Most Popular
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Over 80,000 millionaires, 20 billionaires in Seoul: report
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Yoon apologizes for first lady Dior bag scandal, calls push for special probe ‘political’
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Korean battery makers heave sigh of relief over 2-year IRA reprieve
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Young Korean doctors seek plan B: cosmetic dermatology or overseas
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South Korea open to Indonesian proposal to cut KF-21 payments
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Girl hanging on bridge, police trying to rescue her both fall off; rescued immediately
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Korea forecast to overtake Taiwan in chip production by 2032: report
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Coupang earnings hit hard by losses from ailing Farfetch
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[K-pop’s dilemma] Time, profit pressures work against originality
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Why femicide and dating violence are growing issues in S. Korea
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Seoul shares up 2.14 pct in late-morning trade
South Korean stocks traded 2.14 percent higher late Thursday morning, as blue-chip tech firms and steelmakers widened gains, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shot up 38.98 points to 1,863.14 as of 11:20 a.m.Top-cap tech heavyweight Samsung Electronics surged 3.5 percent and Hyundai Steel hiked nearly 5 percent. In contrast, large-cap insurers traded in negative territory, with Samsung Life Insurance losing 0.5 percent. The local currency was changing hands a
July 11, 2013
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BOK revises up 2013 growth outlook to 2.8%
South Korea's central bank on Thursday raised its economic growth forecast for this year to 2.8 percent from its earlier estimate of 2.6 percent as the local economy is improving, aided by fiscal and monetary stimulus. The forecast by the Bank of Korea (BOK) is higher than the government's revised growth forecast of 2.7 percent for this year. The central bank's 2014 growth projection was revised up to 4 percent from the 3.8 percent estimate made in April.The BOK's outlook revision comes as its
July 11, 2013
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Banks required to beef up network systems
The financial regulator said Thursday it will require banks to build a two-pronged network system in a bid to avert cyber attacks after a series of online hackings into some of their websites. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), the country's top financial watchdog, said it plans to have large banks separate their network systems into two partitions -- one for internal use and the other for online use -- by next year. Under the measures, banks must split their main operating system first in
TechnologyJuly 11, 2013
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BOK freezes rate at 2.5%
The Bank of Korea has kept its key base rate unchanged at 2.50 percent for July and revised upward its domestic economic projection for this year to 2.8 percent.BOK Gov. Kim Choong-soo reiterated on Thursday that expectations of a modest recovery of the global economy and higher growth in Korea in the second quarter of this year than the first quarter were its main reasons for a rate freeze.The central bank’s monetary policy committee also cited Korea’s negative output gap narrowing despite lowe
July 11, 2013
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Seoul shares open higher on Bernanke remarks
South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Thursday, cheered by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments in support of its easy-money policy, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 24.62 points, or 1.35 percent, to 1,848.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Large-cap exporters pushed up the index, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics soaring 2.5 percent and steelmaker POSCO shooting up nearly 3 percent. Bernanke assuaged prevailing market
July 11, 2013
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Automatic throttle faulty in crash: pilot
A pilot’s latest testimony indicated that a mechanical problem could be to blame for the Boeing 777 passenger jet’s crash landing in San Francisco over the weekend that killed two passengers and injured 180 others on board. According to a briefing by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday (Washington time), the captain of the Asiana Airlines flight told NTSB investigators that the automatic throttle system was not maintaining the speed at which he had thought it was programmed.
IndustryJuly 10, 2013
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[Graphic News] Global smartphone shipments
Global shipments of high-end smartphones priced at $300 or above are likely to suffer a slowdown in the coming years, according to a report released by Hi Investment & Securities on Wednesday.
