The Korea Herald

Volcker rule should be ‘robust’: Oversight Council

Top U.S. financial regulator issues recommendations to implement controls on banksRegulators should carry out a “robust implementation” of the Volcker rule by forcing banks to wind down or sell trading desks that don’t comply with the law, the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council said.Government agencies should require banks to perform “quantitative analysis to detect potentially impermissib

Jan. 19, 2011

Volcker rule should be ‘robust’: Oversight Council

LG Uplus officially begins ...mobile office support for SMEs

LG Uplus, the country’s smallest mobile carrier, said Tuesday that it will officially begin providing mobile office support for small and mid-sized firms.In a joint effort with Microsoft, the company will use the global firm’s software platforms and cloud services like Software as a Service in a bid to jump into the local mobile office market.This comes after LG Uplus and Microsoft formed a strate

IndustryJan. 19, 2011

LG Uplus officially begins ...mobile office support for SMEs

Korea scrambles to cut electricity use

Consumption soars to record amid deep chill, fueling power shortage concernsThe government is introducing a series of contingency measures to cut power consumption as the cold spell drives up electricity demand to record levels.With the cold snap gripping the nation, even in the warmer southern regions, electricity demand has shot up, setting new records three times already this month.On Monday, t

IndustryJan. 19, 2011

Whistleblower hands WikiLeaks offshore bank secrets

LONDON (AFP) ― WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed to publish secret details of offshore accounts after a Swiss banking whistleblower handed over data Monday on 2,000 purportedly tax-dodging individuals and firms.Former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer, who worked for eight years in the Cayman Islands, a renowned offshore tax haven in the Caribbean, personally gave Assange two CDs of data at a London

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

Whistleblower hands WikiLeaks offshore bank secrets

Robotic helpers coming to homes, offices

Service robotics emerges as the next technology frontier with advancing skills, surging demandThese days, visitors to the presidential office in Seoul are getting a taste of the future. At Sarangchae, a museum affiliated with Cheong Wa Dae, a kiosk-shaped robot greets guests with a heartwarming smile. Named Tiro, the machine introduces Korea’s culture and gives directions and answers in four diffe

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

Robotic helpers coming to homes, offices

POSCO gets approval for new plant

Stalled works on POSCO’s new plant at Pohang Steelworks are set to resume, with the Prime Minister’s Office deciding to ease regulations that had brought the works to a halt in July.The Pohang municipal government had approved plans for the plant without consulting military bases in the area about height restrictions on buildings in the area due to military flights.The steelmaker was informed of t

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

Fine may force LG Display into loss in 4th quarter

LG Display may record a loss in its latest fourth-quarter earnings as it is likely to include a large fine imposed by the European Commission for fixing liquid crystal display prices in its report, industry insiders said Tuesday.The world’s second-largest maker of liquid crystal display panels must pay 215 million euros ($285 million) for being part of a cartel with five other firms between 2001 a

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

Hana Financial in alliance with Chinese bank

China Merchant Bank expected to boost Korean group’s expansionHana Financial Group has established a strategic partnership with China Merchant Bank, the country’s sixth-largest lender, beefing up ammunition for its planned portfolio diversification and expansion of China operations. The Korean financial group said Tuesday that the agreement will involve cooperation on a range of joint financial se

Jan. 18, 2011

Kookmin Bank pushes for aggressive downsizing

Kookmin Bank is accelerating its major manpower restructuring, transferring 219 underperforming employees to an extra department designed for retraining.A certain portion of them will likely face dismissal or be pressured to quit if they fail to reach a certain level of performance within about two years, an official of the nation’s largest bank said Tuesday.The employees at the department are obl

Jan. 18, 2011

Gangwon shares affordable housing know-how with Vietnam

Gangwon Province is hosting a team of Vietnamese government officials on a week-long trip here to study Korea’s housing policies for low-income earners.The program, requested by Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction, is co-organized by the International Urban Training Center, a state-run training center for policymakers in Gangwon Province and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in Vietnam

