Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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LS Cable opens 17 electric car charging stations
LS Cable & System Ltd., Korea’s leading maker of electrical wiring, said Wednesday it has set up 17 electric car-charging stations across the country for state-run agencies and municipalities.The facilities feature high-speed direct current chargers that can charge Hyundai Motor’s BlueOn for 140 km in 30 minutes. The BlueOn is Korea’s first midsize electric vehicle, the company said in a statement. The 17 locations include the Seoul Central Post Office, the Ministry of Defense, city governments
IndustryFeb. 15, 2012
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Samsung mulling spin-off of LCD panel business
South Korean tech firm Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it is considering spinning off its liquid-crystal display business, a move seen as aiming to beef up its competitiveness.“The company is mulling spinning off the LCD business, but details have not been decided,” Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing.Analysts said that the move seemed to come as its LCD business suffered from losses for the fourth consecutive quarter in the final quarter of last year amid industry-wide s
IndustryFeb. 15, 2012
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Korea posts trade deficit in January: data
Korea posted a trade deficit for the first time in two years in January as its exports shrank, affected by toughening external market conditions, the customs office said Wednesday.The country’s trade deficit came to about $2 billion last month, a turnaround from a surplus of $2.3 billion tallied in the previous month, the Korea Customs Service said in a report.The trade balance swung into the red for the first time since January 2010.Exports fell 7 percent on-year to $41.3 billion, while imports
Feb. 15, 2012
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Ministry to announce measures to support mid-sized firms
The government plans to soon announce a set of measures to support the country’s mid-sized companies as part of an ongoing effort to boost South Korean exports, the Commerce Ministry said Wednesday.A mid-sized enterprise is defined as a company with more than 300 employees and 100 million won ($89 million) in annual sales.Such businesses have long been recognized but were legally identified for the first time in March 2011 in a revision to the industry development law. The law previously only re
Feb. 15, 2012
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Foreign investors’ stock buying surges this year
Foreign investors’ buying of local stocks surged this year on the back of eased fear on the eurozone debt crisis that fueled a huge inflow of European money into the emerging markets like Korea, data showed Wednesday. Foreign investors have scooped up local stocks worth a net 8.8 trillion won ($7.82 billion) this year as of Monday, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service, the country’s financial regulator.Offshore investors have been on an extensive buying spree since late las
Feb. 15, 2012
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Jobless rate rises to 3.5% in January
Korea’s jobless rate rose in January from a month earlier, indicating job market conditions remain cloudy despite continued economic recovery, a government report showed Wednesday.The jobless rate stood at 3.5 percent last month, up from 3 percent in December, according to the report by Statistics Korea.It was also higher than the annual average of 3.4 percent for last year.The economy still gained 536,000 more jobs in January compared to the previous year. The on-year job creation was the large
Feb. 15, 2012
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Korean firm gets interim nod for oil project in Jordan
A Korean energy developer said Wednesday that it has obtained approval from Jordan to negotiate a deal for the development of a massive oil field in the western part of the Middle Eastern country.The Jordanian Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding on negotiations for a final agreement Tuesday to explore the field with an estimated reserve of more than 1.1 billion barrels, said Park Cheong-sig, president and CEO of Korea Global Energy Corp. A signing ceremony will soon be held.Under the
Feb. 15, 2012
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Love is like a drug, study finds
Love appears to use the same system in the brain that is activated when a person is addicted to drugs, recent research found. In the study, researchers at Stanford University showed 10 women and seven men photographs of loved ones. The researchers scanned and observed the participants’ bra
TechnologyFeb. 15, 2012
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'Invisibility' cloak could protect buildings from quakes
University of Manchester mathematicians have developed the theory for a Harry Potter style 'cloaking' device which could protect buildings from earthquakes.Dr William Parnell's team in the University's School of Mathematics have been working on the theory of invisibility cloaks which, until recently
TechnologyFeb. 15, 2012
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Aspirin could beat cancer spread: Australian study
Aspirin and other household drugs may inhibit the spread of cancer because they help shut down the chemical "highways" which feed tumours, Australian researchers said Tuesday.Scientists at Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said they have made a biological breakthrough helping explain h
TechnologyFeb. 15, 2012
