Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[Music in drama] An ode to childhood trauma
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'The Roundup: Punishment' becomes fastest 2024 film to top 2 mln admissions
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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iCOOP touts fair trade by selling quality food at affordable prices
Switzerland’s two largest supermarket chains Migros and Coop are consumer cooperatives, or enterprises owned by consumers and managed democratically to fulfill the needs of their members rather than seeking pecuniary profit.In Korea, there are four major consumer cooperatives ― Hansalim, iCOOP, Dure and a coop run by Womenlink ― which have nearly 600,000 households as members. ICOOP has about 170,000 members who pay an average monthly fee of 13,000 won to buy organic or pesticide-free agricultur
May 10, 2013
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Korea joins global currency war with surprise rate cut
The world economy is racing toward a global currency war following a flurry of benchmark rate cuts or hinted cuts by developed and developing countries to counter a prolonged economic sluggishness.Caught between a weaker yen ― which has breached 100 yen to the U.S. dollar for the first time since 2009 ― and government pressure, the Bank of Korea’s key base rate cut to 2.50 percent for May joined a list of other central bankers trying to avert further downturns through weaker currencies.Europe an
May 10, 2013
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Court rules in favor of tech firm in Citibank suit
A district court on Friday ruled in favor of semiconductor testing firm iTEST Co. in a lawsuit claiming Citibank Korea reaped unfair gains from transactions with the Korean company. The Seoul Central District Court decided that the Korean operation of multinational bank Citibank did not sufficiently notify iTEST, a listed tech firm, of the high risks of KIKO, or “knock-in knock-out,” a financial derivative product that is highly susceptible to exchange rate changes. The court ordered the bank to
May 10, 2013
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LG launches Optimus G Pro in U.S. market
LG Electronics, the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker, has released its Optimus G Pro smartphone in the U.S., the Seoul-based company said Friday. The launch follows the release of a 5.5.-inch Optimus G Pro at home in February, and the full HD smartphone launched by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo in March.The latest phone features an IPS display consuming 50 percent less energy, despite being twice as bright as AMOLED screens of the same size, the company said.U.S. customers can pick up the latest version of t
TechnologyMay 10, 2013
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BOK insider criticizes rate cut
The central bank’s latest rate cut, which was contrary to the market forecasts, appeared to be attracting backlash from not only the industry for yielding to government pressure, but also within the organization. A senior manager at the Bank of Korea blatantly criticized the central bank for lowering its key base rate, saying that it was an illogical decision that only damaged its credibility as an independent entity.The manager wrote that its rate cut on Thursday went against what BOK Gov. Kim
May 10, 2013
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Hyundai to add 4th plant in China
Hyundai Motor is planning to construct a fourth plant in China, a company executive said on Friday, to bring the number of the carmaker’s plants to a total of seven with a combined capacity of 2.1 million cars. “We are considering a fourth plant in China with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units,” said Seol Young-heung, Hyundai Motor’s vice chairman for the company’s Chinese operations. Explaining the rationale behind the move, Seol said the Chinese auto industry is embarked on a path
IndustryMay 10, 2013
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Korea to get leg-up with rate cut, frontloading
Korea’s economy is expected to get back on track and improve, thanks to a surprising ― and controversial ― rate cut this week by the Bank of Korea, and the passage of the supplementary budget bill at the National Assembly.Lee Suk-joon, vice finance minister for budget affairs, said Friday during an event that “Korea’s overall confidence in the economy will grow” on the back of the central bank’s rate cut and the government’s fiscal stimulus plan. Korea will be able to achieve its initial growth
May 10, 2013
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China's new loans exceed estimates in sign of growth support
China's new local-currency loans exceeded estimates last month while money supply expanded at a faster pace, as policy makers maintained credit support for the economy after first-quarter growth unexpectedly slowed.Lending was 792.9 billion yuan ($129 billion) in April, the People's Bank of China said today in Beijing, compared with the median estimate of 755 billion yuan in a Bloomberg News survey. M2 money supply rose 16.1 percent from a year earlier, following March's 15.7 percent advance.Inf
IndustryMay 10, 2013
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Tech research firm to hold conference on 3rd platform
International Data Corporation Korea will hold its annual conference to deliver an informative overview on issues reshaping the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets at InterContinental Seoul COEX on May 15.Under the theme “Unlocking Value from the 3rd Platform: New Buyers, Offerings and Competitors,” the IT Directions 2013 Conference will provide insight into the industry’s transition to the next-generation computer platform -- built on big-data, cloud, mobi
TechnologyMay 10, 2013
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Seoul shares drop 1.75 pct on weak yen
South Korean stocks fell 1.75 percent Friday despite the central bank cutting its key interest rate this week as the weak yen dented investors' sentiment, analysts said.The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 34.7 points to finish at 1,944.75. Trading volume was low at 277.7 million shares worth 4.1 trillion won (US$3.74 billion) with losers outnumbering gainers 560 to 248.Analysts said the decline came as the yen-dollar exchan
