The Korea Times

Tencent increasing investments in Korea amid China regulation

People pass by Tencent's headquarters in Guangdong, China, on July 12. AFP-YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunChina's IT giant Tencent is investing more into the Korean game sector amid the Chinese government's continued regulation on its game industry.According to local investment banking industry sources, Tencent participated in the latest share-issuing round organized by NXN. The amount NXN invested was unknown. However, Tencent was said to have assessed NXN's equity value at over 100 billion won.NXN was founded by Yoo Seok-ho, a former Nexon executive who managed the development of “Reven,” the mega-hit action role-playing game (RPG). Behind Tencent's decision for its investment in NXN was its confidence in NXN CEO Yoo over his expanded role to release future popular games. NXN is preparing to participate in E3, one of the top three global game industry trade events, and introduce a new game in June next year. China has been imposing stronger restrictions on their teenagers to limit their game playing time, which has been impacting China's major game companies including Tencent and

Oct 17, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

Tencent increasing investments in Korea amid China regulation

Companies

ANALYSIS Pandemic spurs sales of luxury goods, counterfeits

Imports of fake luxury goods mark all-time highBy Kim Jae-heunWhen COVID-19 first exacted damage upon the Korean economy in February 2020, no one expected the luxury goods market here to experience a boom.Under the government's strict quarantine measures, people have been forced to stay home.As well as restaurants, coffee shops and department stores, luxury boutiques were restricted from operating after 9 p.m. Opening hours for business places have recently been extended by just one hour.Korea's potential growth rate predicted by the Bank of Korea between 2019 and 2020 dropped by 0.4 percentage point to 2.2 percent ― implying that household consumption expenditures will decrease as a result.Many individual businesses and major companies were affected harshly, as expected, but demand for luxury goods surprisingly soared.Some people would have traveled abroad and spent money dining out at fine restaurants if the pandemic hadn't halted such actions. But with the pandemic now having continued for nearly two years, a large number of people have their sights set on owning luxury goods.Ther

Oct 17, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

[ANALYSIS] Pandemic spurs sales of luxury goods, counterfeits

Companies

Woowa Bros. befuddled by increasing consumer dissatisfaction with Baemin

Baedal Minjok's food delivery scooters are parked in front of Woowa Brothers offices in Seoul on June 15. Korea Times fileLawmaker says Baemin is delivery platform with highest percentage of dissatisfied consumersBy Kim Jae-heunWoowa Brothers, the company that operates the country's largest food delivery app, Baedal Minjok (Baemin), has been receiving the highest percentage of consumer dissatisfaction for its service among local food delivery apps. Baemin is undoubtedly one of the biggest beneficiaries of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as a pioneer of Korea's food delivery platform service. It owns nearly two-thirds of the market share, followed by Yogiyo and Coupang Eats. On the one hand, its top position leads Baemin to receive more overall complaints than the other two rivals, because more people use it to order food online. On the other hand, Woowa Brothers claims that the relatively higher consumer dissatisfaction rate is primarily attributable to the differences in the logistics systems used by the various operators. “Ninety percent of orders customers make on our platfor

Oct 15, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

Woowa Bros. befuddled by increasing consumer dissatisfaction with Baemin

Companies

FTC asked to speed up process of Korean Air-Asiana Airlines acquisition

KDB Chairman urges FTC for quick approvalBy Kim Jae-heunKorea's airline industry is expecting travel demand to boom again after more than a two-year slump due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the government takes steps to initiate a phased return to normal starting from the second week of next month. However, the process of Korean Air acquiring rival Asiana Airlines, which began in November of last year, is taking longer than expected,. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is raising concerns over Korean Air's possible monopoly in the domestic market if the acquisition is approved. The top antitrust watchdog says the combination of two full-service carriers can infringe on free competition in the flight service market.Top regulator Joh Sung-wook told lawmakers that the KFTC will try to conclude its review by the end of this year.But with the start of a phased return to normal next month, the KFTC is facing calls to speed up its review, because the airline industry is one of Korea's key business sectors.The acquisition proposal is subject to approval from countries or regions whose indus

Oct 14, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

FTC asked to speed up process of Korean Air-Asiana Airlines acquisition

Companies

Reporter's Notebook Rising popularity of K-food

Shin Ramyun's Big Bowl noodles / Courtesy of NongshimBy Kim Jae-heunKorean food has been one of the biggest cultural products to surf the Korean wave to global popularity. However, no one could have expected instant noodles and dumplings made by Korean firms to please foreign palates over mainstays like bibimbap and bulgogi.Nongshim, the country's largest instant noodle maker, has achieved surprising sales performance with its all-time best-seller Shin Ramyun, which is well-known for its spicy flavor. Until last year, Nongshim's Shin Ramyun domestic sales dwarfed sales abroad. However, the noodle maker's overseas revenue has been increasing consistently, accounting for 53.6 percent of total sales as of last month, which comes to 370 billion won in revenue. It was the first time in the 35-year history of Shin Ramyun, launched in 1986, that it sold more abroad than here. The key to this outstanding result is evident in Nongshim's motto: “The most authentic Korean taste is the most authentic global taste.”Nongshim's overseas sales go back as early as 1971 when it started exp

Oct 12, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

[Reporter's Notebook] Rising popularity of K-food

Companies

National Assembly audits fail to summon retail CEOs

Jang Kee-hwan, CEO of Coupang Eats, speaks during an audit held by the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, Friday. YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunThe CEOs of major retail firms here failed to show up at the annual National Assembly audits, where they could have faced tough questions regarding controversial issues their companies have been involved in over the past year.Coupang CEO Kang Han-seung justified his absence by claiming health problems, and so was able to avoid questions regarding allegations of unfair trade practices, such as his company abusing its power over subcontractors.LG Household & Healthcare (LG H&H) CEO Cha Suk-yong also skipped questioning by the Fair Trade Commission, Oct. 5, where he was supposed to speak about an issue related unfair trade practices regarding its franchises. Cha said that the case in question was currently involved in a lawsuit, so he could not comment on it. McDonald's Korea Managing Director Antoni Martinez's name was removed from the list of witnesses compiled by the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee.

