Seoul signals agricultural market access on tariff talks table amid intensifying US trade pressure

South Korea’s senior government officials said on Friday that agricultural products, including politically sensitive items such as rice and be...

President Lee meets with Samsung chief amid stalled US-Korea trade talks

South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung met with Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Thursday amid growing speculation that Seoul may leve...

Seoul likely to miss US tariff deal deadline as Washington abruptly cancels 2+2 trade talks

The United States has abruptly postponed high-level trade talks with South Korea, raising concerns in Seoul that it is slipping down Washington&rsqu...

GM CEO Mary Barra quells Korea exit talk amid mounting auto tariff pressures

US auto giant General Motors Co. is regarding its South Korean factories as central to its global supply chain, particularly for compact SUVs and el...

Kakao, Naver step up global AI hunt amid fierce tech race

South Korea’s internet pioneers, Kakao Corp. and Naver Corp., are ramping up overseas investments in artificial intelligence startups, shiftin...

South Korea, US to resume trade talks ahead of tariff deadline

South Korea’s finance minister will discuss tariff issues with his US counterpart in Washington this week, marking the first trade talks under...

Kakao Pay backs out of acquisition deal for Shinsegae’s SSG Pay, Smile Pay

Kakao Pay Corp., the mobile payment and digital wallet service unit of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp., has pulled out of a deal to acquire two ...

Hanwha seeks to buy Paraspara Seoul from developer tied to Banyan Tree Busan fire

Hanwha Hotels & Resorts Co. is in talks to acquire Paraspara Seoul, a five-star hotel and resort, up for sale by a property developer facing lia...

IGIS Asset resumes sale of KIC-backed Shilla Stay Seodaemun

Shilla Stay Seodaemun has been put on the market again amid signs of a recovery in South Korea’s hospitality industry, after earlier attempts ...

Blackstone in talks to acquire Korea’s top salon chain Juno Hair in $590 mn deal

US private equity firm Blackstone Inc. is pursuing the acquisition of Juno Hair, South Korea’s largest premium hair salon chain, in a deal tha...

DB Insurance in talks to buy US auto insurer Fortegra in $1.5 billion deal

DB Insurance Co., a leading South Korean non-life insurance company, is in advanced talks to acquire US-based insurer Fortegra in a deal that could ...

S.Korea’s leading ERP player Douzone Bizon up for sale; EQT, others in talks

Douzone Bizon Co., South Korea’s leading homegrown enterprise software firm and the country’s No. 2 player in the enterprise resource pl...

Tencent eyes 2nd-largest stake in Kakao Mobility amid broader Korea push

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has emerged as a surprise contender in a race to acquire a roughly 40% stake in Kakao Mobility Corp., the o...

S.Korea’s Lee, Japan’s Ishiba agree to deepen ties, resume shuttle diplomacy

KANANASKIS, Canada – South Korea’s newly elected President Lee Jae-myung held his first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishi...

US-South Korea talks scrapped after Trump's early G7 exit

A planned meeting between South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and US President Donald Trump was canceled on Monday after Trump unexpectedly left ...

Lee Jae-myung vows to end politics of division, seek pragmatic diplomacy

Lee Jae-myung was formally sworn in as South Korea’s new president on Wednesday, pledging to unite a divided nation, revitalize the economy an...

Kakao Mobility to build smart infrastructure for Saudi Diriyah project

Kakao Mobility Corp., which runs South Korea’s most popular ride-hailing app, Kakao T, has clinched a deal to build a future mobility infrastr...

Tencent to become SM Entertainment's No. 2 shareholder via HYBE deal

Tencent Music Entertainment Group is set to become the second-largest shareholder of SM Entertainment Co. by acquiring HYBE Co.'s remaining shares i...

OpenAI sets up entity in Korea with most paid ChatGPT users outside US

OpenAI Inc., the creator of generative AI ChatGPT, has established a legal entity in South Korea, which has the largest number of paying ChatGPT sub...

Kakao Pay in talks to acquire SSG.COM’s SSG Pay and Gmarket’s Smile Pay

Kakao Pay Corp., the mobile payment and digital wallet service unit of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp., is in advanced negotiations to acquire t...

Mubadala, Goldman Sachs to invest $700 mn in Kakao Mobility

United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. and Goldman Sachs are set to invest a combined $700 million in Kakao Mobil...

KakaoBank posts record Q1 profit, eyes Thai expansion after Indonesia

KakaoBank Corp., a leading South Korean internet-only bank, posted its highest quarterly profit in the first quarter, defying a drop in interest inc...

Samsung in talks to supply customized HBM4 to Nvidia, Broadcom, Google

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s leading memory chipmaker, is in talks to supply customized sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory, or HBM...

Kakao shares sink on SK Telecom’s stake sell-off news

Kakao Corp. shares underperformed its peers and the broad market on Friday after SK Telecom Co. sold off its entire stake in the South Korean platfo...

Seoul, Washington agree on July tariff deal framework in '2+2' trade talks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – South Korea and the US have agreed to work together to craft a comprehensive tariff-liberalization package by July 8, marki...

StockX in merger talks with Naver’s online reseller Kream

StockX, the world’s most popular online resale marketplace, is in talks to merge with Kream, a resale unicorn under South Korea’s tech g...

S.Korea's Han, Trump discuss transactional diplomacy in 1st direct talks

South Korea’s Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo spoke with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday to discuss various issues of mu...

Kakao Entertainment scraps IPO, seeks new buyer

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s largest mobile platform, is looking to sell a majority stake in Kakao Entertainment Corp., dropping a plan to take ...

SK Group in talks with Hahn & Co. to sell SK Siltron

SK Inc., the holding company of SK Group, is in talks with Hahn & Co., a South Korean buyout firm, to sell SK Siltron Co., the country’s s...

Kakao Entertainment sheds loss-making units, revives IPO prospects

Kakao Entertainment Corp. has been divesting unprofitable music labels and digital content platforms, which it has gobbled up over the past few year...