South Korea

South Korean prosecutors said Tuesday they have arrested the founder of technology giant Kakao Corp. for alleged stock price rigging during his company’s takeover of a major K-pop agency last year, the Associated Press reported. Kim’s arrest came after the Seoul Southern District Court approved an arrest warrant, citing concerns that he could flee or destroy evidence. Prosecutors have up to 20 days to investigate Kim and determine whether to indict him, according to a senior prosecutor at a Seoul district prosecutors’ office. He requested anonymity because an investigation was under way.

South Korea’s central bank held its base rate steady in a move that was widely anticipated but came alongside growing expectations that it could be gearing up to pivot toward policy easing in the coming months. The Bank of Korea on Thursday left its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at a 15-year high of 3.50% for a 12th straight time—the longest such streak ever.

A solar panel maker in Georgia that has booked $230 million in federal tax credits stands to collect hundreds of millions more as it pursues plans to create the first end-to-end solar manufacturing chain in the US, easing reliance on China and related concerns about the use of forced labor, Bloomberg News reported. But at least through the end of this year, the Qcells solar plant, which South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions Corp. opened in Dalton, Georgia, in 2019 and almost doubled in capacity last year, is making panels with base components from China.

Ten national university hospitals lost an estimated 1.26 trillion won ($912 million) in medical revenue from February to May, during the peak of the government-doctor conflict over the medical school enrollment quota increase, Korea Biomed reported. The situation is so dire that some insiders claim the bankruptcy crisis for national university hospitals is now a reality. Rep. Han Ji-a of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) said so after analyzing the data submitted by national university hospitals.

The Korean owners of one of Frankfurt’s best known skyscrapers failed to agree a restructuring plan for a loan tied to the building, paving the way for insolvency proceedings, Bloomberg News reported. A fund managed by IGIS Asset Management confirmed the event of default for the debt linked to Trianon tower in Germany’s financial capital.

South Korea's factory activity expanded in May at the fastest pace in two years on stronger growth in output and orders thanks to broadening global demand, a private-sector survey showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The purchasing managers index (PMI) for manufacturers in Asia's fourth-largest economy, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 51.6 in May, from 49.4 in April, on a seasonally adjusted basis. It was the highest reading since May 2022, and comes after two consecutive months below the 50-mark separating expansion from contraction.

South Korea has no plan to lift the short-selling ban until a system is developed to detect illegal trading activities, according to a senior official at the presidential office, Bloomberg News reported. The presidential office’s stance is to not resume short selling until there is a platform to root out naked short sales, the person said. Separately, the Financial Services Commission, the nation’s financial regulator, said no decision has been made regarding the ban.

South Korea’s economy grew at a stronger-than-expected pace in the first quarter on improving private consumption, construction increases and steady exports, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product in Asia’s fourth-largest economy expanded 3.4% year-over-year during the January-March period, accelerating from the previous quarter’s 2.2% growth, Bank of Korea preliminary data showed Thursday. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 1.3% for the first three months of 2024, faster than the prior quarter’s 0.6% expansion, according to the central bank.

South Korea is emerging as a closely watched weak link in the $63 trillion world of shadow banking, Bloomberg News reported. Real estate exposure has been showing cracks at home and abroad after interest rates rose, prompting financial firms including T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. to express concern about stress in shadow loans to the sector. Delinquency rates at one key group of Korean lenders nearly doubled to 6.55% last year, while economists at Citigroup Inc.

South Korea's finance minister stepped up warnings on Monday that the government is ready to act to counter any renewed volatility in currency markets after the won has extended declines against the dollar to hit the lowest in a year and a half, Reuters reported. "We will swiftly act according to contingency plans and will play any necessary role to respond to any excessive volatility in forex and other financial markets," Choi Sang-mok said at a policy meeting urgently scheduled to discuss escalating tensions in the Middle East.