Category: Korea-Business

Despite the most recent Dokdo nonsense, Korean consumers do not seem to car as they continue to buy Japanese beer:

Driven by younger consumers who focus on what they buy rather than past grievances between Korea and Japan, Korea’s imports of Japanese beer hit an all-time high of 119.2 billion won ($78.94 million) last year. The record surge suggests the 2019 ‘No Japan’ boycott has faded amid a thaw in relations and a sharp rise in tourism. 

The shift is evident at the retail level. When Sapporo Beer opened its first official outlet in Korea in Seongsu, eastern Seoul, last December, the venue was crowded with visitors. Younger consumers willingly paid 9,000 won for a glass — 30 to 60 percent higher than domestic options and nearly twice the price of some Korean beers.

“The foam is soft and the mouthfeel is different,” a woman in her 30s who visited the store with a friend said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if the government is going to reimburse these petrol stations if they are forced to sell gasoline at price that is not profitable for them:

Kim Yong-beom (L), the presidential chief of staff for policy, explains the outcome of President Lee Jae Myung’s meeting on the Middle East during a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on March 9, 2026. (Yonhap)

The government plans to take steps to implement a capping system on local fuel prices this week, a senior presidential adviser said Monday, shortly after President Lee Jae Myung called for a swift launch of the system to contain a jump in gas prices as the U.S.-led war with Iran has intensified in the Middle East. 

Kim Yong-beom, the presidential chief of staff for policy, told reporters that specific measures were discussed at a meeting with relevant mininstries to “implement the price cap system to prevent abnormal pricing of petroleum products and improve price predictability.”

If implemented, it would mark the first time since 1997 that South Korea has enforced the system, using a provision in the Petroleum Business Act that allows the industry minister to designate a maximum sales price when oil prices fluctuate sharply and threaten economic stability.

Earlier in the day, Lee told an interministerial meeting that a swift implementation of fuel price cap is needed as the price of Brent oil to surge through US$100 per barrel.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If you wondering why Google doesn’t have a robust Google Maps service in Korea, according to this article it has more to do about taxes than national security:

Yoo Ki-yoon, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Seoul National University and former director of Korea’s National Geographic Information Institute, poses at the university’s department library. (Courtesy of Yoo Ki-yoon)

For 19 years, Google has been asking South Korea for permission to take the country’s detailed 1:5000 map data overseas. For 19 years, Seoul has said no. The conventional explanation is national security: Korea is technically still at war, and precise maps in foreign hands pose a risk.

But last week, Google submitted a revised proposal that effectively undermined that narrative. It now meets virtually every security condition the government had set.

The one thing it refused to include was a plan to build a data center in Korea.

For Yoo Ki-yoon, former director of the National Geographic Information Institute, the government agency that produces Korea’s base maps, framing this as a regulatory or server location dispute misses the point.

“If the economics justify it, Google will come in, pay taxes and compete. That’s what happened in Japan recently,” Yoo, a professor of geospatial engineering at Seoul National University, said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “The reason Google hasn’t done so in Korea is not that it’s being blocked. It’s simply that the company has decided the returns don’t yet justify the cost.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This guy sounds more like a mob boss than a CEO:

The head of Joyworks&Co, the Korean distributor for running shoe brand Hoka, has stepped down after admitting to assaulting subcontracted workers. 
  
CEO Cho Sung-hwan allegedly called subcontracted employees to an abandoned church building in Seongsu-dong, eastern Seoul, where he verbally and physically assaulted them. According to reports, Cho repeatedly slapped employees while shouting, “Do you know who I am?”

He also reportedly kneed an employee in the face, with victims suffering fractured ribs, concussions and other injuries.  
  
Cho initially claimed that the subcontractors were spreading false information and that the altercation involved physical contact by both parties, but later apologized.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This is exactly the behavior Trump has been trying to create with his tariff policy. Would these automakers have increased sales of U.S. made cars and even import them to Japan without Trump’s pressure?:

Workers are seen assembling an Ioniq 5 vehicle at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Ellabell, Georgia on March 27. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Toyota’s decision to resume sales of the Camry through reimporting comes two years after halting its domestic sales and is seen as an effort to improve trade relations with the United States. Trump has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Japan’s trade surplus with the United States. 
  
