S.Korea’s default risk dips below pre-martial law levels

S.Korea’s default risk dips below pre-martial law levels

South Korea’s financial market has stabilized with a sharp fall in the country’s default risk and some recovery of its currency value ag...

FOMO-driven gold rush lifts kimchi premium on gold to highest level

FOMO-driven gold rush lifts kimchi premium on gold to highest level

With South Korean retail investors joining the global gold rush in ‘fear of missing out’, or FOMO, the country’s gold price has ...

Nexon becomes 1st Korean game publisher with over 4 trillion won in sales

Nexon becomes 1st Korean game publisher with over 4 trillion won in sales

Nexon Co., the parent of Nexon Games Co., became the first Korean game developer to achieve the 4 trillion won ($2.8 billion) sales milestone in 202...

Foreigners return to Korean debt market; Korea on course to join WGBI

Foreigners return to Korean debt market; Korea on course to join WGBI

Foreigners scooped up South Korean government bonds in January despite the country’s ongoing political upheavals, betting big on the country&r...

S.Korea to allow listed firms to trade cryptocurrencies in second half

S.Korea to allow listed firms to trade cryptocurrencies in second half

South Korea plans to allow companies listed on the local stock market to trade virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, on a pilot basis in the s...

MBK Partners, 2 Chinese firms vie for CJ Cheiljedang’s $4 bn bio business

MBK Partners, 2 Chinese firms vie for CJ Cheiljedang’s $4 bn bio business

North Asia-focused private equity firm MBK Partners and two leading Chinese biotechnology firms are vying for management control of CJ Cheiljedang C...

SK Ecoplant seeks to sell waste treatment business for $1.4 billion

SK Ecoplant seeks to sell waste treatment business for $1.4 billion

SK Ecoplant Co., a South Korean construction engineering and waste management company under SK Group, is seeking to dispose of its waste treatment b...

MSCI Korea Index removes four petrochem firms, seven other stocks

MSCI Korea Index removes four petrochem firms, seven other stocks

MSCI, a global index compiler, said on Wednesday it has removed 11 stocks, including Lotte Chemical Corp., from its Korea index without any addition...

Korea to let securities firms manage $43 bn public fund investment pool

Korea to let securities firms manage $43 bn public fund investment pool

South Korea said on Wednesday it aims to boost returns on 62.1 billion won ($42.7 billion) in the public fund investment pool by entrusting some of ...

Meta in talks to acquire Korean fabless chip startup FuriosaAI: Forbes

Meta in talks to acquire Korean fabless chip startup FuriosaAI: Forbes

Meta Platforms Inc., the parent of Facebook and Instagram, is in talks to acquire Seoul-based AI chip startup FurisosaAI Inc. and the discussion cou...

South Korean state think tank cuts 2025 growth forecast, flags US tariff risk

South Korean state think tank cuts 2025 growth forecast, flags US tariff risk

South Korea’s state-run think tank has cut its growth forecast for the country this year, citing President Donald Trump’s trad...

South Korean IPO market headed into winter after pitiful LG CNS debut

South Korean IPO market headed into winter after pitiful LG CNS debut

Companies in South Korea are expected to refrain from seeking initial public offerings for a while after the country’s much-anticipated new bl...

Korean investors abandon savings, stocks for cryptocurrencies

Korean investors abandon savings, stocks for cryptocurrencies

Money is rapidly shifting to cryptocurrency markets in South Korea as lower interest rates and lackluster stock prices reduce the investment appeal ...

Middle East: New land of opportunity for Korean medical devices

Middle East: New land of opportunity for Korean medical devices

South Korea is making inroads into the Middle East's medical device market dominated by the US and Europe, aiming to leverage the region’s str...

Small firms emerge as prime targets of management disputes in Korea

Small firms emerge as prime targets of management disputes in Korea

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accounted for the majority of disputes over corporate management control in South Korea last year, with th...

HD KSOE bags $371 mn LNG bunker ship order

HD KSOE bags $371 mn LNG bunker ship order

The outlook for South Korean shipbuilders’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering ship construction looks bright as the global LNG-powered ship...

