Most Popular
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Yoon apologizes for first lady Dior bag scandal, calls push for special probe ‘political’
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South Korea open to Indonesian proposal to cut KF-21 payments
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Korea forecast to overtake Taiwan in chip production by 2032: report
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Girl hanging on bridge, police trying to rescue her both fall off; rescued immediately
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[K-pop’s dilemma] Can K-pop break free from ‘fandom’ model?
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YouTuber fatally stabbed on livestream by another YouTuber in Busan
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Yoon rebuffs opposition's call for special probe into wife
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Arrest warrant issued for medical student for allegedly killing girlfriend after breakup
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S. Korea to let doctors with foreign licenses practice
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Stray Kids hit with racism in Met Gala photo line
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Korea Herald holds forum on new government’s policies
The Korea Herald, the largest English-language daily in South Korea, will hold a special conference on President Park Geun-hye’s key policies at Millennium Seoul Hilton hotel in Seoul on Thursday. The forum, titled “Hear from the New Korean Government: Policies and Reforms over the Next Five Years,” offers a rare chance for senior officials of the new government to brief the global business community policy reform and key issues that will affect not only Korean businesses but also foreign compan
April 17, 2013
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[Graphic News] IMF revises down global economic outlook
The International Monetary Fund announced Tuesday that it had downgraded this year’s outlook for global economic growth, citing continued risks. In its most recent report on the global economic outlook, the IMF lowered this year’s global economic growth projection to 3.3 percent, 0.2 percentage point down from three months ago.The IMF also lowered Korea’s expected growth rate to 2.8 percent, 0.4 percentage point down from three months ago, citing the country’s weak exports and domestic consumpti
April 17, 2013
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Hyundai Motor to increase deals with SMEs
Hyundai Motor Group has become the first Korean conglomerate to announce concrete targets for reducing excessive inter-subsidiary transactions.Hyundai’s measures came amid increased pressure from the political community to join President Park Geun-hye’s “economic democratization” policy. The Korean auto giant, which owns Hyundai and Kia brands, said Wednesday that it will open new business opportunities worth about 600 billion won ($536 million) annually to outside smaller firms when it comes to
IndustryApril 17, 2013
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ING’s annuity product draws popularity
ING Life Korea said stability and flexibility are two unchanging boosters for annuity sales, as shown in customers’ strong demand for its signature non-par annuity “Free Style.”Annuities are financial products generally used to build up savings in preparation for retirement.ING has been locally rated “AAA” for five consecutive years on its IFSR, or Insurer Finance Strength Rating. Having begun operation here under its former name Life of Georgia in 1989, the insurer changed its name to ING Life
April 17, 2013
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Short-term investments hit record high on North Korean tensions
A growing number of investors are opting to invest their money in short-term financial instruments or hold onto cash, in part due to North Korea risks.Capital invested in financial instruments ranging from cash and cash equivalents to repurchase agreements and demand deposits amounted to a record 676 trillion won ($604 billion) as of Wednesday, according to data by the Bank of Korea and the Korea Financial Investment Association.This was an increase of about 9.4 trillion won from late last year,
April 17, 2013
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Seoul in dilemma over bans on short selling to brake speculation
Short selling, a speculative stock investment technique, has come under the spotlight in the financial market as a pharmaceutical-oriented company CEO recently argued that the firm’s shares were hit by foreign speculators.The Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Exchange launched their review as to whether there is an urgent necessity to issue a ban on short selling of “each company’s shares.”A short-selling investor seeks short-term gains by issuing “sell” orders with borrowed stocks: Th
April 17, 2013
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Producer prices dip by most in 41 months in March
South Korea’s producer prices fell at the sharpest pace in 41 months in March as oil prices declined and the local currency rose per the dollar, the central bank said Wednesday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, declined 2.4 percent in March from a year earlier, after declining 1.6 percent on-year in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.The data marked the sharpest fall since a 3.1 percent on-year decline tallied for October 2009.In March, oil price
April 17, 2013
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Government debt from bond sales reaches W765.6tr
South Korea’s debt from bond issuance reached 765.6 trillion won ($687.8 billion) this month, raising concerns over increasing tax burdens down the road, data showed Wednesday.According to the data compiled by Korea Financial Investment Association, the combined amount of state bonds needing to be repaid by the South Korean government reached 436.1 trillion won on Monday, up 5.5 percent from the end of 2012.The amount of special bonds, which refer to debt sales floated by state-owned enterprises
April 17, 2013
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Korean banks’ assets top 2,000 trillion won
The amount of assets held by South Korean banks surpassed the 2,000 trillion-won mark for the first time ever, while the figure for soured loans sank due to the regulator’s policy push in beefing up their financial soundness, data showed Wednesday. The amount of assets held by major local lenders totaled 2,031.3 trillion won ($1.82 trillion) at the end of December last year, up 62.3 trillion won from 1,969.0 trillion won the previous year, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Servi
April 17, 2013