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda announced a $10 billion investment plan in the United States last month and appeared at a car event wearing a red MAGA hat, signaling his continued outreach to the United States.

Honda and Nissan are also reportedly considering reimporting U.S.-built models. Honda may bring in its Ridgeline pickup truck, Passport SUV and some Acura-branded electric vehicle models, according to Japanese business daily Nikkei. Nissan is weighing reimports of its Altima midsize sedan, Murano SUV and Pathfinder SUV. 
  
For Korean carmakers, reimporting U.S.-made vehicles is less viable due to high labor costs, added logistics expenses and unfavorable currency exchange rates. Instead, they are focusing on ramping up production within the United States. 
  
Hyundai Motor Group aims to increase the local production share of vehicles sold in the U.S. market from the current 43 percent to 80 percent by 2030. It also plans to boost annual North American sales from 834,000 vehicles last year to 1.44 million by the end of the decade. 
  
In a recent interview with Automotive News, Hyundai COO Jose Muñoz said that the company’s goal is not only to raise local production to 80 percent but also to increase the share of local suppliers from 60 percent to 80 percent, outlining plans to target the midsize pickup truck, SUV and commercial vehicle segments — including electric vans and medium-duty trucks. 
  
Industry experts see Trump’s MAGA policy as a catalyst for a shift in global production strategies within the automotive sector.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The facial recognition requirement is supposed to help stop crime:

Face recognition will be mandatory when setting up a new smartphone starting Tuesday, local media reported.

Under the new rule, new users must verify their identity through facial recognition when they buy a new smartphone, whether online or in person, according to relevant authorities.

The requirement applies to the country’s three major mobile carriers, SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus, as well as low-cost mobile carriers.

Previously, users were required only to present an identification card to activate a smartphone. Under the revised system, an additional step has been added that requires users to take a photo of their face through the PASS authentication app.

The government said the measure is aimed at preventing crimes such as voice phishing and smishing that are often carried out using smartphones activated with stolen or forged identification.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

After 13 years since the sale of KEB happened it appears the Lone Star saga may finally be over:

An international arbitration body for investor–state dispute settlement has ruled in favor of South Korea in its challenge to the award for private equity fund Lone Star over its 2012 sale of a local bank, Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Tuesday.

The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)’s annulment committee has nullified the earlier decision ordering South Korea to pay Lone Star US$216.5 million in compensation plus interest, Kim said in a briefing.

“The government’s compensation liability, which was roughly 400 billion won based on the current exchange rate, has been retroactively extinguished,” Kim said. “I believe that, thanks to our people’s support, the country’s fortune is moving in a positive direction.” 

Under the latest ruling, Lone Star is required to pay South Korea’s legal costs incurred during the proceedings — about 7.3 billion won (US$4.98 million) — within 30 days, Kim added.

South Korea had appealed the ICSID’s 2022 ruling to pay the compensation to Lone Star, after the private equity fund filed a suit in 2012 claiming that the South Korean government interfered with the sale of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), incurring $4.67 billion in losses.

The presidential office said it welcomes the ruling that has now “corrected the error.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but basically Lone Star made a bunch of much money in Korea by selling the Korea Exchange Bank and then tried to take its profits outside the country.  Their sale of the KEB led to large protests which caused the government to try and stop the sale any way it can. This all happened back in 2012 and was just one of a handful of anti-U.S. issues activists were using to stoke anti-American sentiment in Korea at the time.

Here we go again with the Chinese government trying to economically bully the ROK in an effort to attack the US:

Hanwha Ocean’s five U.S. affiliates have come under Chinese government sanctions, following the Korean company’s alleged support for the U.S. government’s investigation into Chinese competitors and the resulting imposition of new port fees.

With the new fees taking effect Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said the same day that organizations and individuals within the country are banned from engaging in transactions, cooperation or any activities with Hanwha Shipping, Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Hanwha Ocean USA International, Hanwha Shipping Holdings or HS USA Holdings Corp.

Of the companies, Hanwha Philly Shipyard is a symbolic site of the shipbuilding cooperation between Korea and the U.S. President Lee Jae Myung visited the shipyard during his trip to the U.S. in August.

“Hanwha Ocean’s U.S. subsidiaries have helped and supported the U.S. government’s investigations, which endanger our country’s sovereignty, security and interests,” the Chinese ministry said in a release.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.