September 29, 2022

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EDITOR'S PICKS

• Markets 
  

  Recession fears raise concerns on shaky Kospi

  South Korea’s benchmark Kospi tumbled to a fresh intraday low Tuesday in 26 months, led by a sell-off by foreign investors pricing in a sharp US downturn prompted by tighter policy to corral inflation. The index pared the losses later the day, adding 2.92 points or 0.13 percent to 2,223.86. In the afternoon, the main board slid to an intraday low of 2,197.90, the lowest level since July 24, 2020, when it reached 2,195.49. Institutional investors purchased net 245 billion won ($171 millio

• Markets 
  

  Thailand's Line Man Wongnai snaps ups $265m in funding

  Global messaging app provider Line Corp. said Tuesday that Line Man Wongnai, its delivery platform operated in Thailand, has raised $265 million in a funding round led by Line Corp. and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC.Other investors in the Series B funding include BRV Capital Management, PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Co., Bualuang Ventures and Taiwan Mobile.With the new investment, Line Man Wongnai's value topped $1 billion, becoming Thailand's largest tech startup unicorn.The fundi

• Markets 
  

  [Herald Design Forum 2022] Former Jaguar designer urges to transform in thinking of cars

  Ian Callum, the man behind the British carmaker Jaguar’s renaissance in recent decades, urged designers to transform the way they interpret transportation as a mere object for mobility, saying that the world that is rapidly changing and facing an array of problems that didn't exist before. “Design creates order out of chaos, but chaos is often required as a prerequisite to being creative,” he said, adding that designers today must come with ideas that not only reflect human e

• Markets 
  

  [Herald Design Forum 2022] From mobility to personal space, vehicle function continues to evolve

  The key function of a car will continue to evolve from being a means of transportation to a personalized living space, said Yoon Il-hun, vice president of HMC Genesis Design Group at the Herald Design Forum 2022 held on Tuesday in Seoul. “As a car becomes a space for living, the purpose of a car will evolve infinitely without boundaries," said Yoon. "This is where we are seeing growing needs from our consumers, and we are focusing on such a key design pillar — the beauty o

• Markets 
  

  Korea to rank 12th among G-20 nations in 2022 growth: OECD

  SEJONG -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast Monday that South Korea will rank 12th among members of the Group of 20 for 2022 gross domestic product growth, hinting that the nation will see weakened momentum for economic growth. In its Interim Economic Outlook, the France-based OECD predicted that Korea will post a 2.8 percent growth this year. This is lower than the organization’s forecast for other G-20 members, including 4.1 percent growth in Australia,

• Markets 
  

  Mirae Asset backs out of W4.1tr IFC deal

  South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments is pulling out of a 4.1 trillion won ($2.86 billion) deal to acquire IFC Seoul, a landmark complex in Yeouido, western Seoul, from Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management, industry sources said Monday. In May, Mirae Asset was picked as the preferred bidder to acquire the IFC Complex, which consists of three office towers, after fierce competition with a consortium led by retail giant Shinsegae Group. “Mirae Asset has filed a dispute s

• Markets 
  

  Korea nears fresh currency crisis but officials downplay concerns

  Fears are growing that the South Korean won could continue to lose its value against the US dollar close to the level it suffered during the 2008 global financial crisis, but authorities have dismissed speculation over a repeat of such nightmare, saying the currency reserves are strong enough to fight dollar shortages. The dominant dollar, prompted by aggressive US policy tightening to corral inflation, is draining the country’s dollar reserves as it does other countries’, but a de

• Markets 
  

  Startups after pandemic: Winners and losers

  Over the last few years, pandemic-triggered market volatility has provided great business opportunities for South Korean startups. But in the face of a deteriorating market outlook driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and inflation, only a handful of startups with strong business portfolios could keep their title as “the next unicorn” with a corporate value of some $1 billion or more. RSquare, a commercial real estate platform, said its sales had surged on-year by 61 percent to