South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Monday it has successfully navigated its 300-ton remote autonomous ship. The 38-meter-long ship was operated in seas off Geoje Island, 398 kilometers south of Seoul, via a remote control system at a research center located in Daejeon, 250 kilometers away from the seas, Samsung Heavy said. The ship returned safely to a point of departure without the help of crew after reaching its destination, which was 10 kilometers away, the shipbuil

Combined sales by South Korea's retail giants are estimated to have declined more than 2 trillion won ($1.75 billion) on-year in the first nine months of this year on the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll showed Monday. Industry leader Lotte Shopping and its rivals Shinsegae and Hyundai Department Store are projected to have posted a combined 17.3 trillion won in sales in the January-September period, down 2.2 trillion won from the previous year, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday on investors' bargain hunting rush following a drop for four straight days. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 15.37 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,356.9 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came to a strong start, led by gains in tech and bio firms. Most large caps traded higher, with top market cap Samsung Electronics adding 1.18 percent and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix gaining 1.88 percent. Giant pharmaceutical firm

South Korea may set an annual ceiling on duty-free direct purchases from foreign countries by its citizens starting in 2022, officials said Monday. The Korea Customs Service (KCS) has recently broached the idea of setting a cap on the duty-free amount of South Koreans' overseas direct purchases in an effort to enliven domestic consumption. Currently, South Koreans are exempt from duties or value-added taxes if the price of an item bought directly from overseas is $150 or lower. There is no up

South Korea's national debt is expected to soar over the next four years, which may have a negative impact on the country's creditworthiness, a report said Monday. In particular, Seoul's interest-bearing state debt is likely to rocket nearly 78 percent over the period based on the government's 2020-24 fiscal management plan, the report from the Korea Institute of Public Finance (KIPF) said. According to the government plan, South Korea's debt that has to be repaid with tax revenues is forecast

London-based financial intelligence company PEI said Sunday it planned to hold PDI Seoul Forum Virtual Experience on Nov. 10. The virtual event, organized by PEI’s publication Private Debt Investor, is expected to offer participants a glimpse of private debt investment strategies, debt investor preferences in asset allocations and fund manager selection and monitoring processes amid challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the global capital market, PEI said. The event will feature

The government will begin distribution of a series of discount coupons this week to spur consumption in the live performance, film and sports industries hit-hard by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Sunday. From Thursday, the government will gradually provide discount coupons, starting with 40 percent discounts for entrance to museums, 1,000 won ($0.87) to 3,000 won discounts for art exhibitions and 8,000 won discount for performances, according to the authorities. For movies, booking

  South Korea saw its trade dependency level slip for the first time in three years in 2019, as its export volume dropped amid global factors, data showed Sunday. The country’s trade dependency index -- the total trade volume proportion out of the gross domestic product -- came to 63.51 percent, according to the Korean Statistical Information Service run by Statistics Korea. This was down 2.57 percent from a year earlier and the lowest since the 60.11 percent observed in 2016. The

SEJONG -- Home delivery or takeout services for cooked food have posted a remarkable increase over the past year amid fast expansion of delivery apps on smartphones as well as the social distancing in the wake of the novel coronavirus. 　 Online orders have surged in particular, according to data held by Statistics Korea: The monthly turnover of retailers selling packed dish via online shopping platforms reached 1.67 trillion won ($1.45 billion) collectively in August, setting a record high. T

Retail investors scoop up W400b while foreign buyers, institutions turn to massive dumping

South Korea's top full service carrier Korean Air Lines Co. is seeking to raise an additional 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in cash to overcome a prolonged, industrywide slump amid the pandemic, industry sources said Sunday. Korean Air plans to sell a lot of land in downtown Seoul to the Seoul city government for at least 500 billion won and get a subsidy of 1 trillion won from the government within this year. Korean Air has been in negotiations with the city government to sell its land in

 Foreign investors purchased over 350 billion won ($306 million) worth of South Korean internet giants Naver and Kakao’s shares in October amid their strong preference for growth stocks in emerging markets due to unfavorable factors in the US market, data showed Sunday. According to data from the nation’s sole bourse operator, the Korea Exchange, offshore investors had purchased a net 187.4 billion won and 164 billion won worth of Naver and Kakao shares, respectively, as of Fri

A number of South Korean companies are in the process of going public in the fourth quarter this year, in a bid to ride on the latest successful initial public offering (IPO) rush, data showed Sunday. After suffering a pandemic-caused market crash in the first half, the local stock market rebounded to the pre-pandemic level, wooing more firms to tap the IPO market during the remainder of the year. Some mega-scale deals, such as Kakao Games and Big Hit Entertainment, raised some tens of trilli

Resumed program draws epidemic concerns, skepticism on long-term effects

South Korean shippers, led by industry leader HMM Co., are forecast to post strong earnings in the third quarter of the year on the back of increased fare and a drop in fuel costs, industry sources said Sunday. "A gradual recovery in global maritime cargo volume pushed up global freight rates as the supply of cargo service fell short of rising demand," Jung Yeon-sung, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co., said in his recent report. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Ind