Most Popular
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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K-pop singer lost consciousness after being hit by foul ball, cancels show
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Seoul says Fu Bao loan 'not going to happen'
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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S. Korea's business heads vow efforts to outperform expectations
Heads of South Korea's largest conglomerates on Thursday vowed efforts to outperform expectations for the country's economy this year and urged an early implementation of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States to help achieve their goal. The ambitious plan came from the executive council of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the largest industry lobby in South Korea with a m
Jan. 13, 2011
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Portugal claims success in bond sale
Demand strong for bond, but bailout worries lingerLISBON (AFP) ― Portugal said it passed a key test on Wednesday with a successful bond sale but analysts were cautious, arguing that a bailout remains a real possibility to ease its debt problems ― and those of the eurozone.The government raised 1.25 billion euros ($1.6 billion), the maximum it sought, attracting strong interest and slightly lower r
Jan. 13, 2011
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BOK unexpectedly hikes key rate to 2.75 pct
SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's central bank unexpectedly raised the key interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Thursday in an apparent bid to contain growing inflationary pressure.Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers hiked the benchmark seven-day repo rate, dubbed the base rate, to 2.75 percent. It marked the third rate increase since the onset of t
Jan. 13, 2011
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Gasoline price tops 1,800 won nationwide
The price of regular unleaded gasoline topped 1,800 won ($1.5) per liter in all metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide as of Tuesday, the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. said Wednesday. It is the first time that such a phenomenon has been seen since August 2008. The average gasoline price per liter in North Jeolla province remained under 1,800 won until Tuesday when it marked 1800.64 won,
Jan. 12, 2011
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Korea economy posts strong jobs growth
Korea’s economy added jobs in December at the fastest rate for seven months as manufacturers boosted hiring amid strong exports, official figures showed Wednesday.The number of employed people stood at 23.68 million last month, up 455,000 from a year earlier. It was the largest year-on-year increase in jobs since 586,000 in May.The unemployment rate of 3.5 percent last month was unchanged from Dec
Jan. 12, 2011
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Rise in trade with China exposes Korea to pressure
HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Korea has come up against a dilemma as its export-led economy grows more dependent on China, which poses both opportunities and risks at the same time, experts say.China’s influence on the Korean economy is ever more visible as the world’s second-largest economy has become the largest destination of its products. For China, Korea is its third-largest trading partner after
Jan. 12, 2011
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Korea’s sovereign debt cost declined in Dec.
The cost of issuing Korea’s sovereign debt declined in December as market jitters eased over geopolitical tensions prompted by North Korea’s latest provocations, data showed Wednesday.The spread on dollar-denominated currency stabilization bonds dropped to 90 basis points last month, down from 114 basis points reported in November, according to the data provided by the Finance Ministry.The decreas
Jan. 12, 2011
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Pressure on Portugal rises amid debt fears
Portuguese bond yields hit record highs as fear of spreading debt contagion risesLISBON (AP) ― Borrowing rates for Portugal briefly spiked after reports over the weekend that Germany and France are pushing it to accept outside help to keep the debt crisis in Europe from spreading.The yield on Portuguese 10-year bonds, a key gauge of investor sentiment, rose to 7.18 percent at one point on Monday,
Jan. 11, 2011
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More discount stores to operate gas stations
The government will ease regulations to allow more discount stores to operate gas stations, hoping greater competition will help curb fuel price inflation, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Monday.The government is also seeking to cut taxes on diesel while raising rates on liquefied petroleum gas to reduce their price gaps, the ministry and state-run Korea National Oil Corp. said. The benchma
Jan. 11, 2011
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Producer inflation hits 2-year high in December
Korea’s annual producer inflation hit a two-year high in December, central bank data showed on Monday, adding to evidence of rising consumer inflationary pressure around the region.The producer price index in December rose 5.3 percent from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.It marked the fastest growth since December 2008, led by food and raw material prices.The data comes after
Jan. 10, 2011
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Korea culls 1.3m livestock to combat FMD epidemic
Korea has ordered the culling of 1.34 million livestock since late November to stem its severest foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in history, the government said Monday.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said quarantine officials ordered the culling of 107,500 heads of cattle, just under 1.23 million pigs and over 3,700 goats and deer on 3,300 farms in the past 40 days.The e
Jan. 10, 2011
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Korea to tighten inspection of capital flows
Korea’s financial regulator said it plans to tighten inspections of capital flows this year to improve the soundness of its foreign-currency market.“There are persisting destabilizing factors in the global financial markets following the Group of 20 meeting, such as volatile capital movements and currency wars among major countries,” the Financial Supervisory Service said Monday in an e-mailed sta
Jan. 10, 2011
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Samsung to reveal new phones, tablets in Feb.
