Most Popular
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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[Graphic News] Number of coffee franchises in S. Korea rises 13%
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S. Korean children, teens grow taller, mature faster than before: study
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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[Robert J. Fouser] AI changes rationale for learning languages
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[Today’s K-pop] Stray Kids go gold in US with ‘Maniac’
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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Naver Q1 net income soars 1,171.9% on growth of major businesses
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Asiana named best airline in Asia
Asiana Airlines has earned the Best Airline in Asia title from the British transport research company Skytrax, the air carrier said Sunday. In the Airline of the Year rankings, Asiana Airlines ranked second next to Qatar Airlines, it added. During the award ceremony held on Thursday in Farnborough, the U.K., the airline received the Best Airline in Asia award together with the award for the Best Economy Class Airline Seat. Asiana said its premium services like dispatching chefs and sommeliers as
IndustryJuly 15, 2012
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Seoul bourse likely to attempt rebound this week
Korean stocks are expected to move upward this week, trying to make up for the sharp losses seen in the last seven days, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index tumbled 3.2 percent from a week earlier to finish at 1,812.89 this week, as investors opted to sell off shares on disappointing U.S. employment data and a hike in borrowing costs for Spanish debts. The main index plunged as low as the 1,780 mark on Thursday after the central bank lowered its key rate for the first
July 15, 2012
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Six out of ten paid by card in Q1
Payment by credit card surpasses 60% for first time while card issuances dropPurchases made by credit card surpassed 60 percent of all purchases made in the first quarter for the first time. Korea’s Credit Finance Association announced on Sunday that payment by credit card reached 63.3 percent in the first quarter. It means that most purchases were done by credit cards, said the association, probably excluding small amounts below 2,000 won paid in cash. The ratio increased almost three-fold from
July 15, 2012
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Money circulation stiffens
Despite the government’s various monetary policy measures including the key interest rate cut to 3 percent, money circulation is slowing more than ever in Korea, reports showed. According to the Bank of Korea, money multiplier, the core indicator used to assess circulation levels, dropped to 21.9, it’s lowest point in the past decade. Money multiplier is the ratio of the volume of the money and substitutes in circulation to the volume of actual money supplied by the central bank. A decrease in t
July 15, 2012
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Hyundai U.S. chief signals investment in capacity, trucks
Hyundai Motor Co., headed for its first annual decline in U.S. market share since 1998, plans to address production constraints and invest in trucks and crossovers, the automaker’s sales chief for the country said. The Hyundai brand passed Ford Motor Co.’s namesake brand in car sales to retail buyers during the first six months of the year, John Krafcik, chief executive officer of the South Korean company’s U.S. sales unit, told reporters yesterday at an event in Brooklyn, Michigan. The company
MobilityJuly 15, 2012
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Japanese automakers struggle in Korean market
Imported car brands with large deficits aim to hit back with lower prices and model revampsJapanese carmakers have seen gradual recoveries in the global market, but their Korean businesses are still posting large operating losses. The automakers attributed their large deficits to external factors such as last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, floods in Thailand and the strong yen. “Last year was doomed to deficit. The earthquake and other natural disasters basically blocked the automobile
MobilityJuly 15, 2012
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System offers drivers a robot 'co-pilot’
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they've developed an automatic "intelligent co-pilot" for cars that can help drivers avoid obstacles.The system can cause a vehicle to steer itself automatically around an obstacle, transitioning control back to the driver once the danger has passed, an MIT release said Friday.The semiautonomous safety system uses an onboard camera and las
TechnologyJuly 15, 2012
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3 foreign law firms allowed to open branches in Seoul
Three foreign law firms have been allowed to offer foreign legal consultancy services in South Korea for the first time, the Justice Ministry said Sunday. The three firms permitted to open branches in Seoul to provide international law-related consultancy services are Ropes & Gray, Sheppard Mullin and Clifford Chance, the ministry said, noting they registered themselves as foreign legal consulta
July 15, 2012
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Bees swarm in downtown Stockholm
(123rf)Thousands of bees swarmed outside the Stockholm headquarters of a major Swedish clothing chain. Annette Rieger, who works in the H&M building, told The Local.se the swarm was outside for about 3 hours Friday afternoon. "I saw them all over the windows. They even got through the first level of glazing," she said. "My colleague was super scared because she is allergic to bees!"Johan Jarbrant,
TechnologyJuly 15, 2012
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Visa, MasterCard in $6B settlement over card fees
NEW YORK (AP) -- Visa, MasterCard and major banks agreed to pay retailers at least $6 billion to settle a long-running lawsuit that alleged the card issuers conspired to fix the fees that stores pay to accept credit cards. As part of the settlement, announced late Friday, stores from Rite Aid to Kroger will be allowed to charge customers more if they pay using a credit card.The pact, which is bein
