Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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[Graphic News] Travelers hit record high amid strong won
The number of tourists traveling overseas hit a January record, thanks to a strong won, travel portal Tourgo said Tuesday.The state-run online database engine revealed that the number of tourists headed abroad totaled slightly more than 1.4 million, a 21.8 percent increase from the previous month.In particular, about 50 percent more prospective travelers are visiting travel agencies, searching for tour packages to Japan, hoping for more economical deals thanks to the strength of the won against
Feb. 26, 2013
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Hyundai to mass-produce hydrogen car
Hyundai Motor will mass produce hydrogen fuel cell cars from the end of this month up to 2015, the company said on Tuesday.The indigenously developed Tucson ix is the car of the hour, and up to 1,000 of these fuel cell-powered vehicles will soon become available to mark the world’s first mass production for this category of car, according to the Seoul-based company. “We hope to more quickly usher in a truly environmentally friendly era with our unprecedented mass production of fuel cell cars,”
IndustryFeb. 26, 2013
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Exceptions mulled for restaurant restrictions
Companies with a restaurant business accounting for more than 80 percent of sales such as Outback Steakhouse Korea, Nolbu NBG and Theborn Korea are likely to be exempted from recently announced restrictions to keep sizeable firms from hurting small diners.Firms belonging to conglomerates with total assets of more than 5 trillion won ($4.6 billion) such as CJ Foodville, Lotteria and E-Land Park, however, will not be excused even if restaurants are their main business.The National Commission for C
IndustryFeb. 26, 2013
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Korea’s birth, death rates increase
Korea’s birth rate increased for the third consecutive year in 2012, while its death rate reached a 30-year high.According to Statistics Korea, the number of newborns reached 484,300 last year, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier.This marks the highest since 2007 when Korea had 493,200 babies.Its crude birth rate increased by 0.2 to 9.6 births per 1,000 people.Also, Korea’s total fertility rate bounced back to 1.30 births per woman throughout her lifetime.The fertility rate began to dive in 2001
Feb. 26, 2013
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KOMIPO signs contact for underground power plant
Korea Midland Power, or KOMIPO, said it signed a civil work contact for its underground power plant project in Seoul with a local construction consortium. With the contact worth 226 billion won ($208 million), the state-run power generation company will be able to push for the world’s first underground power plant project, to be completed in September 2016. The project will build two units for the 400-megawatt, LNG-fueled power plant and the two units will be responsible of the stable electricit
Feb. 26, 2013
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Shares down on eurozone woes
South Korean stocks closed 0.47 percent lower on Tuesday due to rising uncertainties over the eurozone following Italy’s election, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index moved down 9.51 points to 2,000.01. Trading volume was moderate at 422.2 million shares worth 3.5 trillion won ($3.22 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 479 to 336.“Investor sentiment was dented by the outcome of Italy’s elections,” said Bae Sung-young,
Feb. 26, 2013
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KT stresses need for virtual goods marketplace
BARCELONA, Spain ― KT chairman Lee Suk-chae on Tuesday stressed the need for his company to transform from a telecommunications firm into an information communications technology company to deal with the trading of broadband-based virtual goods.“There is no future if we only cling to network traffic fees. We must create a global common market for distribution of virtual goods,” he said in a keynote session at the Mobile World Congress.“KT is directly entering the virtual goods market and transfo
IndustryFeb. 26, 2013
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Ssangyong E&C files for debt workout
Ssangyong Engineering & Construction, the nation’s 13th-largest builder, filed for a debt workout program on Tuesday in an effort to overcome its liquidity crunch.Under the program, a company requests its creditor banks for a payment deferment or partial debt relief, in exchange for amending its financial and employment structure.The company’s credit rating was thus downgraded from B- to CCC, according to the Korea Investors Service Inc., Korea Ratings Corp. and NICE Information Service.Hit by t
IndustryFeb. 26, 2013
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NPS assets pass 400 trillion won
The National Pension Service, the country’s pension fund operator, said Tuesday that its assets reached more than 400 trillion won ($368 billion).This accounts for about one-third of Korea’s gross domestic product and is worth almost double the market cap of Samsung Electronics, the largest listed company on the stock exchange, it noted.It is also more than eight times the sum of Hyundai Motor’s total market value, and the pension fund operator could afford to acquire about an 88 percent stake i
Feb. 26, 2013
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SKT to expand into B2B solution, IPTV, health care
BARCELONA, Spain ― SK Telecom plans to triple the size of the firm’s business-to-business solution projects up to 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in sales by 2015 as part of its efforts to move beyond the telecom business.Ha Sung-min, chief executive of the country’s top mobile carrier, also said it would secure 7 million customers in its media business, which includes Internet protocol televisions, and have its health care project grow into one that produces 1 trillion won in sales by 2020.“In
