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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[Graphic News] French bulldog most popular breed in US, Maltese most popular in Korea
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Apple’s profit drops for first time in nearly a decade
Tech titan Apple suffered its first fall in profit in the second quarter in nearly a decade despite an increase in revenue.According to Apple’s financial report, the company’s net profit dropped to $9.5 billion in the second quarter of 2013 ending on March 30, an 18 percent decline from $11.6 billion in the same quarter last year. The company’s revenue recorded $43.6 billion, an 11 percent rise from $39.19 billion in the quarter in 2012.The sales for iPhone grew from 35.1 million units to 37.4
April 24, 2013
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Galaxy S4 ‘good, but not great’: tech guru
Samsung’s Galaxy S4 received an unexpected blow as renowned IT journalist Walter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal gave the company’s latest gadget a less-than-flattering review.The South Korean tech giant boldly included much of its own software on its latest flagship phone, in addition to the basic Android system. The quality of the new features, however, fell woefully short of Mossberg’s standards.“I found Samsung’s software often gimmicky, duplicative of standard Android apps, or, in some
TechnologyApril 24, 2013
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LG Electronics Q1 net drops
South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings sank from a year earlier largely due to reduced prices and increased marketing costs. Net profit reached 22 billion won (US$19.6 million) in the January-March period on a consolidated basis, compared with a profit of 248 billion won a year earlier, LG Electronics said in a regulatory filing. Revenue slipped 6.8 percent on-year to 14.1 trillion won over the cited period, while operating profi
IndustryApril 24, 2013
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Seoul shares up 0.49 pct in late-morning trade
South Korean stocks traded 0.49 percent higher late Wednesday morning, led by gains in builders and logistics firms, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 9.38 points to 1,928.01 as of 11:20 a.m. Construction firms traded higher, with Hyundai Engineering & Construction rising 1.21 percent and Daewoo Engineering & Construction advancing 1.03 percent. GS Engineering & Construction added 2.39 percent. Logistics firms also gathered ground, with Hyundai
April 24, 2013
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Korea's household debt-to-income ratio hits 9-year high in 2012
The ratio of South Korea's household debt against disposable income rose to the highest level in nine years in 2012 as debt grew at a faster pace than income amid the economic slowdown, central bank data showed Wednesday.The ratio of households' debt against their disposable income came in at 136 percent in 2012, slightly up from 134 percent in the previous year, according to data by the Bank of Korea (BOK).The 2012 figure marked the highest level since 2003 when the central bank began to compil
April 24, 2013
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SK hynix swings to black in Q1
SK hynix Inc., the world's No. 2 memory chip maker, said Wednesday it returned to profit in the first quarter on the back of an improved product mix.Net profit reached 179 billion won ($159 million) in the January-March period, reversing from a loss of 271 billion won the previous year, SK hynix said in a regulatory filing.Revenue increased 16.4 percent on-year to 2.78 trillion won in the first quarter. SK hynix said it posted an operating income of 317 billion won in the first three months of t
IndustryApril 24, 2013
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Seoul shares open higher on U.S. gains
South Korean stocks opened higher on Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street following expectations that U.S. firms fared well in the first quarter, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 10.2 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1928.83 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares gathered ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics rising 0.27 percent and top chipmaker SK hynix adding 2.08 percent. No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor moved up
April 24, 2013
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[Graphic News] Cheaper yen benefits Japanese carmakers
The cheaper yen is improving the competitiveness of Japanese carmakers, while their Korean and German rivals are expected to struggle with falling profits. According to IBES earnings estimates on Tuesday, Toyota is estimated to log $4.79 billion in operating profit in the first quarter, a 60.5 percent increase from a year ago. Japan’s Nissan and Honda were also to see a 38 percent and 23.6 percent increase in profits, respectively. Despite their increased sales this year, however, Korea’s Hyunda
IndustryApril 23, 2013
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Employers oppose retirement age extension
Businesses, both small and large, voiced opposition to a parliamentary subcommittee’s decision to gradually extend the legal retirement age to 60 from 2016, saying the extension would overburden them under the current seniority-based wage system and only cause conflict with the younger generation over jobs.The Korea Employers Federation, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Korean Industries and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) are all against th
IndustryApril 23, 2013
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[Photo News] Polo new lineup
MobilityApril 23, 2013
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Seoul denies G20’s backing of cheap yen