May 10, 2013
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S. Korea busy crafting measures to deal with impact of yen's fall
South Korea is busy crafting measures to deal with the impact of the continued descent of the Japanese yen against the dollar amid worries that its exporters will likely take the brunt of such currency risks, government officials said Friday.The move comes as the yen-dollar exchange rates earlier breached the 100 mark, raising concerns that the weak yen will take its toll on the South Korean economy whose companies have to compete with Japanese rivals in many areas on the global stage. The weak
May 10, 2013
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Seoul shares open lower on profit-taking
South Korean stocks opened lower Friday as investors opted for profit-taking after the market closed bullish in the previous trading session following the central bank's rate cut, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 11.68 points, or 0.59 percent, to 1,967.77 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares lost ground across the board, with No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor losing 2.07 percent and market behemoth Samsung Electronics moving down 1.06 percent. Lead
May 10, 2013
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Daum Q1 net slips 12.7 pct on ads, games
Daum Communications Corp., the operator of South Korea's second-most visited portal, said Friday its first-quarter net profit fell almost 13 percent on a decline in its display advertising and game services.Net profit came to 20 billion won ($18.4 million) in the January-March period, compared with a profit of 23 billion won a year earlier, Daum said in a regulatory filing.Revenue rose 15.5 percent on-year to 119 billion won in the first quarter, while operating profit slumped 16.3 percent to 23
IndustryMay 10, 2013
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Lower-priced deals to strain Korean builders
Korean construction companies are likely to be hurt by lower-priced deals they clinched in the Middle East in recent years, analysts said.The builders bagged a combined $112.5 billion worth orders in the Middle East between 2009 and 2011, according to data compiled by the International Contractors Association of Korea and financial companies.The move came as the builders sought to win orders in overseas markets following the 2008 global financial crisis that dealt a heavy blow to the local const
IndustryMay 9, 2013
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Korean won gains most among 30 currencies
The Korean won has gained the most to the U.S. dollar among 30 currencies of developed and developing economies in a month, putting financial authorities on alert against further appreciation of the won, industry sources said.The won strengthened nearly 5 percent as of Wednesday with the exchange rate falling below 1,100 won on increased volatility stemming from a weak yen driven by Japan’s aggressive monetary easing. Few restrictions governing foreign exchange transactions in the country are fu
May 9, 2013
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[Graphic News] Asian cities top millionaire list
When it comes to populations of rich people, Asian cities are second to none. According to a list of cities with the most millionaires, multimillionaires and billionaires released by Wealth Insight, a London-based wealth consultancy company, six cities in Asia ranked in the top 10.Tokyo topped the list with 461,000 millionaires, or persons with more than $1 million in assets minus liabilities. New York and London came in second and third, respectively.Tokyo ranks at the top because of its popula
May 9, 2013
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Korea starts work on next-gen light source
Korea will build a facility for a next-generation light source that creates high-energy X-rays, 10 billion times brighter than its current most powerful source.The government had a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday to build a “fourth-generation synchrotron radiation” facility in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. A synchrotron accelerates particles such as electrons to extremely high energies, creating an electron beam that travels at almost the speed of light. It then uses this beam to genera
TechnologyMay 9, 2013
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Thick-skulled fossil cuts dino theory down to size
PARIS (AFP) ― The discovery of a new thick-skulled dinosaur the size of a large dog may challenge our image of a prehistoric Earth dominated by supersized lizards, a study said.The planet may, in fact, have been inhabited by many more types of small dinosaur than widely thought, a group of researchers wrote in the journal Nature Communications.“It would have been a world filled with a diversity of dinosaur life, both large and small,” study co-author David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum’s nat
TechnologyMay 9, 2013
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Ice Age language may share words with modern tongues
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Our Ice Age ancestors in Europe, 15,000 years ago, may have used words we would recognize today, according to a new study out this week in a U.S. journal.Words that sound alike in related languages are generally assumed to have come from a common route, like “father” in English and “pater” in Latin.Lead author Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading in Britain, and his team were able to take the analysis a step further by showing that certain very co
TechnologyMay 9, 2013
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Ministry to ease sodium limit on kids’ food despite opposition
Concerns are rising over health authorities’ plan to relax salt content limits on instant noodle products that aim to be certified as good-quality snacks for kids.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced its plan on Wednesday to ease the sodium limit of the products from the current cap of 600 milligrams to 1,000 milligrams. The new sodium limit of 1,000 milligrams is more than half the recommended limit for a child’s daily consumption of sodium ― between 1,500 and 1,800 milligrams a day.B
TechnologyMay 9, 2013