South China Morning Post (February 24)
“South Korea is lagging behind or matching China in ‘basic competency’ in five areas of semiconductor technology, including memory chips and artificial intelligence (AI) chips, according to a report released last week by the Korea Institute of Science & Technology Evaluation and Planning.” China has now “surpassed South Korea to rank second in memory chip technologies” and “is now only behind the US in this field.” All of this comes despite “US restrictions on the country’s access to advanced chips and chipmaking technologies.”
Tags: Access, Advanced, AI, China, Chips, Competency, Lagging, Memory, Restrictions, Semiconductor technology, South Korea, Surpassed, U.S.
Bloomberg (December 4)
President Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law “sparked chaos… sending the won and South Korea-related exchange-traded funds sharply lower overnight. While extreme jitters dissipated as financial authorities swiftly vowed to provide ‘unlimited liquidity,’ damage has been done to investor perception of South Korea’s financial markets.” The episode is “a setback to the nation’s ongoing push for upgrades to developed market status in global indexes.”
Tags: Chaos, Damage, ETFs, Financial authorities, Financial markets, Global indexes, Investor perception, Jitters, Martial law, South Korea, Status, Unlimited liquidity, Won, Yoon
Wall Street Journal (September 18)
“The Federal Reserve’s rate cut Wednesday sounded the all-clear for overseas central banks that are also concerned about their domestic economic growth.” Some major central banks like the BoE and ECB, already beat the Fed in cutting rates, but “there are a number of others, including in India, South Korea and South Africa, that have held back. And the Fed’s move could encourage them to take the plunge.”
Tags: All-clear, BOE, Central banks, ECB, Economic growth, Encourage, Fed, India, Overseas, Plunge, Rate cut, South Africa, South Korea
WARC (May 3)
“Political leaders in France and the US have been publicly critical of companies for making products smaller while maintaining the existing price, but South Korea’s government is one of the first to legislate against it.” The Korea Fair Trade Commission “will now require producers that downsize products to put notices on packages, websites, or at stores for the three months following the change.”
Tags: Companies, Critical, Downsize, France, FTC, Legislate, Notices, Packages, Political leaders, Price, Products, Smaller, South Korea, Stores, U.S., Websites
Time (March 1)
“Until the 1970s, women in the most prosperous Asian economies like South Korea, Japan, and China were having more than five children on average. Today, that trend is starkly different.” And not just in Asia. Globally, “fertility rates have decreased worldwide” for seven decades. “Even in the most advanced economies, the rate is now 1.6 children per couple, compared to the recommended rate of 2.1 for countries wanting to keep a steady population without any migration.”
Tags: 1970s, Advanced economies, Asia, Asia. Fertility rates, Children, China, Japan, Migration, Population, Prosperous, South Korea, Steady, Women
Time (February 28)
“South Korea set a fresh record for the world’s lowest fertility rate as the impact of the nation’s aging demographics looms large for its medical system, social welfare provision and economic growth.” The dearth of babies is considerably “speeding up the aging of South Korean society, generating concerns about the growing fiscal burden of public pensions and health care.”
Tags: Aging, Burden, Concerns, Demographics, Economic growth, Fertility rate, Medical system, Pensions, Record, Social welfare, South Korea
Time (December 13)
“Low fertility threatens to undermine South Korea’s economic future by shrinking its workforce and slowing consumption. It also casts a long shadow over national security by reducing the pool of men available to join the military to counter threats from North Korea.” The number of expected babies per woman in South Korea is forecast to fall to 0.72 in 2023 and “will continue to fall through 2025,” when it will likely bottom out at 0.65.
Tags: Economic future, Fertility, Low, National security, North Korea, Shrinking, Slowing consumption, South Korea, Threats, Undermine, Workforce
Global Times (February 25)
Chinese shipbuilders have “won all 17 new orders for pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) worldwide in January, as domestic enterprises break Japanese and South Korean monopoly of PCTC construction thanks to the nation’s booming car exports.” January’s new orders “totaled a combined 510,000 deadweight tons with 152,000 parking spots.”
Tags: Booming, Car, Car exports, Carriers, China, January, Japan, Monopoly, New orders, Shipbuilders, South Korea, Truck, Won
Reuters (October 3)
“A revival of American high-tech manufacturing” will pose a threat to South Korea’s “trade-dependent” economy. “Thanks to strong demand for South Korean-made electric cars, batteries and auto parts, shipments to the United States jumped 16% year-on-year in September. Those exports, which totaled some $96 billion last year, now look under threat. Big shifts today will have outsized effects on South Korea’s trade position down the road.”
Tags: Auto parts, Batteries, Demand, Economy, Electric cars, Exports, High-tech, Manufacturing, Revival, Shifts, Shipments, South Korea, Threat, Trade-dependent, U.S.
Reuters (May 12)
“South Korea was the first country to launch a fifth-generation mobile network in 2019, heralding a warp-speed technological transformation to self-driving cars and smart cities. Three years on, the giddy promises are unfulfilled.” It has achieved one of the highest rates of adoption, around 45% with speed about five times faster. Until demand catches up, however, telecoms will remain unwilling “to invest in the fancier technology that would ramp speeds by 20 times over 4G technology…. To make the quantum leap to the highest-speed 5G will require the roll-out of essential services that need such fast connections.”
Tags: 5G, Adoption, Demand, Invest, Mobile network, Promises, Roll-out, Self-driving cars, Smart cities, South Korea, Speed, Technology Quantum leap, Telecoms, Transformation, Unfulfilled, Warp-speed
