Most Popular
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Medical profs at top hospitals suspend surgeries, clinics
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Samsung chip business back on track, logs W1.9tr operating profit in Q1
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Shinsegae faces showdown with investors over SSG.com's delayed IPO
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Hopes rise for possible Gaza truce deal
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Ex-pro baseball player who killed debtor appeals sentence
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S. Korea discussed possible participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 with Australia: defense minister
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S. Korea to issue travel ban on Haiti amid intensifying gang violence
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Leaders of S. Korea, Angola agree to boost economic, trade cooperation
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Black boxes on cabs reduce accidents: data
Taxis run by companies caused fewer car accidents after most of them installed black boxes, while a bill that requires all vehicles to be equipped with black boxes awaits parliamentary approval.The number of accidents involving company-run cabs fell 17.7 percent from 2007 to 20,331 last year, when most cabs were equipped with black boxes, according to the General Insurance Association of Korea and the Korea Transportation Institute.Starting with Incheon in 2008, local governments had black boxes
IndustryDec. 14, 2012
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Mexican firm sues SK E&C, Siemens over refinery project
Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s state- owned oil company, filed a $1.5 billion lawsuit against Siemens AG and South Korea-based SK Engineering & Construction Co., claiming the companies bribed Pemex officials to win and keep refinery construction projects.Siemens, which in 2008 paid $1.6 billion to settle a bribery investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, conspired with SK Engineering and a joint venture partner to bribe Pemex officials while bidding on a refinery modernizatio
Dec. 14, 2012
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Korea’s total debt almost triple GDP
Debts of households, companies and the government in Korea in the third quarter amounted to nearly triple the country’s GDP last year, data showed Friday.The financial liabilities of households, nonprofit organizations, non-financial companies and the government stood at 3.59 quadrillion won ($3.34 trillion) in the three months to September, up 49.2 trillion won from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea data.This is about 2.9 times the nation’s GDP last year of 1.24 quadrillion w
Dec. 14, 2012
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Shares down on U.S. fiscal cliff woes
South Korean stocks closed 0.39 percent lower on Friday as investor sentiment was dented by the stalled U.S. fiscal cliff talks, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index dropped 7.73 points to 1,995.04. Trading volume was light at 345.1 million shares worth 4.24 trillion won ($3.95 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 407 to 380.“Local shares edged down as investors were still concerned about the U.S. fiscal cliff iss
Dec. 14, 2012
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Samsung’s financial arms cut jobs on slump
Key financial affiliates of South Korea’s No. 1 conglomerate Samsung Group have eliminated hundreds of jobs via voluntary retirement programs as part of efforts to cut costs amid a prolonged economic slowdown, industry sources said Friday.Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., the country’s top non-life insurer, has recently implemented a voluntary retirement program and dismissed around 150 workers. Samsung Fire has enforced the program annually since 2009, according to the sources.The move comes
Dec. 14, 2012
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Hyundai denies double-digit global share
Hyundai-Kia on Friday denied a report that the two affiliate carmakers achieved a two-digit global market share for the first time last month.Citing LMC Automotive’s data, Korea Investment & Securities analyst Suh Sung-moon said Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors together reached a global market share of 10.1 percent last month.Hyundai Motor spokesman Lee Dong-hyung said, however, that the figure 10.1 percent was inaccurate as it was made based on LMC’s estimate of retail auto sales worldwid
IndustryDec. 14, 2012
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Unification Church to transfer automaking unit to N.K.
The Unification Church in South Korea will transfer control of its ailing automaking business in Pyongyang to North Korea, and may tap into the country’s special economic zone, according to a media report on Friday.Pyeonghwa Motors’ President Park Sang-kwon said the joint auto venture between the religious group and the North will be taken over by the North, according to the report by Voice of America.“We transfer the right to them to practically run (the firm),” Park was quoted as saying in the
Dec. 14, 2012
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Apple fails to persuade U.S. federal judge on Samsung patents
Apple Inc. has failed to persuade a federal judge to rule that two of Samsung Electronics Co.’s patents are unenforceable, in what was the latest development in the patent litigation between the world’s top two electronics manufacturers.U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, said that she would not consider Apple’s arguments about the patents from Samsung because a jury has already ruled in favor of the California-based company, according to news reports on Friday. In August, a ju
IndustryDec. 14, 2012
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LG defeats Alcatel-Lucent patent claims
Apple Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. did not infringe an Alcatel-Lucent SA unit’s patents for electronic devices including phones and computers, a jury said.The verdict Thursday came after a trial that began Nov. 27 in federal court in San Diego over a 2010 lawsuit by the Paris- based company’s Multimedia Patent Trust accusing Apple and LG Electronics of copying video-compression technology that allows data to be sent more efficiently over communications media, including the Internet and satellite
TechnologyDec. 14, 2012
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Distant ‘binge-eating’ black hole observed
