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Kang Seung-woo

Korea Times Business Reporter

Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.

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Companies

Guinness targets Korea with its unique taste

By Kim Jae-won DUBLIN ― With its track record of having soothed Irish and global consumers for more than a quarter of a millennium, Guinness now seeks to attract Koreans with its unique color, odor and taste. Diageo, producer and distributor of the world’s best-selling premium stout, said Thursday that sales of Guinness jumped 47 percent last year, and hopes it will become one of the top three imported beers in three years. Korea is one of the fastest growing markets for Guinness, which is gaining more popularity especially from young female consumers for its low calories, flavored taste and beautiful color. “The market growth is very good. The volume is small, but it is increasing. Consumers and drinkers in Korea love beer, you enjoy good beer so it’s expected to help us grow,” said Fergal Murray, a master brewer of Diageo during a press conference held at the company’s warehouse in Dublin, the home of Guinness. Murray, a veteran brewer and global brand ambassador who has worked at the firm for 28 years, said that Koreans recognize good brands, so it has much more

Sep 23, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

POSCO tapping into Latin America

By Kang Seung-woo Korean steel giant POSCO has made huge efforts to secure stable supplies of raw materials in order to boost its self-sufficiency ratio of key commodities to over 50 percent by 2020 under the stewardship of its Chairman Chung Joon-yang. The latest target is South America. POSCO said earlier this week it will establish a venture in Colombia to develop iron ore and coal resources in the Latin American state, ensuring a more stable supply of key materials and fortifying its presence in the budding resource-rich region. Toward that end, the world’s third-largest steelmaker plans to join with Blue Pacific, a Colombian resource developer, this year. In addition, the Korean company has agreed to partner Colombian auto parts producer Fanalca to manufacture large-diameter steel tubes with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons. Global demand for steel pipes is expected to reach 200,000 tons in 2015, compared with an estimated 30,000 tons in 2013, as Colombia is involved in a series of oil and natural gas development projects. “POSCO will provide a springb

Sep 23, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Shinhan Financial strong in globalization bid

By Kang Seung-woo Marking the 10th anniversary of its establishment as a financial holding company on Sept. 1, Shinhan Financial Group is gearing up to make inroads onto global stages as a future growth engine. Beyond the nearly-saturated local financial market, Shinhan is seeking to increase overseas profits with its sights on evolving into a global financial holding company. “Considering the nation’s current low growth and aging population, it is definitely necessary for Shinhan to enter Asian markets and find a future growth engine,” Shinhan Financial Chairman Han Dong-woo said in his speech on the company’s foundation day. It is China and a few emerging countries in the region that Shinhan is focusing on as core Asian markets because they are currently showing continuous economic expansion and possess huge potential. The chairman said that on the back of the entries, Shinhan will boost its overseas profits from current 3 percent to 10 percent. Shinhan Bank, the flagship unit of the financial services firm, is leading the pack of the group’s affiliates in terms o

Sep 22, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Client info stolen from Hana Card

By Kang Seung-woo A succession of data leaks are besieging local credit card issuers as the latest version of online security breach has taken place at Hana SK Card. The continuous irregularities are keeping customers on their toes amid mounting worries about faulty online security. According to the card issuer, its telemarketing employee leaked data, including names, addresses and resident registration numbers, but information on financial transactions like their passwords and account numbers was not exposed. “The employee involved in the incident usually dealt with private data such as telephone numbers and contact addresses, so sensitive information was not disclosed,” said an official of Hana SK Card. The card issuer caught suspicion of a data leak on Sept. 15 and notified the police to investigate the suspected employee the next day. Hana Financial Group, the nation’s No. 4 financial services company, launched the independent Hana SK Card in 2009 in collaboration with telecommunications giant SK Telecom. Earlier this month, Samsung Card said that there wa

Sep 21, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Debt defaulters increasing

By Kang Seung-woo Financial companies saw their number of delinquent customers increase by nearly 200,000 this year as more people struggle to repay debt amid the alarming deterioration of family finances. The default rates for households approved by commercial banks have surpassed the level shown during recent financial crises, and an increasing number of small- and medium-sized companies are sinking under a sea of red, industry figures show. According to statistics by National Information and Credit Evaluation (NICE), a credit-rating agency, the number of individual credit defaulters reached 1.1 million at the end of June, up a staggering 19.5 percent from 919,570 in December last year. The number represents a rebound in the number of delinquents, which had been declining as the country navigated its way out of the economic turmoil that erupted in 2008. After reaching 1.21 million in 2008, the number of delinquent individuals declined by 170,000 to 1.03 million in 2009 and by another 130,000 in 2010. The default rate of Woori Bank’s household loans was measure