July 10, 2013
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U.S. lawmakers propose national park on moon
The next U.S. national park may be out of this world ― literally.U.S. Congress members Donna Edwards and Eddie Bernice Johnson on Tuesday proposed legislature aimed at establishing a national park on the surface of the moon to commemorate NASA’s 1969-1972 Apollo program.“As commercial enterprises and foreign nations acquire the ability to land on the moon, it is necessary to protect the Apollo lunar landing sites for posterity,” said the bill, named Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act. The “Apollo L
TechnologyJuly 10, 2013
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[Newsmaker] Sohn leaves KCCI to rescue CJ Group
Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Sohn Kyung-shik, who is also co-chairman of CJ Group, officially resigned from his KCCI post on Tuesday, explaining that he could no longer carry on have chairmanship duties due to his extensive involvement in CJ Group’s crisis-management committee. Since CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun’s arrest on July 1 for allegations of embezzlement and tax evasion, Sohn ― who is Lee’s uncle on his mother’s side ― has led Korea’s largest food and entertainment c
IndustryJuly 10, 2013
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Asiana may be kept in dark: sources
Asiana Airlines, hit hard by the deadly crash landing of its Boeing 777 airliner at a San Francisco airport on Saturday, may be at risk of being blacked out of the joint investigation altogether, those close to the matter said Wednesday.They said that while the (U.S.) National Transportation Safety Board cannot physically keep Asiana out of this, the airline may soon be put in the dark about significant matters if the friction between the board and the Korean airline continues. Asiana recently
IndustryJuly 10, 2013
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Korea to increase tax benefits for social service providers
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said Wednesday that the government will consider expanding tax benefits and policy financing to small and medium businesses operating in the social services sector.In an economic-related meeting, Hyun said that the social services sector will contribute to job growth as demand for social services such as child care and nursing for senior citizens is expected to grow.Korea aims to introduce measures to boost the sector’s value addition by fu
July 10, 2013
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FSC to launch consumer protection team
Under President Park Geun-hye’s commitment to improving the livelihood of ordinary citizens, the state financial regulator will launch a task force to crack down on irregular practices haunting financial consumers.The task force, dubbed the Financial Consumer Protection Planning Team, is scheduled make its debut in the coming weeks, the Financial Services Commission said Wednesday.“Over the next 12 months, the planning team will carry out special duties involving looking into the overall irregul
July 10, 2013
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Facebook, Samsung discussing collaboration
Facebook and Samsung Electronics are reportedly in official talks on strengthening their cooperation in mobile content to explore new mutual marketing opportunities, according to local news reports Wednesday. The discussions were a part of follow up talks initiated by Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg who was recently in Korea. Among the ideas she is said to have exchanged with Samsung officials were ways to get more people to use Facebook on Samsung's smartphones, such as by pr
IndustryJuly 10, 2013
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Nuclear control tower plan triggers concerns
Controversy is rising over a plan to set up a nuclear control organization after President Park Geun-hye instructed the Cabinet to come up with measures to boost authority over the local nuclear industry.“The Industry Ministry, which is the key department in charge of nuclear issues, currently has little regulatory authority over the related public organizations,” the president said in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.She thus demanded that the Nuclear Safety & Security Commission, the Ministry of
July 10, 2013
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Big firms refuse to accept higher card fees
Credit card firms are facing pressure to scrap the ongoing negotiations over card transaction fees due to resistance from large retailers.The Financial Supervisory Service noted Wednesday that major credit card issuers including Shinhan, Samsung, KB Kookmin, Hyundai and Lotte are far from settling the seven-month-long service fee levels for the conglomerate sector.In December 2012, the FSS instructed the card industry to ease the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises by cutting their tran
July 10, 2013
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Korea logs surplus in cultural trade this year
South Korea’s surplus in trade of cultural products and services widened in the first five months of this year on the popularity of its pop culture in overseas countries, data showed Wednesday.The account tracking exports and imports of cultural products and contents logged a surplus of $52 million in the first five months of this year, compared with a surplus of $43.5 million the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea.In the January-May period, South Korea earned inc
July 10, 2013
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CJ Olive Young opens first Chinese store in Shanghai
CJ Olive Young, South Korea’s biggest drugstore chain operator, said Wednesday that it has opened its first Chinese store in Shanghai as part of efforts to expand its presence in the global market. CJ Olive Young is an arm of CJ Group, South Korea’s food and entertainment conglomerate that operates 301 stores in the country and opened its first store in 1999. The drugstore chain operator plans to launch its second and third Chinese store in Shanghai in the second half of the year. CJ Olive Young
July 10, 2013
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LG completes R&D center for car components
LG Electronics Co., a South Korean home appliance maker, said Wednesday that it has completed the construction of a research and development center to focus on the development of automotive parts.The R&D center will house 800 engineers to develop vehicle parts such as motors, inverters and converters for electric vehicles, it said.Last month, LG Electronics, also the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, said it will establish a new business division called the Vehicle Components Business Divi
TechnologyJuly 10, 2013
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Korea’s IT exports reach new high in H1
SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s exports of information-technology products surged to a record high in the six months that ended on June 30 on growing shipments of mobile communication devices and semiconductors, the government said Tuesday.In the January-June period, the country’s IT exports reached $81.24 billion, up 10.9 percent from the same period in 2012, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The country’s trade surplus in the IT sector also surged to a record high of
TechnologyJuly 10, 2013
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Intel-Microsoft synergy seen to boost PC sales
Synergy between new technologies from the world’s top chipmaker Intel and software giant Microsoft may put the brakes on the decline in the PC market, according to industry officials.The introduction of Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 in August, combined with Intel’s recently released fourth-generation Haswell processor, may boost PC sales that have suffered because of the smartphone and mobile device boom over the past five years, the officials said. Microsoft is expected to release its latest operatin
TechnologyJuly 10, 2013