South Korea's internet-only lender, K bank, witnessed a significant improvement in its earnings as it gears up for its market debut this year. The bank announced Monday that its net profit in the first quarter surged nearly fivefold to 50.7 billion won ($37 million), from 10.4 billion won in the same period last year, reaching a new quarterly high. The bank stated the record performance results from a balanced growth in both deposit and loan balances, which increased by 25.7 percent and 6.6

Toss Securities, the online-only brokerage arm of Korean fintech giant Viva Republica, continues its upward trajectory, marking a significant milestone with its highest-ever quarterly net profit in the first quarter. The company announced Monday that its net profit soared to a record 11.9 billion won ($8.7 million) in the first quarter, rebounding from a net loss of 400 million won in the same period last year. This figure is equivalent to eight times the annual net profit of 1.5 billion won rec

SK Telecom said Monday that their proposal for standardizing industry-wide technologies for AI data centers has recently been approved as a new research project by a UN telecom agency. The ITU-T, a division of the UN-affiliated International Telecommunication Union, is responsible for studying and establishing electrical and telecom standards, with over 900 entities from around 190 member countries joining. "The ITU-T's endorsement of our new standardization project not only underscore

Woori, heavily reliant on banking profits, seeks to spur growth through M&A deals

South Korea will push to set up a package worth over 10 trillion won ($7.28 billion) to support the chip industry as part of efforts to boost the competitiveness of the critical industry and to prop up economic growth, the finance ministry has said. The planned assistance program of more than 10 trillion won aims at supporting facility investment and research and development programs for all sectors of the chip industry from chip materials to manufacturing equipment and components, Finance Minis

LG Electronics Chief Executive Officer Cho Joo-wan traveled to the US to meet with big tech counterparts and discuss collaboration in artificial intelligence, as well as to secure AI talents, the company said Sunday. Hosting a tech conference in Cupertino, California on Saturday, Cho underscored the importance of talents in AI development and said the company is willing to offer large salaries to secure top talents. "Changes such as electrification, servitization and digitalization are occu

By Hong Dae-sik & D. Daniel Sokol Korea rightly aspires to be a tech leader, but misguided regulation threatens its innovation prowess. Korean officials are considering platform legislation modeled after the European Union’s recently implemented Digital Markets Act. But that untested law has been widely criticized and prior European legislation, the General Data Protection Regulation, has hurt European competition -- leading to less AI investment by venture capitalists and one-third

US pushes back ban on Chinese graphite for its EV tax credit until 2027

Samsung Electronics said Sunday that it has retained its top market share position in the microwave market in Europe for the ninth consecutive year. According to market research firm Euromonitor, Samsung Electronics ranked No. 1 with a market share of 15.3 percent in the microwave segment across 19 European countries surveyed last year. The company targeted the market by offering premium materials and distinctive designs, reflecting the high level of interest in kitchen interior design among Eur

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo (front row; second from right) and Vice Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Sung-hee (front row; third from right) pose for a photo during the launch event of the firm's social contribution program, "Hana Power On Innovative Company Internship," held at the group's headquarters in Jung-gu, central Seoul, Thursday. Since 2018, Hana has been supporting innovative companies in hiring socially vulnerable groups, such as the disab

Hyundai Motor Group's joint venture Motional announced staff reductions and a two-year delay to its driverless taxi service plans last week, following the group's 1.29 trillion won ($941 million) injection into the startup earlier this month, reflecting growing industry pessimism about the viability of self-driving cars. Hyundai established Motional with Aptiv in the US in 2020 and launched its Ioniq 5-based robo-taxi service with Uber and Lyft last year. However, the rollout of the second-

Korean rivals up ante to renew competition in burgeoning robot cleaner market

The Korea Software Industry Association said Sunday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s oil giant, to bolster ties on digital innovation. The KOSA, representing over 14,000 member companies specializing in digital tech, will support Aramco’s push for artificial intelligence and other digital economies. They also plan to work together to extend their global network and secure funding. The MOU signing event was held Thursday in Goyang, Gyeonggi

The Science Ministry on Friday expressed regret over the Japanese government’s pressure on Naver to shed its ownership stakes in the popular messaging app Line, hinting at "strong and stern" measures if necessary. “The Seoul government's firm position is that we’ll ensure Korean companies, including Naver, are not subject to any unreasonable measures related to overseas business and overseas investment,” Second Vice Science Minister Kang Do-hyun told report

Korea's major cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said Friday that it will cover all the 40 billion won ($30 million) of taxes imposed on the winners of its crypto airdrop events. According to Bithumb, some 10,700 users were slapped with a combined 20 billion won in taxes last year for their compensations, including virtual assets and paybacks on commission, worth 83 billion won earned after participating in its multiple airdrop events held between 2018 and 2021. In Korea, the tax authorities h