The Korea Herald

Best summer holiday reads for CEOs

Since 2004, Samsung Economic Research Institute has conducted surveys of CEOs and their reading habits. This year a total of 567 CEOs participated in the survey and recommended more than 1,000 books to read. Among them, SERI picked the 14 best summer reads, including seven on economy and management and the rest on humanities and culture. In the economy and management category, the first to make the list was “Multipliers.” The authors classify leaders as diminishers or multipliers. Diminishers ar

July 31, 2012

Business uncertainties likely to raise M&A opportunities

But analysts say supply may exceed demand in auction marketResearch analysts predict some large local enterprises will be put on the market for mergers or acquisitions in the coming months.They cite worsening financial situations for some companies, hit by the eurozone debt crisis and global uncertainties, for a possible vitalization of the nation’s M&A market.According to brokerage industry data, three sectors ― construction, shipping and shipbuilding ― have been hit severely by rapidly declini

IndustryJuly 31, 2012

Business uncertainties likely to raise M&A opportunities

Seoul shares jump 2.07 percent on eurozone hopes

South Korean stocks finished 2.07 percent higher Tuesday as investors' sentiment was boosted by expectations that stimulus measures from Europe and the U.S. will come, analysts said. The local currency rose sharply against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) soared 38.2 points to close at 1,881.99 Trading volume was moderate at 353.6 million shares worth 5.55 tr

July 31, 2012

Romance is over when photos are stashed

The point at which people put an ex-partner‘s photo away after a split is usually when they are emotionally ready to move on, a British psychologist says.“It’s not surprising that nearly half of us keep some kind of visual memento of past partners -- this goes for partners who were divorced or died as well -- a photo generates strong emotions as it unleashes memories of past attachment and times,” Corinne Sweet, behavioral psychologist said in a statement.A survey for Friends Reunited, a social

TechnologyJuly 31, 2012

Twitter clocks half-million users: Monitor

Over 500 million people are on micro-blogging site Twitter and Americans and Brazilians are the most connected, according to a study by social media monitor Semiocast released Monday.Twitter surpassed the half-billion mark at the end of June, with the United States accounting for both the most users and largest number of “tweets” or short messages of no more than 140 characters posted on the site.The Paris-based monitor carried out the study by analysing data like time zone, geolocation and lang

TechnologyJuly 31, 2012

Apple to debut its new iOS devices on Sept. 12

Apple is planning to announce the launch of the iPhone 5 and a new iPad at a special event on Sept. 12 according to technology blog iMore.Citing sources who “have proven accurate in the past,” iMore said Apple’s new iPhone and iPad Mini, a new smaller-sized tablet computer, will be open to the market on Sept. 21, nine days after the announcement.The article also said that a new iPod Touch will make an appearance at the event, as well as a new iPod Nano.A French website App4Phone.fr also said tha

TechnologyJuly 31, 2012

Humans would be also-rans in all-species Olympics: study

(AP)Human beings would be made to look decidedly unimpressive were animals allowed to compete in the Olympics -- outperformed by the likes of kangaroos, gorillas and ostriches, a science paper said Saturday.Usain Bolt, currently the world's fastest man, may just be able to outrun a Dromedary camel but would trail the cheetah, greyhound and ostrich in a sprint race, said a feature in the Veterinary

TechnologyJuly 31, 2012

Humans would be also-rans in all-species Olympics: study

Star-spangled banners still there

NASA released new images from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) showing U.S. flags planted in lunar soil.The new images have finally given proof that the flags are still standing.Astronauts planted flags during each of the six American moon landings, starting from Apollo 11’s landing in 1969 to Apollo 17’s in 1972. The American moon landings remain the only manned flights to touch down on a heavenly body.According to an analysis of the shadows they cast on the surface of the moon, five

TechnologyJuly 31, 2012

Seoul shares start tad higher on eased Europe woes

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday on eased eurozone debt concerns ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 2.99 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,846.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares traded mixed with market bellwether Samsung Electronics rising 1.49 percent and the country's biggest

July 31, 2012

Korean jobseekers target 27 million won in salary: report

The average annual salary requirement of Korean jobseekers is 27.56 million won, according to a survey released on Monday by Saramin, a local online recruitment website.The survey of 1,062 Korean jobseekers showed that they preferred 27.56 million won ($24,254) on average as their annual salary requirement.The survey also revealed that 29.4 percent of the total respondents preferred working for major conglomerates while only 17 percent wanted small and medium-sized companies.Meanwhile, more than