Electronics bellwether aims to sell 60 million smartphones this yearLAS VEGAS ― Samsung Electronics plans to unveil in February its next generation of smartphones running on an upgraded operating system and a dual core processorThe new phones to be revealed at the Mobile World Congress will run on the Gingerbread operating system ― an upgraded Android platform ― with a super AMOLED plus display fo
Jan. 10, 2011
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Korea battles renewed AI, foot-and-mouth
Korea confirmed three new cases of bird flu on Sunday as the outbreak that began last month further hits farmers who are also battling the nation’s worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.The Agriculture Ministry confirmed three new cases of the highly contagious virus at duck farms in the southwestern county of Yeongam, bringing the total number of cases to seven since Dec. 31.At least 396,
Jan. 9, 2011
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Fed sees slow return to normal jobless rates
Bernanke: 4-5 years to reach normal unemployment; $600b support program still neededWASHINGTON (AP) ― Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sketched a more optimistic view of the economy Friday but said the Fed’s $600 billion bond-buying program is needed because unemployment will likely stay elevated for up to five more years.Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee that there’s rising evidence
Jan. 9, 2011
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Number of credit cards hit record high last year
The average number of credit cards held by Koreans hit a record high last year thanks to a well-established payment system and improving economic conditions, a report showed Sunday.A total of 114.94 million cards had been issued by the end of the third quarter of last year, according to the report by the Credit Finance Association. Given that the number of economically active people totaled 24.99
Jan. 9, 2011
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China GDP grew about 10% in 2010: vice premier
China’s economy expanded at about 10 percent in 2010, according to an estimate by Vice Premier Li Keqiang, the official Xinhua news agency reported, a pace forecast to slow as policy makers seek to stem inflation.Li, on a nine-day tour of Spain, Germany and the U.K., also estimated that retail sales in the world’s most populous nation climbed 18.5 percent last year from a year earlier, Xinhua also
Jan. 9, 2011
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Tricky questions top employers ask
(MCT)The Huffington Post listed 15 ridiculously hard job interview questions from top employers such as Google and Goldman Sachs. The questions were selected from 80,000 interview questions on Glassdoor.com, a U.S. information website for jobseekers.See how you get on with the questions below. 1. If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out? (Goldman Sachs
Jan. 9, 2011
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Obama likely to submit Korea FTA to Congress soon: Amb. Han
ATLANTA (Yonhap) -- South Korean ambassador Han Duck-soo on Saturday expressed his expectations that the Obama administration will soon present the free trade deal with South Korea to Congress for its ratification by the end of June."I expect the Obama administration will submit the Korea-U.S. FTA to Congress sooner or later so Congress can approve it by the end of June," Han told a forum here ho
Jan. 9, 2011
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S. Korea keeping German pork away from consumers
South Korea is preventing imports of German pork and poultry products from reaching consumers because of health concerns over a cancer-causing chemical.(AP-Yonhap) The government said Friday that authorities have temporarily suspended all quarantine inspections of the products as a precaution following reports that potentially dangerous levels of dioxin were discovered in eggs, pork and poultry p
Jan. 9, 2011