Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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Korea, Australia expand currency swap deal
South Korea and Australia renewed an existing currency swap for another three years at a size doubling the previous deal, South Korea’s central bank announced on Wednesday. The governors of the central banks -- the Bank of Korea and the Reserve Bank of Australia -- signed a deal on Wednesday to extend the current deal, which was scheduled to expire on Feb. 22, for another three years. They also agreed to double the size of the currency swap agreement to 10 billion Australian dollar
Feb. 8, 2017
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GM Korea officials, labor under fire for selling jobs
Executives and unionized workers at GM Korea, a local subsidiary of General Motors, are to face trials for allegedly receiving bribes in exchange of offering permanent jobs to contract workers.Prosecutors in Incheon, west of Seoul, on Tuesday said they have indicted five former and current senior employees at GM Korea, as well as 17 former and incumbent labor representatives. Leaders at GM Korea‘s labor union are accused to have received tens of millions of won from contract workers who wanted t
MobilityFeb. 8, 2017
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Hankook Tire, Kumho Tire expand US presence
Hankook Tire's new plant in the US state of Tennessee. (Yonhap)Hankook Tire, South Korea’s No.1 tire maker, will be hiring about 1,200 employees to work at its new plant in the US state of Tennessee, the firm said Wednesday. The tire maker has already hired some 300 workers at its new US facility, which recently began test runs.It plans to hire a total of some 1,200 workers there by October, the company spokesperson said.Meanwhile, South Korea’s second-largest tire firm Kumho Tire also completed
MobilityFeb. 8, 2017
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LG to build green corporate buildings in New Jersey
LG Electronics said Wednesday it had broken ground for new corporate buildings in New Jersey, which will serve as a foothold for LG to focus on the North American premium home appliance market. LG will invest $300 million to construct two office buildings on a plot of about 110,000 square meters by 2019. The gross area of the new buildings, 63,000 square meters, is about six times larger than LG’s current office building there and will be able to accommodate more than 1,000 employees. The South
TechnologyFeb. 8, 2017
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KDB chief rebuts criticism about its dependence on government
The head of the state-run policy bank Korea Development Bank on Wednesday vehemently defended the bank’s fiscal soundness, comparing it to that of the Export-Import Bank of Korea.His comments came amid growing criticism that state-run banks overly depend on the government’s financial support whenever their financing for indebted firms such as shippers and shipbuilders becomes difficult.“While we have received a total of 3.8 trillion won ($3.31 billion) from the government for the past decade, mo
Feb. 8, 2017
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Construction firms' domestic orders hit record high in 2016
South Korean construction companies racked up a record in domestic orders last year, aided by a boom in the local property market, offsetting a slump in overseas projects, industry data showed on Wednesday.According to the data compiled by the Construction Association of Korea, local builders received a record 164.9 trillion won ($143.7 billion) last year, rising 4.4 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap)Of the orders tallied, they bagged 117.47 trillion won worth from the private sector and 47.4
IndustryFeb. 8, 2017
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Samsung Pay launched in Thailand
Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that its mobile-payment service, Samsung Pay, was officially launched in Thailand.The official launch in Thailand is the latest move by Samsung to expand the mobile-payment service globally. (Yonhap)The company has launched Samsung Pay in the United States, China, Spain, Australia, Singapore and Brazil. "We hope that Samsung Pay will play a big role in transforming Thailand in line with its national e-payment strategy," said Wichai Pornpratang, vice presid
Feb. 8, 2017
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[Photo News] Next-gen media artist
Media artist Kim Hyung-kyu (center), the winner of Hyundai Motor’s VH Award this year, poses for a photo with (from left) judges Amy Heibel, curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Han Seong-kwon, president of the HRD Center of Hyundai Motor Group, Martin Honzik, director of Ars Electronica in Austria, and Bae Myung-ji, curator of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Kim won the award for his “Hear the Wind Across the Board” video documentary that featured 360-degree pano
IndustryFeb. 8, 2017
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Hyundai, Kia win four iF awards
Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors have won four awards from the annual International Forum Design Award, one of the three major industrial design competitions, the company said Wednesday.Kia’s Niro, Rio, and K5 sports wagon, and i30 of Hyundai Motor were named as winners in the automobiles and vehicle section of the iF Award. Organized by the Hanover-based International Forum Design, the award recognizes products for their overall design, originality, and their thoughts on the envi
MobilityFeb. 8, 2017
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Fashion rental services offer quality for consumers with tight budgets
Office worker Kim Ji-young recently attended a friend’s wedding wearing a rented dress. “I rarely have occasions to dress up, and I didn’t see the need to spend a lot of money on buying something I would probably only wear once or twice,” she said. “I have some dresses I bought before hanging in my closet, and every time I’m cleaning out my closet those are the first items I want to throw out because they just take up space. I don’t want to buy more.”Kim is not alone. As consumers pay more atten
