Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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HSBC expects Korea to hike key rate in Q3
The Bank of Korea will likely raise interest rates in the third quarter of this year as Korea picks up momentum on economic growth and inflation, the Asia research head of HSBC said. HSBC Korea disclosed on Friday a global research report by Ronald Man, economist and HSBC global research head of Asia, claiming that inflation pressure and a boost in international trade would keep the current sustained growth rolling. Man wrote in his report that “we maintain our view that the monetary easing cycl
March 25, 2013
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Expert says boredom can aid imagination for children
Boredom can aid child’s imagination, says expertParents often expect their children to be constantly occupied and believe activities will spur their imagination. However, an expert says parents should “allow them to get bored” to let them develop creativity and innate ability. Dr. Teresa Belton, a senior researcher at the University of East Anglia’s School of Education and Lifelong Learning, interviewed figures in the creative industry including science and art to analyze the effect of their chi
TechnologyMarch 25, 2013
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Seoul shares up 1.49 pct on eased eurozone woe
South Korean stocks closed 1.49 percent higher Monday on rising hope of the settlement of the fiscal crisis in Cyprus, analysts said. The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 28.96 points to 1977.67. Trading volume was low at 264.3 million shares worth 3.38 trillion won (US$3.02 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 540 to 266."The stock market gathered ground following the eased concerns over the fiscal crisis in
BusinessMarch 25, 2013
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Vial containing rare virus goes missing
A vial containing a rare Venezuelan virus has gone missing from a Texas biotech laboratory, the laboratory's president said.The vial was noted missing during a routine inventory, Dr. David L. Callender, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said. The virus, guanarito, is only found naturally in a small section of Venezuela and because it is not known to transmit between humans it poses "no appreciable public health risk," Callender said.It's believed the vial was mistakenly destroyed
TechnologyMarch 25, 2013
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‘Spiked dinosaurs copulated in unusual ways’
Dinosaurs with spikes may have copulated in unorthodox positions to avoid injuries, researchers suggested.Heinrich Mallison at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin used computer models of kentrosaurus to figure out how the spiked dinosaur would have mated, according to a report on Livescience.com.The model suggested that a male dinosaur would have risked serious injury to its reproductive organs if they tried to mount a female from behind, which is prevalent among most animals. Mallison sugge
TechnologyMarch 25, 2013
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EU finance ministers approve Cyprus bailout deal
Cyprus avoided bankruptcy, and potential turmoil across the eurozone, by securing a last-minute 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout with promises to sharply cut back its oversized banking sector and make large bank account holders take losses to help pay much of the bill.Negotiations into early Monday ended with approval of the deal by the 17-nation eurozone's finance ministers. The European Central Bank had threatened to cut off crucial emergency assistance to the country's banks by Tuesday i
BusinessMarch 25, 2013
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Foreign ministry formally loses responsibility for trade negotiations
South Korea's foreign ministry was officially christened the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday after shifting its responsibility for trade negotiations to the commerce ministry. The name change meant that the ministry, formerly called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, got a shorter name and lost its 15-year-long jurisdiction over trade affairs as part of a government-wide reorganization plan by President Park Geun-hye. Still, trade experts express concerns that if the commerce minis
BusinessMarch 25, 2013
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S. Korea's small car sales drop on prolonged slump
Sales of small cars in South Korea sank in the first two months of the year due to weak demand stemming from the country's protracted economic slump, industry data showed Monday.According to the data, a total of 28,711 small cars with engine capacities of 1.0 liter were sold in the country in the January-February period, down 8.2 percent from a year earlier.The overall domestic passenger car market, however, shrank at a lower rate of 2.8 percent during the cited period, the data showed, indicati
IndustryMarch 25, 2013
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Toxic gas leak dealings spark safety concerns
The latest toxic gas leaks may not have caused serious physical harm, but the fact that the culprit companies failed to promptly report to state authorities is raising suspicions of corporate negligence.Top global firms such as SK Hynix, LG and Samsung are now under fire for failing to manage their staff and abide by safety regulations involving industrial hazards at their domestic plants.Last Friday, a chlorine gas leak was detected around 10:10 a.m. while five workers were working on the valve
IndustryMarch 24, 2013
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Mercedes-Benz recalls cars on fuel leakage
Mercedes-Benz Korea has voluntarily recalled three models it has been importing, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Sunday. Those subject to the recall were S350, S500 and the S500 4MATIC vehicles that were manufactured between April and July 2011. The importer said it decided on the measure after discovering that fuel appeared to be leaking from the filters designed to remove debris from the fuel. Owners of these vehicles will be able to receive repairs at Mercedes-Benz Kor
