Most Popular
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Defense chiefs of US, Australia, Japan decry NK-Russia military cooperation
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NYSE suffers outage as US stocks slump
NEW YORK -- The New York Stock Exchange halted trading Wednesday for more than three hours due to technical problems that it said were not caused by hacking.The outage was due to "an internal technical issue" and "was not the result of a cyber breach," NYSE said on Twitter. "We chose to suspend trading on NYSE to avoid problems arising from our technical issue."Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the close of the day after trading was paused for nearly four hours due to a
July 9, 2015
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Korea cuts growth outlook to 2.8%
The Bank of Korea on Thursday revised its outlook on the nation’s gross domestic product growth down to 2.8 percent from its earlier forecast of 3.1 percent, citing weaker-than-expected consumer sentiment due to the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in May and June and an ongoing export slump. This is the second downgrade of the year, three months after the central bank cut the 3.4 percent outlook to 3.1 percent in April due to the weak Japanese yen versus the Korean currency and inte
July 9, 2015
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State, firms offer W110tr stimulus
The government plans to inject about 110 trillion won ($97 billion) into export-oriented sectors in cooperation with conglomerates in a joint bid to boost the economy by revitalizing the troubled exports sector.The state-led support scheme was unveiled during the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s policy briefing on how to bolster exporters’ competitiveness to President Park Geun-hye at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday.While the funding plan reflected the undermined corporate sentiment in the wak
July 9, 2015
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SK hynix to roll out new UFS smartphone memory
SK hynix, South Korea’s leading chip maker, said Thursday it would start rolling out its first ultrafast Universal Flash Storage, or UFS chips, in its recent push for the soaring mobile device market this year. The company said talks were already ongoing with global handset makers to supply its 64-gigabyte embedded memory based on the UFS 2.0, which is the next-generation NAND flash-based memory standard. The company currently provides NAND flash chips for Apple’s iPhone 6. SK hynix said its UFS
TechnologyJuly 9, 2015
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Homeplus workers slam ‘secretive’ takeover
Unionized workers at Homeplus, owned by the U.K.’s Tesco, Thursday urged the company to ensure a transparent takeover for the nation’s second-largest supermarket chain and guarantee that the sell-off will not result in job losses. “Tesco is pushing a secretive acquisition deal with foreign private equity firms, which sparks concerns on possible massive restructuring and job losses,” a union member said during a press conference held at the headquarters of Homeplus in Seoul. The move comes after
IndustryJuly 9, 2015
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YG‘s Moonshot not just a showbiz spin-off
Min Boon-hong, director at Code Cosme, operator of beauty brand Moonshot, poses during an interview with The Korea Herald last week. (Chung Hee-cho/The Korea Herald)When YG Entertainment, the cradle of K-pop stars Big Bang, 2NE1, Psy and many others, attracted $80 million in investment from the global luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton last year, it had the entertainment industry wondering what would become of the company. And the very first tangible project was introduced in October
IndustryJuly 9, 2015
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Lotte compares staff to ‘cows’
Lotte Group, South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, has come under fire after disclosing a poster featuring cows symbolizing employees, initially designed to encourage workers. The poster, which was put up in March, shows “seonbi” asking a farmer which of his two cows is a harder worker, and the farmer replies “they are both my precious cows.” Lotte Group’s in-house campaign poster.A “seonbi” is a word used to refer to scholars during the Joseon dynasty, and the poster is a depiction of an an
IndustryJuly 9, 2015
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Seoul shares rebound on eased China woes
South Korean stocks bounced back from days of losses Thursday as investors got a boost from a jump in China's main index, analysts said. The local currency gained ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 11.6 points, or 0.58 percent, to close at 2,027,81, snapping a four-session losing streak. Trading volume was heavy at 401.8 million shares worth 6.99 trillion won ($6.17 billion), with losers beating gainers 486 to 327.The Shanghai Composite Index ju
July 9, 2015
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[Graphic News] Korean population to begin to fall in 2030
South Korea saw its proportion of young people to the total population sink to an all-time low this year due to the effect of low birthrates, data showed Wednesday.According to Statistics Korea, the number of people under age 14 made up 13.9 percent of the total population.It is lower than 14.3 percent recorded in 2014 and 21.1 percent in 2000, making it the lowest-ever figure.Korea’s fertility rate, or the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime, stood at 1.21
IndustryJuly 9, 2015
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[Photo News] KT's new R&D center
KT’S NEW R&D CENTER – Mobile carrier KT’s chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu (second from right) joins top executives at the launch of the firm’s 5G R&D Center, which will serve as a test bed for 5G network technology, in Seoul, Thursday. KT KT’S NEW R&D CENTER – Mobile carrier KT’s chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu (second from right) joins top executives at the launch of the firm’s 5G R&D Center, which will serve as a test bed for 5G network technology, in Seoul, Thursday. KT
TechnologyJuly 9, 2015
