Two Korean-led consortia satisfy bid qualifications for $20b railroad plan Two consortia including Korean enterprises passed the pre-qualification criteria for a $20 billion railway project in the United Arab Emirates, raising hopes for the country’s first-ever railway construction export, state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said Friday. The list of firms involved in the bid inclu...

Foreign vehicle brands in South Korea saw a steady rise in their sales last month from a year earlier, flashing a green light for their goal of selling over 100,000 cars in the local market for the first time, a trade association said Friday. A total of 6,770 imported vehicles were sold here in February, up 5.2 percent from the same month last year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers an...

The Web sites of South Korea's presidential office, government agencies and financial institutions came under a cyber attack on Friday, industry sources said. The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and top lender Kookmin Bank were among some 40 institutions whose Web sites were infected by the so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) from 10 a.m., ...

(URGENT) Web sites of Cheong Wa Dae, 40 agencies come under DDoS

Competition is beefing up between two global electronics rivals Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. after the U.S.-based firm’s chief executive Steve Jobs singled out its competitors while launching the iPad 2 on Wednesday. “Samsung put (a tablet) out last year,” said the 56-year-old CEO in his first public appearance since taking a medical leave on Jan. 17. Then quoting Lee Young-hee, Samsung’s...

FSS chief blasts Shinhan for stock options given to ex-chair Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kim Jong-chang on Thursday issued a strong warning against excessive competition and executive compensation among commercial banks. In a meeting with bank CEOs in Seoul the nation’s chief financial regulator cautioned that banks should refrain from behavior that could destabilize their finances and f...

Korean stocks closed 2.2 percent higher on Thursday, recouping losses from earlier this week, as a series of encouraging economic data spurred strong foreign and institutional buying, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 42.42 points to 1,970.66. Trading volume was moderate at 277.2 million shares worth 5.1...

Hynix Semiconductor Inc., Micron Technology Inc. and Nanya Technology Corp. asked a federal judge in California to delay a patent-infringement trial scheduled for May 2 over claims brought by Rambus Inc. Jared Bobrow, a lawyer representing the memory-chip makers, said in a letter Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte in San Jose, California, that the trial should be taken “off calenda...

The government will set up a 9 billion won ($7.8 million) fund this year to assist local firms’ clean energy projects overseas. The government’s latest move is part of the country’s efforts to make $40 billion from exports related to renewable energy such as photovoltaic and wind power by 2015. “The global renewable energy market is projected to be highly prospective, and thus will likely push ...

The National Pension Service and POSCO will acquire 5 percent stakes in a Brazilian producer of a rare earth metal used in steel, oil pipes and automotive components, they said on Thursday. They will each invest 400 billion won ($356 million) to acquire 5 percent of Brazil’s Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineracao, the world’s largest producer of the scarce mineral niobium. CBMM controls...

The country’s air carriers are planning to recruit the highest-ever number of new employees this year, thanks to their record-breaking earnings reached in 2010. Korean Air is expected to hire up to 2,700 new workers, including flight attendants, pilots and technicians, in 2011. The nation’s No. 1 local airline employed 2,300 new hires last year and 2,050 new employees in 2009. Asiana Airlines,...

Korea’s business community declared an “energy emergency” Thursday, pledging to implement energy conservation measures to help the country cope with high-flying oil prices. The resource-poor country relies almost entirely on imports for its oil needs, with 82 percent being imported from the Middle East. In a meeting with Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung in Seoul, business leaders fro...