Most Popular
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No plan to let doctors with foreign licenses practice here anytime soon: PM
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Ador CEO's dismissal to be decided on last day of May
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[Graphic News] Beer the most favored alcoholic drink by Koreans
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Science Ministry expresses regret over Japan’s pressure on Naver
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Haeundae Beach to become sand art museum in late May
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Hostilities get out of hand as YouTuber murders another outside courthouse
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Medical professors set to take day off amid protracted walkouts by junior doctors
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Police officer jumps barefoot into drainage tunnel to save man
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Yoon interacts with public for 1st time since election defeat
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Lee Sun-kyun's posthumuous film to hit theaters in August
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[Market Now] Webzen shares up on board chairman’s election win
Shares in Webzen, a local online game developer, were trading higher on Thursday morning on the victory of its former CEO and current board chairman in Wednesday’s parliamentary election. Kim Byung-kwan, a veteran game entrepreneur who ran Webzen as CEO until June 2012, won a parliamentary seat on the ticket of the main opposition party, becoming the first game-industry figure ever to enter the 300-member National Assembly. During his campaign, Kim said, if elected, he would push to ease regulat
April 14, 2016
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[Market Now] AhnLab shares up on founder’s election victory
Shares in AhnLab, a security software provider, rallied on the Seoul bourse on Thursday morning, buoyed by a boost in political fortunes of its founder Ahn Cheol-soo in Wednesday’s elections. As of 10:35 a.m., the shares were trading at 74,100 won, 5.41 percent higher than the previous close. Ahn Cheol-soo (Yonhap)Ahn, a doctor, venture entrepreneur-turned politician, is the largest shareholder in the firm, with an 18.57 percent stake. His People’s Party has emerged as the third-largest negotia
April 14, 2016
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GS Holdings posts top per-capita income in 2015
GS Holdings Corp. posted the largest per-capita operating income among the country‘s large businesses on a second straight year in 2015, data showed Thursday.The operating income per employee at the GS Group holding company averaged 5.56 billion won ($4.82 million) last year, the highest among 274 subsidiaries of the nation‘s top 30 business groups, according to data by financial information provider FnGuide.The figure, however, was down from the per-capita operating income of 8.45 billion won t
IndustryApril 14, 2016
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Doosan eyes China’s nuclear plant O&M market
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, the biggest affiliate of industrial giant Doosan Group, said Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with state-run China Nuclear Industry Maintenance Company in its efforts to enter China’s operations and maintenance market.The Chinese partner is the biggest O&M service provider for nuclear power plants in China. It offers its O&M services to 30 nuclear plants nationwide in China, Doosan added. Doosan has sharpened its global competitiveness
IndustryApril 14, 2016
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[Market Now] Pulmuone denies sale of treasury stocks
Korea’s top tofu maker Pulmuone on Thursday denied a local report that it was preparing to unload its treasury stocks in order to secure cash. “We’re not preparing any sale of treasury stocks. The report is groundless,” the Seoul-based firm said in a filing. Pulmuone holds 2.23 percent of its total outstanding shares on Korea’s main stock exchange KOSPI. They were worth about 15 billion won as of the previous trading day’s close. In 2015, the company reported a 40.6 percent drop in its consolida
April 14, 2016
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Samsung SDI to spend W1tr on EV battery business
Samsung SDI Co. said Thursday that it plans to make about 1 trillion won ($875 million) facilities investmetn this year including those required for its electric vehicle battery business.Samsung SDI, the chemical unit of Samsung, said it plans to spend 975 billion won this year to expand its facility, up from last year’s 682 billion won.Samsung SDI runs two EV battery plants, in South Korea and China. The company currently manufactures components sufficient to produce batteries for 200,000 elect
IndustryApril 14, 2016
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POSCO shares rebound on foreign buying
Foreign ownership in POSCO, the country’s No. 1 steelmaker by sales, rose the most in recent months among the top 20 stocks in terms of market capitalization, causing a spike in the company’s share prices.Foreign shareholdings of the steel giant jumped to 49.32 percent as of April 11 from 47.28 percent at the end of December, according to the Korea Exchange on Thursday. The figures marked the largest gain among the top 20 market cap stocks, said the Korea Exchange. During the cited period, POSCO
IndustryApril 14, 2016
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KOSPI opens higher on strong Chinese data
South Korean share prices started higher Thursday on the back of China’s strong trade data and gains on Wall Street.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 23.76 points, or 1.20 percent, to 2,005.08 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Traders monitor Seoul share prices at a local bank. (Yonhap)Market heavyweights such as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and POSCO were all higher in early morning trading. Analysts said investor sentiment rose after China said on Wednesday that its
April 14, 2016
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Hyundai Securities’ hefty price tag reflects KB’s hunger for growth
When the price tag of a controlling stake in Hyundai Securities was unveiled late Tuesday, it surprised many in local financial circles. The 1.25 trillion won ($1.09 billion) KB Financial Group has agreed to pay is nearly four times the current market value of the stake -- 22.56 percent of the country’s fourth-largest brokerage house -- and almost twice what it initially expected to fetch. KB Financial Group chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo“That sounds pretty expensive for less than a quarter of the com
April 13, 2016
