The Korea Herald

Nexon buys $685 million stake in NCSoft, becomes biggest holder

Nexon Co., a Tokyo-based maker of online games, bought a 804.5 billion won ($685 million) stake in NCSoft Corp. to become the South Korean company's biggest shareholder.Nexon purchased 3.2 million NCSoft shares, a 14.7 percent stake, from NCSoft Chairman Kim Taek-Jin for 250,000 won apiece, it said in a statement today. That's 6.7 percent less than today's closing price in Seoul for NCSoft, which

TechnologyJune 9, 2012

Shares fall on lack of U.S., European stimulus action

South Korean stocks fell 0.67 percent Friday after neither U.S. nor European central banks unveiled detailed stimulus programs to bolster growth, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gave up 12.31 points to 1,835.64, snapping a two-day gaining streak.Trading volume was light at 355 million shares worth 3.39 trillion won ($2.88 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 478 to 330.“Heads of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Eur

June 8, 2012

Renault Samsung to bet on electric car as sales slump

Automaker struggles to find breakthrough in sagging sales of gasoline-powered carsHit by a prolonged slump in vehicle sales, Renault Samsung Motors seems to be staking all on its mass production of electric cars from early next year to jockey for the nascent market in Korea. The automaker showcased high-end technologies in its first electric car model ― the SM3 Z.E. ― during the 2012 Busan International Motor Show, which was held from May 24-June 3.Renault Samsung, which is offering test drives

MobilityJune 8, 2012

Renault Samsung to bet on electric car as sales slump

Korean state-run firms offer world’s best service: report

The nation’s state-run companies achieved higher scores than their foreign counterparts in a recent global competitiveness evaluation, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Friday. A private team, led by Choi Jong-won, professor at Seoul National University, conducted the nation’s first evaluation on the productivity and efficiency of 16 state-run firms in 27 categories. According to the results based on last year’s performance, Korea Electric Power Corp. recorded a power transmission effici

IndustryJune 8, 2012

Samsung expects big changes under new number two man

Choi expected to aggressively push for nurturing future growth enginesSamsung Group’s new corporate strategy office chief Choi Gee-sung is expected to bring a bundle of changes to the country’s largest conglomerate as he is recognized for his aggressive business tactics.With the appointment considered to be one of the most notable events in the conglomerate’s history, Choi remained calm and modest on his first day of work as the chief of the firm’s de facto control tower on Friday.He did not sa

IndustryJune 8, 2012

Samsung expects big changes under new number two man

BOK freezes key interest rate for 12th month

Central bank sees U.S. slowdown, eurozone crisis casting shadow over Korean economyThe Bank of Korea kept its key interest rate unchanged the 12th month in a row, maintaining its cautious monetary policy due to external macroeconomic factors of the eurozone crisis and the U.S. slowdown.The central bank’s monetary policy committee froze the seven-day repurchase rate at 3.25 percent on Friday, unwilling to apply the brakes as it did in the first half of last year, despite stable exports and growth

June 8, 2012

BOK freezes key interest rate for 12th month

More child food allergies in urban areas

Children living in rural areas of the United States have fewer food allergies than children who live in urban areas, researchers found.Lead author Dr. Ruchi Gupta -- an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and a physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago -- and colleagues said the study involved 38,465 children age 18

TechnologyJune 8, 2012

Cyber experts warn of 'intelligent weapons'

Quick advances in cyber war technologies could soon lead to a new generation of so-called "intelligent cyber weapons" which top global IT defence experts warn could be virtually unstoppable."Rapid developments in cyber (technology) might lead to intelligent cyber weapons that are hard to control and it's practically impossible to use formal methods of verifying the safety of intelligent cyber weap

TechnologyJune 8, 2012

U.S. teen recovering from rare illness after having fry-ups

A U.S. teenager has a “dream diet” that makes him the envy of his friends. The 15-year old boy consumes mountains of fry-ups including 56 sausages, 24 rashers of bacon and 24 burgers fried in a liter-and-a-half of olive oil every week. But he is no grease-lover -- he eats fatty foods to survive.Lee Jones suffers from a rare disease, contracted by just one in 14 million people, called GLUT1 that means he can’t process glucose and has to eat lots of high-fat foods to survive. Without his special d

TechnologyJune 8, 2012

U.S. teen recovering from rare illness after having fry-ups

BOK holds key rate steady at 3.25% for June

The Bank of Korea held off from altering borrowing costs for a 12th straight month as easing inflation gave policy makers room to wait and see how Europe's debt crisis and China's slowdown affect the economy. Governor Kim Choong-soo and his board kept the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at 3.25 percent as predicted by all 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. South Korea

