my timesThe Korea Times
lkm

Lee Kyung-min

Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter

Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr

Go to EmailGo to URL

Read more

Economy

Korea to foster bio industry for innovation

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, left, speaks during a meeting at the Seoul Government Complex, Thursday. YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min Korea will invest 12.2 trillion won ($10.2 billion) in data, networks, artificial intelligence (AI), biohealth, semiconductors and future vehicles, backed further by 78 trillion won in financial assistance, in a bid to foster key growth driver industries, the government said Thursday. Policy measures will be strengthened and a law will be enacted this year to better foster the rapidly growing vaccines, drugs and medical supplies makers as well as manufacturers of raw materials and parts. “Last year, biohealth, semiconductors, electric vehicles (EVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) registered a combined $63 billion in exports, up 29.2 percent from the previous year,” Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during a meeting at the Seoul Government Complex. Thursday's meeting was the first to be held this year. “The industries are showing significant visible growth. Korea-produced FCEVs acco

Jan 13, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
Korea to foster bio industry for innovation
Economy

Korea lost full-time, high-quality and manufacturing jobs last year

A Statistics Korea official speaks during a press briefing at the Sejong Government Complex, Wednesday. YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min The country added 369,000 jobs last year, its largest year-on-year increase in seven years, according to Statistics Korea data released Wednesday, and the country's top economic policymaker is eager to define the finding as evidence of a clear, strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the year-on-year increase is irrelevant to the quality and sustainability of the jobs added, a years-long criticism that predates the pandemic and is unlikely to be dispelled any time soon. Last year's labor market condition did improve, anchored mostly by a base effect from a year earlier, when the pandemic tanked the labor market, and not due to the effectiveness of government job creation measures. Most of the jobs were short-term and low-paid work held by those aged 60 and older or those in their 20s. Regular, high-paid jobs, mostly considered high-quality work with job security, and held by people in their 30s and 40s, were lost. Continued job losses in manufac

Jan 12, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
Korea lost full-time, high-quality and manufacturing jobs last year
Economy

IBK to offer ETF trading of pension funds in first half of 2022

Getty ImagesBy Lee Kyung-min Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) will roll out a new product in the first half of this year that lets customers include exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in their pension investment portfolios, in the latest move by non-brokerage financial service firms to lock in the stable source of revenue relating to the over 260 trillion won ($217 billion) private pension market. The state-owned lender will make the new product available before July.IBK is the first state-owned lender to strengthen pension investment services after leading commercial lenders ― Shinhan, Hana, Woori, KB Kookmin and NH NongHyup ― came out with a similar product which will also be available before July. The collective move by lenders is explained in large part by the explosive growth of the private pension market and investor sentiment warming to more direct management of their financial assets, brought on by low interest income on bank deposits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the Financial Supervisory Service showed that the private pension market in Korea was scaled at 262

Jan 12, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
IBK to offer ETF trading of pension funds in first half of 2022
Banking & Finance

AIA ramps up green campaign

AIA Korea CMO Hwang Ji-ye, left, and Kim Jin-kon, secretary general of the Seoul Branch for the Community Chest of Korea, hold a sign, Monday, expressing gratitude for AIA Korea's contribution of 100 million won ($83,640) to the non-profit charity organization for the advancement of the life insurer's carbon neutrality drive by 2050. Courtesy of AIA Korea

Jan 11, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
AIA ramps up green campaign
Economy

Bio, entertainment, game shares on decline due to US monetary tightening

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min Bio, entertainment and game shares are expected to undergo some adjustments, as tempered by monetary tightening steps by the U.S. Federal Reserve in a gradual normalization from cheap borrowing conditions long enabled by the COVID-19 pandemic.Many of the once-soaring shares recently hit a 52-week low in the first week of January, indicating the industries with explosive growth potential associated mostly with future value creation are likely to experience a dive in prices in the near term. Data from Korea Exchange (KRX) showed biopharmaceutical company Celltrion closed at 181,000 won ($150) on Jan. 6, and mobile game developer Netmarble closed at 112,500 won the same day, the lowest for both in 52 weeks. Also hitting the psychologically significant mark were Krafton, the local developer of the popular game “PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds,” and KakaoBank. The former closed at 394,500 won, Jan. 6, and the latter at 55,000 won the next day. The bank subsidiary of Kakao Corp, the country's IT giant, ended at its lowest since listing on the bench

Jan 10, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
Bio, entertainment, game shares on decline due to US monetary tightening
  • Central bank likely to raise key rate this week to tame inflation
Banking & Finance

