Most Popular
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‘Gimflation’ in S. Korea as dried seaweed prices grow on rising global demand
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S. Korea's gender pay gap worst in OECD
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Yoon to resume diplomatic activity via 3-way summit with Japan, China
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South Korea unveils W26tr support program for chip industry
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SM, YG Entertainment’s K-pop groups benefit from troubles at Hybe
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S. Korea to hold rotating presidency of UN Security Council next month
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Student nabbed for biking naked 'due to stress'
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BOK holds rate at 3.5%, ups growth outlook
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Police arrest mastermind behind last year's palace vandalism
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Yoon rejects Lee's proposal for pension reform talks
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Marriott makes big push for IT services
International hotel chain Marriott is making a big push for IT-oriented services aiming to increase customer convenience and renew its brand image in the digital era. The company recently launched a new mobile app, Meetings Imagined, which allows event planners around the world to better communicate and inspire one another. The app, with a sister website, aims to mimic the successes of popular services like Instagram and Pinterest as it offers latest meeting trends and hundreds of inspirational
TechnologyJuly 22, 2015
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Samsung offers record incentives to chip suppliers
Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it planned to pay a combined 14.2 billion won ($12.3 million) in incentives to its 103 chip suppliers in the first half of this year.The Korean tech giant said it was the highest ever amount going to the largest ever number of recipient companies. The company has offered suppliers incentives every year since 2010 as part of its shared-growth efforts with small and medium-sized firms. The recipient companies are decided based on their performance in production,
TechnologyJuly 22, 2015
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Regulator gives preliminary approval for Hana Bank-KEB merger
South Korea's top financial regulator on Wednesday gave preliminary approval for the merger of two flagship banks of Hana Financial Group Inc., the country's third-largest banking group by assets. Hana Financial has tried to merge Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank since it acquired KEB from U.S. buyout fund Lone Star in 2012. Its efforts have dragged on for years as the KEB's union had strongly opposed the merger until recently, citing Hana's earlier promise to keep it independent. The Financ
July 22, 2015
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Just Juice for a day: a detox review
Endorsed by celebrities and health nuts around the world, the juice cleanse has become the latest trend in today’s era of fitness and organic eating. What exactly does it entail? The idea is to flush out unwanted toxins from your body and to pump in raw, easily absorbable nutrients in juice form. Though variations exist, the most common method is fasting for one to three days, drinking nothing but juice every three to four hours. To experience its effects firsthand, I decided to take up the chal
TechnologyJuly 22, 2015
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Seoul shares skid 0.91 pct on foreign selloff
South Korean stocks ended 0.91 percent lower Wednesday as foreigners dumped their holdings ahead of an upcoming Fed meeting, analysts said. The Korean won gained against the U.S. dollar after hitting a fresh two-year low in the previous session. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) tumbled 18.89 points to 2,064.73. Trading volume was significantly heavy at 1.1 billion shares worth 6.7 trillion won (US$5.8 billion), with decliners dwarfing gainers 548 to 256. Wednesday's trad
July 22, 2015
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LG denies Google buyout rumor
LG Electronics on Wednesday denied rumors that U.S. search giant Google was mulling to acquire a 35 percent stake, worth 2.5 trillion won ($2.2 billion), in the company.According to the rumors, Google would acquire the stake in a block deal, but would not participate in the management despite becoming the largest shareholder. Inspite of the company’s denial, LG’s share price soared 14 percent in the morning. The closing price was 43,650 won, up 3.07 percent from the previous day. The share price
TechnologyJuly 22, 2015
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Park vows to support local startups' entry into China
President Park Geun-hye pledged Wednesday to help South Korean startups make inroads into the Chinese market, citing growing consumption in one of the world's fastest growing economies. China has become South Korea's largest trading partner, overtaking the United States. The innovation center in Incheon "will support local startups' entry into the Chinese market by putting in place a program designed to strengthen exchange and cooperation with China," Park said as she opened the latest innovat
July 22, 2015
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Finance minister urges quick passage of extra budget
South Korea's finance minister called on lawmakers Wednesday to pass an extra budget quickly to help cushion the fallout of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and economic uncertainties. The government submitted the 11.2 trillion-won ($10.3 billion) supplementary budget plan to the parliament for approval on July 6, with policymakers initially expressing hope it would be passed by July 20. Rival parties have failed to see eye to eye on the budget's size, raising worries that it may not be passed
July 22, 2015
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Hyundai Motor to determine interim dividend this week
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, is expected to determine the amount of its first-ever interim dividend payout this week, the latest in a series of measures to appease shareholders, industry sources said Wednesday. The amount and timetable for its interim dividend payout will be determined during a board meeting to be held in the middle of this week, according to the sources. This would mark the first time for Hyundai Motor to deliver interim dividend to its shareholders, in li
IndustryJuly 22, 2015
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S-Oil‘s Q2 net soars 531 pct on firm cracking margins