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[Photo News] LG G4 beat launched in global markets
LG G4 BEAT LAUNCHED IN GLOBAL MARKETS -- South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said Thursday that it would release its mid-range smartphone, the G4 Beat, in global markets starting from Brazil to other nations in Europe and Asia this month. LGE LG G4 BEAT LAUNCHED IN GLOBAL MARKETS -- South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said Thursday that it would release its mid-range smartphone, the G4 Beat, in global markets starting from Brazil to other nations in Europe and Asia this month. LGE
TechnologyJuly 9, 2015
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Samsung heir Lee meets Dutch pension fund exec
Top executives of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group ramped up their efforts to garner support from investors for a proposed merger deal between its two affiliates -- Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries -- ahead of a shareholder vote next week. The group’s latest move was a meeting on Wednesday between Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jay-yong and Park Yoo-kyung, an investment adviser at Dutch pension-fund manager APG Asset Management, which owns a 0.3 percent stake in the conglomer
TechnologyJuly 9, 2015
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Park calls for all policy tools to spur investment
President Park Geun-hye told officials on Thursday to mobilize all policy tools available to try to encourage South Korean business leaders to boost investment.She said policy tools include an 11.8 trillion won ($10.49 billion) extra budget bill, which is part of a 22 trillion won stimulus package designed to revive the faltering economy.The National Assembly has yet to approve the bill.She said increased investment and restoration of consumer confidence is the key to getting out of the tough ec
July 9, 2015
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BOK cuts 2015 growth outlook to 2.8 pct
South Korea's central bank on Thursday lowered its growth forecast for this year, the second downgrade in three months, citing the fallout from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak and sagging exports.The Bank of Korea cut its 2015 growth estimate to 2.8 percent from 3.1 percent in its latest economic update released every three months. In April, the BOK lowered the outlook to 3.1 percent from 3.4 percent.The central bank estimated the first-half growth at 2.4 percent, with private spen
July 9, 2015
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Mother’s corn looks to global market with corn-based tableware
Mother’s Corn (www.motherscornworld.com) is an eco-friendly baby tableware brand whose products are made of corn instead of plastic, serving parents’ needs of looking after their children’s health.Kim Mi-jin, CEO of Mother’s Corn, started the company in 2011, and has now set up a multilingual website with help from Korea’s e-commerce solution provider cafe24 (www.cafe24.com). Screenshot of Mother‘s Corn international website (cafe24)The brand has raised its awareness in over 10 countries such as
IndustryJuly 9, 2015
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Gov't unveils steps to spur investment
The government announced a package of measures Thursday to boost investment amid concerns domestic demand could slip into the doldrums due to slumping exports and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak.The measures, which aim to spur more than 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion) of investments in tourism, venture and construction sectors, come after the government recently cut this year's growth target to 3.1 percent from 3.8 percent in the face of tough domestic and external challenges. "The g
July 9, 2015
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BOK holds key interest rate steady at record low
South Korea's central bank left the key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 1.5 percent Thursday in an apparent bid to prevent the fallout from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak from hurting the economy.The July decision is in line with a poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, in which all 17 analysts and economists projected the BOK would freeze the key rate to monitor the impact of previous rate cuts and ease household debt risks.Last month, th
July 9, 2015
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Four major banks' Q2 net likely plunge 33 pct: report
South Korea's four major banking groups are likely to see their second-quarter net profit plunge more than 33 percent due mainly to a drop in interest income stemming from a low rate trend, a report showed Thursday.The combined net profit of Shinhan Financial Group Co., KB Financial Group Inc., Hana Financial Group Inc. and Woori Bank is expected to reach 1.2 trillion won ($1.06 billion) for the April-July period, compared to 1.9 trillion won the previous quarter, according to the report release
July 9, 2015
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FSC to slash private loan interest rates
The regulator plans to slash the maximum interest rate that nonbanking lenders can charge. The Financial Services Commission recently investigated several private lenders, to find that their borrowing rate policies were all high, and did not reflect the central bank’s recent rate cuts. On June 11, the Bank of Korea lowered the base interest rate to a record low of 1.5 percent, following the economic losses due to the outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome and weak yen. This was the fou
July 8, 2015
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[Start-up Seoul] Start-up aims to disrupt blood testing market
Start-up Seoul is a series featuring players in Korea’s emerging tech start-up scene. This is the second installment. ― Ed.Disease diagnosis markets around the world are broken, claims one new local start-up that aims to equalize health care globally, starting with a drop of blood.On top of high costs and several days’ lag to get results from a hospital for a blood test, the markets to diagnose different diseases like diabetes and high cholesterol are monopolized and segmented, causing a massive
TechnologyJuly 8, 2015