Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
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Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
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[Graphic News] 77% of young Koreans still financially dependent
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S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
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Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
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Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
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[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
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Yoo Jae-suk, Yoo Yeon-seok team up in 'Whenever Possible'
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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Aging population to drive down Korea's housing prices from 2040: experts
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Study: The perfect lie may be possible
U.S. researchers say with a certain amount of training and instruction a person could learn to tell a lie that may be indistinguishable from the truth.The study at Northwestern University, which suggests the art of deception can be perfected, has implications for law enforcement and the administering of lie detector tests, a university release said Thursday.Previous researchers has shown most people take longer to respond and make more mistakes when telling lies than telling the truth because th
TechnologyDec. 7, 2012
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Card firms charge high loan rates despite regulatory call
South Korea‘s credit card companies have been making huge profits from charging high interest rates on card loan users, despite the regulatory move to lower the rates, industry data showed Friday.The portion of card loan borrowers that owed the highest interest rate charged by card firms accounted for 20-65 percent out of the total as of the end of November, according to card firms’ data.A card loan refers to a loan extended by a card company based on the borrower‘s credit. Its highest rate band
Dec. 7, 2012
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Russian iTunes users get XXX content
Russian iTunes users got more than they bargained for when XXX-rated content showed up in their movie section, Wired.com says.When iTunes was launched in Russia, users who went to the “more films in different languages” section to download mainstream movie fare, they instead found content from porn sites, escort services and purveyors of sex toys, the online tech website reported Wednesday.Wired.com said the folks at iPhones.ru thought iTunes‘ tech staff may have put some temporary xx.xx.xx plac
TechnologyDec. 7, 2012
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Seoul shares open higher on U.S. gains
South Korean stocks started higher Friday following overnight gains on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.3 percent, or 5.84 points, to 1,955.46 in the first 15 minutes of trading.No. 2 home appliance maker LG Electronics advanced 1.08 percent after last session's sharp drop due to a cartel fine by the European Union.Top steelmaker POSCO gained 1.66 percent and second-largest carmaker Kia Motors climbed 0.49 percent.The Dow Jones Industrial
Dec. 7, 2012
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Samsung, Apple face off in U.S. court
Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. sparred in a key U.S. court hearing on Thursday in which Samsung sought to overturn a jury verdict while the iPhone maker ramped up calls for sales bans of several Samsung products.Samsung suffered a crushing defeat in late August, when a U.S. jury ordered US$1.05 billion in damages after finding some Samsung smartphones and tablets infringed on Apple patents.Earlier in the day, U.S. federal judge Lucy Koh resumed a court session between the world's two top
IndustryDec. 7, 2012
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iPhone 5 hits S. Korea
Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5 made its belated debut in South Korea on Friday with avid fans welcoming the latest iPhone amid the U.S. smartphone maker's ongoing patent battle with homegrown player Samsung Electronics Co.SK Telcom Co. and KT Corp., the country's two biggest mobile carriers, kicked off the release of the first iPhone that runs on the fourth-generation long-term evolution (LTE) network after beginning pre-orders a week earlier.While Apple rolled out the latest iPhone on its home turf in e
TechnologyDec. 7, 2012
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Near-zero Q3 growth puts 2012 goal out of reach
Korea’s third-quarter growth slowed to a level seen at the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, dimming the chances of Asia’s fourth-largest economy achieving its annual growth outlook of 2.4 percent.According to the Bank of Korea on Thursday, the nation’s July-September real GDP grew only 0.1 percent from the previous quarter, half the estimate announced in October. Korea had grown 0.1 percent on-quarter in the first three months of 2009, when it was hit most by the global financial c
Dec. 6, 2012
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Influenza
In 2009, there was a worldwide pandemic of influenza. The pathogenic virus is still prevalent and is becoming a common cause of influenza. Influenza caused the deaths of approximately 20 million people worldwide between 1918 and 1919. This was the “Spanish Flu” and the large number of deaths increased the awareness of the disease. Since then, there have been similar pandemics every 10 to 40 years. The pandemic in 2009 followed the “Hong Kong Flu” in 1958 by approximately 40 years.The influenza v
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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Dealing with itchy skin
Cho Min-shik, 62, wakes up at midnight scratching his legs and arms. “It’s quite unpleasant and somehow stressful when the feeling of itchiness wakes you up in the middle of night,” he said. Cho has been in a clinical program to treat constant itchy skin for the last two years. But as the weather gets dry in the winter, he feels the treatment doesn’t work at all. Taking extra care with his skin, applying ceramide-added moisturizers as much as possible and taking other medication is all he can do
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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KEB opens euro trade finance center in Germany
