Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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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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Retail sales forecast to have improved in February
SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s retail sales are expected to have improved slightly in February, driven in part by increased sales at department stores and discount shops, a report showed Thursday.Sales at department stores are estimated to have risen 1.1 percent on-year in February, a turnaround from the previous month’s 8.2 percent decline, the finance ministry said in a report that assesses the latest economic conditions.Sales at discount store chains are also presumed to have jumped 10.
March 7, 2013
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Korean-Indonesian firm signs highway contract
Vogo Kora, a joint Korean-Indonesian company, has signed a project management contract on the construction of a highway in Sumatra, Indonesia.Its key officials, including Setia Budhy Algamar, senior advisor to the public works minister, visited Korea late last month to sign the contract and to tour Korea’s key public organizations, company officials said.The $13.3 billion contract involves the construction of a four-lane, 2,727-kilometer-long highway in the Aceh district.Together with the Korea
IndustryMarch 7, 2013
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Korean Air takeover of Czech Airlines to boost global ranking
Korean Air’s potential acquisition of a stake in Czech Airlines appears to be a bigger deal than expected.The 44 percent stake in the European airliner would catapult the local airliner to become the world’s 21st largest, industry data showed Thursday. The Korean flag carrier this week placed a bid to buy the shares in Czech Airlines, but without seeking managerial control of the European airliner. Korean Air and Czech Airlines ― both part of the Sky Team global alliance ― claimed 0.6 percent an
IndustryMarch 7, 2013
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Austrian parts maker Geislinger to open $10m plant in Busan
Geislinger, an Austrian top-tier supplier of engine parts, is to open its first manufacturing plant in Busan to facilitate supplies to local shipbuilders.The factory, located in the Mieum Industrial District, will begin operation next Monday and start producing couplings and dampers, according to officials.“The new plant is part of our localization strategy for top clients in Korea, so that they may save logistics and supplementary costs,” said company spokesperson Lee Mi-gyeong.Major clients fo
IndustryMarch 7, 2013
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Brain drain hits relocating public firms
Facing their imminent relocation to provincial cities, public corporations and institutions in Seoul and its surrounding areas are agonizing over the outflow of professionals, especially young employees who are reluctant to leave the metropolitan region.The personnel crisis is yet more serious for energy-related organizations, which are heavily reliant on experts and their specialized knowledge.Several key state-run corporations are slated to move their headquarters next year, complying with the
IndustryMarch 7, 2013
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Seoul shares dip 0.81 pct on profit-taking
South Korean stocks fell 0.81 percent Thursday as investors took profits from a two-day rally in the previous sessions, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 16.34 points to finish at 2,004.40. Trading volume was moderate at 382.2 million shares worth 3.63 trillion won (US$3.35billion) with decliners far outstripping gainers 511 to 287. "Foreigners opted to unload their holdings in top-cap Samsun
March 7, 2013
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Indonesian volcano spews ash; tourists barred
Indonesian scientists are closely monitoring a smoking volcano popular with tourists on Java island and are urging everyone to stay off the mountain‘s slope. Government volcanologist Hendra Gunawan said Thursday that Mount Tangkuban Perahu in West Java province has spewed smoke and ash nearly 500 meters (1,640 feet) into the air since Monday. Scientists have put it on the second-highest alert level.Debris and lava have not tumbled far, and nearby towns and villages remain safe. Authorities are
TechnologyMarch 7, 2013
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Demise of Neanderthals linked to rabbits
A recent study conducted by researchers in Europe suggested that the rabbit was the nail in the coffin for the ancient Neanderthals.Tens of thousands of years ago, Neanderthals hunted for large-bodied animals such as mammoths and rhinos and didn’t go after small and fast animals like rabbits. As the number of mammals decreased, they had difficulty hunting them.The researchers collected some remains of rabbits in parts of Europe and found that rabbits were very popular among ancient humans 30,000
TechnologyMarch 7, 2013
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Seoul shares down 0.79 pct in late-morning trade
South Korean stocks traded 0.79 percent lower late Thursday morning on widening losses in shares of tech companies and shipbuilders, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slid15.92 percent to 2,004.82 as of 11:20 a.m. STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the country's fourth-largest shipyard, slumped more than 3 percent, with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, an affiliate of the world's No. 1 shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries, dipping 1.7 percent. Top-cap Samsung Electronics als
March 7, 2013
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S. Korean banks dogged by thick glass ceiling: data
About 50 percent of South Korean banks' employees are women, but female senior bankers account for only some 4 percent out of local banks' total executives, pointing to the sector's still thick glass ceiling, data showed Thursday.Top lender Kookmin Bank and its other five rivals said the number of their combined employees stood at 81,234 as of end-February, out of which 48.8 percent bankers were women.But the number of women at the senior level is marginal in the Korean banking sector. In the ba
