The Korea Herald

‘More Koreans enjoy cultural life’

CultureFeb 24, 2011

Marginalized people have had more opportunities to enjoy arts performances in the past three years, according to a new report. About 25 percent of households earning less than 1 million won per month went to see cultural performances in 2010, an increase from 19 percent in 2008, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism report released Thursday showed. Among people living in counties, who are...
Lee starts 4th year with much on his hands

PoliticsFeb 24, 2011

Better communication, political coordination key to president’s success President Lee Myung-bak greets the third anniversary of his inauguration Friday with a stack of uncompleted policy tasks and lingering concerns of political estrangement. Tricky pending tasks include deciding where to locate a 3.5-trillion-won science-business belt and a new international airport in the southeastern region,...
Samsung establishes first social enterprise

IndustryFeb 24, 2011

Samsung Group established its first social enterprise in downtown Seoul on Thursday. The enterprise called the “Hope Network” will hire about 70 teachers and offer education services to about 1,000 children from underprivileged families, company officials said. It will start with the children registered in 30 different study rooms in the regions of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The instructors,...
Regulator decides not to allow fourth telecom

Feb 24, 2011

The Korea Communications Commission said Thursday that it decided not to allow a fourth telecom to establish in the local market due to its lack of business strategies and funding abilities. During the weekly general meeting, commissioners of the state-run telecom regulator rejected Korea Mobile Internet’s proposed project plan to take position as the fourth telecom. The commission also turned ...
SKT to release iPhone 4

IndustryFeb 24, 2011

SK Telecom, Korea’s top mobile operator, will start selling the iPhone next month in a break from Apple’s practice of selling the smartphones via a single distributor in each major market, industry source said Thursday. “Negotiations between SK Telecom and Apple are in the final stage,” said the source who is familiar with the matter. “As the negotiations are going smoothly, it is virtually deci...
Samsung eyes 6th place in laptop market

TechnologyFeb 24, 2011

Apple’s MacBook Air expected to be firm’s biggest competition Samsung Electronics aims to become the world’s sixth-largest player in the mobile PC market by establishing itself as a high-end brand, the company’s executive vice president Nam Seong-woo said Thursday. The electronics maker launched a super-slim laptop computer as a part of its strategy to carve a bigger share out of the high-end m...
BMW to set up social contribution fund

IndustryFeb 24, 2011

BMW Group Korea announced Thursday that it will set up BMW Korea Future Fund, the first social contribution foundation operated by a foreign carmaker in South Korea. The foundation will be established by BMW Group Korea and the seven official dealers later in the year with an initial investment of 3 billion won ($2.7 million), 2 billion won of which will be raised by the dealers and BMW Group Ko...
FSC chief warns against trading fraud

Feb 24, 2011

Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Seok-dong pledged Thursday to toughen punishment on trading irregularities in the financial industry one day after the government partly suspended Deutsche Bank’s local unit for stock manipulation. Concerning the speculation that Deutsche Bank may pull its investments out of the Korean market, he told reporters, “I don’t care about that (on whether or n...
Renault Samsung most efficient sales staff

IndustryFeb 24, 2011

Renault Samsung Motors Co.’s sales staff recorded the highest average monthly sales figure among local carmakers, the company announced Thursday. According to the company, the 2,342 sales staff working at its 195 sales agents sold 155,696 last year, putting the average monthly sales figure per person at 5.4. The figure per sales agent came in at 65 units per month. The company did not disclose...
Big banks must be broken up: Hoenig

IndustryFeb 24, 2011

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said U.S. regulators should avert another crisis by breaking up large financial institutions that pose a threat “to our capitalistic system.” “I am convinced that the existence of too-big-to-fail financial institutions poses the greatest risk to the U.S. economy,” Hoenig said Wednesday in a speech in Washington. “They must be broken up....
Kim and Seo advertise Korea in New York Times

PeopleFeb 24, 2011

Pop singer Kim Jang-hoon and self-styled Korea promotion expert Seo Kyoung-duk posted a full-page Korean tourism advertisement in the New York Times on Tuesday. The advert appeared on Page 5 in Section A, and was bannered “Visit Korea” over the Korean map where seven islands ― Ganghwado, Heuksando, Ieodo, Jejudo, Geojedo, Ulleungdo and Dokdo ― were marked in bold letters. The ad noted that Sout...
[Editorial] Inflation woes

EditorialFeb 24, 2011

Korea’s inflation woes are deepening as the worsening turmoil in Libya has sent oil prices on an upward spiral. The price of Dubai crude oil, South Korea’s benchmark, stayed above the $100 mark for the three consecutive days on Thursday. If the Dubai oil price remains above $100 for two more days, the government has to upgrade its energy alert level from the current “blue” to “yellow.” The surge...
[Editorial] N.K. human rights bill

EditorialFeb 24, 2011

Press reports say several hundred residents in Sinuiju, a North Korean city on the border with China, clashed with security forces on Feb. 18 over the death of a merchant during a police crackdown on a market. On Feb. 14, small protests reportedly broke out in three northeastern cities of the impoverished country over fuel and food shortages. Are these signs that the “Jasmine Revolution” that st...
Another bite by Apple into music services

ViewpointsFeb 24, 2011

As CD sales plummeted, music executives looked in hope toward a new business model: Instead of trying to sell albums for $15 to $20 apiece, offer unlimited access to songs online for a flat monthly fee. The idea, however, has yet to catch on with the masses of music fans. The main impediment for many years was that subscribers couldn’t use the services on the MP3 players that most of them owned, ...
[Peter Goldmark] Questions for China and the U.S.

ViewpointsFeb 24, 2011

Every serious global problem has an important China angle. The Chinese are everywhere, and they’re not going away any time soon. As a matter of fact, the Chinese are firmly convinced that this is “their” century, and that they will displace the United States as global economic leader. The last country with a dominant global economic role that had to face a boisterous, fast-growing upstart was B...