Korea Exchange Bank said Thursday it opened a “Euro Trade Finance and Remittance Center,” or “Euro Center” for short, in Frankfurt.It is the first such center to be established by a Korean bank, according to KEB.KEB’s German arm which runs the Euro Center is a regular member of Europe’s integrated remittance system and wires money on a real-time basis to about 57,000 other member banks.Korean officials at the Euro Center can confirm the receipt of remittance on the day Korean customers wire the
Dec. 6, 2012
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Singapore, Qantas to revise refund policy
The nation’s antitrust watchdog ordered Singapore Airlines and Australia’s Qantas Airways on Wednesday to fix their unfair refund policy on discounted flight tickets. Unlike other air carriers that offer some refunds for cancellation, the two companies were found to have not paid back any of the ticket prices except oil surcharges and taxes. The Fair Trade Commission said, even considering price benefits of the discounted tickets, the two companies put excessive pressure on consumers. Following
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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LG smartphone sales top 3m on home turf
South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. has sold more than 3 million smartphones in the local market, bolstering the company’s drive to escape its smartphone laggard status, a company official said Thursday.LG Electronics saw its domestic smartphone shipments top 3-million units in the first 10 months of the year, breaking the milestone for the first time, according to an LG Electronics official. While end-November figures were unavailable, the company is expected to sell a total of 3.5 m
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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Shares edge up amid lingering U.S. fiscal woes
South Korean stocks crawled 0.13 percent up Thursday as investors sat on the sidelines to watch progress in U.S. fiscal cliff negotiations, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 2.58 points to 1,949.62. Trading volume was light at 335 million shares worth 4.6 trillion won (US$4.3 billion) with decliners outpacing advancers 427 to 385.“The U.S. fiscal cliff widely dominates the market, while there are no other
Dec. 6, 2012
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Renault Samsung mulls sale of factory land
Renault Samsung Motors is considering selling some of the land at its second manufacturing plant site in Busan, company officials said Thursday.The land sale plan allegedly comes as part of the carmaker’s efforts to overcome a lackluster sales performance.Though Renault Samsung had pushed ahead with building the second plant, it has yet to launch the construction process amid the situation that its sales in the local market dropped more than 30 percent on a year-on-year basis.A company executive
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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CJ O Shopping starts services in Turkey
CJ O Shopping Co., a South Korean cable home shopping channel, said Thursday that it has launched a 24-hour TV home shopping channel in Turkey. In order to tap the Turkish home-shopping market, CJ O Shopping formed MCJ, a joint venture with MediaSa, a Turkish media group, the local company said. CJ O Shopping will be able to broadcast programs on consumer products to 13 million households in the country or 80 percent of its overall population, via the channel named “MCJ,” the company said. The S
Dec. 6, 2012
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LG, Samsung to appeal massive fine in EU
LG Electronics and Samsung SDI announced Thursday that they will appeal the European Commission’s 450 million euro (630 billion won) fine that was imposed for an alleged cartel in computer and television parts. The two Korean firms are determined to appeal the case with the European court after thoroughly reviewing all necessary legal aspects. The European antitrust watchdog decided Wednesday to charge LG 300 million euro (420 billion won) and Samsung 150 million euro (210 billion won), along wi
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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Antitrust fines hit record in 2012
The Fair Trade Commission has levied fines on enterprises totaling 913.8 billion won ($846.1 million) so far this year, an all-time high on a yearly basis.The collective figure for this year far surpasses the antitrust regulator’s fines of 347.3 billion won on rule-violators in 2011 and 507.4 billion won in 2010.During the first and second year of the Lee Myung-bak administration, the figure was 131.1 billion won and 110.8 billion won, respectively, under the president’s business-friendly polici
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Electricity use soars as mercury plummets
Concerns about blackouts are mounting as cold spells hitting the nation are expected to raise electricity consumption. Adding to the woe is the likelihood of shutdowns at more nuclear reactors which were found using substandard parts. Electricity use surged Thursday when freezing weather swept the nation following Wednesday’s heavy snowfall. The day’s morning low for Seoul was minus 10.3 degrees Celsius. The Korea Power Exchange said electricity consumption soared to 72.97 million kilowatts at 1
Dec. 6, 2012
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Labor relations in Korea becoming more peaceful
With South Korea maturing as a society, communication and engagement, rather than confrontation, are becoming the preferred methods of conflict resolution in many sectors. The same trend is found in industrial relations, once swept by confrontation and feuds. “The nation’s industrial relations have gradually become peaceful. The number of labor disputes registered hit the record low of 65 in 2011. It is time to consider ways to narrow the gap between perception and reality in this area,” Korea L
Dec. 6, 2012
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Conglomerates promote PR officers
“Public relations” seems to be the keyword for this year’s personnel reshuffles at major companies, with employees in the field being given promotions all around as the country faces a slow economy and an imminent presidential election. “When the times are bad, PR is one of the most cost-effective activities that a company can undertake, as it has the biggest advertisement effect,” said Lee Baek-soo, chairman of the Korea Public Relations Consultancy Association. Companies also are busy preparin
IndustryDec. 6, 2012