March 7, 2013
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Volvo debuts cyclist-avoidance system
Swedish automaker Volvo has debuted a system it says can sense a cyclist swerving into a car‘s path and trigger an alarm and automatically brake the car. Volvo, now owned by a Chinese holding company, introduced the feature -- an enhanced version of Volvo’s pedestrian detection system launched in 2010 -- at the Geneva Motor Show.The system -- a radar unit in the car‘s grille and a camera located between its windshield and rear view mirror -- can detect multiple pedestrians and cyclists at the sa
TechnologyMarch 7, 2013
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Inter-Korean trade dwarfed by China-N. Korea trade: data
Inter-Korean trade jumped more than 15 percent last year but was still far short of that between China and North Korea, data showed Thursday.According to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), trade volume between South Korea and North Korea reached $1.98 billion last year, up 15.8 percent from a year earlier.But the 2012 annual trade amount between the two Koreas was just some 30 percent of North Korea's trade with its strongest ally China, the data showed.Last y
March 7, 2013
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Women in 20s more economically active than men
The proportion of Korean women in their 20s currently working or looking for work exceeded that of men in the same age group for the first time last year.The so-called economic activity rate for women reached 62.9 percent, surpassing men’s 62.6 percent in 2012, signaling change in the labor market.An increasing number of women are working alongside men, data by Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Employment and Labor showed.The increase in women’s activity rate is attributable to women pushing
March 7, 2013
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Seoul shares open lower on large-cap tech losses
South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Thursday, erasing a two-day rally in the previous sessions, as blue-chip tech firms lost ground, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell5.61 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,015.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Market behemoth Samsung Electronics shed nearly 1 percent, with its smaller rival LG Electronics declining 0.4 percent. State-run electricity provider Korea Electric Power also dipped 0.6 percent. The local
March 7, 2013
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Samsung to buy stake in Sharp
Samsung Electronics will become the fifth-largest stakeholder of its Japanese rival Sharp as the Korean tech giant announced plans on Wednesday to invest around $111 million in the financially hit electronics maker.The world’s top handset and television maker said it is planning to invest the money in Sharp within this month in exchange for securing a 3 percent stake in the Japanese firm. The move, which is the first capital tie-up between industry-leading Korean and Japanese electronic firms, w
IndustryMarch 6, 2013
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KORAIL on verge of capital erosion
The state-run rail corporation has developed a contingency plan in preparation for the possible bankruptcy of the 31 trillion won ($29 billion) Yongsan development project in which the company holds a 25 percent stake, a company official said on Wednesday. “If the troubled development project goes bankrupt, KORAIL will face full-scale capital erosion as money attained in return for the land offer will disappear in the accounting book,” the official said. The Yongsan project is the nation’s large
March 6, 2013
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Hyundai Sonata targets Chinese elite
Hyundai Motor now seeks to appeal to the most trend-setting group of people in the all-important Chinese market ― the Communist Party leaders. The Korean auto giant said Wednesday it has provided some 50 units of its flagship midsize sedan Sonata to transport party leaders during China’s two most important political gatherings this week.Following the Sunday opening of the Chinese People’s Party Consultative Congress, the 12th National People’s Congress started Tuesday in Beijing, with Chinese Pr
IndustryMarch 6, 2013
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Ssangyong Motor seeks to export 36,000 units to Russia
GENEVA (Yonhap News) ― Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea’s smallest automaker, will be able to export 36,000 vehicles to Russia this year as it seeks to boost its sales at home and abroad, the company head said Tuesday.Lee Yoo-il, Ssangyong’s chief executive officer, told reporters at the Geneva International Motor Show that his company will export disassembled kits of parts and components to be reassembled into vehicles in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.Russian workers will assemble
March 6, 2013
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Korea imports beef from Chile for first time
The first-ever shipment of beef from Chile arrived in South Korea last month, a government agency said Wednesday, raising expectations imports will likely grow steadily due to a bilateral free trade deal.A 25.84-ton shipment of Chilean beef arrived here early last month, according to the Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency.South Korea and Chile implemented a bilateral free trade agreement in 2004, under which Seoul agreed to completely remove import taxes on up to 400 to
March 6, 2013
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Foreign ownership of land in Korea grows in 2012
The amount of land in South Korea owned by foreigners grew slightly last year with more than half of such land owned by American citizens, the government said Wednesday.The amount of land owned by foreign investors or companies reached 226.21 million square meters as of the end of last year, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.The land owned by foreigners accounted for 0.2 percent of South Korea’s total area with the estimated val
March 6, 2013