[THE INVESTOR] 　The number of automobiles manufactured in South Korea last month dropped to the lowest in 11 years due to increased overseas production, declining domestic demand, and a series of strikes at local automakers, a government report showed on Oct. 9.  In September, a total of 258,026 automobiles were made in Korea, which is a 22.7 percent drop on-year, and the lowest output posted for the month of September since 2005, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.　During t

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said over the weekend there is “more room” to use monetary policy at the central bank and partly admitted that lower interest rates led to a rise in household debt.　His comments came as the Bank of Korea is to decide its key rate on Thursday this week amid weak exports, slow manufacturing production and growing household debt.　Although Yoo said he was “not in a position” to say if a lower rate is necessary, “theoretically there is room to u

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea may be in a leadership position in the global market for 5G broadband, Nokia’s Asia Pacific and Japan head said last week.  　Korea aims to be the first to unveil the next-generation network 5G -- which can deliver data 1,000 times faster than long-term evolution -- in time for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. 　The successful launch of the technology, being developed by local telecom operators in partnership with Samsung Electronics, Nokia, Ericsson and NEC, is cri

[THE INVESTOR]  The South Korean economy has a degree of policy space to tackle and contain domestic risks and geopolitical shocks, senior officials from global ratings agencies told Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho. Yoo, who is on a US trip to attend the conferences of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, held separate meetings with senior officials from Moody‘s, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch on Oct. 8 in Washington. During the meetings, officials from the ratings agencies told Yoo tha

[THE INVESTOR]Samsung Electronics is running an educational zone at a museum in Poland where visitors can understand how the company’s quantum dot display technology functions, according to the company on Oct. 9. 　In partnership with the Copernicus Science Center in Poland, the exhibition “outlines the technical details of how Samsung’s latest SUHD (super ultrahigh-definition) series television sets function, and how the human eye perceives the images they display,” Samsung said in a statement. 

[THE INVESTOR] Local brokerage firms have raised their forecasts of Samsung Electronics' operating profit to exceed 30 trillion won ($26.88 billion) this year after the tech giant announced a better-than-expected earnings guidance for the third quarter, according to brokerages on Oct. 9. Despite a damaging recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, Samsung said on Oct. 7 that it expects to report a 5.5 percent rise in its third quarter operating profit to stand at 7.8 trillion won. Revenue, however

[THE INVESTOR]  South Korean chipmaker SK hynix's investment in its Chinese plant is expected to exceed US$10 billion this year, local news reported on Oct. 9. The cumulative investment into SK hynix’s plant in the Chinese city of Wuxi, Jiangsu province, is predicted to stand at US$10.5 billion by the end of this year, an industry source was cited as saying in the report. The Wuxi plant, which began production in 2006, accounts for about half of SK hynix’s DRAM production. The plant’s success ha

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor Group’s market share in Korea fell to a 16-year low in September, while its smaller rivals GM Korea, Renault Samsung Motor and Ssangyong Motor increased their competitiveness with new cars, industry data showed on Oct. 7. The combined sales of Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors in Sept. stood at 79,848 units, accounting for 62.1 percent of the 128,674 units sold in the country, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association and the Korea

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor Group is considering supporting Hyundai Department Store Group’s bid for a duty-free license in downtown Seoul, industry sources said on Oct. 6. Earlier this week, Hyundai Department Store submitted an application to operate a duty-free store, selecting its Coex branch in Samseong-dong, Gangnam, as candidate site.  Hyundai Department Store Coex branch in Samseong-dong, Seoul.The retail giant which lost the bid last year, is making an all-out efforts this time to obta

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor is expected to suffer further production losses due to the ongoing labor strike, as well as the latest typhoon that halted operations in its assembly lines. On Oct. 5, Typhoon Chaba swept the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, and Ulsan, home to Hyundai’s five auto plants, was lashed with severe winds and heavy rain. Two factories immediately halted production following a heavy water inflow into their facilities, with one -- which produces Santa Fe SUV and Avante

[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor on Oct. 6 said it has clinched a deal to provide 3,500 i40 diesel taxis to Singapore next year. South Korea’s largest automaker signed a contract with Singapore’s taxi operator ComfortDelgro Group in Seoul, with Jang Won-shin, general manager of foreign sales at Hyundai Motor, and Comfort Delgro Chairman Lim Jit Poh and President Kua Hong Pak in attendance. The latest deal is the largest order placed by the Singaporean taxi giant to Hyundai, since the automaker first

[THE INVESTOR] Multinational firms operating in Korea were as shocked as their local counterparts when it became certain that Seoul would actually push ahead with what is considered to be one of the most stringent anti-graft laws in history. The Investor talked with various corporate representatives to see how they are coping with the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act that went into effect on Sept. 28. The law limits public officials, journalists and private school teachers to giving or receiv