BusinessJuly 14, 2012
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LG Display to pay US$380 mln to settle LCD price-fixing case
LG Display Co., the world's No. 2 maker of liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels, said Friday it has agreed to pay US$380 million to settle a U.S. class-action lawsuit over alleged price-fixing in the LCD market.LG Display agreed to pay the amount to U.S. consumers and eight state governments, including the states of California and New York, to settle the case that was lodged in 2007, the company sa
IndustryJuly 14, 2012
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BOK cuts GDP outlook to 3%
South Korea’s central bank said Friday that it has revised its projection on the nation’s GDP growth rate for 2012 to 3 percent.The figure is lower than the Bank of Korea’s earlier prediction of 3.5 percent in April and 3.7 percent in December 2011.The BOK’s GDP outlook is even bleaker than that forecast by the Finance Ministry last month, which was 3.3 percent. In its “Economic Outlook for Second Half of 2012,” the bank said that growth levels are projected to be 2.7 percent for the first half
July 13, 2012
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Foreign IBs eye another rate cut within year
Major foreign investment banks expect South Korea to cut its key interest rate one more time within the year to buttress the faltering economy weighed down by the eurozone jitters, a report showed Friday.Foreign IBs, including Nomura and HSBC, predict the central bank to slash the benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2.75 percent as early as September or by the end of this year at the latest, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance.The Bank of Korea on Thursda
July 13, 2012
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LPG vehicle sales soar on high gas prices
Sales of cars fueled by liquefied petroleum gas surged 20 percent in the first five months of this year mainly due to high gasoline prices, a report showed Friday.According to the Korea LPG Association report, sales of cars that run on the liquefied mixture of propane, butane and other chemicals, reached 76,209 units in the cited period, up from 63,303 an year earlier.In contrast, sales of gasoline-powered cars dropped 15 percent on-year to 286,922 units, while diesel car sales remained virtuall
July 13, 2012
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Ssangyong denies accounting fraud rumor
Ssangyong Motor dismissed the allegation that the company sought to lay off a group of employees by rigging its financial statements in 2009.In a statement on Friday, the automaker said financial regulators had already completed their probe into the allegation of fraudulent accounting, which had been raised by some lawmakers.“The Financial Supervisory Service has also notified us that it has not found any critical misstatements in our accounting books,” a Ssangyong spokesman said.He said the FSS
IndustryJuly 13, 2012
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Minister urges public firms to restrain price increases
Public companies providing exclusive services should be cautious when making price hike decisions and consider possible effects such action could have on inflation and the overall economy, South Korea’s top economic policymaker said Friday.“Public companies, unlike private ones, usually provide exclusive services. They have to make decisions (on prices) by taking into consideration their ripple effect on the whole economy,” Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told an anti-inflation meeting.He admitted
July 13, 2012
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LG targets Latin America
LG Electronics Inc., the world’s No. 2 TV maker, said Thursday it has agreed with Spain’s biggest phone company Telefonica SA to provide content via its smart TVs as it moves to dominate the Latin American TV market.Under the deal, the South Korean tech behemoth will pack its cinema three-dimensional smart TV sets with more than 500 videos provided by Telefonica, which enjoys the largest share in Latin America’s telecom service market, according to LG.The company plans to launch the service in A
IndustryJuly 13, 2012
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Shares rise on better-than-expected data
South Korean stocks jumped 1.54 percent on Friday as investors were relieved by China’s not-so-bad economic data and optimistic about a further rebound, analysts said. The local currency gained ground against the U.S. dollar.The Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 27.5 points to finish at 1,812.89, snapping a five-day decline. The main bourse plunged more than 40 points during the previous session.Trading volume was moderate at 344.2 million shares worth 4.67 trillion won ($4.06 billion),
July 13, 2012
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Financial, manufacturing industries hit by strikes
Two major labor unions, the nation’s largest labor unions in their sectors, said they would strike in July. The Korean Metal Workers’ Union, the nation’s largest industrial union, has set up a nationwide one-day strike calling for better working conditions, members said Thursday. The move comes four years after the Korean Metal Workers’ Union has staged a collective labor action 2008. The union estimates about 130,000 workers from 211 companies will participate in the strike, making it the large
IndustryJuly 13, 2012
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FSC sucked into savings bank scandal
Senior official at financial regulator accused of influence peddling on behalf of SolomonProsecutors launched a full investigation into financial authorities in relation to corruption at debt-saddled savings banks. The joint investigation looking into savings banks’ corruptions, carried out by prosecutors and officials from finance-related government organizations, investigated a senior official at the Financial Services Commission for two days starting Wednesday on bribery charges. The official
July 13, 2012