Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter
Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
NongHyup officials pose for a photo holding signs promoting the integration of kimchi processing factories and their marketing, as part of a campaign to enhance Korea's status as the origin of the fermented side dish, at the organization's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Household debt, currency volatility critical factors amid Delta variant spread By Lee Kyung-min The Bank of Korea is anxiously awaiting the impending release of key economic indicators for July, which will make or break the case for its desired key rate hike. Chief among the high-frequency indicators is household debt, which is certain to have increased amid the rapid rise in unsecured personal loans, due in large part to the heavy borrowing by retail investors participating in the initial public offering (IPO) craze, as well as low-income small business owners scarred by continued strict social distancing rules. Mortgage loans have likely dipped to a degree, following the implementation of a debt service ratio (DSR) regulation, a stricter lending rule put in place to curb leveraged borrowing. Outstanding household loans increased to 41.6 trillion won ($36.3 billion) in the first half of last year, the highest six-month figure to date. Seoul National University economist Kim So-young said the central bank will have to raise the key rate within the year, as part of what market partic
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong / Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki is drawing attention as to whether he will discuss the possible release of imprisoned Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong when he meets the country's five major business lobby groups next week.Lee is serving a two-and-a-half-year prison term following a guilty verdict in a corruption trial involving disgraced former President Park Geun-hye.The business community is expected to request a pardon for Lee, in a repeated move to ensure sound corporate management of the leading semiconductor manufacturer amid an intensifying U.S.-China hegemony battle over IT products. The same request was made at the last meeting in April. By law, Lee is prohibited from participating in corporate management due to the guilty verdict. Many believe that is no more than a technicality and he still exerts immense influence within the firm as grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull. The five are Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Chairman Chey T
Financial Supervisory Service Governor Jeong Eun-bo arrives at the FSS headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Friday. YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min Korea should brace itself for a “perfect storm” of the economy spiraling out of control due to a mixture of financial risks from corporate and individual insolvencies and asset price bubbles brought on and exacerbated by the pandemic-triggered expansionary government policies, the country's top financial supervisor said Friday. Financial Supervisory Service Governor Jeong Eun-bo said that the economic and financial conditions are far from warranting a drawdown in emergency relief packages with the recovery in the real economy still being distant, a challenge compounded by the need to curb the rapid rise in debt in the private sector. “The COVID-19 pandemic has yet to be overcome,” Jeong said at his inauguration ceremony in the FSS headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.Excessive liquidity in the market pumped in as part of quantitative easing and low-interest rates around the world are emerging as new risk factors in the financial marke
Kakao founder Kim Beom-su / Korea Times fileNo. of IT giant's affiliates quadruples in 7 years By Lee Kyung-min Kakao Corp, the nation's internet giant and operator of Korea's most popular messenger app Kakao Talk, has come under fire for its sprawling expansion into over 100 different businesses by capitalizing on its dominant customer base, which many believe is driving smaller players up against the wall. The IT firm was supposedly created to foster healthy competition and reduce the immense influence of Korea's major conglomerates, but it is well on its way to joining their ranks, with the same profit motives and at the expense of small market players, some say.According to the Fair Trade Commission, the number of Kakao's affiliates totaled 118, quadrupling from 26 in 2014. This is the second-largest number of affiliates after SK Group.The net worth of Korea's richest man, Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, is over 15.4 trillion won ($13.4 billion). The corporation's annual sales hit a record high of over 4.15 trillion won last year. The KOSPI-listed firm has the third-largest market cap
Chung Hyun-sukBy Lee Kyung-min Deloitte Consulting Korea announced Thursday that it has appointed human resources consulting expert Chung Hyun-suk as vice president, and that he will also lead its human capital department.“The appointment is to provide a variety of services so that our corporate culture is defined by employees' agile innovation capabilities,” the firm said.“We also plan to become a consulting firm that leads in the human capital consulting services.”Chung graduated from Korea and Arizona State universities before starting work at Hanwha General Insurance, followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, Mercer Korea and the Hay Group.He is an expert in organizational management and human capital consulting. While leading Korn Ferry Consulting's Korea office, his clients included LG and Shinhan Financial groups. He plans to lead the firm by focusing on digitization and human resources innovation.Deloitte Consulting plans to expand the scope of its services to include strategy, and mergers and acquisitions, while strengthening organizational
Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol / Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min The Bank of Korea (BOK) is increasingly tilting toward raising the key policy rate as early as this month, as inferred by its July 15 meeting minutes which showed that five out of the six members of its rate-setting monetary policy board were in agreement over the need to place greater emphasis on monetary policy normalization for financial stability.The next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 26, to be followed by one for Oct. 12 and for Nov. 25. The central bank is in a tighter bind over whether the financial imbalance defined by rising consumer prices and snowballing household debt should be mitigated by the earlier-than-expected rate hike, an argument weakened by growing voices of concern over the continued spread of the coronavirus Delta variant hampering economic recovery. In a 5-1 decision, the board decided to leave the policy rate at an all-time low of 0.5 percent at its July 15 meeting. But minority opinion was expressed by Koh Seung-beom, who called for an increase of 25 basis points, citing uncontrollable sh
KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo, left, and Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Yoon Jong-won hold a signed memorandum of understanding, Wednesday. The two will cooperate in fostering firms with innovative and digitally oriented business models. Courtesy of KT
By Lee Kyung-min K bank is on track to improve its financial fundamentals ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO) possibly set for 2023 at the earliest. The internet-only bank achieved its first quarterly profit in the April-June period since it was launched in 2017. In a regulatory filing Tuesday, K bank said that its net profit during the second quarter of this year reached 3.9 billion won ($3.3 million).Chief among its growth drivers was a sharp increase in the number of customers and a consequent rise in the amount of deposits, which helped the internet-only bank borrow at a lower cost. For the first six months of this year, cumulative net losses were reduced to 8.4 billion won, only a fifth of the 44.9 billion won in net losses it suffered during the same period of 2020.The number of bank customers exceeded 6.19 million during the January-June period, up over 26 times year-on-year. As of July, the number stood at 6.28 million. During the first half of this year, the bank had a total of 11.29 trillion won in deposit accounts, up by 7.54 trillion won from six month
In this file photo, the Bitcoin logo appears on the display screen of a cryptocurrency ATM, last week. AP-YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min Korea's cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is coming under heavy criticism over its alleged mismanagement and questionable business dealings, as evidenced by expanding police and prosecution investigations into key figures related to digital asset investments. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Monday that an investigation is underway into BK Medical Group Aesthetic Clinic CEO Kim Byung-gun and the exchange's de facto owner Lee Jeong-hoon, who already faces fraud charges involving more than 112 billion won ($100 million). Lee is the former chairman of Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings.The investigation that began in mid-July is separate from an earlier fraud charge filed by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which indicted Lee without detention for defrauding Kim out of $100 million for a down payment in what later became a failed equity sale of Bithumb stakes. Kim was cleared of the charges at the time because prosecutors concluded that he wa