August 18, 2022

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EDITOR'S PICKS

• Markets 
  

  [Newsmaker] Samsung foldables to get chipset upgrade

  Samsung Electronics, a chips-to-smartphones company, said Wednesday it plans to roll out its clamshell Galaxy Z Flip 4 and foldable Galaxy Z Fold 4 on Aug. 26 in South Korea, the United States and Europe. Both the Z Flip 4, a more affordable version of the Samsung premium phone that would deploy foldable form factors, and the Z Fold 4, a workspace-dedicated tabletlike device, will boast enhanced camera features and chipsets that power them. The Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4 will deploy a new mobile ch

• Markets 
  

  [MARKET EYE] Insurers brace for bumper bill on growing reports of flooded cars

  Insurance companies face costly claims for damage coverage for nearly 8,000 flooded cars -- among which at least 2,500 are from luxury brands -- after heavy rain battered Seoul and Gyeonggi Province this week. According to the General Insurance Association of Korea, 12 automobile damage insurance companies received a total of 7,678 claims for flooded cars as of 1 p.m. Wednesday, The number of claims for flooded imported luxury cars received by the country’s four largest insurance compani

• Markets 
  

  70m Pokemon bread sales provide record Q2 revenue for SPC Samlip

  South Korean confectionery company SPC Samlip said Wednesday that it had posted an all-time high sales record of over 800 billion won ($611.4 million) in the second quarter, driven by the popularity of its Pokemon Bread, of which the company sold 70 million packs for the last six months. The company’s second-quarter sales surged on-year by 14 percent to 814.9 billion won, while its net profit skyrocketed by 61.5 percent to 23.5 billion won in the cited period. Key growth drivers were its

• Markets 
  

  FSC starts work on crypto framework

  South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said Monday that efforts to set up a framework for digital assets like bitcoin were underway as part of its larger deregulation initiative to help companies start new businesses without having to worry about regulatory uncertainty. At a meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol, the top financial regulator’s chief said his agency would divide cryptocurrencies into security and nonsecurity tokens, and use the existing law to regulate the former

• Markets 
  

  Floods ravage Seoul area shopping malls, hospitals

  The heaviest rainstorms in 115 years have flooded hospitals, shopping malls, convenience stores and office buildings in Seoul, leaving the capital city in chaos overnight. Gangnam Severance Hospital in Gangnam-gu, one of the largest hospitals in Seoul, was submerged last night, with water cascading down the underground levels where restaurants, cafes, pharmacies and MRI rooms are located. Hospital staff scooped up water all night in front of MRI rooms to protect the medical devices inside. Wat

• Markets 
  

  Hanwha chairman‘s wife dies at 61

  Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn’s wife, Suh Yung-min, died at 61 at a hospital in the United States on Sunday, as she was suffering from cancer, the group said Tuesday. Suh is survived by Kim, who leads South Korea‘s seventh-largest conglomerate dedicated to chemicals, renewable energy and finance, and their three sons, Dong-kwan, Dong-won and Dong-sun. Suh, who studied pharmaceuticals at Seoul National University, was the daughter of five-term lawmaker Suh Chung-hwa, who fo

• Markets 
  

  ‘Don’t touch batteries of flooded EVs’: experts

  The possibility of getting an electric shock from a submerged electric vehicle is low, but drivers should never touch the battery of flooded cars, experts warned Tuesday. According to the Korea Transport Institute, EV batteries are designed to automatically cut off outgoing electricity if any water seeps into it. The battery then drains itself by sending electric currents back and forth between the two electrodes. Though it is highly unlikely one would get electrocuted by touching the vehicle

• Markets 
  

  Korean regulators to probe Apple, Google on alleged violation of local law

  The Korea Communications Commission will look into whether app market operators -- Apple, Google and One Store -- are in violation of a Korean law that bans forcing certain in-app payment methods among app developers, the regulatory agency said Tuesday. The fact-checking investigation will begin from Aug. 16, according to the KCC. App market operators that only allow certain payment options or refuse app registrations or updates of app developers that use external links for in-app purchases co