The Korea Herald

Card issuers expected to reap huge profits from loan services

Oct 18, 2011

South Korean credit card firms are expected to rake in huge profits this year from their loan services as more cardholders take out cash advances on their credit cards amid tightened lending regulations, industry sources said Tuesday. Credit card companies posted a combined profit of 679 billion won ($592 million) from their loan business in the first half of the year, compared with a profit of ...
Samsung Fire expands sales in China

Oct 18, 2011

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, which holds about 30 percent of the Korean non-life insurance market, has been active in tapping the Chinese market over the past few years. The advancement into China is part of the insurer’s globalization strategy. The initiative was taken by CEO Chi Dae-sup, who took office in 2008 armed with a stern determination to make inroads into overseas markets. He sa...
Hana pushes to cut KEB price

Oct 18, 2011

Chairman Kim Seung-yu visits U.S. to woo investors Hana Financial Group is expected to launch actions to placate opponents of the group’s planned takeover of Korea Exchange Bank from Lone Star Funds. Hana spokespeople said the move will come after the Financial Services Commission orders Lone Star, convicted of stock manipulation, to sell a large portion of stake in KEB. The financial group wi...
GS Caltex strives to achieve shared growth

IndustryOct 18, 2011

Korea’s No. 2 refiner scales up cash payments, low-interest loans and technical training for suppliers GS Caltex, the country’s second-largest oil refiner, is stepping up efforts to support its small vendors and suppliers as it strives to create a level playing field in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Co-prosperity has been a keyword for corporate management over the past year as the government ...
Hanwha Group to plant forest in Mongolia

IndustryOct 18, 2011

Hanwha Group, which is developing solar power as a future growth engine, is lending a helping hand to the fight against desertification. The Korean conglomerate, which sponsored the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification meeting in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province in October, is conducting a tree planting project in the Tujiin Nars in Mongolia. The project is being carried out i...
Hanwha looks to solar power to fuel growth

IndustryOct 18, 2011

Conglomerate is working on additional production facility for solar power equipment in China Hanwha Group’s vertical integration of its solar power businesses is nearing completion as it seeks to take on the growing global market for solar energy and develop the business into a growth engine for the future. On April 11, Hanwha Chemical Corp.’s board of directors approved the plans to build a po...
RIM tries to soothe angry customers

World BusinessOct 18, 2011

TORONTO (AP) ― The maker of the struggling BlackBerry tried to soothe tens of millions of frustrated customers Monday, offering more than $100 worth of free software to each one and giving some a month of technical support as compensation for last week’s massive outage. But some BlackBerry users and experts cast doubt on whether the freebies from Research In Motion would be enough to keep people...
U.S. industrial output rises on demand for cars, computers

World BusinessOct 18, 2011

Industrial production in the U.S. advanced in September on growing demand for automobiles and computers after stalling the prior month, a sign manufacturers are contributing to growth. Output at factories, mines and utilities increased 0.2 percent, in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey, after being little changed in August, figures from the Federal Reserve showed Monday. Fa...
Germany dampens expectations

World BusinessOct 18, 2011

German finance minister says no euro debt solution this weekend Berlin dampened expectations Monday that an upcoming EU summit will finally provide a solution to the eurozone debt crisis, amid warnings that market instability is damaging the real economy. Financial markets and the euro both rallied early Monday on optimism that European Union leaders were set to hammer out a final deal to rescu...
HUFS cherishes memory of devoted president

Social affairsOct 18, 2011

As the fifth Social Affairs Minister under the first South Korean President Syngman Rhee from 1952-1955, he played an important role in the school getting government permit for foundation and renting a school building. Park is also regarded as one of the nation’s first experts on English education for paving the way for the development of English education in Korea. He published many English tex...
Defying odds and time, centenarian runs marathon

World NewsOct 18, 2011

TORONTO (AP) ― A 100-year-old runner became the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon when he finished the race in Toronto on Sunday. Indian-born Fauja Singh earned a spot in the Guinness World Book of Records for his accomplishment. It took Singh more than eight hours to cross the finish line ― more than six hours after Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight...
Edward Kwon to bring top chefs to Seoul

PeopleOct 18, 2011

Michelin-star chefs will visit Seoul next month, invited by popular South Korean chef Edward Kwon. Kwon is hosting a charity event titled “Taste of Star Chefs” which will bring six celebrity chefs to each showcase to create a special menu using Korean ingredients. Participating chefs include Peter Rudolph, Executive Chef of Madera, the signature restaurant at Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel in Californ...
[Editorial] Success or half success?

EditorialOct 18, 2011

Two years after work started to help the four major rivers serve industries and rural life, river beds have been deepened, banks streamlined and hundreds of kilometers of bike lanes built on both sides of the waterways. To the great relief of President Lee Myung-bak and his development-minded aides, the rainy season up until September passed without major flood disasters in the Han, Nakdong, Geum...
[Editorial] Lee’s property

EditorialOct 18, 2011

President Lee must regret that he followed the advice of his aides to buy property in his son’s name to build a house for his retirement. He must feel doubly sorry that his own party showed little sympathy for him and instead regarded him as a burden in the upcoming elections. The land in Naegok-dong, Seoul, was purchased last May in a way that could invite the accusation of violating the law on...
Europe’s last stand needs overwhelming firepower

ViewpointsOct 18, 2011

Europe is heading for what could be the last stand in its two-year-old sovereign debt crisis. By the time the Group of 20 nations holds its summit in Cannes, France, on Nov. 3-4, the European Union aims to have a rescue plan sound enough to ensure the financial troubles of struggling governments don’t bring down the banking system. If Europe wants to avert a financial and economic disaster worse...