Most Popular
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10-man S. Korea lose to Indonesia to miss out on Paris Olympic football qualification
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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DP leader says he will meet Yoon without conditions
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First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
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NewJeans' singles, Japanese debut to proceed as planned, despite Hybe-Ador feud
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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Experts raise concerns about Japan putting pressure on Naver over Line
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Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
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Ship linked to NK arms shipments to Russia is moored in China: State Dept.
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Trade dependence hits record high in 2011
Korea’s dependence on trade rose to an all-time high last year, data showed Wednesday, spawning concerns the country could become more vulnerable to the slumping global economy. The ratio measuring Korea’s reliance on trade for growth stood at a record 113.2 percent last year, up from 105.2 percent in 2010, according to data by the central bank. The ratio measures the value of exports and imports against gross national income.The ratio, which largely hovered near the 80-percent range in the mid-
Aug. 1, 2012
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Microsoft to phase out Hotmail, focus on Outlook email
Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software maker, will introduce a new, free Web-based email portal under its Outlook brand and phase out Hotmail over time as it seeks to draw users from Google Inc.’s Gmail. A preview of the new service went online today and Hotmail probably will be phased out in the next year, said Brian Hall, a general manager in Microsoft’s Windows group, in an interview. By going with Outlook, Microsoft is trying to capitalize on the brand behind the most-used corporate e
TechnologyAug. 1, 2012
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Samsung, Apple launch salvos in court battle
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. told jurors that its products are not copycats of Apple Inc’s iPhone but rather an example of legitimate American-style competition from the South Korean company.Lawyers for both tech giants faced off on Tuesday for opening statements in the highly anticipated U.S. patent trial, where Apple has accused Samsung of stealing iPhone features like scrolling and multi-touch.The stakes are high: Apple is being tested on its worldwide patent strategy against Google’s Android
TechnologyAug. 1, 2012
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Tapjoy targets Korea’s mobile ad market
U.S.-based firm joins hands with SK Planet to get business going in KoreaTapjoy, a San Francisco-based mobile advertising firm, said Tuesday it is putting its focus on the Korean market, claiming it is the company’s biggest after its home turf.Mihir Shah, president and chief executive of Tapjoy, said Korea is a special market due to its infrastructure and connectivity as well as its penetration of devices running on the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution networks.“Today, Korea is our No. 2 ma
TechnologyAug. 1, 2012
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Popularity of Diablo 3 plunges in Korea
The popularity of Diablo 3, one of the major online role-playing games in South Korea, has nosedived on the game rankings here, according to GameNote, a local website offering online game news.The latest ranking table released by GameNote on Aug. 1 showed that Diablo 3 has plummeted to the 11th place, which is eight steps down from the 3rd as recorded a week earlier.Diablo 3 was one of the most anticipated titles this year and it has managed to retain some popularity despite critical bugs and ex
TechnologyAug. 1, 2012
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Video game claims to treat depression
New Zealand developers said they have created a video game that will help young people overcome depression. SPARX, developed by the University of Auckland and Metia Interactive, is a role-playing game designed to teach teenagers how to cope with depression.“You can deal with mental health problems in a way that doesn’t have to be deadly serious,” said project leader Sally Merry in an interview with Britain’s Daily Mail. “The therapy doesn’t have to be depressing in and of itself. We’re aiming to
TechnologyAug. 1, 2012
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S. Korea's July trade surplus narrows on falling exports
South Korea's trade surplus shrank from a month earlier in July as exports slipped at a greater pace than imports, the government said Wednesday.The country's trade balance came to $2.7 billion in the black last month, compared with a surplus of $4.96 billion in June, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.Still, July marks the sixth consecutive month the country has posted a trade surplus
Aug. 1, 2012
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Smiling during stress may help the heart
(123rf)People who smile even though they don't feel like it had lower heart beat levels, U.S. researcher suggest.Psychological scientists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman of the University of Kansas conducted a series of experiments involving 169 participants from a Midwestern university.The study involved two phases -- training and testing. During the training phase, participants were divided into t
TechnologyAug. 1, 2012
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S. Korea's consumer price growth slows in July
South Korea's consumer prices grew at a slower pace last month amid government efforts to keep inflationary pressure down, a report showed Wednesday.The country's consumer price index rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier in June, compared with a 2.2 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to the report by Statistics Korea.July's reading marks the first time since July 2009 that inflatio
Aug. 1, 2012
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Ruling party chief renews debate on extending retirement age
