Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. on Friday reported its third-quarter net income of 83.8 billion won ($73.9 million), down 61.6 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 139.8 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with an operating income of 239.2 billion won a year ago. Sales fell 1.1 percent to 4.04 trillion won. The operating profit was 13.9 percent lower than the average estimate, according to the survey by Yonhap Info

South Korea will hold a recruiting fair via teleconference next month for those who aspire to join global financial organizations, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Friday. The 11 participating organizations are the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asia Development Bank, Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, African Development Bank, Central American Bank for Economic Integration, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Global Climate Fund, Global Green Growth Instit

South Korea will hold a massive nationwide shopping festival involving major retailers, manufacturers and traditional markets in November to attract foreign tourists and boost domestic consumption, organizers said Friday. The annual Korea Sale FESTA will kick off Nov. 1 for a 15-day run, offering items ranging from electronics and furniture to cosmetics and apparel, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the organizing committee. A total of 1,328 companies are slated to p

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Thursday that it and its unit Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. have won approval for the design of a commercial hydrogen carrier for the first time in the world. The approval in principle for the design was awarded by KR, South Korea's ship quality assurance and risk management company, and the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR), the US-based manager of the Liberian Registry, Korea Shipbuilding said. The approval allow

South Koreans' overseas stock transactions soared to a new high in the third quarter of the year on brisk investment in tech companies, data showed Thursday. Local investors' trading of overseas shares was valued at $62.02 billion in the July-September period, an all-time quarterly record and up 42.7 percent from the previous high of $43.46 billion three months earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). The value of US stocks traded by South Korean investors to

SEJONG -- The number of beef cattle in South Korea surged to a record high in the third quarter of the year on increased beef consumption, government data showed Thursday. There were 3.39 million beef cattle, including Korean-bread cattle known as "hanwoo," in the country as of Sept. 1, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by Statistics Korea. It represents the largest-ever tally since the statistical agency began tracking related data in 1983. The third-quarter

South Korea and China signed a deal to extend their bilateral currency swap agreement and expand the size, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Thursday, a move aimed at helping ease a potential liquidity crunch amid the pandemic. The BOK and People's Bank of China clinched a won-yuan currency swap deal worth $26 billion in December 2008 in the midst of the global financial crisis. They have extended it by three years three times so far and enlarged the size to some 64 trillion won ($56.5 billion) in 2

Kumho Tire Co., South Korea's second-largest tiremaker by sales, said Thursday it will begin supplying tires for the Skoda Kamiq compact crossover in January. Kumho Tire also has been supplying ECSTA PS71 original equipment (OE) tires to Skoda's Czech Republic-based plant that produces the Octavia sedan since May. Scoda is a carmaker belonging to Volkswagen Group. Supplying OE tires to car manufacturers does not generate much revenue for tiremakers but securing big companies as clients helps

South Korea's small-sized construction equipment maker Doosan Bobcat Co. said Thursday that its European unit Doosan Bobcat EMEA Ltd. has held a virtual event to launch its new product line as part of efforts to expand sales in Europe. The line of 12 new products includes a compact wheel loader, a light compaction machine, a small-sized loader and a mini-sized excavator, Doosan Bobcat said. Doosan Bobcat EMEA based in the Czech Republic plans to annually sell 1,000 units of compact wheel loa

Moody's Investors Service said Thursday that Hyundai Motor Group's 3.4 trillion-won ($3 billion) quality-related provisions will be credit negative for the South Korean carmaker. In its recent report, Moody's said the sizable provisions for engine recalls and quality management highlights the continued quality-control challenges facing Hyundai and will hit the carmaker's profitability this year. Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. put aside 2.1 trillion won and 1.26 trillion

South Korean brokerage houses have upgraded their third-quarter earnings outlook for major listed companies despite the coronavirus pandemic, a market tracker said Thursday. The combined operating income forecast for 173 major listed firms came to 38.2 trillion won ($33.7 billion) for the July-September period as of Wednesday, up 24.1 percent from a year earlier, according to FnGuide. It also represents a 5.5 percent increase from their estimate of 36.1 trillion won made a month earlier. The

Self-employed, young job-seekers take hardest blow from epidemic fallout

SEJONG -- South Korea will join a move by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help low-income nations recover from the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday. Hong made the remarks during a virtual meeting with IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva earlier in the day, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. South Korea also supports an increase in funding for the IMF as demand for loans and grants jumped in the wake of the pandemic, Hong said. E

About 37 percent of firms in South Korea failed to repay the interest on their debts in 2019, central bank data showed Wednesday, highlighting concerns about deteriorating corporate financial status amid economic gloom. The number of so-called marginal or zombie firms is expected to rise further this year as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the nation's economy. According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), 36.6 percent of 384,877 firms made less profit than their interest expenses for a third co

Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday it will overhaul its product quality control process following engine recalls and fires in an electric model. Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. plan to simplify the overall quality control process to better focus on resolving problems, a Hyundai official said over the phone. Hyundai and Kia, which together form the world's fifth-biggest carmaker by sales, will also simplify the decision-making process to respond to customers' demands as qu