Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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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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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Hyundai, Kia cars win Middle East ‘car of the year’ awards
Four vehicles made by top South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. have won 2011 Middle East Motor Awards, industry sources said Wednesday.The cars that ranked first in their respective sections were Hyundai’s Accent subcompact and Elantra compact and Kia’s Optima mid-size sedan and Sportage compact sport utility vehicle.The two automakers are the flagships of Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest car manufacturer, with Hyundai sales in the region risi
MobilityNov. 9, 2011
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Most foreign IBs plan to buy more Korean stocks
Seven out of 10 foreign investment banks plan to increase their portion of South Korean stocks next year, citing the country’s solid economic fundamentals and low price valuation, a report showed Wednesday.Citigroup Inc., Barclays Plc and five others said they plan to invest more in South Korean equities, while two players, HSBC Holdings Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, opted to scale back their stock purchases, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance. JP M
Nov. 9, 2011
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Finance, trade ministers urge quick approval of free trade deal with U.S.
South Korea’s top trade and economic policymakers urged the National Assembly on Wednesday to quickly ratify the long-standing free trade deal with the United States.The free trade accord, known as the KORUS FTA, was signed in June 2007 and supplemented in late December of last year with minor modifications that mostly deal with the auto industry. The agreement was ratified by the U.S. Congress last month and Seoul is under mounting pressure to follow suit.Lawmakers here, however, remain locked
Nov. 9, 2011
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Nearly 90% of ‘intra-group’ deals granted without competition: FTC
Nearly 90 percent of “intra-group” deals carried out between affiliates of major conglomerates last year were granted without open bidding, the antitrust watchdog said Wednesday.The results are based on an analysis by the Fair Trade Commission of business deals and sales data compiled by 20 affiliates of the nation‘s leading business groups. They consist of 8 advertising, 8 systems integration and 4 logistics companies. The companies were found to have received 9.16 trillion won ($8.23 billion)
Nov. 9, 2011
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Business backing helps Korean sports flourish
Conglomerate chiefs bring funds, facilities and passion to sportsSports in Korea, as with many other areas of Korean society, have advanced at a rapid pace.In some fields such as archery, golf and wrestling, the country has grown to be a force to be reckoned with on the international stage in a relatively short period of time.While the sports themselves are very different, they have one common theme: backing from a business tycoon.Archery in the Olympic Games has been dominated by Korea for dec
IndustryNov. 9, 2011
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Samsung top mobile phone vendor in 3 of 6 regions
Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s No. 2 handset maker, was the biggest mobile-phone vendor in three out of six regions in the third quarter, including Western Europe, a market report showed Wednesday.The report released by Strategy Analytics also noted that Samsung is closely competing with Nokia Corp., the world’s top handset maker, for global dominance as the Finnish firm lost ground in America and Western Europe. Samsung shipped 89.5 million handsets worldwide in the July-September period,
IndustryNov. 9, 2011
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Digital marketing key to staying ahead
The rise of online social networks such as Twitter and Facebook and social commerce services like Groupon are changing the way people do business. For companies, it’s a bewildering challenge that comes with disruptive changes everywhere. Traditional tools won’t work in the digital era, with people exchanging ideas and information about products and services at a frenetic speed. Companies are now scrambling to reconfigure their business models, infrastructure and whatever necessary to stay ahead,
CompaniesNov. 9, 2011
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Credit card loans begin to decline
The amount of Korea’s credit card loans declined for the first time in two years amid intensifying pressure from the authorities. The Financial Supervisory Service and the credit card industry estimate that the total loan balance ― including card loans and cash advance services ― has fallen slightly at the end of September compared to three months earlier. “Preliminary figures show that most credit card firms saw their loans decline in the third quarter of this year,” said an official from the F
Nov. 9, 2011
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KB chief hints at foreign bank buy
KB Financial Group chairman Euh Yoon-dae said on Wednesday local lenders will be given a chance to take over a foreign bank. Euh said more European banks are likely to be on the M&A market and it’s a good opportunity for Korean banks. “I believe Korea Development Bank should take over one of the global banks,” he said without elaborating on whether KB would pursue such a deal. As for the takeover of a life insurance firm, Euh said KB is not interested in a stake in Kyobo Life Insurance since the
Nov. 9, 2011
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SK tries to keep calm over probe
