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The total labor income stood at 842.1 trillion won in 2016, up 4.5 percent from a year ago. The labor income for people aged above 65 rose 0.8 percent on-year to 21.7 Today Industry South Koreans consider person with W3.9b in assets to be wealthy South Koreans consider a person who owns an average of 3.9 billion won ($3.2 million) in assets is wealthy, a local survey showed Monday.According to a recruiting service provider Saramin’s survey on 4,111 adults, respondents in their 30s said a person can be considered rich when he or she owns assets of 3.98 billion won, while those in 40s said 3.9 billion won. Those aged 50 and above said a rich person owns 3.3 billion won. Some 3.9 billion won of assets equal the amount accumu Today Industry Starbucks Korea receives presidential award for supporting cultural heritage Starbucks Coffee Korea said Thursday it has received a presidential award for its effort to contribute to restoring the country’s cultural assets and honoring it heritage and history. The award ceremony which took place at Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation on Friday was attended by some 100 awardees. The local unit of Starbucks Coffee joined hands with the Cultural Heritage Administration in 2009 and has conducted various activities to protect cultural assets and support descen Today Industry LG International's JV listed on Omani stock market LG International Corp. said Monday that its joint venture with Oman Oil Co. has been listed on the Omani stock market, a move that helped the South Korean developer of natural resources recover part of its investment in the JV.Musandam Power Co. debuted on the Muscat Securities Market on Thursday. LG International said it retains an 18 percent stake in Musandam Power after selling a 12 percent stake worth $6.9 million. In addition, LG International said it earned revenue through operation of the Today Industry EV models reach over 40% of Hyundai, Kia eco-friendly car sales Electricfied models reached over 40 percent of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp.'s environmentally friendly vehicle sales in the January-October period, an automobile association said Monday. In the first 10 months, Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 291,237 eco-friendly models in global markets, according to the data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.Among them, plug-in hybrid electric, all-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles rose to account for 40.8 percent, o Today Economy S. Korea to up national information budget to W5.1tr in 2019 South Korea's budget for national information will rise to over 5.1 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in 2019 to promote the building of a hyperconnected society, the government said Monday.The budget to be spent for 55 state central administrative agencies represents an 11.5 percent increase from 4.6 trillion won earmarked for this year, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. A hyperconnected society is a key element of the fourth industrial revolution where everything, including people, is li Dec 8, 2019 Automode Half of Hyundai, Kia cars sold in US are SUVs More than a half of new cars manufactured by South Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia sold in US were sport utility vehicles, reaching the highest mark since they launched operations in the world’s second-largest auto market, the companies said Sunday. Of the 1.2 million vehicles Hyundai and its smaller affiliate Kia sold as of November, 668,328 units or 55.4 percent of the total were SUV, from 30.9 percent in 2013. The number of SUVs sold by November already has surpassed the figure for las Dec 8, 2019 Finance Korean investors turn to real estate, less interested in stock market Korean investors have been turning their attention toward the real estate market, reflected in an increase in mortgage lending, while cash flows in the equity market have been overall stagnant, recent data showed. According to data released by the Bank of Korea last month, the outstanding balance of mortgage loans held by banks and other financial institutions here came to a combined 830.3 trillion won ($700.5 billion) as of September. The latest data is a noteworthy jump from the corresponding Dec 8, 2019 Technology [News Focus] LG Chem, GM deal ups ante in EV battery competition The Friday announcement for a joint venture between South Korean battery maker LG Chem and US carmaker General Motors has upped the ante in the global competition to secure lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, according to industry sources on Sunday. The 2.7 trillion won ($2.3 billion) joint venture for an EV battery factory with production capacity of over 30 gigawatt hours per year in Lordstown, Ohio, was clinched amid GM’s ongoing transition from combustion engine cars to electr Dec 8, 2019 Industry 5G smartphones to boost revenue for Samsung Display Samsung Display faces new opportunities for sales growth as the growing demand for fifth-generation smartphones is expected to drive up sales of the firm’s small and medium-sized OLED panels, industry watchers said Sunday.OLED panels, a key component of large-screen smartphones, are seeing increased demand with the rise in consumption of high-definition video and game content among handset users. Global handset makers, Samsung Electronics, Apple, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, began to adopt Dec 8, 2019 Industry [Herald Interview] Electricity market competition, price hike needed for green energy expansion South Korea’s efforts to tackle environmental issues related to power generation using conventional technologies are no longer sustainable, and the only way forward -- apart from expanding renewable energy -- is to allow private operators in the sector which is now controlled by state firms, according to Korea Energy Economics Institute President Cho Yong-sung.“Korea should now ponder whether its energy market needs to embrace a free market mechanism in a new era driven by renewable Dec 8, 2019 Finance Foreign investors’ bond holdings hit 6-month low Foreign investors in South Korea continued to recoup investments from the local bond market for three consecutive months, dragging the amount of locally listed bonds they held to the lowest level in six months, according to the financial regulator on Sunday. The latest data of the Financial Supervisory Service showed foreign holdings of locally listed bonds amounted to 122.3 trillion won ($103 billion) as of Wednesday, dropping from 124.77 trillion won at end-November. It also marked the lowest Dec 8, 2019 Industry KT’s epidemic prevention platform launches in Kenya Telecom KT’s disease control platform recently launched in Kenya, widening reach in the African continent.KT’s Global Epidemic Prevention Platform will be locally serviced by the nation’s biggest telecom provider Safaricom, and will be called Safari Smart, meaning “smart travel” in Swahili. KT underlined the significance of this collaboration, saying this is the first time for a Korean company to tap Kenya’s national quarantine service. Kenya is a critical hub Dec 8, 2019 Industry Hanwha’s investment in Overair gets all-clear signal for takeoff Hanwha Systems announced Sunday that its $25 million investment in US-based air taxi startup Overair has got final approval from authorities.The two companies plan to jointly develop personalized aerial vehicles following the US Committee on Foreign Investment’s greenlight. Overair, previously K4 Aeronautics, is a spinoff of Karem Aircraft -- which manufactures aerial vehicles capable of vertical takeoff and landing. It is one of the core partners of the Uber Elevate project for commercial Dec 8, 2019 Industry S. Korea's exports likely to suffer worst drop since 2009: reports South Korea is likely to see its worst annual exports performance this year since the global financial crisis, economic reports showed Sunday, due to the global trade slowdown and a slump in the semiconductor market. The value of South Korean goods exports is expected to plunge 10.2 percent on-year in 2019 on a customs clearance basis, according to Bank of Korea, the worst drop since 2009 when the country suffered 13.9 percent decline. Private economic think tanks released similar forecasts. LG MORE 15 / 67427
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