IndustryMarch 24, 2013
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Korean consortium wins W23b communications order
The joint consortium of Daewoo International, KT and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency has won a 23 billion won ($21 million) order to build a high-speed Internet network in Poland, officials said.Starting this month, the trading company is to install 860 kilometers of optical fiber cables in the state of Podlaskie and improve the region’s average Internet speed to 100 megabits per second by year 2015.The contract was part of the Digital Poland Project, a government-led program funded
IndustryMarch 24, 2013
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FTA negotiator to be named assistant deputy minister
The newly created Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will offer the assistant deputy minister post to Choi Kyung-lim, the chief negotiator for the ongoing free trade agreements.The trade department, which was formerly affiliated with the Foreign Ministry, was officially merged into the trade ministry on Saturday, following the long-delayed parliamentary approval of the government organization bill on Friday.“We have asked chief FTA negotiator Choi to take the assistant deputy minister positi
March 24, 2013
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Controversy brews over Chey’s reinstatement
Controversy is brewing over the latest reinstatement of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won as board director of SK C&C, the de facto holding company of SK. Last week, Chey ― who is serving out a sentence for corporate malfeasance ― was named board director with a term of three years at a shareholders’ meeting. His term will be up until 2016. The decision went through largely because Chey is currently the largest shareholder at SK C&C, with a 38 percent stake. The National Pension Fund, which holds a
IndustryMarch 24, 2013
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Pellerin to meet French-Korean community
A Korean-born French cabinet minister has visited Korea to discuss ways to widen corporate ties between Korea and France, and also meet the French-Korean business community here. Fleur Pellerin arrived Saturday for a five-day visit. This marks her first return to her homeland since she was adopted by French parents as a baby. Pellerin is currently France’s minister for small and mid-sized enterprises and innovation. At a lunch meeting with the French-Korean business community today, Pellerin wil
March 24, 2013
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Boutique hotel flies high on back of Casamia brand
Having charmed guests and hotel industry insiders including those from a five-star hotel in Hong Kong with its stylish yet comforting furnishings, Hotel La Casa is ready to expand.“We plan to build about 30 more rooms in the building next to La Casa by spring next year,” Lee Hyun-koo, chairman of Casamia which runs the boutique hotel, said in an interview with The Korea Herald.La Casa is located at the southern foot of Seoul’s Hannam Bridge, next to the offices of Casamia. These offices, which a
IndustryMarch 24, 2013
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Ghosn tested as Nissan electric push falters
Carlos Ghosn laid a $5 billion bet in 2009 that the world’s next Ford Model T would be electric, and that Nissan Motor Co. would lead a revolution embraced by nations such as Denmark. Three years later, sales of Leaf plug- in vehicles in the Nordic country: 73.Nissan’s chief executive officer has long fronted a campaign to convince the world that by the end of the decade, 1 in 10 cars sold will be electric. Customers haven’t bought in, as prices remain high and charging stations are few and far
MobilityMarch 24, 2013
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Creating a truly sustainable automotive industry
This is the second in a three-part series of stories contributed by BMW Group Korea. The author is currently CFO at the company in Seoul. ― Ed.“Sustainable” ― what does it actually mean? It’s a strange word, isn’t it? Although it’s a trendy term and on everyone’s lips, I decided to go the extra mile and look it up in German. The dictionary proposes “nachhaltig” another word that sounds vague to me, even though I am German. Feeding this German word into a French dictionary, however, is much more
MobilityMarch 24, 2013
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Fiat aims to break through with 500
Cruising down Seoul in the Fiat 500 will definitely make you stand out. Out of the 3 million cars on the roads of this bustling metropolis, there are only about 100 of these iconic subcompacts to be seen, as it was only launched in Korea in February. It’s not the first time that the Italian carmaker has tried its hand here, but Fiat had to withdraw its Korean business in the late 1990s when its local manufacturing partner Kia Motors went bankrupt. Even at the time, the 500 ― born in 1957 ― had n
MobilityMarch 24, 2013
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Fiat aims to break through with 500
Cruising down Seoul in the Fiat 500 will make you stand out. Out of the 1.5 million cars on the roads of this bustling metropolis, there are only about 100 of these iconic subcompacts to be seen, as it was the only launched in Korea in February. It’s not the first time that the Italian carmaker has tried its hand here, but Fiat had to withdraw its Korean business in the late 1990s when its local manufacturing partner Kia Motors went bankrupt. Even at the time, the 500 -- born in 1957 -- had not
BusinessMarch 24, 2013
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World‘s lightest material created
Chinese scientists say they have developed the world‘s lightest material, lighter than air, which could play an important role in tackling pollution.The material -- dubbed graphene aerogel or carbon aerogel, and developed at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou -- weighs 0.16 milligrams per cubic centimeter, a sixth the weight of air, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.The material, derived from a gel with the liquid component replaced by a gas, is easy to manufacture and has strong
TechnologyMarch 24, 2013