LG Energy Solution confident about overtaking CATL

LG Energy Solution CEO Kwon Young-soo and the firm's business executives join an online press conference to mark its planned initial public offering, Monday. YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min LG Energy Solution (LGES), a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem, will be able to dethrone its Chinese competitor, CATL, the global top electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer, the firm's CEO said Monday. The LG subsidiary's capability is unmatched by its market peers, as clearly illustrated by a variety of intellectual property rights over key technologies that have earned the trust of clients and partner firms in the U.S. and across Europe, LGES CEO and Vice President Kwon Young-soo said. “We have clients in key global markets encompassing Europe, the U.S, and China, unlike CATL whose growth strategy is defined by heavy reliance on government policy whereby Chinese carmakers were mandated to use domestically produced batteries only,” he said in a press conference held virtually at company headquarters in Seoul.The future prospect of the LG subsidiary overtaking the current top player in the

Jan 10, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
LG Energy Solution confident about overtaking CATL
Economy

Reporter's notebook Kakao's 'innovation' of management ethics and morals

Kakao Pay CEO nominee Ryu Young-joon. Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min We judge people. We judge them by their words mostly because it's quicker and easier, unlike actions which can take time to materialize.It may be words that fascinate and move people instantly. However, they are not as deserving of our trust as actions that cannot as easily be taken back. The sense of betrayal is beyond imagination, especially if the words were ― or seemed ― genuine and sincere. When then Kakao Pay CEO Ryu Young-joon celebrated the firm's listing on the benchmark KOSPI Nov. 3, last year, many lauded his expression of gratitude for over 1.82 million retail investors who sought to subscribe to the firm's shares through an initial public offering (IPO) and for 37 million users of the financial subsidiary of Kakao Corp., the country's IT giant. “The KOSPI listing of Kakao Pay is meaningful, especially because our innovative efforts to develop new technologies used to lower the complicated and complex barriers in the financial system would not have materialized without 37 million users

Jan 9, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
[Reporter's notebook] Kakao's 'innovation' of management ethics and morals
Economy

Will IPO market lose steam?

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min A growing number of investors are expected to adjust their expectations of immediate windfall gains from the initial public offerings (IPOs), as tempered by returns on the day of IPO in the fourth quarter of 2021 hitting the lowest level in a year despite the largest number of firms listing on the benchmark KOSPI and junior Kosdaq during that period. Market watchers say the local IPO market could lose momentum compared to the explosive growth momentum over the past two years, due to investor sentiment dampened by tightened monetary policies steering away from the cheap liquidity supplied during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the top 30 firms with the highest public subscription rates measured by institutional investors' book building, only 12 were listed during the October-December period.Their combined rate of return on the day of the market debut stood at only 29 percent, which was the lowest in a year. In contrast, the figure was 66 percent in the first quarter of last year, followed by 46 percent in the second quarter and 49 percent in the third quarter

Jan 7, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
Will IPO market lose steam?
Economy

Korea's militant labor influence to continue

The Strategy and Finance Committee is in session at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. YonhapPresidential candidates seek union votes at expense of corporate efficiency By Lee Kyung-min The extremely militant labor unions in Korea are expected to wield an even stronger influence this year, empowered by the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee swiftly pushing forward a bill whereby the boards of state-run organizations will be mandated to include a member representing unions, Wednesday.The bill, if passed at the Jan. 11 plenary session of the National Assembly, will require 131 state-run and government organizations including the National Pension Service to include a union representative on its board of directors. Also to be advanced is a related initiative of the country's financial unions that have long sought to legitimize appointing labor-recommended outside directors at financial services firms, including state-run lenders. The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) remains the first and sole state lender to have adopted the left-leaning, political

Jan 6, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
Korea's militant labor influence to continue
Economy

Overheated housing market expected to cool in 2022

An apartment complex in Gyeonggi Province. Korea Times fileReal estate polarization to widen, sharp price fall unlikely By Lee Kyung-min A rapid increase in housing prices seen over the past few years will undergo adjustments this year, slowed down by tightened mortgage loan rules, heavy real estate taxes for owners of multiple, expensive homes, up to two additional key rate hikes and concerns over market bubbles, according to analysts.Also playing into the equation is the presidential election scheduled for March 9, with major contenders vowing to overhaul tax and market policies governing the much-politicized issue tied especially close to the living arrangements for “jeonse” tenants. Unique to Korea, jeonse is a home leasing system whereby tenants pay a refundable lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent.Opinions are mixed over whether the recent deceleration in housing price increases marks the beginning of what the government has identified as the “much-awaited inflection point,” or just a short period of respite before resuming the years-long uptrend.Som

Jan 6, 2022By Lee Kyung-min
Overheated housing market expected to cool in 2022
previous page
191192193194195
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.