The X-ray jet streaming from a binge-eating black hole in the nearby galaxy of Andromeda has been detected, U.S. and European astronomers say.Classified as an ultraluminous X-ray source or ULX, the object is only the second ever seen in Andromeda, also known as M31, and was the target of an intense observing campaign by orbiting X-ray telescopes and radio observatories on the ground, NASA reported Wednesday.Astronomers say they believe a ULX is a binary system containing a black hole that is rap
TechnologyDec. 14, 2012
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Samsung said working on larger Galaxy Note
Just when it seemed smartphone displays couldn‘t get any bigger, tech watchers report South Korea’s Samsung is working on a Galaxy Note with a 6.3-inch screen.As the lines between a phone and tablet blur even further, the Korea Times has said Samsung is working on a Galaxy Note 3 with a screen almost an inch larger that the Note 2‘s 5.5-inch display.The first Galaxy Note, mocked by many as a “phablet” for its 5.3-inch screen, saw decent sales, and the incrementally larger Note 2 was an even bigg
TechnologyDec. 14, 2012
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Korail may join railway project linking N.K., Russia
The stalled railway talks among the two Koreas and Russia are expected to gain fresh momentum as Korail, the South’s state-run railway operator, is considering participating in the Russian government’s project to connect North Korea’s Rajin and Russia’s Khasan via train. Russian Railways has carried out the project with an aim to reconstruct an existing section of the railway, the Port of Rajin cargo terminal, with access to the Trans-Siberian Railway. According to Korail, its president Chung Ch
IndustryDec. 13, 2012
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Tuna, tobacco and dried laver top farm exports
Sales of tuna, tobacco, dried laver and paprika were found to have led the country’s agricultural and fisheries exports this year, according to government figures.The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Thursday that between January and November this year, tuna was the most exported product, with overseas shipments soaring more than 60 percent in November, compared to January. The figure was expected to surpass $600 million by the end of this year. “It appears that a signi
IndustryDec. 13, 2012
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Risk of vitamin D deficiency grows in older people
Koreans are at a growing risk of vitamin D deficiency due to increased hours spent indoors, a report showed Thursday.According to a report by the state-run Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of patients suffering from diseases caused by vitamin D deficiency surged more than eightfold from 1,008 in 2007 to 10,006 in 2011. Medical costs to treat related diseases also jumped nearly 6.5 times. The report showed that the proportion of patients the aging population has surged i
TechnologyDec. 13, 2012
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Healthy bathing in winter
With the start of the winter season, increasing numbers of people are complaining of itchy and dry skin. The itchiness and dryness of skin in winter is associated with the cold weather. In countries such as Korea, where there are continental climates and continued dry weather, such skin conditions are quite common. It is more common in those aged 40 years and over, with the symptoms most prominent in the outer surfaces of the arms and the legs. The dry and itchy symptoms can progress to dry ecze
TechnologyDec. 13, 2012
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Pension operators to boost investments in stocks
South Korea’s public pension operators plan to reduce their holdings of bonds and expand investment in riskier destinations such as stocks in a bid to bolster asset management earnings, sources said Thursday.The move came as returns from bond investment, which accounts for more than half of local public pension operators’ assets, are expected to fall down the road as interest rates remain low here.The central bank froze the key interest rate for the second straight month on Thursday, opting to p
Dec. 13, 2012
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Korean Air brings in Airbus A380 superjumbo
Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea’s top air carrier, said Thursday it has introduced an Airbus A380 passenger jet, raising its superjumbo fleet to six.The world’s biggest passenger plane arrived at Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s main gateway, located west of Seoul, on Tuesday. It is set to enter service on Saturday, Korean Air said, without elaborating on its first destination.Currently, the air carrier deploys A380s on long-haul routes to New York, Los Angeles and Paris as well as
IndustryDec. 13, 2012
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SK Telecom forecasts LTE users to double next year
SK Telecom Co. on Thursday projected the number of its long-term evolution subscribers to grow two-fold next year on the back of solid demand for fourth-generation connectivity.LTE subscriptions are likely to reach 14 million in 2013, nearly doubling from the current 7 million level, the country’s top mobile carrier said in a press release.The projection comes amid a surge in LTE subscriptions. SK Telecom recently saw LTE subscriptions hit the 7-million mark, 17 months after it commercialized th
IndustryDec. 13, 2012
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KT chairman Lee joins GSMA board
KT announced Thursday that its chairman Lee Suk-chae would join the 2013-2014 GSMA Board, an association of international mobile operator firms. Scheduled to serve on the 25-member board for two years, Lee plans to strengthen communications among the CEOs of global mobile telecommunications companies and play an active role in the board’s decision making, KT said. South Korean members of the current 2011-2012 GSMA Board include KT president Pyo Hyun-myung and SK Telecom president Ha Sung-min. Ha
TechnologyDec. 13, 2012
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More 50-60s use smart device than ever
The number of smart device users in their 50s and 60s rapidly increased in 2012 from last year, data showed Thursday.According to research by the Korea Communications Commission and the Korea Internet Security Agency conducted between July 1 and Sept. 15 on some 73,000 participants, the number of owners of smart devices in their 50s increased nearly fivefold in just one year, from 9.5 percent in 2011 to 46.8 percent in 2012. Smart-device users in their 60s steeply increased over the same period
TechnologyDec. 13, 2012