Most Popular
-
1
Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
-
2
New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
-
3
Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
-
4
[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
-
5
Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
-
6
Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
-
7
Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
-
8
[Music in drama] An ode to childhood trauma
-
9
NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
-
10
'The Roundup: Punishment' becomes fastest 2024 film to top 2 mln admissions
-
Industry underdogs rise amid continued slump
Hit hard by the prolonged economic slump at home and abroad and the depreciating Japanese yen, many of the nation’s major companies suffered a sharp fall in sales or operating profits during the first quarter of this year. Particularly, massive losses recorded by some leading builders sent shockwaves through the nation.While the frontrunners continued to struggle, however, an expected surprise came from those that usually lagged behind, many of which outran their dominant rivals.The steel indust
IndustryMay 14, 2013
-
S. Korea ranks 3rd in number of secure Internet servers
South Korea took the third spot among 143 countries in terms of the number of secure Internet servers in 2011, the country's ministry in charge of IT and science said Tuesday.The country had 2,496 secure Internet servers per million people in 2011, the third-largest after Iceland and the Netherlands, the Ministry of ICT, Science and Future Planning said, citing data compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF).Secure Internet servers are servers using encryption technology in Internet transactions
TechnologyMay 14, 2013
-
Korea’s travel account deficit highest since 2011
Korea saw its travel account deficit surge to its highest in seven fiscal quarters in the months between January and March this year due to the rapid depreciation of the Japanese yen, according to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday.The shortfall reached some $2 billion in the first quarter, the highest since the second quarter of 2011 when the travel deficit under the services account in the balance of payments hit almost $2.26 billion.This is primarily due to the increasing number of Koreans travelin
May 14, 2013
-
Seoul shares up 0.86 pct in late-morning trade
South Korean stocks traded 0.86 percent higher late Tuesday morning, as blue-chip domestic shares led the gains in resistance to the weakening yen, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) soared 16.76 points to 1,965.46 as of 11:20 a.m. State-run electricity provider Korea Electric Power jumped 1.5 percent and smallest mobile carrier LG Uplus hiked 2.5 percent. But financial issues fell, with No. 3 banking firm Hana Financial Group slipping 0.5 percent and Sa
May 14, 2013
-
Market share of Android-powered smartphones hits record in Q1: data
About two-thirds of smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter ran on Google Inc.'s Android platform, data showed Tuesday, further cementing its dominance over other operating systems (OS).Shipments of Android-powered smartphones totaled a record 161 million units in the January-March period, according to the data by Strategy Analytics.That translates into the Android platform powering 75.2 percent of smartphones shipped during the cited period, also a record high, the data showed.The sur
IndustryMay 14, 2013
-
Seoul shares open higher on eased currency woes
South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, as fears of a weak Japanese yen eased following a market rattle last week, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 11.70 points, or 0.6 percent to 1,960.40 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top-listed firms drove up shares, with Samsung Electronics rising 0.7 percent and auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis jumping 1.5 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,111.80 won against the U.S. dollar, down 0.1 won from Mon
May 14, 2013
-
[Graphic News] Chaebol owners dominate in dividends
The number of people in Korea who earned more than 10 billion won in dividends last year was 19, data showed. Most of them were chiefs of the nation’s top conglomerates and their family members.The data released by chaebul.com, which tracks large conglomerates and their owners, said the number had fallen from 21 in 2011 because of the global economic downturn.As expected, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee topped the list by receiving 103.37 billion won. Hong Seok-hyun, chairman of JoongAn
May 13, 2013
-
Ssangyong Motor shows new sign of recovery
PYEONGTAEK, Gyeonggi Province ― Four years ago, Kim Byung-mo, a 48-year-old factory worker at Ssangyong Motor, never imagined that his return to work could have taken so long. In 2009, when the carmaker was placed under court receivership, Ssangyong made a conditional offer to 454 factory workers to call them back once the company regained traction. The promise was finally fulfilled in January this year. The reinstated workers, after receiving job training for weeks, started their first day of d
IndustryMay 13, 2013
-
FTC seeks passage of bills on chaebol reform by June
Fair Trade Commission chairman Noh Dae-lae said Monday that the country’s antitrust agency remained steadfast in its determination to amend some of its rules and regulations governing family-run conglomerates for fairer market practices.It seeks to pass the so-called economic democratization bill at the National Assembly by the end of June to put an end to chaebol owners misusing their companies’ business plans for their own interest, the FTC chief told reporters.The measures taming chaebol incl
May 13, 2013
-
Ministry seeks to revise part of Korea-ASEAN free trade pact