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Hollywood awaits Korean CG: ILM artist
Hollywood is the next destination for Korean computer graphics, as the American market is ready to embrace a new partner in action, says Lee Seung-hun, one of the few, talented Koreans at Industrial Light & Magic, a Lucasfilm company. “But to enter the vast U.S. market, tax and other forms of incentives are imperative. American film producers are looking to cut down the costs while maintaining the quality, which is possible by working with Korean counterparts,” Lee said in an interview with The
TechnologyApril 17, 2013
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KT drops bid for Moroccan telecom firm
KT Corp., South Korea’s top fixed line and No. 2 mobile operator, said Monday that it will not participate in a final bid for a stake in a Moroccan telecom operator due to differences over price.In a regulatory filing, KT said it has decided not to bid for the 53-percent stake in Maroc Telecom, which is controlled by French multimedia giant Vivendi SA.“But we will seek various cooperation with Morac Telecom depending on the situation,” it said.KT has been seeking to expand its global business in
TechnologyApril 17, 2013
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Watchdogs to announce measures to tackle stock price rigging
South Korean financial authorities plan to announce a set of measures to expand their surveillance of price rigging on the country's stock markets, sources said Wednesday.The Financial Services Commission is to hold a meeting with governmental authorities, including the Ministry of Justice, the National Tax Service, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), and the Korea Exchange, on Thursday to prepare countermeasures against price manipulations.Sources said the envisioned plan includes giving i
April 17, 2013
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Seoul shares end tad higher on institutional buying
South Korean stocks closed slightly higher Wednesday in a volatile session as institutions' net buying of local equities offset losses from a foreign selloff, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.In a choppy trading session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up 1.63 points, or 0.08 percent to 1,923.84. Trading volume was moderate at 408.1 million shares worth 5.29 trillion won (US$4.75 billion) with gainers outpacing losers 414 to 394."Institution
April 17, 2013
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The origin of “hobbits” is revealed: study
The brain size of extinct “hobbits” is bigger than previously thought, suggesting a new theory for identifying its ancestors, scientists suggested. An 18,000-year-old fossil of a “Homo floresiensis” was first unearthed on an Indonesian island. The species was dubbed “hobbit” because of its height of less than 1 meter. Scientists had mixed views upon its origins. Some claimed that it was a unique branch of the Homo erectus or Homo habilis, some of the earliest ancestors of modern humans. The othe
TechnologyApril 17, 2013
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Seoul shares down 0.25 pct in late-morning trade
South Korean stocks turned lower late Wednesday morning after opening higher, as foreigners opted to dump local shares on a net selling mode, analysts said. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.88 points to 1,917.33 as of 11:20 a.m. Heavy industries and construction companies plunged, with Doosan Heavy Industries nosediving more than 10 percent and No. 1 Hyundai Engineering & Construction tumbling around 6 percent. In contrast, utilities and telecom shares trended in positiv
April 17, 2013
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Samsung's Q2 operating profit seen to top record 10 tln won
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top maker of smartphones, memory chips and flat-panel TVs, is projected to reap a record 10 trillion won ($8.98 billion) in operating profit in the second quarter thanks to its latest Galaxy smartphone, market analysts said Wednesday.Samsung Electronics' operating profit in the April-June period is expected to jump 62.2 percent on-year to 10.3 trillion won, according to the data compiled by financial information provider FnGuide. The second-quarter sales are
IndustryApril 17, 2013
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Gov't debt from bond sales reaches 765.6 tln won in April
South Korea's debt from bond issuance reached 765.6 trillion won (US$687.8 billion) this month, raising concerns over increasing tax burdens down the road, data showed Wednesday.According to the data compiled by Korea Financial Investment Association, the combined amount of state bonds needing to be repaid by the South Korean government reached 436.1 trillion won on Monday, up 5.5 percent from the end of 2012.The amount of special bonds, which refer to debt sales floated by state-owned enterpris
April 17, 2013
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Wireless data traffic in S. Korea almost doubles
South Korea's wireless data traffic almost doubled in January from a year earlier in line with explosive growth in the country's smartphone-using population, data showed Wednesday.According to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, wireless data traffic totaled 58,262 terabytes in January, compared with 29,748 terabytes a year earlier. One terabyte equals 1,024 gigabytes.The figure includes traffic on the third-generation network and WiFi offered by telecom operat
TechnologyApril 17, 2013
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Seoul shares open higher on extra budget
South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Wednesday, cheered by the government's supplementary budget unveiled a day before to boost the slowing economy, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 8.19 points, or 0.43 percent to 1,930.40 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Tech and auto blue-chips drove up the main index, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics climbing 0.8 percent and Kia Motors, a smaller affiliate of Hyundai Motor, jumping 1.8 percent.
April 17, 2013
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IMF revises down Korea’s growth at 2.8%
The International Monetary Fund revised down Korea’s gross domestic product growth forecast Tuesday to 2.8 percent this year, from the 3.2 percent it estimated earlier this year.But the IMF said it expected Korea’s economy to progress toward the trend of 4 percent next year, when it would grow 3.9 percent on the back of improvements in exports and increased private investment.The IMF’s revised economic outlook came after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok told lawmakers that
April 16, 2013