SK Group has come under pressure once again to explain a string of scandals surrounding its chairman Chey Tae-won and his younger brother and vice chairman Jae-won after prosecutors raided the conglomerate’s headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday.Investigators are trying to untangle a web of suspicion involving the chairman’s 100 billion won ($89.4 million) loss from futures trading, group subsidiaries’ 280 billion won investment in a financial firm owned by a former executive and an alleged slush fun
IndustryNov. 9, 2011
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Shares up on eurozone optimism
South Korean stocks inched 0.23 percent up on Wednesday as European optimism boosted investor sentiment but they contined to remain cautious about the region’s worsening debt crisis, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 4.39 points to 1,907.53. Trading volume was moderate at 414.3 million shares worth 5.47 trillion won ($4.9 billion), with losers leading gainers 416 to 395.“The prices were steady all day, just up and
Nov. 9, 2011
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E-Mart to heat up virtual wireless market
No. 1 supermarket chain seeks to launch telecom service to compete with major mobile firmsKorea’s No. 1 supermarket chain E-Mart plans to launch “half-priced” cellphones on Friday ― a move following the retail giant’s recent marketing of ultra-cheap TVs and coffee beans. The leading retailer will start selling the first batch of 1,000 handsets at its 130 outlets nationwide in a partnership with FreeC, a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. FreeC, which leases the wireless network capacity o
TechnologyNov. 9, 2011
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Kim & Chang tops law firms: Legal 500
Kim & Chang and Lee & Ko were named among the Legal 500’s best law firms in Korea, its report said Thursday. The London-based firm’s annual assessment of the world’s legal industry said Kim & Chang topped the list across all 14 practice areas including merger & acquisition advisory, corporate finance, intellectual property and tax. The long-standing runner-up Lee & Ko outscored Kim & Chang in M&A in terms of combined contract size. The report, a combined effort by Legal 500 and Thomson Reuters,
Nov. 9, 2011
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FSC may order bourse sale of KEB shares
Regulator apparently determined to take stern action against Lone Star FundsFinancial regulators hinted at the possibility that they could order Lone Star Funds, which was convicted of stock manipulation, to sell most of its stake in Korea Exchange Bank at market-determined prices on the stock market.A senior official of the Financial Services Commission on Wednesday dismissed speculation that the regulator will simply order Lone Star to sell the KEB shares with no specific conditions, which may
Nov. 9, 2011
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Honda to release over 10 new models in S. Korea: CEO
Honda Motor Co., Japan‘s No. 2 carmaker, plans to launch more than 10 new models in the growing South Korean market, the company’s global CEO said Wednesday.Takanobu Ito said in a meeting with reporters that South Korea has become an important market for the Japanese carmaker and said all available resources will be used to boost competitiveness here.He did not give the names of the car models Honda wants to sell in South Korea or a time frame for their release but said the launching of the 2012
MobilityNov. 9, 2011
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Toyota recalls 550,000 cars globally
TOKYO (AP) _ Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling about 550,000 vehicles worldwide _ mostly in the United States _ for possible problems related to the crankshaft pulley on the engine that could make it harder to steer.Toyota's U.S. sales unit said in a statement Wednesday that if the problem isn't corre
IndustryNov. 9, 2011
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Babies on obesity path? New sign may offer answer
CHICAGO (AP) — Researchers say there's a new way to tell if infants are likely to become obese later on: Check to see if they've passed two key milestones on doctors' growth charts by age 2.Babies who grew that quickly face double the risk of being obese at age 5, compared with peers who grew
TechnologyNov. 9, 2011
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Honda shows smarter robot, helps in nuclear crisis
Honda's human-shaped robot can now run faster, balance itself on uneven surfaces, hop on one foot and pour a drink. Some of its technology may even be used to help out with clean-up operations at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. Honda Motor Co.'s revamped human-shaped robot "Asimo" uses a
TechnologyNov. 9, 2011
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S. Korea's jobless rate falls to 2.9 percent in Oct.
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's jobless rate fell in October from a month earlier and job creation accelerated at the fastest pace in 17 months, showing signs that long-frozen labor conditions might be thawing, a report showed Wednesday.The jobless rate stood at 2.9 percent last month, down
Nov. 9, 2011
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Non-banking institutions’ household loans on the rise
The weight of household lending out of non-bank institutions’ total loans hit a record high in the second quarter, central bank data showed Tuesday, spawning concerns about growing household debt.The portion of non-bank institutions’ home loans out of their total lending reached 51.7 percent in the April-June period, up from 50 percent tallied in the first quarter, according to data by the Bank of Korea.The second-quarter figures marked the highest level since the first quarter of 2008 when the
Nov. 8, 2011