Most Popular
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Seoul to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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Seoul alerts overseas missions to NK terror threats
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Over 60% of S. Koreans support W100m childbirth incentive: survey
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‘Inside Out 2’ adds four new emotions, explores teenage life
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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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Singapore, Qantas to revise refund policy
The nation’s antitrust watchdog ordered Singapore Airlines and Australia’s Qantas Airways on Wednesday to fix their unfair refund policy on discounted flight tickets. Unlike other air carriers that offer some refunds for cancellation, the two companies were found to have not paid back any of the ticket prices except oil surcharges and taxes. The Fair Trade Commission said, even considering price benefits of the discounted tickets, the two companies put excessive pressure on consumers. Following
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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LG smartphone sales top 3m on home turf
South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. has sold more than 3 million smartphones in the local market, bolstering the company’s drive to escape its smartphone laggard status, a company official said Thursday.LG Electronics saw its domestic smartphone shipments top 3-million units in the first 10 months of the year, breaking the milestone for the first time, according to an LG Electronics official. While end-November figures were unavailable, the company is expected to sell a total of 3.5 m
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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Shares edge up amid lingering U.S. fiscal woes
South Korean stocks crawled 0.13 percent up Thursday as investors sat on the sidelines to watch progress in U.S. fiscal cliff negotiations, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 2.58 points to 1,949.62. Trading volume was light at 335 million shares worth 4.6 trillion won (US$4.3 billion) with decliners outpacing advancers 427 to 385.“The U.S. fiscal cliff widely dominates the market, while there are no other
Dec. 6, 2012
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Renault Samsung mulls sale of factory land
Renault Samsung Motors is considering selling some of the land at its second manufacturing plant site in Busan, company officials said Thursday.The land sale plan allegedly comes as part of the carmaker’s efforts to overcome a lackluster sales performance.Though Renault Samsung had pushed ahead with building the second plant, it has yet to launch the construction process amid the situation that its sales in the local market dropped more than 30 percent on a year-on-year basis.A company executive
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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CJ O Shopping starts services in Turkey
CJ O Shopping Co., a South Korean cable home shopping channel, said Thursday that it has launched a 24-hour TV home shopping channel in Turkey. In order to tap the Turkish home-shopping market, CJ O Shopping formed MCJ, a joint venture with MediaSa, a Turkish media group, the local company said. CJ O Shopping will be able to broadcast programs on consumer products to 13 million households in the country or 80 percent of its overall population, via the channel named “MCJ,” the company said. The S
Dec. 6, 2012
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LG, Samsung to appeal massive fine in EU
LG Electronics and Samsung SDI announced Thursday that they will appeal the European Commission’s 450 million euro (630 billion won) fine that was imposed for an alleged cartel in computer and television parts. The two Korean firms are determined to appeal the case with the European court after thoroughly reviewing all necessary legal aspects. The European antitrust watchdog decided Wednesday to charge LG 300 million euro (420 billion won) and Samsung 150 million euro (210 billion won), along wi
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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Antitrust fines hit record in 2012
The Fair Trade Commission has levied fines on enterprises totaling 913.8 billion won ($846.1 million) so far this year, an all-time high on a yearly basis.The collective figure for this year far surpasses the antitrust regulator’s fines of 347.3 billion won on rule-violators in 2011 and 507.4 billion won in 2010.During the first and second year of the Lee Myung-bak administration, the figure was 131.1 billion won and 110.8 billion won, respectively, under the president’s business-friendly polici
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Electricity use soars as mercury plummets
Concerns about blackouts are mounting as cold spells hitting the nation are expected to raise electricity consumption. Adding to the woe is the likelihood of shutdowns at more nuclear reactors which were found using substandard parts. Electricity use surged Thursday when freezing weather swept the nation following Wednesday’s heavy snowfall. The day’s morning low for Seoul was minus 10.3 degrees Celsius. The Korea Power Exchange said electricity consumption soared to 72.97 million kilowatts at 1
Dec. 6, 2012
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Labor relations in Korea becoming more peaceful
With South Korea maturing as a society, communication and engagement, rather than confrontation, are becoming the preferred methods of conflict resolution in many sectors. The same trend is found in industrial relations, once swept by confrontation and feuds. “The nation’s industrial relations have gradually become peaceful. The number of labor disputes registered hit the record low of 65 in 2011. It is time to consider ways to narrow the gap between perception and reality in this area,” Korea L
Dec. 6, 2012
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Conglomerates promote PR officers
“Public relations” seems to be the keyword for this year’s personnel reshuffles at major companies, with employees in the field being given promotions all around as the country faces a slow economy and an imminent presidential election. “When the times are bad, PR is one of the most cost-effective activities that a company can undertake, as it has the biggest advertisement effect,” said Lee Baek-soo, chairman of the Korea Public Relations Consultancy Association. Companies also are busy preparin