July 31, 2012

S. Korea's industrial output growth decelerates in June

South Korea's industrial output grew in June, but its pace sharply decelerated in the face of headwinds from the eurozone debt crisis and concerns over global slowdowns, a government report showed Tuesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries expanded 1.6 percent last month from a year earlier, sharply slowing from the2

July 31, 2012

Yeonggwang nuclear reactor comes to halt

A nuclear reactor at an atomic power plant in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province, automatically stopped running Monday afternoon after its reactor protection system gave warning signals, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. said.The 1-million-kilowatt Yeonggwang-6 unit came to a halt at around 2:57 p.m., according to the company. The unit had been under special treatment due to fuel rod defects that caused radioactivity levels in the reactor coolant to rise on April 30. The KHNP said it was lookin

IndustryJuly 30, 2012

Hanwha chief meets Iraqi leader on postwar projects

Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held a meeting in Baghdad on Sunday to discuss business opportunities from the country’s ongoing postwar reconstruction.The two leaders first met on May 30 when Hanwha signed an $8 billion contract to build a housing complex in Bismayah, a new satellite city of Baghdad. During their meeting, Kim explained the preparations for the housing project and proposed to organize a separate task force team to discuss new busines

IndustryJuly 30, 2012

Hanwha chief meets Iraqi leader on postwar projects

HTC to close Korean office on slow sales

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC said Monday it will close its Korean office soon. The Taiwanese company said it will continue to provide after-sales services for its products.The closure announcement takes place months after the head of its Korean office stepped down in May. With the company’s share narrowing in the Korean market, which is dominated by Samsung and Apple smartphones, it was unable to release a new lineup of smartphones this year.“Our after-sales service policy in Korea will not al

IndustryJuly 30, 2012

HTC to close Korean office on slow sales

Hacking exposes digital security problems

Latest case again sheds light on vulnerability of nation’s data securityA 30-year-old Seoulite recently went through a bizarre experience, receiving numerous phone calls every day suggesting that she buy a new smartphone.What was odd was the fact that all the callers knew her two-year mobile contract was already over. They also offered promotions, recommending that she should make the shift to more advanced handsets running on the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution networks.“When I told one o

IndustryJuly 30, 2012

Hacking exposes digital security problems

Shares up on EU optimism

Korean stocks finished 0.8 percent higher Monday on optimism that European policymakers will take action to ease the debt crisis, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 14.63 points to close at 1,843.79. Trading volume was moderate at 333.1 million shares worth 3.8 trillion won ($3.3 billion) with gainers outpacing losers 425 to 367.“Investors are cheered by the highly anticipated moves of European leaders and are opt

July 30, 2012

Manufacturing sentiment for Aug. hits 3-year low

Korean manufacturers’ business confidence for August fell to a more than 3-year low as the eurozone debt crisis and China’s slowing growth cooled sentiment, the central bank said Monday.The index of manufacturers’ outlook on business conditions came in at 70 for August, down from the 81 recorded for July, according to a monthly survey by the Bank of Korea. The index measures manufacturers’ expectations for the coming month.The August figures marked the lowest level since the index reached 69 for

July 30, 2012

Korea gets exclusive rights to undersea mine in Indian Ocean

Korea has secured exclusive rights to explore and develop a deep ocean mine in the Indian Ocean that can produce over $300 million worth of minerals per year, the government said Monday.At a general assembly held in Kingston, Jamaica last week, members of the International Seabed Authority unanimously agreed to recognize the country’s rights to the offshore mine that lies across an area of 10,000 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Aff

July 30, 2012

Sales at duty-free shops surge in H1

Sales at duty-free shops in airports and downtown Seoul surged to a record high in the first half of the year on the back of a rise in inbound and outbound tourists, industry sources said Monday.Hotel Shilla Co., a South Korean luxury hotel and resort operator, posted sales of 956 billion won ($843 million) at its duty-free shops in the first half, up 39 percent from a year earlier.Its operating income spiked to 60 billion won from a mere 15 billion won over the cited period, according to the so

July 30, 2012

Samsung, Apple may resolve patent disputes

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. will likely reach an agreement over their patent disputes as neither of the two companies has been a clear winner, Fitch Ratings said Monday.Samsung Electronics and Apple, the world’s two largest smartphone makers, have been waging a series of legal suits against each other, blaming each other for patent infringement in design and technology patents on their key mobile devices.“Fitch sees the legal battle continuing for at least th

TechnologyJuly 30, 2012