YEOSU, South Jeolla Province -- For a startup to grow, entrepreneurs should learn how to hire decent staff and fire bad apples, said Han Kim, managing director of Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Altos Ventures on Friday.“When we decide to engage in a follow-up funding round for our portfolio startups, the most critical factor is the entrepreneur’s capability to bring in more talent, along with the courage to sack employees or board members who are unfit for our goals,&

A team of scholars from University of St. Gallen in Switzerland won the International Insurance Society’s 2019 Shin Research Excellence Award, endowed by Kyobo Life Insurance, the Korean insurer said Sunday. According to the firm, Alexander Braun, adjunct professor of risk management, Sebastian Utz, assistant professor of finance, and Jiahua Xu, a postdoctoral researcher, were awarded by the IIS for their research titled, “Are Insurance Balance Sheets Carbon-Neutral? Harnessing

The volume of capital raised through initial public offering in the South Korean stock market surpassed 1 trillion won ($863 million) in the first half of the year, data from the Korea Exchange showed Sunday, with NH Investment & Securities leading the way among underwriters. Some 1.09 trillion won in equity capital was raised in the first half of the year, according to the nation’s sole bourse operator, a 39.6 percent increase from the same period last year.  Eighteen companies j

South Korea's finance ministry is expected to slightly cut its growth estimate for the year in the face of a delayed recovery in chip prices and the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China, sources said Sunday.The South Korean government has been adhering to the stance that Asia's fourth-largest economy will gather pace during the second half of the year on the back of an improvement in prices of chips, a major export item for the country, and expanded fiscal spending.But a

South Korean exports of information and communication technology products fell for the seventh straight month in May on weak demand for semiconductors, mobile phones and displays, data showed Friday.Total outbound shipments reached $14.3 billion last month, a plunge of 22.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Exports of semiconductors, one of the country's key export items, nose-dived 30 percent on-year to a little over $7.6 billion, ma

South Korean carmakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors said Thursday they have garnered the three highest marks in J.D. Power’s annual automotive quality survey. The companies said they expected the achievements to help boost sales in the United States as J.D. Power’s closely followed Initial Quality Study is widely accepted as a barometer of automotive quality.  In the 2019 IQS report released Wednesday, Hyundai Motor, its independent brand Genesis and Kia Motors, long regarded as

Mere hours after the US Federal Reserve hinted at an interest rate cut, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Thursday that South Korea would take apt measures to deal with economic shifts, hinting at mirroring the Fed’s move. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday left the key rate on hold in the 2.25-2.5 percent range, but added it “will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion,” since uncertainties of the rate outlook have increased. The Fed’s s

SEJONG -- Two major economic indices under the Moon Jae-in administration have plumbed to new lows since the nation was hit by the 2008-09 global financial crisis.Those are the growth of gross domestic product in the first quarter and the current account balance in April 2019.South Korea suffered a contraction of 0.4 percent in GDP during the January-March period on a quarter-to-quarter basis.This was the worst quarter-on-quarter GDP performance since the first year of the Lee Myung-bak governme

50,000 won bills increase presence in market, both in value and in volume

Government to inject 8.4 trillion won in non-memory chips, future mobility and bio

The nation’s financial watchdog plans to launch a “comprehensive audit” on bourse operator the Korea Exchange (KRX) by the year-end, local reports said Wednesday. If carried out, the in-depth audit will mark the first such inspection of KRX in nine years.  The news comes amid the Financial Supervisory Service’s ongoing audit of local brokerages and financial institutions, following its decision to revive the comprehensive audit, which was abolished in 2015. The audit

Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings has substantially slashed its growth outlook for South Korea‘s economy this year to 2 percent, citing weaker underlying momentum.The latest forecast, contained in its global economic outlook report posted on its website Monday, represented a sharp downward revision from its previous forecast of 2.5 percent in February. Fitch said the South Korean economy would grow 2.6 percent in both 2020 and 2021.The South Korean economy expanded 2.7 percent in 2018,

Almost two years after South Korea’s leading commercial banks launched mobile apps to attract new customers and keep existing ones, the focus is now on whether their quality matches the prestige of the banks they are attached to.To compete against fast-paced and innovative internet-only banks Kakao Bank and K-Bank, the big four -- Shinhan, KB Kookmin, KEB Hana and Woori -- have been providing low-cost services, merging separate apps into one, and even hiring K-pop celebrities as brand amba

Average spending by foreign tourists visiting South Korea has decreased to a level last seen 10 years ago, data showed Tuesday.According to the data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, foreign tourists coming to South Korea spent an average of $1,268 per person per trip in the first quarter of this year.  The figure is down 12.1 percent from $1,442 a year ago and marks the fourth quarterly decrease in a row.Average spending hovered around $1,

South Korean companies suffered a heavy loss in their sales and profits in the first quarter, central bank data showed Tuesday, apparently due to a sharp drop in exports and tepid local consumption.In the first three months of the year, the average sales of local businesses declined 2.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. The figure follows a 6 percent on-year growth in their sales during the fourth quarter of last year. The country's exports dip