S-Oil Corp., South Korea's third-largest refiner, said Wednesday its second-quarter earnings rose more than six times from a year ago as low crude oil prices helped sustain cracking margins. Net income came in at 430.53 billion won ($373.59 million) in the April-June period, up 531.1 percent from 68.2 billion won from a year earlier, S-Oil said in a regulatory filing. Sales, however, declined 30.7 percent on-year to 5.14 trillion won, while operating profit swung to a profit of 613 billion wo
IndustryJuly 22, 2015
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BOK governor voices concern on MERS-hit tourism industry
South Korea's top central banker on Wednesday raised worries that the local tourism industry is unlikely to recover quickly from the impact of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, a setback that may hamper growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy. "The decline in foreign tourists was seen as one of the biggest factors that have lowered second-quarter GDP," Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said in a regular meeting with economists and economics professors, noting that overseas tour
July 22, 2015
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Samsung widens gap with Apple in Q2 market share
South Korea's top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. managed to maintain its presence in the global smartphone market in the second quarter, but its archrival Apple Inc. suffered a setback in the face of growing demand for low- to mid-end devices, data showed Wednesday.Samsung took up 26.8 percent of the world's smartphone market in the April-June period, unchanged from the previous quarter's reading, while Apple saw its share fall to 16.4 percent from 20.5 percent over the cited period, accordi
TechnologyJuly 22, 2015
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Gov't to spur fixed-rate loans to rein in household debt
South Korea's government said Wednesday it will prod local lenders to extend fixed-rate amortized loans and further scrutinize borrowers' repayment ability as part of efforts to stem a sharp rise in household loans amid a potential U.S. interest rate hike. The set of measures came as the ballooning household debt can be a bugbear for Asia's fourth-largest economy, which is also facing a double whammy of sagging demand and a slump in outbound shipments. The amount of the country's household deb
July 22, 2015
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Samsung heir pledges support for start-ups
Samsung Group heir apparent and Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jay-yong on Tuesday visited the group’s start-up incubation centers in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province to discuss future support plans. The centers opened last year, joining a government-led initiative that aims to nurture start-ups and venture companies across industries. Lee attended the opening ceremony of each center together with President Park Geun-hye.During the visit, Lee, the de facto leader of South Korea’s large
TechnologyJuly 21, 2015
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LG CNS, Sonnedix sign $112m solar power deal
LG CNS, a leading Korean information technology solution provider, said Tuesday it has secured a 130 billion won ($112 million) project to build a 33-megawatt solar power plant on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Together with the latest deal, the company has won three solar power projects in Japan, with their combined power capacity reaching 43 megawatts. The company said the plant will be located in the city of Imaichi, Oita Prefecture. Its construction will take about two years. Its sister compa
TechnologyJuly 21, 2015
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Staff cuts are not option for restructuring: DSME
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said Tuesday that its restructuring will focus on selling noncore properties and stock assets, dismissing news reports of workforce reduction.Rumors about DSME’s possible job cuts emerged after company CEO Jung Sung-leep announced over the weekend that the shipbuilder would launch a restructuring program aimed at cutting costs, including relocating manpower and job rotation.The CEO fanned speculation of massive layoffs when he said at the company’s worksh
IndustryJuly 21, 2015
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Samsung to unveil new flagship smartphones on Aug. 13
South Korean smartphone-maker Samsung Electronics has finally set the launch date and venue of its upcoming smartphones ― the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus ― for Aug. 13 in New York, according to news reports.A Samsung official was quoted by a local news outlet as saying that “the Korean firm has sent invitations to its customers and partners for the New York unveiling event on Aug. 13.” Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 4. SamsungIt had been rumored that the launch event would be advance
TechnologyJuly 21, 2015
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NCSOFT, NVIDIA team up to develop multiplatform game
South Korean online game developer NCSOFT said Tuesday it would beef up its partnership with U.S. chipmaker NVIDIA to complete the development of its upcoming role-playing game “Lineage Eternal.”Lineage Eternal (NCSOFT)In order to deliver vivid and immersive visual effects, NCSOFT said it would deploy the latest computer graphics technology from NVIDIA. The Korean game developer has been collaborating with the U.S. graphics chipmaker for many years. Most recently, the companies held a test run o
TechnologyJuly 21, 2015
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[SUPER RICH] Shin Dong-bin gains complete control of Lotte, both in Korea, Japan
At the age of 60, Lotte Korea chairman Shin Dong-bin finally achieved his desire of getting a full grip of Lotte in Japan. Lotte Holdings of Japan announced last Thursday that the board of directors unanimously agreed to name him the company’s president. Now Lotte Holdings has three presidents -- Shin Dong-bin, his father and Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho and Japanese CEO Tsukuda Takayuki. But there is little doubt that Shin has overall control of the firm. In March, Tsukuda was seen “bowing polite
IndustryJuly 21, 2015
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Korea mulls curbs on capital outflow
Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan indicated Tuesday that the government may take action to stabilize financial markets if there is a sudden capital outflow.Minister Choi also tried to ease concerns among foreign shareholders about the nation’s negative views on short-term speculative investments. Choi Kyung-hwan, deputy prime minister and minister of strategy and finance. Yonhap“If the U.S. Fed rate hike gives a severe boost to capital outflow (from Korea), we may revise the system and bring in m
July 21, 2015