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Lee Kyung-min

Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter

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Economy

Korea's industrial edge, tech prowess will power global blockchain leadership: Expert

Korea has never been afraid of competition. It has built global brands that compete intensely in the toughest markets for everything from phones to cars and computers. This is why Korea, a global manufacturing powerhouse, will be able to cement its leadership in blockchain, according to Anthony Anzalone, CEO of XION, a decentralized blockchain platform. “Korean companies are successful because they build tech that people want to use. That's the key,” he said in an interview with The Korea Times. “Everywhere you look in Korea, you see technology that becomes invisible because it just works. We want to see more of that everywhere we go, so we hope that blockchain hubs like Europe and the U.S. start to look more like Korea,” the CEO said. Policy shifts like the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS) show that the U.S. is finally taking crypto seriously, a development the CEO considers an edge for Korea in the global crypto and blockchain landscape. The GENIUS Act is landmark U.S. legislation that provides a comprehensive federal regulatory fram

Aug 30, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Korea's industrial edge, tech prowess will power global blockchain leadership: Expert
Economy

Shinhan Bank dedicated to helping foreign customers on weekends

Kim Ji-eun, an employee at Shinhan Bank’s newly opened Ansan branch dedicated to foreign customers, said she is glad to assist them during the branch’s weekend hours. “Many of our foreign customers are full-time workers and can’t visit during the week. Our weekend operating hours have been getting positive feedback,” she said. The branch operates from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The digital lounge is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, where customers can open accounts with multilingual translation services provided. For less common languages, customers can connect to interpreters through phones installed at the digital desks. “They have the same financial needs as Korean customers. Many want to open savings accounts, send money overseas or request balance certificates,” she said. “We’ve also hired on-site interpreters who can explain financial products in a way that’s easy to understand. We provide specialized consultation services, including advice on loans and investment products.” The b

Aug 27, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Shinhan Bank dedicated to helping foreign customers on weekends
Economy

Hana Financial Group opens LA branch amid US expansion drive

Hana Financial Group has opened the Los Angeles branch of Hana Bank USA, in a continued effort to expand its presence in the world’s largest financial market, the group said Tuesday. Located in LA, a city with a large Korean American population, the new branch is expected to strengthen Hana’s local presence and provide integrated financial services combining both retail and corporate banking. The new LA branch will function as a strategic foothold on the country’s West Coast, complementing Hana’s existing operations on the East Coast, which includes branches in New York. This expansion is expected to enhance synergy between regional operations, enabling a broader and more balanced nationwide banking network. Hana’s U.S. business turned a profit in the July-September period of 2022 and has since received positive evaluations from U.S. financial regulators. In May 2025, all remaining regulatory restrictions on its operations were lifted, paving the way for new business development and branch openings. Hana said the new expansion goes beyond its physical presence, and will propel gr

Aug 26, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Hana Financial Group opens LA branch amid US expansion drive
Economy

Koreans increase spending on exercise, skin care amid popularity of slow-aging lifestyle

Kim Ji-young, 40, wakes up at 5 a.m. every day for a run. “This is what I’ve been doing since January last year,” the early riser said. “The morning run is a great routine for me. It energizes me for the whole day. I don’t know why I didn’t start earlier.” The mid-level marketing manager is currently training for a 10-kilometer marathon scheduled for October. “This isn’t just about losing weight. This is the lifestyle I want — setting a goal, doing it. The sense of reward is amazing — mentally, psychologically and physically. I highly recommend it,” she said. There are days when Kim hesitates, especially after a long, tiring day at work. “Sometimes I wake up and think, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll skip it today. I’m too tired,’” she said. “But then I reframe the moment as a mental challenge. I decided to do it no matter what, so I will do it. I don’t want to spend the rest of the day feeling guilty about breaking a promise to myself. Of course, if I’m really exhausted, I skip it — but most of the time, I do it.” Park Jin-wook, 36, starts his mornings a litt

Aug 25, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Koreans increase spending on exercise, skin care amid popularity of slow-aging lifestyle
Banking & Finance

Toss to waive remittance fees for foreigners this year

Toss, operated by Viva Republica, will waive international remittance fees for foreign customers in Korea through December, the mobile platform operator said Friday. The waiver will be applied to four countries including the U.S., China, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The move is intended to enhance foreign customers' experiences with Toss’s convenient and secure financial services. Last month, Toss launched an international remittance service for foreign customers in partnership with SentBe, a global remittance platform specializing in global money transfers that is widely used in Korea. Friday’s decision is a continued expansion of the “Free Transfers for Life,” a key customer campaign launched in 2021 to permanently waive money transfer fees for domestic transactions. Toss said its users saved a combined 2 trillion won ($1.43 billion) in domestic transfer fees under the program. About 1.5 million long-term foreign residents in Korea will be able to send money to their home counties without additional charges. Those residents constitute 64 percent of the total 2.19 million long-term resi

Aug 23, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Toss to waive remittance fees for foreigners this year
Economy

