On March 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok, a Chinese video platform, from being downloaded in the United States due to security concerns. The bill was approved with an overwhelming majority of 352 votes in favor and 65 against. Europe is also engulfed in national sec
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Express announced a consumer protection policy on March 14 that offers unconditional returns and refunds within 90 days for cross-border online purchases. Additionally, it has officially launched a customer service hotline and plans to invest about 1.5 trillion won o
For the fourth consecutive month, semiconductor exports have shown double-digit growth rates, leading the charge in exports. With increases in exports across various components such as displays and computer/peripheral devices, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector as a whole is s
After the Korean government has announced a strategy to secure 33 key minerals used in high-tech industries, including lithium and graphite, by reducing its dependence on China to 50 percent by 2030, Korea’s dependence on China for some key items began to shrink in 2023.Korea’s lithium hydroxide imp
The United States targeting Chinese-made goods as part of its supply chain localization and trade war strategies is expected to affect China’s shipbuilding industry after the Chinese semiconductor industry.According to the Financial Times (FT) and other foreign media outlets, U.S. President Joe Bide
Chinese online shopping platforms AliExpress, Temu, Shine and other overseas business operators over a certain size will be required to have representatives in Korea. This new policy is aimed at making them responsible for consumer protection.Unlike AliExpress, which currently has a legal entity in
Even after surpassing the “psychological resistance level” of 100 million won, bitcoin continues its upward trend in the domestic market.In particular, a phenomenon known as the “kimchi premium” is observed, where the price of bitcoin in the domestic market is forming higher than that in the U.S. ma
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on March 12 that it appointed Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang of Hyosung as the new chairman of the Korea-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Committee on March 11.The Korea-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Committee was jointly established by the Korea Chamber
Korea and ASEAN member countries are meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 12 to assess the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and discuss measures for upgrading the agreement.The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announced that it will host the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have reportedly stopped selling their old semiconductor equipment to China. The move comes in response to the United States urging them to align with its controls on semiconductor exports to China.The Financial Times (FT) cited several industry insiders on March 12 s
South Korea’s current account remained in surplus for the ninth consecutive month thanks to strong semiconductor and automobile exports.According to provisional statistics on the balance of payments released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on March 8, the nation’s current account surplus stood at US$3.05
Four Seasons Hotel Seoul ushers in a new era of excellence with the appointment of Michael Schmid as General Manager.A pioneering multi-lingual hospitality veteran and strategic visionary, Michael is a felicitous new addition to the dynamic creativity and high-care curation of Four Seasons hospitali
The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) announced on March 10 that they held the Korea-UAE Future Technology Partnership Plaza in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for two days from March 6 to 8.The event was held to sho
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) intends to initiate an investigation into Temu and Shein, following its inquiry into AliExpress, the leading online shopping platform in China, regarding potential consumer harm.This comes as the indiscriminate onslaught of Chinese online shopping malls, levera
The government has increased the budget for cash support for foreign investment from 50 billion won (US$37.64 million) last year to 200 billion won this year, marking a fourfold increase.The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) announced that it held the 114th meeting of Foreign Investmen
The Korean government and three major Korean shipbuilders -- HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hanwha Ocean -- will invest 9 trillion won to secure future super-wide gap technologies for the Korean shipbuilding industry.The Ministry of Trade, Industry
Lotte Chemical is reportedly considering the sale of its Malaysian subsidiary Lotte Chemical Titan (LC Titan).According to industry sources on Mar. 6, Lotte Chemical is searching for potential buyers for LC Titan, including Korean and foreign petrochemical companies and large private equity funds (P
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) conducted an on-site investigation into AliExpress, the shopping platform of the Chinese Alibaba Group, which is suspected of violating consumer protection obligations.According to industry sources on March 6, the KFTC recently sent investigators to the Seoul o
STX Corporation, a global trade and development company, is expanding its presence in the Middle East by successfully completing its second transaction to Iraq through its business-to-business (B2B) platform “TrollyGo.” With a significant monthly increase in users in the Middle East region, there ar
The Korean government will launch the Top 10 Promising Markets Trade Mission, which will lead strategic market exploration to help the country achieve US$700 billion, the largest ever, in exports this year,.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on Mar. 5 that it will send the