Hwang calls for introduction of peak salary systemThe ruling Saenuri Party chairman Hwang Woo-yea said on Tuesday that his party would take steps to obligate all businesses to set the retirement age at 60.At present, companies are only recommended to set the retirement age at 60. The average retirement age for local firms with over 300 employees is 57.4, and people actually retire at age 53 on average, according to the Korea Labor Institute.“We will initially push for extending the legal retirem
July 31, 2012
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KDB drops plan to buy HSBC retail branches
The Korea Development Bank said Tuesday it dropped the plan to take over HSBC’s 11 retail branches in Korea. KDB said in a statement that it agreed with HSBC to stop acquisition talks due to disagreements over employment conditions, and to no longer seek to buy the U.K.-based bank’s retail operations here.The state-run bank had begun talks with HSBC in April to acquire its local retail branches in the form of purchase and assumption, which does not involve a transfer of money as KDB was to take
July 31, 2012
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Korean cars on roll in Africa, Middle East
Shipments of South Korean vehicles to Africa and the Middle East soared nearly 35 percent in the first half of this year, helping the regions emerge as the country’s biggest markets, industry data showed Tuesday.South Korea’s five carmakers led by Hyundai Motor Co. exported $1.28 billion worth of vehicles to African nations in the January-June period, up 34.4 percent from a year ago, according to data compiled by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.The other companies are Kia Motors C
MobilityJuly 31, 2012
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World’s largest floating solar plant starts work
The world’s largest solar plant on water went into operation on Tuesday, paving the way for the commercialization of a new solar energy provider, said Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-water. The state-run water service company organized the three-year project in August 2008, and Korean industrial solutions firm LSIS undertook the plant construction in 2011 on Hapcheon Dam in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province. “K-water plans to form partnerships with private firms for the standardization and o
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
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Foreign ownership of Hyundai Motor, Samsung growing
Foreign investors are cutting back their stakes in major Korean companies amid a sliding stock market hard hit by the European debt crisis.But they are expanding ownership at the nation’s top two conglomerates Samsung and Hyundai, Chaebol.com, a website tracking Korean conglomerate owners, revealed Tuesday. According to the research firm, 93 affiliates of the nation’s top 10 conglomerates saw their combined foreign ownership decline from 20.19 percent in March to 19.79 percent this month. The 0.
IndustryJuly 31, 2012
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Samsung, Apple begin court talks
Court attendance of key witness remains in questionSamsung Electronics and Apple have begun their U.S. court battle over intellectual property rights in San Jose, California, on Tuesday, local time, with both sides vowing not to step down.On the trial’s first day, the court selected a panel formed of 10 people ― seven men and three women ― and went forward with an objection hearing.Samsung asked U.S. Judge Lucy Koh to block Apple from using the photos of its late founder Steve Jobs throughout th
IndustryJuly 31, 2012
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Toyota aims to bounce back in Korea
Japanese carmaker pins hopes on hybrid vehiclesToyota Motor Corp. is outperforming General Motors in global sales again, bouncing back from a massive recall incident and natural disasters in its home country.The Japanese automaker said it sold 4.97 million vehicles globally in the first half of the year, while the sales of GM stood at 4.67 million units.While Toyota’s Korean unit is also set to wage uphill sales battles with German firms such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, market insiders are w
MobilityJuly 31, 2012
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‘LTE users to hit 42m in 2013’
The number of Koreans who use smartphones with the Long Term Evolution network is expected to pass the 40-million subscriber mark in 2013, a Seoul-based consulting firm forecast on Tuesday.ROA Consulting said that the number of subscribers may hit 42 million, marking a new era in the domestic telecommunications industry. According to the company’s report, about seven out of 10 mobile device users in Korea will use a smartphone with 4G LTE technology in 2013. This represents a significant jump fr
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
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Card firms earn over 2tr won in peripheral services
Korean credit card firms earned more than 2 trillion won ($1.76 billion) from their secondary businesses last year as they scrambled to diversify profit sources, industry data showed Tuesday.The card issuers’ combined revenue from insurance sales, travel agency business and mail orders reached 2.45 trillion won in 2011, up 36 percent from 1.84 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Credit Finance Association. Their ancillary revenue has grown five-fold in 10 years, with
July 31, 2012
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Korea basks in exports of cultural products this year
Korea earned income by selling its cultural products and services this year on the back of the popularity of Korean culture in overseas countries, data by the central bank showed Tuesday.The account tracking exports and imports of cultural products and contents hit a record high of $30.1 million in May, compared with $12.5 million tallied in April, according to the Bank of Korea.The account also posted a surplus of a combined $72.7 million in the March-May period, marking the first time that it
July 31, 2012
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Peru FTA boosts Korean cars, TVs
The Korea-Peru free trade pact has boosted the competitiveness of Korea-made products over its first year of implementation, with the nation’s automotive and TV manufacturers outpacing Chinese and Japanese rivals in the South American country. The Korea International Trade Association said on Tuesday that the nation’s exports to Peru increased 28.9 percent in the 11 months up to June, though imports from the country decreased 7.6 percent during the same period. The growth figure surpassed the 6.
IndustryJuly 31, 2012