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Corporate tax increase sparks debate
Korea’s corporate tax revenue is projected to surpass the government-set target of 46 trillion won ($40.2 billion) this year, breaking a previous record of 45.9 trillion won reached in 2012, according to tax authorities here. Taxes collected from companies decreased to 43.9 trillion won in 2013 and 42.7 trillion won in 2014 before rising back to 45 trillion won last year.This projected increase in corporate tax revenue comes as local companies have seen their operating profits improving due to s
April 13, 2016
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[Newsmaker] Abusive moguls face growing public pressure
Business tycoons will soon come under closer watch, as political parties and civic groups are seeking to strengthen monitoring and regulation of their behavior. The move comes amid mounting public criticism toward conglomerate leaders, following a recent series of alleged assault and abuse cases. Nonprofit organization Public Welfare Committee recently set up a call center to monitor abusive remarks or acts by owner family members, CEOs or executives in workplaces.“We wanted to get to the botto
IndustryApril 13, 2016
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‘Half of Korean biotech, pharma firms make no sales’
Around half of South Korean biotechnology or biopharmaceutical companies currently do not generate any sales, according to a recent report by the Korea Industrial Technology Association. Of some 226 local bio companies surveyed by KOITA, 45.6 percent do not generate any sales today. Among those which do, 18.7 percent said that they began generating sales less than a year ago. A majority of Korean bio firms surveyed were found to be small or midsized as well. Around 66.4 percent of the surveyed c
IndustryApril 13, 2016
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‘Imitation spurs innovation’
In the ever-evolving technology industry, companies build on each other’s ideas and continue to reinvent themselves. But tech giants Samsung and Apple are trying to slow each other down in a drawn-out patent battle.The U.S. Supreme Court has recently decided to review the high-profile courtroom fight between the two top smartphone makers, the first time it has looked at a design patent case since the 1800s. The rare decision comes after Samsung filed a request with the top court last year to ree
TechnologyApril 13, 2016
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Hanjin speeds up leadership succession
Hanjin Group, the parent company of the nation’s largest air carrier Korean Air, appears to be speeding up a generational shift in its leadership by appointing the chairman’s only son as the new chief of the group’s budget flight operator.Jin Air, a low-cost carrier owned by Korean Air, said Tuesday afternoon that it has named Cho Won-tae, son of the group’s chief Cho Yang-ho as its new president. Cho will jointly manage Jin Air with Choi Jung-ho, the incumbent CEO of the air carrier, who will m
IndustryApril 13, 2016
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Korean automobile exports down 10.8% in Q1
Korea’s automobile exports dropped 10.8 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier due to weak demand from emerging countries, according to data and market analysts Wednesday.The Korea Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said in its report that Korean automakers sold 654,494 units abroad from January to March. They sold 733,759 units during the same period last year. GM Korea cars are lined up ready to be shipped to overseas markets. (Yonhap)Industry watchers attributed the decline to th
IndustryApril 13, 2016
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[Exclusive] Samsung’s Enbrel biosimilar wins supply deal in Denmark
Samsung Bioepis’ Enbrel biosimilar won a supply deal from Denmark’s drug procurement agency Amgros on Tuesday, becoming the priority etanercept drug used for treating rheumatoid arthritis in the country, an industry source told The Korea Herald on condition of anonymity. Benepali, Samsung’s biosimilar version of Amgen’s top-selling Enbrel, is expected to take away at least 50 percent of the original drug’s market share in Denmark, as local hospitals and doctors favor prescribing drugs selected b
IndustryApril 13, 2016
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SK hynix’s operating profit likely to plunge in Q1
SK hynix, the world’s third-largest chipmaker by sales, is expected to see its operating profit more than halve during the first three months of this year, according to analyst reports Wednesday.Korean investment firms predicted that the Korean chip company’s first quarter operating profit would be in a range of 512 billion won ($446 million) to 579 billion won. SK hynix’s NAND Flash memory chip. (SK hynix)The estimates are up to 60 percent lower than the company’s operating profit in the first
TechnologyApril 13, 2016
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Samsung steps up self-driving car technology push
Tech giant Samsung Electronics has been accelerating its push into the autonomous vehicle segment by trying to attract seasoned researchers in the field.The company posted a job opening for researchers in the autonomous driving vehicle sector on Samsung Group’s online job bulletin board Tuesday. Internet giant Google’s self-driving vehicle. (Yonhap)The job description showed that new researchers would handle tasks including computer vision, biosignal analysis, and optical film for display, which
TechnologyApril 13, 2016
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N. Korea-China trade volume up 12.7% on-year in Q1
Trade volume between North Korea and China posted double-digit growth in the first quarter of 2016 from a year earlier despite the United Nations' punitive economic sanctions imposed on the reclusive country, official data showed Wednesday.(Yonhap)The size of bilateral trade stood at 7.79 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in the January-March period, up 12.7 percent from the same period last year, Huang Songping, spokesman of China's General Administration of Customs, said during a press briefing on t
April 13, 2016
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[Market Now] Dasan Networks acquires Zhone Technologies
Dasan NetworksDasan Networks said that it will acquire Zhone Technologies through share swaps by June this year.Dasan is a KOSDAQ-listed telecommunications equipment maker, while Zhone is a NASDAQ-listed telecommunications equipment maker. Under the deal, Dasan Networks will acquire new shares of Zhone, or a 58 percent stake, for 89 billion won ($78 million). Zhone will merge with Dasan Networks’ U.S. subsidiary Dasan Network Solutions, and own a 42 percent stake in Dasan’s U.S. company, accordi
April 13, 2016