June 8, 2012

Universe's 'first light' seen by telescope

NASA says its Spitzer space telescope has detected the faint glow of the very first objects in the universe with the best precision yet.The faint objects, which might be incredibly massive stars or voracious black holes, are too far away to be seen individually but Spitzer has captured convincing evidence of what appears to be the patterns of their infrared light, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

TechnologyJune 8, 2012

Universe's 'first light' seen by telescope

Kid CT scans linked to small leukemia risk

Children and teens scanned multiple times by computed tomography have a somewhat increased risk of leukemia and brain tumors, U.S. and British researchers say.Senior investigator Amy Berrington de Gonzalez of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute and colleagues at Newcastle University in England obtained CT exams from radiology departments in hospitals a

TechnologyJune 8, 2012

Conglomerates work out contingency plans

Korea’s conglomerates are busy mapping out contingency plans to cope with unfavorable scenarios due to by the eurozone fiscal crisis.They, including Samsung Group, are set to diversify export destinations in a shift from their earlier focus on Europe and the United States.Samsung Electronics, the flagship unit of Samsung Group, is closely monitoring the situation as more and more eurozone countries see poor consumer sentiment.Though the 2012 London Olympic Games are scheduled to kick off in late

IndustryJune 7, 2012

Collaboration key on nanotech: expert

A top U.S. nanotechnology expert called for greater collaboration among countries and disciplines to deliver its potential to revolutionize computing, electronics, medicine, energy, environment and even agriculture.Nanotechnology is a fast-developing field of engineering that deals with manipulating materials of atomic and molecular size. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The technology is finding its way into an increasingly wider range of industries with the convergence of diverse fi

TechnologyJune 7, 2012

Listed firms’ debt-repaying ability worsens: data

South Korean listed companies’ ability to pay back their debt deteriorated in the first quarter as their earnings declined amid increased bond issues, data showed Thursday.The average interest coverage ratio of 635 firms listed on the main bourse came to 4.33 in the three-month period, down from 5.58 a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Exchange and the Korea Listed Companies Association.The ratio, a firm’s operating profit divided by its interest costs, measures the company’s abil

June 7, 2012

SK E&S acquires $310m stake in gas field in northern Australia

SK E&S Co., the gas distribution arm of South Korea’s SK Group, agreed to buy a 37.5 percent stake in gas fields off northern Australia from ConocoPhillips and Santos Ltd. for $310 million.The stake in the Barossa and Caldita fields in the Bonaparte Basin may be raised to 49.5 percent should exploration drills prove they have sufficient reserves, the Seoul-based company said in a statement. The investment cuts Houston-based ConocoPhillips’ stake to 37.5 percent and Adelaide-based Santos’s holdin

IndustryJune 7, 2012

SK E&S acquires $310m stake in gas field in northern Australia

GNI growth slows in Q1: central bank

South Korea’s gross national income grew at a slower pace in the first quarter due mainly to worsening terms of trade, the central bank said Thursday.According to the national income statistics report by the Bank of Korea, the country’s real GNI edged up 0.2 percent from the previous three-month period, while gaining 2.5 percent from the year before.The increase marks a slowdown from 1 percent on-quarter growth tallied in the fourth quarter and a 0.6 percent gain reported for the third quarter.“

June 7, 2012

Samsung pushes U.S. sales of Galaxy S3

Korean firm to launch handset on June 21 in spite of Apple’s sales ban requestSamsung Electronics said on Thursday that it will launch its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S3 in the U.S. market this month as scheduled, while its rival Apple Inc. is seeking to impose a sales ban on it.“We’re going to prove that the new Galaxy S3 is a unique and innovative product developed by Samsung Electronics and we plan to launch the new handset in the U.S. market as scheduled,” said a Samsung official.The Kore

IndustryJune 7, 2012

Telecoms’ backlash against Kakao Voice Talk rolls on

SKT, KT opposed, LG Uplus open to free mobile callsKakao’s controversial free mobile call application is facing growing opposition from Korea’s two telecom giants, SK Telecom and KT, as the venture firm’s new service is expected to hit their bottom lines.Kakao, which is widely known for its Kakao Talk free mobile messenger app, is gearing up to officially launch the next in its line of free mobile services, Voice Talk. Following this announcement three days ago, SK Telecom and KT remain adamant

TechnologyJune 7, 2012

Samsung chief stresses persistent challenges

Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee told the conglomerate’s new recruits to continuously challenge themselves during a three-day workshop held in North Jeolla Province which started Wednesday.“What is most important to new employees beginning the new chapter in their lives is to set up future goals and take on continuous challenges,” he said in a video message to the group.The workshop, held for the 26th time this year, was attended by 8,000 new employees hired at Samsung affiliates as well

IndustryJune 7, 2012

Samsung chief stresses persistent challenges