Most Popular
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Bae Doo-na shares portraying Korean identity in Hollywood's 'Rebel Moon'
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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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[From the Scene] Monks, Buddhists hail return of remains of Buddhas
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Medical schools granted enrollment quota flexibility for next year
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Yoon offers first one-on-one meeting with opposition leader next week
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France rejects opening Paris flight routes to T'way Air, deals blow to Korean Air merger
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Chinese man behind drug scam targeting teens nabbed in Cambodia
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Iran fires air defense batteries in provinces as sound of explosions heard near Isfahan
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Police find more evidence of murder-suicide in Paju hotel death case
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Korea to become global renminbi hub: HSBC Korea chief
The head of HSBC's Korean unit on Wednesday highlighted the country's prospect as a renminbi hub as the British banking giant focuses on its corporate finance business after shutting down its retail units here."We believe that given its geographical proximity to China and the importance of its economic and trade links with China, Korea can become one of the most successful renminbi centers in Asia and globally," HSBC Korea President Martin Tricaud told reporters in a news conference.Earlier this
Sept. 17, 2014
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Prosecution raids KB over IT misconduct
Prosecutors on Tuesday raided KB Kookmin Bank’s computer center in Seoul over alleged irregularities in the bank’s introduction of a new computing system, according to KB officials Tuesday.Investigators seized documents and emails sent between IT department employees and KB Financial Group CIO Kim Jae-yeol, prosecutors said.“The seized emails will help us check conversations concerning the process of switching the bank’s mainframe system,” an investigator said.The raid came after the Financial S
Sept. 16, 2014
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[Graphic News] Hyundai, Kia came in third in global sales
Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, the nation’s two largest auto companies, came in third among car manufacturers worldwide in reliance on global sales, according to Japanese automobile research firm Fourin on Sunday. Overseas orders of Hyundai and Kia cars in 78 countries accounted for 84.8 percent of their total sales, taking third place among global auto companies, behind Volkswagen (86.8 percent) and Nissan (85.2 percent). The overseas sales for BMW (84.7 percent), Renault (82.3 percent), Honda (
IndustrySept. 16, 2014
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KEPCO to wrap up bidding for main office property
South Korea’s state-run power provider Korea Electric Power Corp. said Tuesday that it will wrap up the bidding process for its main office property in southern Seoul this week and announce the new owner of the prime piece of real estate estimated to be worth over 3.33 trillion won ($3.22 billion).KEPCO said bids will be accepted until 4 p.m. Wednesday, with the winner to be announced at 10 a.m. the following day. It said the party that submits the highest bidding price will be selected.The land
IndustrySept. 16, 2014
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LG to roll out its first flip-style smartphone
LG Electronics, South Korea’s No. 2 maker of handsets, provided a teaser Tuesday of what looks to be its first flip-style smartphone. LG’s website showed a dim image of a flip-style handset dubbed the “LG Wine Smart.” If released, the Wine lineup will become the oldest existing handset brand in South Korea.First launched in 2007, LG’s Wine series has been one of the key brands in the local handset market. The latest model, Wine Phone 5, came out in April 2012 and ran on the second-generation net
TechnologySept. 16, 2014
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Samsung chairman loses W1tr on sickbed
Samsung Group’s de-facto head Lee Kun-hee, who has been hospitalized due to a heart attack since May, saw the value of his share holdings in the conglomerate plunge 7.19 percent from four months earlier, data showed Tuesday, with the decline led by Samsung Electronics’ lackluster performance.Lee’s holdings came to 10.6 trillion won ($10.2 billion) as of Friday, compared to the 11.5 trillion won posted on May 31, the data compiled by market tracker FnGuide showed. Along with smaller shares in oth
TechnologySept. 16, 2014
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Galleria signs partnership deal with N.Y.’s Bergdorf Goodman
The Galleria, one of the poshest department stores in southern Seoul, signed a partnership agreement with the New York-based store Bergdorf Goodman on Monday, in an attempt to attract more foreign customers and expand its brand globally. It said the tie-up is a starting point for the retail store to “build its brand on the global stage and forge a foothold for extensive alliances with other world-class department stores.” The Galleria was the second-most visited department store for foreign shop
IndustrySept. 16, 2014
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Conglomerate hiring to remain steady in 2014
Many South Korean conglomerates will likely add the same number of employees or boost their hiring slightly in 2014 compared to the year before, a poll carried out by the lobbying group of large businesses showed Tuesday. According to the Federation of Korean Industries survey carried out on the top 300 large businesses in terms of sales, 52.9 percent said they will hire the same number of workers as in 2013, with 15.1 percent saying they will increase hiring.It said while 68 percent of companie
IndustrySept. 16, 2014
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Economic slowdown caused by complex structural problems
South Korea’s current economic slowdown is not a “temporary” phenomenon affected by cyclical factors but by complicated structural problems, the finance minister said Tuesday, worrying that the economy might take the road of Japan’s lost decades “if we do not respond in a timely manner.” Meeting with foreign journalists to explain Seoul’s economic policy measures that his team has taken since mid-July, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan reaffirmed that the government will implement expansionary ma
Sept. 16, 2014
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OB to invest W120b on quality improvement