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Korean retailers set sights on SE Asia
Shifting their focus away from China, leading South Korean retailers are speeding up their expansion into Southeast Asian nations as part of efforts to find new growth engines, industry sources said Thursday. South Korea’s second-largest retailer Shinsegae Group, which opened its discount store in Shanghai in 1997 for the first time as a local retailer, has reduced the number of stores in China to 16 from 27 over the last two years due to their cumulative losses, according to the sources. E-Mart
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Korean Air show interest in Czech national carrier
Korean Air Lines and Qatar Airways showed interest in Ceske Aerolinie AS, the Czech national carrier, Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said.The two airlines responded “positively” to letters sent out to the world’s largest carriers as part of CSA’s search for a strategic partner, Kalousek said Wednesday in Prague. The government expects to receive binding bids for the CSA stake, including the price, by the end of February and the government should choose a buyer in early April, Kalousek
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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K-water aims for global top three in water management
Global economy magazine Fortune predicted the 21st century would be the era of water industry, calling water “Blue Gold.”Countries are engaged in fierce competition in so-called “Waternomics” to secure stable water supplies and facilitate the growth of their domestic industries. The Korean government is also paying renewed attention to the water industry as its new growth engine for the national economy. And the Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-water, has played the leading role. K-water early
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Korea boasts water-control leadership
The Korea Water Resources Corp., more affectionately known as “K-water,” started projects in overseas markets in 1994. Kim Kuen-ho, president of the state-run water management agency, believes now is the time to reap the rewards. “We have made sincere efforts to accumulate enhanced water management know-how and build partnerships with other countries for almost 20 years,” he told The Korea Herald in a recent interview.“Winning a deal is not the final goal of our overseas activities. We hope our
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Foreign experts hail Korea’s hydro tech
World experts have given a positive note on Korea’s water management system, expecting that the country’s hydro-related tech will be benchmarked worldwide. Their views were vented when the nation hosted the 2012 World River Forum in Daegu in September, where top officials from 12 countries and six international organizations attended to learn Korea’s advanced hydro technology. The global river forum was co-hosted by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and the Office of National
Dec. 6, 2012
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Four-river project offers water management model
The four-year Four River Restoration Project to build the nation’s water management infrastructure by restoring four major rivers nationwide, is a stepping stone for Korea to take the lead in the global water management industry. The 20 trillion won ($18 billion) project, launched in 2009, completed about 99 percent of the construction as of Nov. 5 in 2012. It is somewhat early to evaluate the project, but there were improvements throughout the year in water-related problems in Korea, including
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Korean Air wins Airbus A380 operation award
Korean Air was awarded the A380 Award for Top Operational Excellence, presented by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus S.A.S. in the A380 Technology Symposium held in Dubai on Wednesday. The Korean flag carrier said that it was conferred the prize in recognition of its 99.5 percent on-time arrival rate and outstanding operation skills of A380 aircraft.Upon receiving the award, Korean Air has become the world’s only airline to receive three operational awards from Airbus. To present, the airlin
IndustryDec. 6, 2012
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Hunger based more on perception than amount of food eaten: study
Hunger is more closely related to how people perceive their meal rather than the actual calories ingested, a new study suggested. Researchers from the University of Bristol in England claimed to have found that the people who think they have eaten a lot -- even when they have had an average-sized or smaller meal -- are less likely to be hungry hours later compared to people who think they had a smaller meal.In the study, 100 volunteers were first shown containers of either 300 ml or 500 ml of so
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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Presidential candidates Park and Moon differ on expanding game shutdown system
Presidential candidates Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in presented on Wednesday their different views on whether the “game shutdown system” should also be applied to mobile games.The system, introduced by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, prohibits gamers aged 16 or under from connecting to online games between midnight and 6 a.m. The regulation came into effect on Nov. 20 last year.According to the website of Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice, Saenuri Party presidential candidate
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012
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McAfee arrested in Guatemala for illegal entry
U.S. Internet security guru John McAfee, on the run from authorities in Belize over a murder probe, was arrested by Guatemalan police Wednesday for illegally entering the country, officials said.“National police agents have taken Mr. John David McAfee before immigration authorities... He has entered our country illegally,” police spokesman Pablo Castillo told AFP.The former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, now a weathered 67-year-old, had been in hiding for more than three weeks until he crossed the
TechnologyDec. 6, 2012