Most Popular
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Korea's food inflation surges to third-highest in OECD
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[AtoZ into Korean mind] Humor in Korea: Navigating the line between what's funny and not
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Med school deans urge for freeze of 2025 quota
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Yoon seeks rebound, taps 5-term lawmaker as chief of staff
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Medical standoff deepens as doctors reject new med school plan, talks
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N. Korea says Kim guided simulated nuclear counterattack drill
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[Herald Interview] Why Toss invited hackers to penetrate its system
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S. Korean envoys convene to navigate strategy amid Middle East tensions
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[Graphic News] 77% of young Koreans still financially dependent
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North Korea fires several short-range ballistic missiles into sea: JCS
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Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses
South Korean stocks started lower on Wednesday following overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 11.03 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,818.42 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Large-cap shares lost ground, with Samsung Electronics slipping 0.27 percent and Hyundai Motor falling 1.54 percent.U.S. stocks fell for a fourth session on T
July 11, 2012
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S. Korea's jobless rate rises to 3.2 percent in June
South Korea's jobless rate inched up in June from a month earlier amid worries that businesses are holding back hiring due to lingering market uncertainty caused by the eurozone debt problems, a report showed Wednesday.The jobless rate stood at 3.2 percent last month, up from 3.1 percent in May, according to the report by Statistics Korea. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 3
July 11, 2012
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Auto industry braces for union strikes
Unionized workers at local automotive companies are gearing up for a massive general strike in the coming weeks, with the largest Hyundai Motor Union expected to join the plan, the first in four years. The Korean Metal Workers Union, which includes the car industry, started a two-day vote on Tuesday to ask the approval of their 150,000 members on a four-hour walkout plan on July 13 and 20. The 45,000-member Hyundai Motor Union, which makes up about 70 percent of the total metal union members, al
IndustryJuly 10, 2012
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Soaring wages stoke inflation fears: data
South Korean workers’ wages surged in the first four months of this year, sparking concerns that inflation expectations could build down the road, data showed Tuesday.South Korean workers’ real wage grew an average of 3.83 percent in the January-April period from a year earlier, larger than an average 2.9 percent growth in consumer prices, according to calculation based data from the labor ministry and the state-run statistics agency.Last year, the country’s real wage declined 2.74 percent on-ye
July 10, 2012
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Samsung wins U.K. Galaxy Tab design suit
Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday won a design patent suit in the United Kingdom against Apple Inc., scoring a legal victory in the midst of a spate of ongoing patent lawsuits with its global rival, industry sources said. The British High Court of Justice ruled in favor of the South Korean tech giant, saying the Galaxy Tab, its tablet PC, does not infringe Apple’s registered design and that consumers are not likely to be confused, according to the sources. The ruling came after Samsung filed a s
July 10, 2012
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LG refrigerator survives tornado in South Africa
LG Electronics said Tuesday that its refrigerator was strong enough to survive a tornado in Deneysville, South Africa, last month.With the tornado causing one death and 14 injuries, local resident Mark Louw was devastated to see his roof less house and highly damaged car but was surprised to find out his LG-made refrigerator working as usual, said LG officials. He later sent an email to the Korean firm with a picture of the refrigerator attached to the message and applauded the company’s manufac
IndustryJuly 10, 2012
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Galaxy S3 picked as top smartphone by Consumer Reports
Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S3 smartphone has been chosen as the best smartphone by a well-known U.S. magazine in its latest handset survey, industry sources said Tuesday.Consumer Reports recommended the Galaxy sequel as the best smartphone pick for subscribers of three major mobile carriers in the United States. The smartphone received the top scores in the categories of voice calls, usability, messaging and others.The Galaxy S3 rolled out by AT&T Inc. received the highest score among smar
July 10, 2012
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Lock & Lock locks eyes on Asia
Korea’s leading plastic container maker signs MOU with Japan’s top kitchenware firmKorea’s leading plastic container producer Lock & Lock signed a memorandum of understanding on mutual cooperation Tuesday with Japan’s kitchenware maker Endo Manufacturing. Lock & Lock aims to become a global kitchenware company through the partnership with the biggest kitchenware company in Japan, which produces over 80,000 types of kitchenware for hotels, restaurants and cafes. The company, which has concentrate
IndustryJuly 10, 2012
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Hankook Tire steps up marketing in Europe
Korean tire maker supplies high-quality products to BMW, Audi, MercedesHankook Tire Co. has stepped up its overseas marketing to wage competition with Continental, a German player dominating Europe in the supply of tire products to premium car brands.Following contracts with BMW and Audi, Hankook Tire became an auto parts supplier for Mercedes-Benz this year.The company, the No. 1 tire manufacturer in Korea first tapped in to the German luxury market five years ago.The firm forged a supply contr
IndustryJuly 10, 2012
