Most Popular
-
1
Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
-
2
[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
-
3
Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
-
4
Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
-
5
'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
-
6
Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
-
7
Probe of first lady on Dior bag allegations set to begin
-
8
Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
-
9
'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
-
10
Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
-
Economic blues push up lottery sales
Sales of lottery tickets in South Korea surged nearly 18 percent on-year in the first half of the year, data showed Wednesday, as more people sought to hit the jackpot amid a prolonged economic downturn.Lottery sales came to 1.62 trillion won ($1.45 billion) during the January-June period, up 17.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Finance Ministry.Total lottery proceeds reached 641 billion won in the six-month period, up 13.1 percent from a year earlier, while prize payou
Sept. 19, 2012
-
Samsung to scale back spending on chip business
Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s top memory chip maker, is likely to cut back its spending on semiconductor business next year in the face of the economic slowdown, company officials said Wednesday.“It will be difficult to make aggressive investments next year due to an economic slowdown,” Samsung’s memory business chief Jun Dong-soo told reporters, adding that Samsung is likely to take a conservative stance on investments.Jun, however, said nothing has been decided since the company is stil
Sept. 19, 2012
-
Four-river project offers answer to global challenges
This article was contributed by the Korea Water Resources Corp. to mark the opening of the 2012 World River Forum in Daegu on Wednesday. ― Ed. It may be fair to say that economic growth has been given priority over environmental conservation in many parts of the world. Since 2009, the four-river restoration project has been initiated as a part of the green growth imitative developed by the Korean government. The project is targeting the main rivers ― Han, Geum, Nakdong and Yeongsan ― of the peni
Sept. 19, 2012
-
Korea ranks 40th in gold reserves
Gold has emerged as one of the safest assets as uncertainties mount in the global economy. Following other countries eager to buy gold, Korea has joined the move to diversify foreign exchange reserves, becoming 40th in the global ranking in terms of gold holdings.Korea’s gold holdings amounted to 70.4 tons, valued at $2.98 billion, as of the end of August, accounting for 0.9 percent of the country’s total foreign reserves of $316.88 billion, the World Gold Council said. In June 2011, Korea’s cen
Sept. 18, 2012
-
Guy Sorman opposes overreaction to recession
French economist and columnist Guy Sorman said Tuesday that the global economy was still optimistic despite its continued economic slowdown and the financial struggles in the eurozone. “The worst scenario in an (economic) crisis is to overreact to the crisis. Crises are bad, but they cannot be avoided,” the author of “Diary of an Optimist” said in a global business forum co-hosted by the Institute for Global Economics and Samsung Electronics. Sorman stressed that economic recovery requires a sta
Sept. 18, 2012
-
Anti-Japan sentiment does no harm to Korean firms in China
South Korean companies in China have suffered no damage yet from the recent wave of anti-Japanese protests sweeping across China over a territorial dispute with Tokyo, industry sources said Tuesday. The South Korean firms, however, are bracing for any possible fallout from the demonstrations, as protesters torched a factory of Japanese electronics maker Panasonic and a Toyota dealership.The latest outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment flared over Japan’s recent decision to buy some disputed islands i
Sept. 18, 2012
-
Prices of farm product imports fall in Aug.
Prices of imported farm products in South Korea declined last month, customs data showed Wednesday, despite worries that recent extreme weather conditions in major farmlands would cause price hikes.According to the data by the Korea Customs Service, the price index of imported agricultural, livestock and fishery products stood at 114.2 in August, down 4.3 percent from a year earlier. The index is also down 3 percent from July.Import prices of agricultural products fell 3.5 percent on-year in Aug
Sept. 18, 2012
-
Enjoying nature is easy in and around Seoul
Eddie Provencher wasn’t always interested in bird watching. It took an eco-tour of the demilitarized zone along Koreas’ border in 2009 to make him realize that not only were there many interesting birds to see in nature, but that the urban areas of Korea were also alive with birds. “Birds are everywhere, so you don’t need to go anywhere to observe them,” says Provencher. “You just need to look around yourself and listen.”Although Seoul is a sprawl of urban mass, there is still wildlife and many
Sept. 18, 2012
-
History of rivers and the great powers
This article was contributed by the Korea Water Resources Corp. to mark the opening of the 2012 World River Forum in Daegu on Wednesday. ― Ed. Fresh water, like air, is the most precious substance of all things on our Earth. Lacking fresh and temperate flowing water, we would be either red-hot like Venus, or frozen over like Mars. Water controls our every life, and forms the greater part of our human bodies. While we often forget it, humankind is a species whose destiny relates at all times to t
Sept. 18, 2012
-
Samsung’s Kwon named among MediaGuardian 100