Jan. 18, 2011

Gangwon shares affordable housing know-how with Vietnam

Ban calls for global clean energy revolution

U.N. secretary-general also addresses climate, poverty and healthABU DHABI ― Global innovation in clean energy is essential to fight climate change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday at the 2011 World Future Energy Summit. “The prevailing fossil fuel-economy is contributing to climate change and global energy needs are growing rapidly,” he said during his keynote speech at t

Jan. 18, 2011

Ban calls for global clean energy revolution

Roubini sees spread of EU debt crisis as key 2011 risk

Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the global financial crisis, said a key risk to the world economy in 2011 is the likely spread of Europe’s debt crisis. “One of the most important risks is financial contagion in Europe if the euro zone’s problems spread, as seems likely, to Portugal, Spain and Belgium,” Roubini wrote in an article in the Australian Financial Review

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

Roubini sees spread of EU debt crisis as key 2011 risk

Foreign investment in China rises to record

Foreign direct investment in China rose to a record $105.7 billion last year, underscoring confidence that rising incomes will boost demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Investment climbed 17.4 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement in Beijing to Tuesday. Spending in December rose 15.6 percent from a year earlier to $14 billion. Estimates of five

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

Singapore’s export growth slowed in Dec.

Singapore’s exports rose at a slower pace in December, ending a year in which shipments jumped the most since 2003 as the global economic recovery boosted demand for the island’s goods. Non-oil domestic exports climbed 9.4 percent from a year earlier, after a revised 9.9 percent gain in November, the trade promotion agency said in a statement in Singapore Monday. The median forecast of 14 economis

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

Ssangyong to build mall in Singapore

Ssangyong Engineering & Construction has won a 35 billion won ($31 million) deal to build a premium shopping center in Singapore, the latest boost to its growing presence in one of Asia’s hottest construction markets.The builder signed the contract with City Development Ltd., the largest property developer of Singapore, on Thursday. Ssangyong will design and construct a two-story luxury mall with

IndustryJan. 18, 2011

SBS to air “Is UFO coming to Earth?” on Saturday

SBS is set to air a special program on UFOs on Saturday, drawing keen attention from those interested in the question of aliens’ existence. The broadcaster’s weekly investigative program, “We Want to Know,” plans to explore the issue that has long generated speculation, rumors and conspiracy theories across the world. For the latest episode, the program’s investigations team has decided to scrutin

TechnologyJan. 18, 2011

SBS to air “Is UFO coming to Earth?” on Saturday

LG Display likely to swing into red in Q4 on EU fines

LG Display Co., the world's No. 2 supplier of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, is likely to report a loss for the fourth quarter, industry sources said Tuesday, as a fine of 215 million euros (US$285 million) by the European Union (EU) takes a toll on its bottom line.According to the sources, the penalty will be reflected in the company's earnings for the October-December period, which are sla

TechnologyJan. 18, 2011

Seoul to hike milk output quota to tackle FMD-sparked dearth

South Korea will temporarily allow local dairy farms to increase milk production to counter shortfalls caused by the culling of dairy cows due to the recent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, the farm ministry said Tuesday.The move calls for production quotas to be raised by 5 percent for the next two years to help boost supply and preempt price hikes that can exacerbate inflationary concerns

TechnologyJan. 18, 2011

Additional FMD case found in central S. Korea

South Korea confirmed an additional case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the country's central region on Tuesday, though nationwide vaccinations and quarantine efforts are having some effect on containing the disease.The additional case at a pig farm in Yesan, 134 kilometers south of Seoul, brings the total number of confirmed FMD outbreaks to 121, since animals started showing symptoms in late

TechnologyJan. 18, 2011

The largest color image of sky revealed

The most comprehensive view of the night sky has been released at the 217th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, the BBC reported. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has mapped the Milky Way Galaxy’s northern and southern hemispheres, represented as two big clusters in the newly-released image. The ongoing survey has already identified nearly half a billion astronomical object

TechnologyJan. 18, 2011