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

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

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

Korea, Turkey to ink FTA on Wednesday

Korea and Turkey are scheduled to ink a bilateral free trade agreement and an agreement on trade in goods on Wednesday in Ankara, Seoul’s Trade Ministry said on Monday.Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho and Turkish Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan will sign the trade pact, which will be the ninth FTA to be signed by Korea. Turkey will be the 46th country to sign an FTA with Korea.The two countries had announced in March that they concluded the FTA negotiations, which began in March 2010.Bark is also s

July 30, 2012

Korea nears legal limit on temporary public borrowing

The government neared its legal limit for temporary borrowing ― 20 trillion won ($17.56 billion) ― due to increased loans taken out by the Bank of Korea, stoking concerns of a negative impact on the central bank’s credit and monetary policy.As of the end of June, the government’s temporary borrowing stood at 19.1 trillion won, including 8.1 trillion won in treasury bill balance and another 11 trillion won in the central bank’s outstanding loans. Treasury bills have a maturity of one to three mon

July 30, 2012

Louis Vuitton most copied

Customs agency finds 1.65 million knockoffs of 211 brandsLouis Vuitton was the most widely copied brand for sale in Korea, the results of a crackdown by the Korea Customs Service on counterfeit products showed Monday.The customs agency found over 1.65 million imitation products of 211 brands offered for sale in the first half of this year, about 5 percent of which copied Korean brands.Among the knockoffs worth a total of 615.9 billion won, Louis Vuitton was the most frequent victim, followed by

IndustryJuly 30, 2012