Samsung Electronics vice chairman and CEO Kwon Oh-hyun was ranked 88th in the MediaGuardian 100 2012 organized by British newspaper the Guardian.The MediaGuardian 100 is an annual selection of the most powerful people in TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, digital media, advertising marketing and PR. Kwon is the only Asian to be included on the list. He was selected because he contributed to Samsung outdoing Nokia as the world’s biggest seller of mobile phones, according to the newspaper.The top h
Sept. 18, 2012
-
Wolsung Unit-1 breakdown fans fear on old nuke plants
Wolsung Unit-1 nuclear power plant in North Gyeongsang Province broke down on Sunday at 4:51 p.m., amplifying concern over old nuclear plants. The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. said that the plant stopped producing power as its power transformer failed, leading the power-generating turbine to grind to a halt. The KHNP said that it would take approximately three days to replace the parts. The accident took place amid the state assessment period of the unit’s suitability for continued operatio
Sept. 17, 2012
-
Consumer slump deepens
In a sign that Korea’s consumer contraction is deepening, sales at major discount outlets and department stores dropped from a year earlier for the third consecutive month in August.According to a report released Monday by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the nation’s three biggest supermarket chains ― Lotte Mart, E-Mart and Homeplus ― saw their combined sales fall 3.3 percent on-year last month. The three biggest department stores also suffered a decline of their sales by 6.9 percent.Analysts
Sept. 17, 2012
-
KT plans content development fund
KT, Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier, said Monday that it plans to set up a fund to invest in the development of content such as animation, games and music by small and medium-sized firms.Speaking at a news conference, KT chairman Lee Suk-chae said the company will allocate around 100 billion won ($89 million) to the fund, which will be established by the end of this year and be operated for content development over the next three years.The company plans to allocate some 20 billion won of i
Sept. 17, 2012
-
‘Reliability sustains Miele brand’
Premium home appliance maker hopes to win Korean consumers for 100 years, CEO saysAnyone in Korea who has lived in Germany or other parts of Europe before uses it.Rhie Won-bok, who studied in Germany and is known for his comic books “Far Countries, Neighboring Countries,” uses it. Cha bum-kun, who played soccer in Germany and is a regular World Cup newscaster, uses it. Yoon Boo-keun, CEO of Samsung Electronics’ consumer electronics division, praised it during his visit to Germany’s IFA electroni
Sept. 17, 2012
-
QE3 raises need for Korea to smooth capital inflows: BOK
South Korea’s top central banker has stressed the need to smooth the volatility of cross-border capital flows as emerging countries cannot block liquidity inflows stemming from advanced economies’ monetary easing steps.Central banks in the U.S. and the eurozone announced in September moves to take unconventional monetary easing steps in a bid to prop up their fragile economies, dogged by the eurozone debt crisis.The Federal Reserve pledged Thursday to pump $40 billion every month into the U.S. e
Sept. 16, 2012
-
Shareholders to announce 2nd bidding for KAI sale
Major shareholders of Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. plan to make a second public notice of bidding this week to sell a 41.75 percent stake in the aircraft manufacturer, Korea Finance Corp. said Sunday.The state-run Korea Finance Corp., which is in charge of the sale as the biggest shareholder of KAI with a 26.41 percent interest, will announce the second bidding on Monday, it said. The deadline to submit preliminary bids is Sept. 27.Other major shareholders include Hyundai Motor Co. and Doosan
Sept. 16, 2012
-
Korea fastest to recover from global crisis
Automobiles, electrical goods exports led speedy recovery: analystsAmong the world’s major economies, South Korea is most rapidly recovering from the global financial crisis stemming from the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008, studies showed Sunday. The Korean market posted the highest overall share price increase among 11 major economics of the world during the past four years, according to research by the Korea Center for International Finance. The KCIF assessed 10 other countries that rank the
Sept. 16, 2012
-
‘Korea needs to benchmark Canada, U.S. for nuclear safety’
Transparency in decision-making process is vital to win residents’ supportOn March 11, 2011, the world witnessed how an ill-managed nuclear plant can affect people’s daily lives. The infamous Fukushima nuclear disaster has become a mark of shame for the entire nuclear power industry ever since.Experts agree that one of the toughest items on the agenda for pro-nuclear energy countries like Korea is safety. Nevertheless, the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy and nuclear-related institutions un
Sept. 16, 2012
-
KEPCO seeks to expand overseas business to W75tr
State-run power firm strives to reduce deficit during CEO Kim’s first year via exportsKorea Electric Power Co. has vowed to achieve financial soundness by making greater profits from the global power market while keeping power rates affordable. To meet its vision for 2025, the state-run power company is pushing to increase sales to 150 trillion won ($134 billion) and its overseas business to up to 50 percent of total operations. Currently KEPCO’s overseas sales make up only 3 percent of the tota
Sept. 16, 2012
-
S. Korea, China agree to speed up free trade talks
(Yonhap) -- South Korea and China have agreed to speed up their ongoing free trade talks as part of efforts to increase economic cooperation between the neighboring countries, the finance ministry said Saturday. Both also agreed to intensify cooperation in currency polices, while seeking to increase settlements by using the won and the yuan, according to the ministry. The agreements were made
Sept. 15, 2012