HD Hyundai in talks to buy back Korean ship parts maker

HD Hyundai in talks to buy back Korean ship parts maker

HD Hyundai Co., the world’s second-largest shipbuilder, is in talks with a private equity firm to buy back a South Korean ship parts manufactu...

S.Korea’s bagel sensation London Bagel Museum attracts multiple foreign investors

S.Korea’s bagel sensation London Bagel Museum attracts multiple foreign investors

London Bagel Museum, which has ignited a bagel fad in South Korea, has drawn strong interest from multiple investors from abroad for its stake sale ...

Samsung Biologics shares fly high to be Korea’s third most valuable firm

Samsung Biologics shares fly high to be Korea’s third most valuable firm

Samsung Biologics Co., the world’s largest contract drugmaker, has become South Korea’s third most valuable stock on the country’s...

Hanwha Systems posts record earnings in 2024 on brisk defense sales

Hanwha Systems posts record earnings in 2024 on brisk defense sales

Hanwha Systems Co., a leading South Korean defense company, reported its best-ever earnings last year thanks to brisk sales of its defense systems i...

Korean beauty giants Amorepacific, LG H&H come back from China woes

Korean beauty giants Amorepacific, LG H&H come back from China woes

South Korea’s two largest cosmetics makers, Amorepacific Corp. and LG H&H Co., are recovering from years of lackluster overseas business p...

MBK-led consortium to take over Japan’s FICT for $656 mn

MBK-led consortium to take over Japan’s FICT for $656 mn

MBK Partners, the largest private equity firm in North Asia, will acquire a controlling stake in FICT Ltd., a semiconductor printed circuit board (P...

NPS closes $1.6 bn Korean office deal; scientists pension eyes NCSOFT building

NPS closes $1.6 bn Korean office deal; scientists pension eyes NCSOFT building

The National Pension Service (NPS) has completed the purchase of One Grove for 2.3 trillion won ($1.6 billion), its largest single real estate inves...

KB Financial to buy back $359 bn in shares after record net profit in 2024

KB Financial to buy back $359 bn in shares after record net profit in 2024

KB Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s largest financial holding group, will spend nearly 1.8 trillion won ($1.2 billion) to boost shareholder...

Korean firms cut IPO prices, volumes amid bearish sentiment

Korean firms cut IPO prices, volumes amid bearish sentiment

South Korean companies are relaunching attempts to go public with lower valuations and fewer shares amid continued sour investor sentiment.CK Soluti...

Korea to launch $23 bn high tech fund, bracing for Trump 2.0

Korea to launch $23 bn high tech fund, bracing for Trump 2.0

South Korea will launch a high tech fund worth more than 34 trillion won ($23 billion) to provide cheap financing, including equity investments, for...

Korean financial holding firms log record-high profits in 2024

Korean financial holding firms log record-high profits in 2024

South Korea’s top four financial holding firms are estimated to have posted their highest-ever profits in 2024, driven by hefty interest incom...

Funding to Korean tech startups at 7-year low; seed funding soars

Funding to Korean tech startups at 7-year low; seed funding soars

New funding to South Korean tech startups dropped to its lowest level in seven years in 2024. But seed funding soared 142% led by semiconductor, hea...

Korean bakery giant SPC to build $160 mn US plant as tariff war escalates

Korean bakery giant SPC to build $160 mn US plant as tariff war escalates

SPC Group, the operator of South Korea’s largest bakery chain Paris Baguette as well as Paris Croissant, SPL, Dunkin and SPC GFS, is building ...

Magnachip, up for sale again, contacts Samsung, LG, LX

Magnachip, up for sale again, contacts Samsung, LG, LX

South Korean chipmaker Magnachip Semiconductor Corp. is on the market again four years after the US blocked a takeover by a Chinese private equity f...

Hyundai Glovis charts new waters with world’s first AI-driven self-sailing car carrier fleet Korea’s game studios rebrand as AI tech firms, move into fashion, robotics, media Return of the K-pop queens: Blackpink, Twice power up YG, JYP Samsung to launch AI health coach beta in US by end-2025 South Korea moves to mandate treasury share cancellation