IndustryFeb. 8, 2017
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LG Display likely to produce world’s first 65-inch OLED panels
LG Display is reviewing building the world’s first 10th-generation OLED assembly line in Paju, the tech firm said Wednesday. If the plan is finalized, the 10th-generation assembly line -- which is optimized for 65-inch (165 centimeters) television panels -- will be producing the world’s first and largest organic light-emitting diode panels. Currently, LG’s 55-inch (140 centimeters) panels from the 8.5-generation assembly line are the biggest such panels. Since the end of 2015, LG Display has bee
TechnologyFeb. 8, 2017
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Woori Bank's Q4 net down 29% on one-off costs
Woori Bank, a South Korean lender, said Wednesday it has posted a 29-percent on-year decline in net profit for the fourth quarter due to increased one-off costs.Net profit fell to 155.4 billion won ($135 million) in the October-December period on a consolidated basis, compared to 219.2 billion won a year earlier, the lender said in a statement. (Yonhap)The net result was affected by severance payments worth 86 billion won and bonuses valued at 84 billion won in the last quarter, it said. Still,
Feb. 8, 2017
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Shinhan Financial 2016 net rises to W2.7tr
Major banking group Shinhan Financial Group said Wednesday its net profit jumped more than 17 percent on-year in 2016, led by an improvement in the earnings of flagship subsidiary Shinhan Bank.Net profit rose 17.2 percent to 2.77 trillion won ($2.35 billion) last year, the third consecutive year for the group to post more than 2 trillion won in net income. It also marks Shinhan's second-biggest earnings in its history after 3.1 trillion won recorded in 2011. The corporate logo of Shinhan Financi
Feb. 8, 2017
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Hanmi posts steep profit drop in 2016 due to reduced licensing deals
After a difficult year of terminated or reduced licensing deals, South Korean drugmaker Hanmi Pharmaceutical said Tuesday that it logged an operating profit of 26.8 billion won ($23.39 million) in 2016, down 87 percent from the previous year. Its net profit also plunged 81 percent on-year to 30.3 billion won while its revenue fell 33 percent on-year to 882.7 billion won.Hanmi endured a tough year in 2016 as it had to return payments for new drugs that it had licensed out to global partners, incl
IndustryFeb. 8, 2017
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[Newsmaker] Kakao forms new subsidiary dedicated to AI development
Kakao, operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has formed a new subsidiary dedicated to developing artificial intelligence technologies in a move to ramp up its capabilities in future technologies.The Korean mobile giant said Wednesday that it officially founded a new subsidiary focusing on AI technology research and development, named “Kakao Brain,” on Feb. 1. Kakao founder and chairman Kim Beom-suKakao Brain will be directed by Kakao founder and chairman Kim Beom-su, who will
TechnologyFeb. 8, 2017
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Govt. seeks to foster trust business
South Korea's financial authorities said Wednesday they have started full-scale efforts to promote the trust business with the launch of an inter-agency task force.The team is tasked with laying the groundwork for drafting a related bill and will include officials from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Justice and the Financial Services Commission. Kim Yong-beom, head of the Financial Services Commission's secretariat, speaks to reporters in this undated file photo. (Yonhap)"
Feb. 8, 2017
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Korea's money supply up 7.5% in December
The money supply in South Korea jumped 7.5 percent in December from a year earlier, the central bank said Wednesday.The nation's "M2" totaled 2,405.8 trillion won ($2.1 trillion) in December, compared with 2,241.5 trillion won a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. (Yonhap)Month-on-month, the money supply was up 0.03 percent from November, the statement said.M2 is a measure of the money supply counting the currency in circulation, including bank debentures and deposits with a mat
Feb. 8, 2017
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Regulator vows more financial support for youth in need
South Korea's top financial regulator said Wednesday the government will offer "tailored" financial support for the youth in need, as a growing number of college graduates struggle to get jobs."Financial support for college students and other young people is one of the top priorities in this year's policy on low-income brackets," Yim Jong-yong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said. "(The government) will expand timely and tailored support so that they can concentrate on studying a
Feb. 8, 2017
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10 Hanjin Shipping vessels up for sale
The state-run Korea Development Bank, the main creditor of the near bankrupt Hanjin Shipping Co., has put 10 vessels of the shipping line up for sale, to retrieve part of its extended loans, industry sources said Wednesday.According to the sources, potential buyers are required to submit their bids for the ships -- two container ships and eight bulk carriers -- by Feb. 21. (Yonhap)Hanjin Shipping returned its ships purchased with bank loans to the respective lender last year as the ocean carrier
IndustryFeb. 8, 2017
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Families of chaebol heads enjoy fast track
Members of families that control South Korea's corporate titans are on the fast track as they usually get promoted to the executive level in less than five years after entering the company, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.Announcing a survey on 208 members of families controlling the top 50 business groups, CEO Score said it took an average of 4.9 years for them to get promoted to executive-level positions after admission. In contrast, it took an average of 24 years for ordinary employees of
IndustryFeb. 8, 2017