December 06, 2022

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EDITOR'S PICKS

• Markets 
  

  How wealthy is 'wealthy' in Korea?

  Wealthy Koreans with seed money of 820 million won ($630,000) by the age of 42 was determined as the minimum condition of "being wealthy" here, a report showed Sunday. The 2022 Korean Wealth Report compiled by a think tank under KB Financial Group was based on a study conducted in June and July, including a face-to-face survey with 400 respondents with more than 1 billion won in financial assets. It defined “wealthy” as having financial assets over 1 billion won. There w

• Markets 
  

  [Herald Interview] Korea needs to secure ‘irreplaceable technology’

  South Korea must work toward securing irreplaceable technologies in critical industries as the country looks to become a tech powerhouse, a top government official at the Ministry of Science and ICT says. “Our country wants to become a strong country, but we are not a big country in terms of the (physical) size. So it’s impossible to have all technologies inside the house,” said Joo Young-chang, vice minister and the ministry's top innovation strategist, in an interview with T

• Markets 
  

  LG Chem to supply plant-based plastic first to Mattel

  LG Chem, South Korea’s leading chemical firm, said Sunday that it will launch a new acrylonitrile butadiene styrene product using plant-based raw materials, with the first batch being supplied to US toy manufacturer Mattel. ABS is a rigid thermoplastic polymer that boasts higher resistance to heat and impact. LG Chem is the market leader in ABS products with an annual production capacity of 2.4 million tons. ABS products make up almost 20 percent of its overall petrochemicals business s

• Markets 
  

  Antitrust chief warns of strict response to unionized truckers for hindering on-site probe

  South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Friday that it would deal sternly with the nation’s unionized cargo truckers for hindering an on-site probe into its head offices as their walkout continues over a week. Investigators of Fair Trade Commission visited the union's headquarters in Seoul and Busan to see whether its members had forced other workers to stop their transport duties or join the strike. Deterred by union members to enter the offices, the FTC Chairman Han Ki-jeong issued the w

• Markets 
  

  Hanwha Aerospace to lead homegrown space rocket project

  Hanwha Aerospace, the space business arm of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha, has been tapped as the company to lead the project of upgrading the homegrown Nuri rocket and launching it four more times through 2027, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said Friday. According to Hanwha Aerospace’s regulatory filing, the company on Thursday signed a contract worth approximately 286 billion won ($220 million) with the state-run institute. The official selection came about two months after

• Markets 
  

  Hahn & Co. completes $1.2b acquisition of SKC’s industrial film business

  Hahn & Company, a South Korean private equity firm, said Friday it acquired the industrial film business of SKC, an affiliate of South Korea’s SK Group, in a deal worth 1.6 trillion won ($1.2 billion). The deal is the largest merger and acquisition transaction closed in the country this year. SKC's industrial film business posted revenue of 1.2 trillion won in 2021, making it the largest domestically and the fourth largest globally in its sector. In June, Hahn & Co. and the SK G

• Markets 
  

  Court starts reviewing Wemix delisting injunction

  A Seoul court on Friday started reviewing a preliminary injunction requested by game publisher Wemade to withdraw the decision from South Korea’s top five crypto exchanges to delist Wemix, a token issued by the game company's blockchain platform.   This petition for a preliminary injunction was filed on Monday after the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) comprised of five crypto exchanges -- Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax -- announced on Nov. 24 they would halt trading

• Markets 
  

  Posco shares surge after union’s departure from hard-line labor group

  One of two unions at Posco cemented its decision to leave the Korean Metal Workers' Union after its ballot indicated as of Wednesday that nearly 70 percent of its members had voted in favor of its withdrawal from the nation's most hard-line labor group. The South Korean steelmaker Posco's result of ballot held from Monday to Wednesday showed that 69.9 percent of the Posco unionists had agreed on leaving KMWU, a metal worker's union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. With the resul