Retail investors furious over finance minister's ignorance of PBR

Retail investors are up in arms over Deputy Finance Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol’s comment that Korea’s price-to-book ratio (PBR) is “around 10,” market watchers said Friday. Many investor community members say the comment shows how “out of touch” the top economic policy maker remains, characterizing it as a failure of the Lee Jae Myung administration. The comment came during a parliamentary session on Tuesday. Rep. Lee So-young of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) asked the minister to provide a rough ratio for Korea’s current PBR. Koo responded, “Isn’t it around 10?” In response, Lee said Korea’s figure is 1.0, far lower than Taiwan's PBR of 2.4, Japan's 1.6 and the emerging markets average of 1.8. Investors criticized the comment as “inexcusable” for a top economic policymaker, raising doubts about the Lee administration’s drive to reinvigorate the capital market. “The reason retail investors were so shocked isn’t just because he got the number wrong, but because he seemed to show no real understanding or concern for why the Korean stock

Aug 22, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Retail investors furious over finance minister's ignorance of PBR
Economy

More insurers embrace AI to bolster efficiency

A growing number of insurers are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) technology to streamline workflow and overall efficiency, market watchers said Thursday. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance said it has introduced an AI-powered system to digitally assess insurance claims such as cancer diagnosis reviews and surgery benefit payouts. The system analyzes large-scale medical data, aided by optical character recognition (OCR) as well as generative AI, to review diagnosis documents, test results and other medical records. The tasks were previously handled manually by employees and extremely time-consuming, leading to frequent delays. However, the AI-mediated services will simplify and accelerate document review while increasing accuracy. Also bolstered are consistency and reliability of the overall process. Cancer diagnosis claim reviews are among the most complex, requiring detailed reviews of up to four dozen pages. Included are the doctor’s written opinion, clinical data such as biopsy results and other medical reports. AIA Life has also introduced an AI-enabled large language model (LLM)

Aug 21, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
More insurers embrace AI to bolster efficiency
Economy

KB, Shinhan soar in overseas net income as Woori, Hana struggle

The country’s four leading commercial lenders — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — posted a combined 10 percent increase in overseas net income in the first half of this year over the previous year, buoyed mostly by the stellar performance of KB Kookmin’s Indonesian unit, market watchers said Thursday. The strong performance of KB Bank’s Indonesian entity, formerly Bank Bukopin, was enough to offset poor revenue by Hana and Woori. According to Financial Supervisory Service data, the combined overseas net income of the four banks reached 465.3 billion won ($350 million), up 10 percent from the previous year. KB Kookmin Bank posted 72.7 billion won in net profit, a dramatic turnaround from last year’s 37.1 billion in losses. Central to the recovery was the bank’s efforts to reduce bad loans and revamp cost structures. KB’s appointment of a local CEO was effective in managing regional operations, with losses dropping to 53.8 billion won, or half of last year’s figure. Apart from the Indonesian entity, KB’s Cambodian operations also registered a net income of 111.8 bill

Aug 21, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
KB, Shinhan soar in overseas net income as Woori, Hana struggle
Economy

Young people seek job opportunities at financial job fair

Lee Jin-young, 28, a graduate of Sungkyunkwan University, said she is seeking a job in the financial sector. “I have applied to a number of state-run lenders and financial institutions but haven’t made it yet,” she said. “I came here to learn about corporate culture firsthand through one-on-one consultations at the booth.” The mathematics major is one of many attending the Financial Sector Job Fair 2025, held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul Wednesday and Thursday. The annual fair was launched in 2017, with this year's fair attracting 80 organizations, including 76 financial institutions such as banks, brokerages, insurers and state-run financial entities, as well as fintech and IT firms. Lee plans to attend mock interviews with Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Korea Development Bank, Korea Exchange and Korea Securities Depository at the fair, and hopes her strong interest in macroeconomics will stand out during interviews with state-run financial entities. “For example, how the lingering issue of heavy capital concentration in the real estate market can be addressed and

Aug 20, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Young people seek job opportunities at financial job fair
Economy

Hana Securities service allows foreigners to buy Korean stocks from abroad

Hana Securities has introduced an “omnibus account” for foreign investors, a first among Korean financial service providers, market watchers said Tuesday. The measure will grant easier access to global investors, translating into healthier growth momentum for the local equity market. According to the financial industry, the brokerage affiliate of Hana Financial Group recently inked an omnibus account partnership with Emperor Securities, a Hong Kong-based global brokerage. This followed the Financial Services Commission (FSC) designation of the Hana affiliate’s service as an “innovative financial service” in April. The omnibus accounts will enable easy, simplified trading of Korean stocks for foreign investors, who will be able to trade Korean stocks using their current accounts opened with brokerages in their own country. Previously, they had to first register as foreign investors with Korean financial authorities, before opening their accounts with Korean brokerages. This was long criticized as a complicated and time-consuming process that hampered the otherwise strong appeal o

Aug 19, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Hana Securities service allows foreigners to buy Korean stocks from abroad
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