Delinquency rate on bank loans up for 3rd month in May

The delinquency rate on loans extended by local banks rose for the third consecutive month in May due mainly to a rise in newly soured loans, data showed Friday. The delinquency rate on banks' won-denominated loans came to 0.64 percent in May, up 0.07 percentage point from the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service. The amount of newly delinquent loans came to 3.5 trillion won ($2.56 billion) in the month, up from 2.9 trillion won in April. The amoun

July 25, 2025

Orion to recall Cham Carp Cakes due to potential mold contamination

Orion, a major South Korean confectionery company, said Thursday it will recall all of its Cham Carp Cakes, a popular fish-shaped pie, due to potential mold contamination. The company has notified the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of the issue and requested that retailers halt sales of the product. All units produced before Wednesday are subject to the recall, Orion said, estimating that around 1.5 billion won ($1.1 million) worth of the product has already been distributed to the market. The

July 24, 2025

KB Financial posts record half-year profit of W3.4tr

KB Financial Group posted a cumulative net profit of roughly 3.4 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in the first two quarters, setting a new high for its half-year performance. The finance giant announced its earnings Thursday, reporting record-high results for both the half-year and the quarter. It logged a net profit of 3.44 trillion won in the first half of 2025, marking a 23.8 percent increase on-year. The second-quarter net profit also rose by 2.4 percent to 1.74 trillion won on-year. KB Financial

July 24, 2025

Hyundai AutoEver earns top global safety rating for entire vehicle software platform

Hyundai AutoEver, the vehicle software arm of Hyundai Motor Group, said Thursday that its automotive software platform, Mobilgene Classic 2.0, has achieved ASIL-D certification — the highest level of automotive safety integrity as defined by the International Organization for Standardization. ASIL, or automotive safety integrity level, is a global standard that evaluates the functional safety of electrical and electronic systems in vehicles. ASIL levels range from A to D, with D representing the

July 24, 2025

Korea Medical Institute earns WHO Health Promoting Hospitals certification

Korea Medical Institute, which operates medical checkup centers across the country, announced Tuesday that it received official certification on July 15 from the World Health Organization’s Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services network. The WHO-HPH program, joined by more than 600 institutions in 30 countries, evaluates whether health care providers have systems that meet international standards for health promotion — going beyond medical treatment to include community wellness efforts.

July 24, 2025

Kospi ends higher amid postponed tariff talks; won sharply up

Seoul shares closed slightly higher Thursday amid heightened concerns over high-level trade talks between South Korea and the United States. The Korean won rose sharply against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 6.68 points, or 0.21 percent, to close at 3,190.45. The index had surpassed the 3,230-point mark during the morning session, but trimmed earlier gains on news the "2+2" high-level trade talks between Seoul and Washington, originally planned for Friday (U

July 24, 2025

Korea’s economy edges toward recovery, but tariff risks remain

The South Korean economy returned to growth in the second quarter of 2025, potentially indicating an end to over a year of sluggish growth, the country’s central bank announced Thursday. The rebound was driven primarily by gains in exports and a pickup in private consumption. The country's real gross domestic product — a key measure of economic growth — inched up 0.6 percent in the April-June period, marking a strong rebound from the 0.2 percent contraction in the previous three months, accordin

July 24, 2025

Hyundai Motor’s Q2 profit hit by US auto tariffs

Hyundai Motor Company has taken a hit from the United States’ auto tariffs as the Korean automaker announced on Thursday a steep year-on-year decline in its operating profit from the second quarter. According to Hyundai Motor’s conference call over its second quarter earnings, the automaker logged 48.3 trillion won ($35.4 billion) in revenue and 3.6 trillion won in operating profit in the second quarter. Although quarterly revenue increased by 7.3 percent from the same period last year, operatin

July 24, 2025

US delays crucial ‘2+2’ trade meeting with Korea

A high-level trade meeting between South Korea and the US was abruptly called off Thursday, just one day before it was set to take place in Washington, due to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's "urgent schedule." The delay has sparked concerns in Seoul as next week's tariff deadline approaches with insufficient time for a potential breakthrough. South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol was set to depart for Washington when the US notified Seoul of the last-minut

July 24, 2025

SK hynix posts record quarterly profit on AI chip boom

SK hynix, the world's top memory chip-maker by revenue, hit an all-time high quarterly operating profit of 9.2 trillion won ($6.73 billion) in the April-June period, thanks to soaring demand for its high bandwidth memory chips, a core component in AI processing. Reporting the second quarter's earnings, the company said it aims to double HBM sales and shipments this year compared to 2024, as well as increase its capital expenditure beyond its initial plans for rising HBM demand starting in 2026.

July 24, 2025

LG Energy Solution wins German patent suit against China’s Sunwoda

LG Energy Solution has won a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against China’s Sunwoda Group, potentially banning the sale of the Chinese company’s infringing electric vehicle battery cells in the region. According to Tulip Innovation — a patent management firm representing LG Energy Solution and Panasonic — on Thursday, the Munich District Court recently ruled that Sunwonda’s lithium-ion prismatic batteries used in the Dacia Spring EV infringe LG Energy Solution’s patent on the “electrode

July 24, 2025

[Photo News] MetLife CEO reaffirms Korea focus

MetLife President and CEO Michel Khalaf speaks during a town hall meeting with employees at the insurer’s Korean headquarters Thursday in Seoul, marking his third visit to the country. Khalaf reaffirmed the New York-based insurance group’s commitment to Korea, calling it a key market and the company’s fifth largest. “We see ourselves playing a pivotal role in helping our customers plan for the future, and we’ve built a highly professional team to deliver on these ambitions in Korea,” he said. (M

July 24, 2025

SK Telecom joins state-led project to advance Korean AI models

SK Telecom announced Thursday that it has joined the Ministry of Science and ICT’s “AI Foundation Model” project, furthering its strategy to build independent artificial intelligence optimized for the Korean language. Since 2018, SKT has focused on developing large language models tailored to Korean. It launched KoBERT, Korea’s first deep-learning language model, in 2019, followed by KoGPT2 and KoBART, contributing to the advancement of Korea’s AI ecosystem. These models have supported both cust

July 24, 2025

Shinhan Bank eyes W3.7tr investment in UK by 2030

Korean financial provider Shinhan Bank held high-level talks in London on Tuesday with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to explore ways to strengthen investment cooperation between the public and private sectors. Shinhan Bank CEO Jung Sang-hyuk met with Catherine West, parliamentary under-secretary of state for the FCDO’s Asia-Pacific region, to discuss future investment strategies aligned with the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy and 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy. The meeting

July 24, 2025

LG Uplus unveils new lineup of foreigner-specific mobile plans

LG Uplus has rolled out a set of limited-time promotional mobile plans designed exclusively for foreign residents, offering generous international calling, data, and roaming perks tailored to their everyday needs. The new lineup, unveiled on Wednesday, includes seven monthly plans ranging from 37,000 won to 85,000 won (approximately $27 to $62). All plans come with free international calling of up to 90 minutes per month, as well as enhanced roaming benefits when subscribers travel abroad. Custo

July 24, 2025