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Missing dark matter located in space
Researchers at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe and Nagoya University used large-scale computer simulations and recent observational data of gravitational lensing to reveal how dark matter is distributed around galaxies. A computer simulation s
TechnologyFeb. 15, 2012
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Man gives Valentine's kidney
A Chicago man is celebrating Valentine's Day by giving his girlfriend one of the most precious gifts he has -- his kidney.Terry Lee said his girlfriend, Trisha Beckwith, was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Lupus after they had been dating for about four months and soon discovered her kidneys w
TechnologyFeb. 15, 2012
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Korea-China FTA move puts Taiwan under pressure
HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― A possible free trade agreement between Korea and China has put Taiwan under pressure to speed up follow-up trade talks with China, Taiwanese government officials said Tuesday. In early January, Korea and China agreed to start formal negotiations for a free trade agreement with the aim to launch talks before the end of June.Taiwan’s Ministry of Economics said the country must quickly move toward securing follow-up trade and economic agreements with China, saying it has
Feb. 14, 2012
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Shares slip 0.15% on eurozone woes
Korean stocks fell 0.15 percent on Tuesday as investors offloaded shares following a credit cut on six eurozone countries, but losses were limited as the downgrade was largely expected, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.After retreating as much as 0.51 percent at one point, the benchmark KOSPI ended 3.1 points lower at 2,002.64. Trading volume was heavy at 500.5 million shares worth 6.4 trillion won (US$5.7 billion), with decliners slightly outweighing gainers 411 to
Feb. 14, 2012
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Korea’s trade terms hit 3-year low
Korea’s 2011 terms of trade deteriorated to the lowest level in three years as oil price hikes pulled up import costs, outpacing moderate gains in export prices, the central bank said Tuesday. The country’s net terms-of-trade index for goods stood at 78.9 last year, down 8.3 percent from 2010, marking the sharpest annual fall since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to preliminary figures released by the Bank of Korea. On a quarterly basis, Korea’s net terms-of-trade index for goods, a
Feb. 14, 2012
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Joint loan liability for private...business owners to be scrapped
The ruling party and the government agreed to abolish the joint liability system for self-employed businessmen when they apply for loans from May in a bid to lessen the burden on new businesses and boost entrepreneurship, the party’s chief policymaker said Tuesday.Rep. Lee Joo-young of the Saenuri Party held a meeting with senior officials of the Financial Services Commission at the National Assembly and reached an agreement to adopt a package of measures aimed at helping self-sufficient busines
Feb. 14, 2012
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Online stock trading surges on smartphones
Korea’s online stock trading hit a record high last year, helped by the widespread use of smartphones and other Internet-enabled digital devices. The value of stocks traded online reached 2,468 trillion won ($2.19 trillion) last year, up 18.3 percent from 2,086 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Korea Exchange.Of the total, the main bourse KOSPI accounted for 1,524 trillion won, while the tech-packed KOSDAQ generated 944 trillion won worth of online trades last year. Online stock trad
Feb. 14, 2012
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Foreign investors selling Hana shares
Government may intervene in management through pension serviceForeign investors are leaving Hana Financial Group by disposing of their stake amid uncertainties from the group’s takeover of Korea Exchange Bank.Following the departure of Temasek Holdings in October, Goldman Sachs sold off its entire stake in Hana Financial on Tuesday.At the end of June 2011, Temasek, an equity fund controlled by the Singapore government, and Goldman, a global investment bank, were the largest and second-largest sh
Feb. 14, 2012
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Ssangyong targets European car market
Ssangyong Motor unveiled its business strategy to expand its presence in the European market, saying that it will showcase the XIV-2 concept model at the Geneva International Motor Show in March.The XIV-2, the concept vehicle as a premium crossover utility vehicle, is aimed at increasing sales in Europe, the company said in a statement.Based on the hardtop XIV-1 concept from last year’s Frankfurt show, Ssangyong says the XIV-2 blends “the characteristics of a robust and powerful SUV with the dyn
MobilityFeb. 14, 2012
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KB Kookmin named best bank: magazine
KB Kookmin Bank has been selected as Korea’s best onshore custodian for a consecutive year by Asian Investor, a magazine for the Asia-Pacific financial markets.The award, dubbed Asian Investor 2011 Korea, was set up in March 2011 by the magazine.The nation’s largest retail lender Kookmin Bank has emerged as one of Asia’s leading banks.Its parent KB Financial posted 2.37 trillion won ($2.07 billion) in net profit last year. Its total assets came to 361.6 trillion won, up 28.1 trillion won from a
Feb. 14, 2012