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Mirae Asset launches joint venture in China
Korea’s Mirae Asset Financial Group Co. said Tuesday it has launched a joint venture with two Chinese counterparts as part of an effort to expand its asset management business in Asia. Mirae Asset owns 25 percent of Mirae Asset Huachen Fund Management Co. with Chinese Huachen Trust Co. and Tiantu Capital Co. owning 40 percent and 35 percent, respectively.The joint venture was established with an initial capital of 200 million yuan ($31.4 million).The joint firm will offer various mutual funds to
IndustryJuly 10, 2012
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BOK faces mounting pressure to reduce key interest rate
HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Korea’s central bank is facing mounting pressure to ease its monetary policy as the global economy continues to struggle, several investment banks said Tuesday.“A potential downward revision to growth forecasts by the Bank of Korea would strengthen the case for monetary easing,” said Ronald Man, economist at HSBC. To sustain the country’s growth, Seoul policymakers must do more to support domestic demand, since international trade, which has traditionally fueled the eco
July 10, 2012
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Korean brokerages’ foreign units see losses widen in 2011
Korean securities firms saw losses at their foreign operations widen in fiscal 2011 from a year earlier, due mainly to increased deficits in their Hong Kong businesses amid worsening offshore market conditions, the financial regulator said Tuesday. The 93 foreign units of 19 local brokerages saw their combined net loss reach $93.8 million during the year that ends on March 31 2012, compared with a loss of $62.6 million a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The firms clo
July 10, 2012
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IT exports shrink 5.2% in first half
Korea’s exports of information technology products sank 5.2 percent on-year during the first half of the year, mainly due to weak demand from European consumers gripped by protracted eurozone debt problems, data showed Tuesday.The country shipped $73.27 billion worth of IT products during the January-June period, down from $77.32 billion a year earlier, according to the data released by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.During the same period, South Korea also saw its IT imports drop 6.5 percent
TechnologyJuly 10, 2012
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Eurozone crisis to weigh down on industrial conditions in H2: KCCI
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced Tuesday that industrial conditions will worsen in the latter half of this year due to the economic crisis occurring in the eurozone.In research conducted with 11 different organizations, the second-half forecast for the information and telecommunications and machinery sectors is on the bright side with a slightly mixed outlook for semiconductor, automobile and petrochemical businesses.But outlooks for the steel, oil refinery, clothing and cons
IndustryJuly 10, 2012
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KEPCO proposes 10.7% hike in electricity charges
The board of directors of Korea Electric Power Corp. agreed to propose a 10.7 percent increase in electricity charges to the government, the state-run energy supplier said on Tuesday. KEPCO insisted that the proposal is inevitable to stabilize living costs and meet rising production costs. “Electricity is a precious shared resource that is produced at only 40 percent efficiency from 100 percent imported carbon-emitting energy sources, such as oil, coal and liquefied natural gas,” said Lee Gi-pyo
July 10, 2012
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Genes offer business tips
What is life? By definition, life refers to organisms that reproduce, metabolize, grow and respond to stimulus. Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, made a different interpretation of life in his iconic book “The Selfish Gene.” He argued that life was a method by which genes reproduce and evolve while adapting to environments. Since the first life appeared on Earth 3.7 billion years ago, there have been five mass extinctions that wiped out 60-80 percent of living creatures on this planet.
July 10, 2012
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CJ Group fosters innovative corporate culture
Conglomerate allows speedy promotion to executives, grills workers to quit smokingCJ Group recently introduced a package of unconventional systems as part of its move to set up a unique corporate culture.A new eye-catching system is “fast-track promotion,” which gives employees opportunities to become an executive within 10 years of being hired.Under the unprecedented personnel benefit, more CJ employees in their 30s may be promoted to executives.Formerly, as in the case of other conglomerates,
IndustryJuly 10, 2012
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Seoul shares down 0.36 percent on eurozone woes
South Korean stocks closed 0.36 percent lower on Tuesday as investors' sentiment was undermined by fruitless European meetings and pessimistic Chinese economic data, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 6.68 points to 1,829.45. Trading volume was light at 363.9 million shares worth 3.3 trillion won ($2.89 billio
July 10, 2012
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Sitting less may extend American lives: study
(123rf)American adults may boost their life expectancy by two years by sitting for fewer than three hours a day, researchers said Tuesday, while admitting this was a tough task.Reducing television viewing to under two hours a day could similarly add1.4 years, the US team said in a paper in the online journal BMJ Open.A recent study found that US adults spend about 7.7 hours per day engaged in "s
TechnologyJuly 10, 2012
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‘Irreplaceable’ dinosaur fossil destroyed
An “irreplaceable” dinosaur fossil destroyed at a dig in western Canada is the fourth fossil to be damaged in the last two months, a paleontologist says.The skeleton of a duck-billed Hadrosaur was discovered in Alberta June 15 by paleontologist Phil Bell and a team from the University of Alberta, CBC News reported.At that time, the fossil was partially uncovered by the team and then reburied so it could be removed from the site in mid-July.When Bell visited the site Thursday, he discovered the 3
TechnologyJuly 10, 2012