South Korean construction conglomerate Booyoung Group has been charged with falsifying stock ownership involving Chairman Lee Joong-keun, according to the nation’s antitrust watchdog on Wednesday.The Fair Trade Commission said through a release that it pressed charges against five Booyoung affiliates for falsely reporting Lee‘s stocks as belonging to other family members or executive members during an earlier corporate disclosure processes. In a separate track, the watchdog also imposed a total

Global payment solution provider Visa said Wednesday that it has appointed Patrick Yoon as the country manager to lead its Korean office. The incoming business chief has worked at various branches of Standard Chartered bank, steering strategy, business development and mergers and acquisitions, officials said. For the past four years, he led the retail finance headquarters at SC Korea.Before joining SC in 2005, Yoon also served in the investment department of Morgan Stanley in the United States.&

Amid a global economic recovery boosted by extended investment and trade, South Korea is expected to maintain its 3 percent growth momentum throughout year 2018 and 2019, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.In its interim economic outlook report issued Tuesday, the organization forecast global economic growth for this year at 3.9 percent, up from its previous suggestion of 3.7 percent. The figure for next year was also increased from 3.6 percent to 3.9 percent.

Shin Chang-jae, chief executive officer and chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance, received over 34 billion won ($32 million) in stock dividend last year, ranking first among top officials of the insurance industry. The life insurer decided to allocate 5,000 won per common stock for the fiscal year 2017 and to pay 102.5 billion won in total dividends, up 25.6 billion won or 33.3 percent from the previous year, officials said Tuesday.Shin, who is also the insurer’s largest shareholder with 6.9 m

South Korea’s top policymakers are taking all efforts this week to lift the US President Donald Trump administration’s incoming tariff on steel imports, which is slated to take effect on March 23 and consequently deliver a heavy blow to local steelmakers and the nation’s export-reliant economy.Also, in relation to the increasing level of trade protectionism and tariff retaliation around the globe, they have gestured at soon joining a comprehensive free trade partnership in the

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on experts in the intellectual property sector. This is the sixth installment. -- Ed.For several years, especially when the patent battle was heating up between Samsung Electronics and Apple, intellectual property was largely considered an issue exclusive to global tech companies.But the unprecedented technological advancement amid the “fourth industrial revolution” trend has drastically narrowed the conventional gap between market champions

Amid the fallout of the US administration’s latest tariff on all steel imports, the South Korean government is facing criticism for its “lax” countermeasures to an issue that is likely to cause multitrillion won losses to local industries over the upcoming years.The key problem, observers say, is the lack of a policy headquarters, as the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae remains reluctant to raise government-level conflicts with Washington amid ongoing denuclearization talks co

Since 2014, KB Financial Group has renewed one business record after another, raising its yearly net profit to a record-high benchmark, moving a step ahead of rivals and cementing its position as industry champion.At the heart of such progress was Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, who is noted for his strategic balance between the group’s signature banking sector and prominent nonbanking businesses.In September last year, Yoon was reappointed as the financial holding company’s chairman, marki

LG Group acquired the highest number of patents at the European Patent Office last year, outrunning Samsung Group and other European rivals, a report from the European Patent Office showed Thursday.In global ranking, the South Korean conglomerate stood at No. 3, next to Chinese IT giant Huawei and German engineering group Siemens. (from EPO report for 2017)Seoul’s patent application volume in Europe declined 8.2 percent from a year earlier, taking a sudden dip from the 6.5 percent on-year growth

The amount of corporate bond issuance here took a drastic upturn last month as companies took pre-emptive actions to secure funds ahead of the central bank’s impending key interest rate hike, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association.The total amount of bonds issued in February stood at 53.31 trillion won ($49.87 billion), up 1.6 trillion won from a month earlier, on the back of corporate bonds and asset-backed securities, data showed Wednesday.Of the total, the corporate bon

South Korea is making last-minute struggles this week to exempt itself from the US government’s impending steel tariff which would strike a heavy blow to steel producers here and the nation’s export-dependent economy.Unlike other major steel exporting states such as China, Canada and the European Union, however, Seoul refrained from adopting reciprocal tariffication.Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong on Tuesday left for Washington DC as part of his second outreach program to respond to th

The recent reappointment of South Korea’s chief monetary policymaker is expected to encourage hawkishness at the Bank of Korea, possibly bringing forward a key interest rate hike to as early as April, despite sluggish consumption and snowballing household debt.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol met with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon met for lunch on Monday, their first one-on-one encounter after Lee’s reappointment on Friday.The two top officials agreed that Seoul should

South Korea’s bourse operator is expected to ease regulations on stock split processes in the wake of market top cap Samsung Electronics’ latest decision to implement a first-ever stock split.Korea Exchange is expected to announce a revised set of plans later this week to shorten the trading suspension period caused by stock splits, according to the benchmark Kospi operating headquarters Sunday. Under current regulations, stock trading is to be banned for 10-15 days after the gi

Patents are often considered ways to appreciate and protect technological inventions. But they are also a highly practical capitalist resource that may open the door to a lucrative market, according to the developer of a patent big data technology system.“Even those who recognize the market potential of the intellectual property sector are quite nearsighted, failing to see beyond the current industrial borders,” Eric Min-soo Kang, patent attorney and CEO of PatentPia, told The Korea Herald in an

Amid mounting offensives from Washington on key export products, South Korea’s trade department is locking horns with the finance sector in its push to expand its trade negotiating muscle.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is working on a restructuring proposal to elevate its Office of Trade Negotiations from its current director-led organization to an assistant minister-led one, and also to increase its staff by 50, according to officials on Wednesday.Empowered by President Moon J