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is gearing up to renegotiate the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, demanding greater tariff reductions, according to officials.The ministry will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, jointly with the Korea International Trade Association, to canvass local academic and industrial circles on the utility of the multilateral trade pact, according to officials.Its key concern is to promote trade openness for strategic export items in Vietnam and Malaysia.The c
May 13, 2013
-
Hyosung begins mass-producing Korean-developed carbon fiber
Hyosung Corp., a South Korean maker of textiles and heavy machinery, began mass-producing the country’s first indigenous carbon fiber Monday, significantly reducing the need for imports, the government said.With a ceremony marking the construction of the plant in Jeonju, some 240 kilometers southwest of Seoul, Hyosung started commercial production of carbon fiber, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Carbon fiber is an advanced material that is 10 times stronger but weighs abo
May 13, 2013
-
SK Hynix signs deal with Chongqing
SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest chip supplier, signed a deal with the Chinese city of Chongqing for chip testing and packaging, the Seoul-based company said on Monday.Under the agreement, the two sides will establish a joint corporation based on a memorandum for investment. Chongqing will be responsible for the backend processing involving mainly the testing and packaging of chips, the company said. SK Hynix appeared to believe that the investment would be mutually beneficial, with the chip
TechnologyMay 13, 2013
-
GS EPS to build Asia’s top biomass plant in Korea
GS EPS Co., a local energy firm, said Monday that it will spend 300 billion won ($269.5 million) to build Asia’s No. 1 biomass generation plant in a bid to tap deeper into the renewable power industry.The envisioned plan calls for GS EPS to construct the plant that will use a mix of agricultural byproducts to generate electricity in Dangjin, some 123 kilometers south of Seoul.In a groundbreaking ceremony held earlier in the day, the company said it plans to complete the plant by August 2015. The
TechnologyMay 13, 2013
-
LG to invest W120b in environmental safety
LG Electronics Inc., the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, said Monday that it plans to spend 120 billion won ($107.8 million) to beef up its environmental safety program, including chemical spill prevention, by 2015. LG also said it will expand the number of chemical experts and improve its fire protection system as part of the plans. The investment plan came after a highly poisonous hydrofluoric acid leak at Samsung Electronics Corporation’s main chip plant took place on Thursday in the
TechnologyMay 13, 2013
-
Relocated ministers in Sejong City faced with poor work efficiency
SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― Most official schedules of heads of government ministries and agencies relocated here have been executed outside this administrative city, data showed Monday, highlighting the still-poor work efficiency caused by the long commuting distance and lack of proper infrastructure to support daily work.Under the capital relocation plan first suggested by then presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun in 2002, the government is seeking to move dozens of its offices and public organizati
May 13, 2013
-
Rate cut may not help ease poor families’ debt burdens
A rate cut by South Korea’s central bank may not help ease low-income families’ debt-serving burdens as their debt holdings stood relatively low and income growth remained stagnant, data showed Monday.In a surprise move, the Bank of Korea on Thursday cut the benchmark seven-day repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.5 percent in a bid to support the government’s stimulus drive.BOK Gov. Kim Choong-soo said in a press conference that the rate reduction would ease debt-serving burdens for low
May 13, 2013
-
KB affiliates look overseas in social contribution efforts
KB Financial Group and its major subsidiaries have set out to strengthen their global operations of community services for 2013.The nation’s leading financial group currently serves over 400,000 corporate clients and 26 million retail customers through a network of around 1,200 branches at home and abroad.It incorporated four key categories ― youth, global, environment and senior welfare ― to fulfill corporate social responsibilities.Back in November 2011, KB Financial launched a large-scale soc
May 13, 2013
-
Food makers frown at Lotte’s copycat behavior
Choco Pie has been a legendary snack for nearly 40 years since Orion created it in 1974.The two small, round chocolate-covered layers of cake packed with marshmallow filling melted the hearts of people around the world including North Koreans after they spread in the isolated country through the inter-Korean industrial park in Gaeseong.Just four years after its launch, Orion Choco Pie met a copycat rival at home. Lotte Confectionery introduced the same snack with the same name in 1978.Orion file
IndustryMay 13, 2013
-
Samsung to spend W1.5tr on science, ICT research
Samsung Group will invest 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion) over the next 10 years on a foundation for nurturing future technologies focused on basic science, materials engineering, and information and communication technology to buttress the Park Geun-hye government’s “creative economy” drive. Scheduled to be established in June, the Samsung Research Foundation will begin with 300 billion won this year to invest 750 billion won by 2017, when another 750 billion won will be granted over the ensui
May 13, 2013
-
Samsung to set up foundation amid 'creative economy' push
Samsung Group, South Korea's No. 1 conglomerate, said Monday it plans to to establish a foundation to bolster the country's growth engine in line with the government's push to cultivate economic development.The Samsung Research Foundation, slated to open in June, will support research and development in basic science, materials engineering, and information and communication technology, the company said.The group will inject 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion) by 2022, starting with 300 billion won
IndustryMay 13, 2013