Sep 21, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Korea ’resilient to crisis’

By Kang Seung-woo The Korean financial authorities are busy comforting jittery investors, stressing the nation’s improved financial soundness, as Greece and other eurozone countries foreshadow another global crisis. Despite their continuous efforts, European investors withdrew 4.8 trillion won in August and 1.7 trillion won midway through September, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), amid growing concerns over the nation’s liquidity In contrast, ING Group senior economist Tim Condon said the nation’s strong track record will help Asia’s fourth-largest economy respond wisely to the ongoing crisis. “I think Korea’s authorities demonstrated institutional resilience to respond with the severe liquidity panic in 2008. In September, October, November and December 2008, there was a panic and the won-dollar rate was 1,600 won and bank funding was a real issue and the Korean government and Bank of Korea responded to that crisis, demonstrating their ability to manage,” the Singapore-based American analyst said in an interview with The Korea Times. “I think tha

Sep 21, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Korea Inc. shows improved competitiveness

By Kang Seung-woo The competitiveness of the Korean business sector has improved this year, according to a recent survey by the Korea Productivity Center (KPC), which gave improved grades to 33 out of 48 local industries. According to the KPC’s national brand competiveness index (NBCI), Korean industries collectively scored 66.9 points for this year, up 1.3 points from 2010’s 65.6 points. Kimchi refrigerators, which are specialized to preserve the staple Korean side-dish of pickled cabbage, two-door refrigerators, air conditioners and milk were picked among the products with strong competitiveness. In the services sector, department stores, discount retailers, educational materials and mobile-phone services got high marks. The intensifying competition between companies on developing new products and services and advancing technologies are helping them improve their brand value, which are crucial in times of economic uncertainty, the KPC said. A company’s success increasingly relies on the ability to convince customers to take a leap of faith on new products, and o

Sep 20, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Irregularities mar savings banks

By Kang Seung-woo The nation’s financial watchdog said Monday that it unearthed irregularities at savings banks during its inspection of the ailing secondary banking sector. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), savings banks made illegal investments disguised as lending to business entities linked to their largest shareholders via borrowed-name accounts. The FSS plans to report this to the police after discussions with prosecutors. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), the decision-making body of the FSS, ordered the suspension of operations of seven savings banks Sunday due to poor asset quality. The seven are Tomato, Jeil, Jeil 2, Prime, Daeyeong, ACE and Parangsae Savings Banks. The nation’s savings bank industry is suffering from soured construction loans amid the slumping property market, which has resulted in a total of 16 lenders being ordered to halt business operations this year. The FSS said Tomato, ACE and Parangsae extended loans to business units run by their largest shareholders under borrowed names. The financial watchdog found that t

Sep 19, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Regulator suspends 7 savings banks

By Kang Seung-woo The government ordered seven savings banks to suspend operations Sunday amid ongoing fears that a secondary banking sector crisis could pose a serious threat to the country’s financial stability. After a detailed review of savings banks’ capital adequacy ratios, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) sidelined seven lenders, including major players such as Jeil and Tomato, for six months starting noon. The government previously imposed a temporary halt on the operations of nine other savings banks from January to August, attempting to stem a rush by customers to withdraw funds. The secondary banks have been reeling due to heavy exposure to the country’s toxic construction and real estate markets. The other savings banks newly hit with suspensions were Jeil 2, Prime, Daeyeong, ACE and Parangsae. The move came after financial regulators completed a two-month inspection of 85 local savings banks, focusing principally on their debt conditions and capital adequacy ratios. The FSC said the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) ratios of the seve

Sep 18, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Not OK at SK

Scions linked to yet more dirty money By Kim Tong-hyung Storm clouds are gathering over SK Group as prosecutors attempt to unravel an alleged money-laundering scheme involving the conglomerate’s billionaire scions and a plastic surgeon. Investigators at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, looking into suspicions of business irregularities surrounding SK Vice Chairman Chey Jae-wan, have found evidence that he attempted to launder around 10 billion won in ill-gotten gains with help from an owner of a cosmetic surgery clinic in southern Seoul. According to a report by the Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, Chey passed the money through the bank account of his scalpel-wielding friend before spending it on purposes yet to be disclosed. Prosecutors have summoned the plastic surgeon, identified only as Kim, who denies accusations of wrongdoing but refused to say what the money was for, vaguely explaining that there had been a personal transaction between him and Chey, according to the newspaper. Chey, the younger brother of SK Chairman Chey Tae-

Sep 15, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
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