IndustryFeb. 26, 2013
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National oil firm to seek quality-driven growth
This is the third in a series of case studies on the nation’s leading state-run companies which have made success stories overseas. ― Ed.The state-run Korea National Oil Corp., or KNOC, is expected to shift its gears to quality-driven growth this year from external expansion through M&A deals to become a globally competitive energy giant, KNOC officials said. Under the initiative of the previous government to cultivate state-run energy development companies as global players, which was set in Ju
Feb. 26, 2013
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Top 10 global trends in 2013
Although the U.S. and Chinese economies are mending, and European leaders believe they have their three-year debt crisis under control, it would be premature to declare “all clear” from the global financial turmoil. In fact, several leading global trends in 2013 will involve jockeying for position to overcome low growth. Moreover, with nations at different stages of recovery, greater competition and little coordination should be expected. First, fiscal tightening in advanced countries will conti
BusinessFeb. 26, 2013
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Foreign-invested companies’ exports, employment increase
Foreign-invested firms in Korea saw a rise both in exports and employment in 2011, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy on Tuesday.The ministry report showed that the total outbound sales of the 14,809 foreign-invested firms reached $100.7 billion in that year, accounting for 18.1 percent of the nation’s exports and marking an $8.4 billion rise from the previous year.Their combined sales soared by 20 percent or by 482 trillion won ($4.4 billion) during the same period. Their research a
IndustryFeb. 26, 2013
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Seoul shares down 0.47 pct on eurozone woes
South Korean stocks closed 0.47 percent lower on Tuesday due to rising uncertainties over the eurozone following Italy's election, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 9.51 points to 2,000.01. Trading volume was moderate at 422.2 million shares worth 3.5 trillion won (US$3.22 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 479 to 336."Investor sentiment was dented by the outcome of Italy's elections," said Bae Su
Feb. 26, 2013
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Towels are a breeding ground for bacteria
Whenever a person uses a washcloth or towel, skin cells slough off the body and stick to the fabric and serve as food for bacteria, a U.S. germ expert says.Elizabeth Scott, co-director of the Simmons College center for hygiene and health in Boston, says bacteria thrive in the damp, densely woven material, which has lots of nooks and crannies for them to hide in, Men‘s Health magazine reported. As people reuse towels, these bacteria can transfer back to the person and cause skin infections, Scot
TechnologyFeb. 26, 2013
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Seoul shares down 0.31 pct in late-morning trade
South Korean stocks traded 0.31 percent lower late Tuesday morning, dented by losses in techs and logistics, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) edged down 6.15 points to 2,003.37 as of 11:20 a.m.Big-cap tech names led the decline, with top chipmaker SK hynix falling 0.38 percent and leading flat panel manufacturer LG Display losing 0.81 percent. No. 1 steelmaker POSCO shed 0.56 percent.Logistics shares also traded lower, with Hyundai Glovis decreasing 1.76 perc
Feb. 26, 2013
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Found: Prehistoric Indian Ocean mini-continent
Scientists said Sunday they had found traces of a micro-continent hidden underneath the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.The slab, dubbed Mauritia, was probably formed around 61-83 million years ago after Madagascar split from India, but eventually broke up and became smothered by thick lava deposits, they said.In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists analyzed beach sand on Mauritius that contained ancient zircons between 660 million and about two billion years old.The m
TechnologyFeb. 26, 2013
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Ssangyong Engineering files for debt workout program
Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., a South Korean builder, filed for a debt workout program on Tuesday as part of its efforts to get back on its feet again amid a cash crunch, a company official said.The move came days after the builder said its capital had been wiped out due to massive losses for the second consecutive year in 2012 amid the country's protracted housing market slump."We sent an official document to Woori Bank, the main creditor bank," a Ssangyong E&C official said, as he
IndustryFeb. 26, 2013
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Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses
South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Tuesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 11.02 points, or 0.55 percent, to 1998.50 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares lost ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 0.72 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor moving down 0.47 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO decreased 0.7 percent.U.S. stocks ended lower Monday on rising concerns
Feb. 26, 2013
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Engel coefficient for low-income earners hits 8-yr high in 2012
The proportion of spending on food items by low-income earners in South Korea rose to the highest level in eight years in 2012, data showed Tuesday, suggesting that price hikes toughened the livelihoods of the economically weak people.According to the data by Statistics Korea, the so-called Engel's coefficient for households in the lowest 20 percent income bracket rose to 20.79 percent last year from 20.7 percent tallied a year earlier, marking the highest figure since 2004 when it was 20.8.The
Feb. 26, 2013