Oct 8, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

National Assembly audits fail to summon retail CEOs

Companies

Cosmax accused of abusing beauty market dominance

J. One Cosmetic's Hong Shot ad featuring trot singer Hong Jin-young / Courtesy of J. OneBy Kim Jae-heunMid-sized cosmetics company J. One Cosmetic filed a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission against beauty product manufacturer Cosmax for forcing it to pay for 200,000 sets of makeup products at an unwanted extra cost of over 2.4 billion won ($2.02 million). Cosmax is an original design manufacturer (ODM) of cosmetics, making beauty products for business-to-consumer companies to buy and sell as their own. It is not well-known to the public, despite having the highest global sales in the industry. J. One is one such client company that has been outsourcing its product manufacturing to Cosmax since June 2015.J. One has accused Cosmax of abusing its power by unilaterally producing a surplus of products beyond J. One's order volume and forcing it to pay for them. On July 3, 2018, J. One launched a new brand called “Hong Shot” in collaboration with popular trot singer Hong Jin-young. It outsourced 20,000 beauty products to be manufactured by Cosmax, which sold out instantly

Oct 8, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

Cosmax accused of abusing beauty market dominance

Companies

CEO's apology fails to stop Starbucks employees' protest

Starbucks Korea CEO Song Ho-seob receives a commemorative tumbler from the Culture Heritage Administration's former administrator Chung Jae-suk during a heritage reserve sponsor ceremony in Seoul, June 17, 2020. YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunStarbucks Korea CEO Song Ho-seob's apology to employees working at the chain's coffee shops was not enough to keep them from taking to the streets to protest. A number of Starbucks Korea employees drove two trucks around Seoul with signboards displaying messages calling on the company to improve working conditions and salary and to stop treating its employees as expendable. Starbucks Korea has been introducing special promotions to give customers seasonal gifts in return for collecting a number of stamps when they purchase beverages.Each time an event was held, customers formed long lines to obtain Starbucks' promotional goods, inundating workers with orders. Starbucks Korea's “Reusable Cup Day” to celebrate the coffee chain's 50th anniversary here unleashed pent-up anger among employees. Song tried to soothe his employees' grievances by sendi

Oct 7, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

CEO's apology fails to stop Starbucks employees' protest

Starbucks Korea employees stage truck protest over excessive workload

Companies

Reporter's Notebook Namyang Dairy leader's endless greed

Namyang Diary Product Chairman Hong Wok-sik speaks during a National Assembly audit held in Yeouido, on Oct. 5. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-keunBy Kim Jae-heunThere seems to be no limit to the greed of Namyang Dairy Products Chairman Hong Won-sik. In his appearance at a National Assembly audit Tuesday, Hong appeared to misleading lawmakers in stating that he was looking for a new buyer for his company, to sell it for the benefit of his employees.In reality, there are a few things he seems to have neglected to mention, under which industry insiders predict he will hand over the management rights to Namyang Dairy. First, the new buyer will have to offer a price that Hong is satisfied with. In a previous acquisition deal, Hong agreed to sell off his and his family's 53.08-percent stake in the company to local private equity (PEF) fund Hahn & Company for 310.7 billion won. However, after it was reported that Hong would resign from his position and the PEF would become the new owner of Namyang, the dairy firm's stock price more than doubled, surging from the 360,000 won range to aroun

Oct 7, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

[Reporter's Notebook] Namyang Dairy leader's endless greed

Entertainment

SM Entertainment denies suspicions that founder hid overseas assets

SM Entertainment Founder Lee Soo-man / Courtesy of SM EntertainmentEntertainment giant to take legal action against NewstapaBy Kim Jae-heunSM Entertainment, home to popular K-pop bands like NCT, aespa and Red Velvet, denied allegations that its founder Lee Soo-man had established eight paper companies in Hong Kong to conceal his vast asset holdings, including real estate in the United States. Local media outlet Newstapa made the allegations on Monday citing the “Pandora Papers,” a leak of millions of documents detailing stashed assets and tax evasion by some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world.SM Entertainment denied the allegations.“Hong Kong-based companies that Newstapa claims SM Entertainment founder and chief producer Lee Soo-man created with slush funds were established by Lee's father, James Hee-jae Lee, an immigrant to America, with his own assets. Then, Lee's father exchanged his money deposited in a Korean bank and sent it to establish a corporate body in Hong Kong through due process and we have shared all the relevant document with Ne

Oct 5, 2021By Kim Jae-heun

Kim Jae-heun

Read more

Tencent increasing investments in Korea amid China regulation

ANALYSIS Pandemic spurs sales of luxury goods, counterfeits

Woowa Bros. befuddled by increasing consumer dissatisfaction with Baemin

FTC asked to speed up process of Korean Air-Asiana Airlines acquisition

Reporter's Notebook Rising popularity of K-food

National Assembly audits fail to summon retail CEOs

Cosmax accused of abusing beauty market dominance

CEO's apology fails to stop Starbucks employees' protest

Reporter's Notebook Namyang Dairy leader's endless greed

SM Entertainment denies suspicions that founder hid overseas assets

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