.45 — its largest one-day gain on record — after three consecutive sessions of losses. The rally was fueled largely by a sharp rebound in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as stronger-than-expected earnings from U.S. technology giants revived optimism over artificial intelligence (AI) investment. Foreign investors snapped up more than 7 trillion won ($4.9 billion) in shares. Yet rather than restoring confidence, the dramatic rebound underscored just how disorienting the market has become for retail investors, leaving many to feel less like long-term shareholders than reluctant participants in a high-stakes timing game. The phrase “Roller KOSPI” — a portmanteau of “roller coaster” and “KOSPI” — has become a fixture across online investing forums and social m

Jul 31, 2026By Park Han-sol
'Roller KOSPI': Record market swings leave investors split between euphoria, fear
Banking & Finance

Hanwha Life Insurance to support Korea's International Olympiad in Informatics team

Hanwha Life Insurance has signed a memorandum of understanding to support Korea’s national team competing at this year’s International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), following the country’s first-ever clean sweep of four gold medals at the prestigious programming contest last year, the insurer said Friday. The IOI is one of the annual International Science Olympiads that brings together the world’s top secondary school students in computer programming under the age of 20. The competition spans two days, with contestants solving three algorithmic programming problems during a five-hour session each day. Hanwha Life began sponsoring the national team last year as part of its efforts to nurture young talent in computer science amid growing demand for expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies. With the insurer’s backing, the team’s training program expanded from primarily online instruction to intensive residential training camps. The enhanced program coincided with a historic result at last year’s competition, where all four members of the Korean team

Jul 31, 2026By Park Han-sol
Hanwha Life Insurance to support Korea's International Olympiad in Informatics team
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