South Korea’s automobile exports to Eastern Europe rose sharply in the first three months of this year thanks to an economic recovery in the region, a local automobile association said Wednesday. During the January-March period, South Korean car makers’ auto exports to Eastern Europe, including Russia, reached 72,393 units, compared with 37,670 units a year earlier, according to the Korea Automo...

By Koh Young-aah Seoul’s Gangnam area, on the southern side of the Han River, has emerged as a popular residential area for families of the country’s top 30 tycoons over the years, a research firm said in a report Wednesday. Seongbuk-dong and Hannam-dong, located in Gangbuk, north of the river, have historically been considered wealthy areas where most local conglomerate owners reside. The tre...

By Cho Ji-hyun LG Electronics announced its comeback Wednesday by getting back into the black, posting 13.15 trillion won ($12.19 billion) in sales and 130 billion won in operating profit for the first quarter of this year. In its quarterly earnings report, the company said total sales maintained a similar level to the same period last year, down 0.4 percent. However, its net loss during the te...

By Koh Young-aah Foreign retailers seeking to enter the Korean market should consider its unique traits and cultural differences to succeed, according to Richard Hwang, managing director of global commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield’s Korean unit. “A lot of global retailers have experienced failure here because they had little understanding of the market before entering it....

South Korean engineers successfully tested the world’s first operational automatic docking system between two large ships off the country’s southeastern coast, a state-run science and technology university said Tuesday. The test carried out in Busan, 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, is an integral part of the larger “mobile harbor” project that aims to make it possible to speed up the loading ...

Samsung Group, South Korea’s top conglomerate, will build green-energy industrial facilities from 2021 in a new town to be created on west coastal tidal flats, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Wednesday. Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to construct green-energy production facilities, a research institute and houses on a 11.5-square-kilometer plot in the Sae...

Sakha Republic’s delegation, led by President Egor Borisov, wrapped up its three-day trip to South Korea on Tuesday. Accompanied by 40 government and industry officials, Borisov came to Korea on Sunday to promote Sakha Republic’s economic projects including those involving natural resources development. Taking up about half of Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, Sakha Republic is the world’s...

South Korea’s largest-ever international food exposition kicked off Tuesday for a four-day run, bringing together more than 1,100 companies from 45 countries. The 2011 Seoul Food Expo will run until Friday at the Korea International Exhibition Center in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, according to its organizer, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). The 29th Seoul Food Expo comes as ...

KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae responded coolly to the government’s demand to lower telecom costs, claiming that companies should be noted for making network investments. In a meeting with reporters in Jeju, Lee said he would discuss multiple measures with the government considering there is a financial burden involved. “Consumers’ money spending pattern has changed and increased in sum with the econ...