South Korea’s exports of information technology products shrank from a year earlier for the second straight month in August largely on lower global prices, the government said Wednesday. The country exported $13.06 billion worth of IT products last month, down 2.4 percent from $13.39 billion in the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The country’s trade surplus...

The industrial materials maker SKC launched SKC Lighting, a light-emitting diode maker, on Wednesday. The new subsidiary was formed by merging the LED makers Sumray Corp. and Dooyoung. SKC entered the LED market by acquiring Sumray in January 2010, and acquired Dooyoung in April. At the launch ceremony SLC Lighting chief executive Lee Hak-hee said that the company aims to become one of the wor...

Chief regulator urges CEOs to refrain from issuing credit loans CEOs in the brokerage industry called for financial authorities to map out measures for the South Korean stock market to be upgraded to developed status. Their request targets an upgrade from Morgan Stanley to reduce the “Korea discount” in terms of stock prices. During their meeting with Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kwon Hy...

A study found Wednesday that organic milk products cost up to three times more than standard milk products despite containing no fewer harmful substances or bacteria. Consumers Korea released its study on organic milk products of three major diary companies including Namyang Diary Products Co. and Pasteur Milk. “There was actually no difference between organic and standard milk products,” the g...

FTC antitrust investigators search company’s Seoul office Google Inc. denied any alleged unfair business practices in Korea, the day after antitrust officials raided its Seoul offices on Tuesday. The Fair Trade Commission stormed Google’s office as part of its probe into an allegation that the global tech giant requires smartphone manufacturers to include Google Search or its applications on An...

South Korean banks’ household loans rose for the seventh straight month in August on gains in home-backed lending, the central bank said Wednesday, fueling concerns over growing household debt. Local banks’ household loans, including mortgage and credit loans, totaled 448 trillion won ($417.8 billion) as of the end of August, up 2.5 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of ...

South Korean households held an average of 50 million won ($46,620) in debt as of the end of June, data showed Wednesday, fanning concerns that rising household indebtedness may undercut economic growth. Debt per household reached 50.4 million won as of end-June, given that South Korea’s household credit stood at 876.3 trillion won, according to data by the central bank and the state-run statist...

The Financial Supervisory Service and Korea Exchange have embarked on a joint investigation into alleged manipulation of stocks connected to politicians and well-known figures. A group of retail investors has been chasing so-called “celebrity stocks” related to politicians and famous figures without taking the shares’ true value into consideration. The celebrity stocks include those tied to Rep...

Prices of liquid crystal display panels, a key export item for South Korea’s technology firms, plunged to all-time lows on oversupply and weak demand, industry data showed Wednesday. The latest data compiled by DisplaySearch showed that not only the prices of large-size LCD panels for TVs, but also those of small panels for mobile phones, tablet PCs and personal computers trended downward in ear...

Hite-Jinro Group has unveiled its new vision to enter the global market as it relaunches after merging Korea’s top beer and soju makers into a single liquor giant. Hite Brewery Co., the country’s biggest beer producer with a 55.8 percent stake in the Korean market as of last year, took over Jinro Co., the No. 1 distiller here, which accounts for almost half of the soju segment. The merger, initi...