The Finance Ministry on Tuesday dismissed some local market analysts’ view that the Group of 20 countries recently reached a consensus not to tackle the Japanese yen’s weak position.“The G20 communique (drawn up by finance ministers in Washington, D.C., over the weekend) does not involve any common consent that the members would tolerate the cheap yen,” Finance Ministry’s international finance policy director Choi Hee-nam told a news briefing.Concerning arguments that the G20 members did not cri
April 23, 2013
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Reactor stoppage causes power concerns
Unit 1 of the Shin Wolseong nuclear power plant in the nation’s southeastern region stopped operations on Tuesday due to a malfunction, according to the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co.“The cause of the problem has yet to be identified, but the reactor is in stable condition without risk of a radiation leak,” a KHNP official said. The 1-million-kilowatt reactor, located near Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, began commercial operations in July 2012.With the temporary closure of the Shin Wols
April 23, 2013
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Divorce rate for seniors reaches record: data
The number of couples who divorced after living together for more than 20 years surpassed those with less than four years of marriage for the first time last year, Statistics Korea said Tuesday. The number of divorce cases filed by couples married for over 20 years reached 30,200 in 2012, compared with 28,200 of those married less than four years.This is up from 28,300 in 2011 for divorced couples with 20 years of marriage, but down from 30,700 for those married for less than four years.Couples
April 23, 2013
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KORES under audit over overseas mining
Korea Resources Corp., a state-run mineral resources explorer and developer, is under investigation by the nation’s top audit agency for wasting its budget in pursuit of overseas mining projects over the past five years, industry sources said. One of the target overseas mining projects under investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection is the Boleo copper-cobalt-zinc project in Mexico, the sources said. KORES secured a 10 percent stake in the project for $276 million in 2008, but it increa
IndustryApril 23, 2013
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KEB denies claim of hacker’s attack
Korea Exchange Bank, the nation’s fifth-largest lender, on Tuesday denied allegations that international hackers broke into its online security system to expose the personal details of bank customers. KEB made the statement after the list of what hackers claimed to be KEB customers’ confidential data was disclosed on their website, pastebin.com. “Our investigation results point to the fact that not a single piece of personal information or email address that was exposed by the hackers matches ou
April 23, 2013
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Shares fall on weak yen
South Korean stocks closed 0.4 percent lower Tuesday as foreigners became net sellers of local shares amid the weak yen, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 7.68 points to finish at 1,918.63. Trading volume was low at 253 million shares worth 3.4 trillion won ($3.08 billion) with gainers outnumbering decliners 478 to 316.“The local stock market lost steam as the Japanese currency is anticipated to trade lower against
April 23, 2013
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Korea’s Q1 int’l air passenger traffic surges to new high
South Korea’s international air passenger traffic jumped to a new first-quarter high this year on a sharp increase in the number of visitors to and from other Asian countries, the government said Tuesday.In the three months ending on March 31, the number of air passengers to and from the country reached 12.51 million, up 10 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The number of passengers to and from China jumped 14.8 percent on
IndustryApril 23, 2013
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Credit card spending growth slows in March
South Korea’s credit card spending grew at a slower pace in March than a year earlier as the economic slowdown dented consumer sentiment, a trade association said Tuesday.Purchases made with credit cards totaled 45.3 trillion won ($40.5 billion) last month, up 5.6 percent from the 42.9 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association.The number is far lower than the 14.5 percent on-year growth tallied in March 2012, the data showed. The figure
IndustryApril 23, 2013
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Banks’ overseas earnings slip 11.8% in 2012
South Korean banks saw their combined net profit from overseas operations shrink 11.8 percent last year from a year earlier due mainly to a profit decrease in stocks and bonds investment, the financial regulator said Tuesday. Net income of 139 overseas units and branches managed by 11 local banks reached $636.2 million in the January-December period of 2012, compared with $721.6 million the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The weaker bottom line came as their net pr
IndustryApril 23, 2013
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Seoul’s Myeong-dong becoming boon for cosmetics industry
According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, sales of three major department stores declined 4.1 percent from the previous year in January. South Korea’s economy is likely to grow at a pace of 2.8 percent in 2013. The nation’s consumer prices have risen at a slower pace and will reach 2.5 percent this year. Private consumption will continue to remain slow due to rising household debt. The growth of the country’s retail industry will be lower than the inflation rate due to the economic downtur
April 23, 2013