South Korea’s top beer manufacturer Oriental Brewery said it would make product quality its top priority and invest 120 billion won ($115.8 million) to improve its quality control process.It also offered an apology for the unconventional smell detected in its best-selling beer Cass, which was recently found to have an oxidized odor caused during the distribution and storage process.“All business strategies will be meaningless unless they are backed by product quality,” said CEO Chang In-soo in a
IndustrySept. 16, 2014
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Korea to establish pilot vehicle energy-saving system
The South Korean government is planning to adopt a pilot system called Vehicle-to-Grid, allowing plug-in electric vehicle owners to sell electricity saved in their car batteries to Korea Electric Power Corp. by the end of this year. EV drivers will also be able to sell electricity from their energy storage systems to KEPCO by delivering it into the grid, and trade it via KEPCO’s power exchange market, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday.“The new energy industr President Park
Sept. 16, 2014
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BOK governor cautions against weakening yen
The chief of South Korea’s central bank on Tuesday raised worries that a weakening yen may hurt local exporters, reiterating the currency issue that he addressed earlier this month.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol told lawmakers that additional easing by central banks in the European Union and Japan may add further pressure on the won-yen exchange rate, eroding the competitiveness of exporters.“Despite the weakening yen, there have not yet been many difficulties (for Korean firms). The weakening yen has boo
Sept. 16, 2014
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Q3 corporate earnings outlook slashed
South Korean companies are expected to report weaker-than-expected earnings for the third quarter as Samsung Electronics, which wields enormous sway over the country’s overall corporate earnings chart, is likely to suffer another earnings shock and low oil prices hurt local refiners’ bottom lines, the latest data showed Tuesday.The operating profit estimate for 173 listed companies was reduced by 3.7 percent for the July-September period to 30.77 trillion won ($29.65 billion) as of Friday from a
IndustrySept. 16, 2014
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S. Korea's economic slowdown caused by complex, structural problems: minister
South Korea's current economic slowdown is not a "temporary" phenomenon affected by cyclical factors but by more complicated and structural problems, the finance minister said Tuesday, worrying that the economy might take the road of Japan's lost decades "if not responding in a timely manner."Meeting with foreign journalists to explain Seoul's economic policy measures that his economic team has taken since mid-July, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan reaffirmed that the government will implement e
Sept. 16, 2014
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Prosecutors raid Kookmin Bank over computer system change
Prosecutors searched the computer center of South Korea's No. 2 lender Kookmin Bank on Tuesday as part of a probe into suspicions surrounding the bank's introduction of a new computer system, prosecution sources said.During the raid on the computer center in western Seoul, prosecution investigators secured company e-mails exchanged among employees in charge of the mainframe system change, according to the sources."We secured e-mails on a limited basis to know what opinions had been exchanged ins
Sept. 16, 2014
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KB board pressures chairman to quit
KB Financial Group’s board on Monday urged its chairman Lim Young-rok to voluntarily resign following the financial regulator’s decision to suspend the KB chief last week.During a two-hour board meeting, a majority of KB Financial’s directors agreed that Lim’s resignation would be inevitable for the group’s stability, a KB spokesman said in an emailed statement. If Lim does not quit voluntarily, the chairman would likely be dismissed during the board’s meeting Wednesday, KB officials said.KB cha
Sept. 15, 2014
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[Graphic News] Chaebol-owned land 62 times the size of Yeouido
The total amount of land owned by South Korea’s top 10 conglomerates has reached 62 times the total area of Yeouido.According to a survey conducted by chaebul.com, 92 listed companies affiliated with the nation’s top 10 conglomerates owned 181.2 square kilometers of land as of the end of last year.The amount was up 7.2 percent from 2008.Also, the land value rose 35.8 percent, from 45.7 billion won ($44 billion) to 62 billion won during the same period.Samsung Group recorded the steepest rise, fr
IndustrySept. 15, 2014
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[SUPER RICH] The art of feng shui
Feng shui can be laughed off as mere superstition in today’s highly advanced society.Still, some of the wealthiest people in South Korea believe that it helps them not only find peace and fortune, but also intentionally select the best land so that they and their ancestors can feel the qi, or energy.Coincidence or not, many superrich attempt to practice good feng shui. Tens of thousands of people wanting to feel good qi make pilgrimages to the birthplaces of conglomerate founders, while some sup
IndustrySept. 15, 2014
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[SUPER RICH] Daegu tends grave of SoftBank founder’s kin
Gang Dae-sik, head of the Dong-gu District Office in Daegu, on Aug. 31 made a special but familiar trip to nearby Mount Palgongsan. It was the week before Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, a time when Koreans visit the old tombs of their ancestors to pull out the weeds and trim the grass. But the person buried in the tomb Gang and his colleagues tended to was neither a relative nor an acquaintance. The tomb belongs to a member of the Son family, who came from a small village nearby. About 15 peop
IndustrySept. 15, 2014
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Hyundai Heavy names new CEO
Hyundai Heavy Industries named on Monday Kwon Oh-gap, the chief executive of local oil refiner Hyundai Oilbank, as its new CEO amid lackluster earnings and labor disputes. “The appointment reflects our will to overcome the crisis the company is facing and to make a new leap,” the company said in a statement. The company’s decision came after it posted the worst performance in its history ― an operating loss of 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) in the second quarter of this year.Hyundai Heavy Industr
IndustrySept. 15, 2014