Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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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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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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Korea to host conference on African cooperation
Economic leaders of dozens of African countries will gather in South Korea this month to discuss cooperation and joint business opportunities, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.The Korea Africa Economic Cooperation Conference will be held in Seoul from Oct. 15-18, bringing in economic ministers and heads of 39 African countries and international organizations, according to the ministry.Jointly organized by the African Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea along with the finance m
Oct. 4, 2012
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Banks give out too much in dividends: lawmaker
Thirteen local banks last year recorded a total net profit of 8.4 trillion won ($7.5 billion) and paid out 3.4 trillion won in dividends in March, said Rep. Kim Young-hwan of the opposition Democratic United Party on Wednesday. Kim, a member of the National Policy Committee, said that, based on the reports he received from the Financial Supervisory Service, greed was prevailing among the banks that paid record-high dividends despite the shaky economy and high household debt. The payout ratio of
Oct. 4, 2012
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Builders suffer from debt, capital erosion
Builders here appeared to be facing an uphill battle to stay afloat amid worsening industry and economy conditions. According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s public disclosure system on Thursday, 16 percent of the country’s 50 top construction companies were found to be suffering from capital erosion due to snowballing deficits as of June this year.Skyrocketing debt was another problem, as the builders had a combined outstanding debt of 157.9 trillion won ($141.6 billion), which compares
IndustryOct. 4, 2012
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EU disputes France’s complaint against Korean carmakers
The European Union rejected French authorities’ claim that the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement brought rapid import growth of automobiles produced by Korean companies.EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said “it is not true” that European countries’ imports of cars produced in Korea posted a sharp increase under the bilateral FTA.He said that the sales growth of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors in Europe was not primarily due to the trade pact but their manufacturing at localized plants in European c
IndustryOct. 4, 2012
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Samsung’s record profits likely to continue
Smartphones have again driven up the operating profit of Samsung Electronics in the third quarter of this year with the firm expected to break its highest quarterly earnings figure for the fourth consecutive time.With Samsung planning to release its tentative quarterly earnings for July-September on Friday, the securities firms estimated that the company would record 7.5 trillion won ($6.73 billion) in operating profit.Samsung is also projected to reach 51.6 trillion won in total sales, which wo
IndustryOct. 4, 2012
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FSC to overhaul system of corporate restructuring
South Korea‘s financial regulator said Thursday it will step up moves to revamp the procedures for the corporate restructuring system in a bid to prevent moral hazard often incurred by company owners. Under the envisioned plan, the regulator will strengthen creditors’ rights by giving them more power to engage in the process of court receivership and debt workouts, according to the Financial Services Commission. “We will look into improving the overall process so to avert moral hazard by stakeho
Oct. 4, 2012
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Domestic car monthly sales show new sign of recovery
Korean carmakers saw moderate growth in domestic sales in September, indicating a further sales boom in the fourth quarter following the introduction of new versions of flagship models and the government’s tax cuts.Hyundai Motor, the nation’s largest auto company, said Thursday it sold a combined 371,743 vehicles at home and abroad last month, a 3.4 percent increase from a year ago. Driven by strong sales of flagship models such as Sonata, Avante and Grandeur, the carmaker delivered 57,559 units
IndustryOct. 4, 2012
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Incentives lure Korean SMEs overseas to return home
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Thursday that it will provide support packages to Korean small and medium enterprises doing business overseas that return to their homeland. The plan came as part of the government’s efforts to create jobs at home and to stimulate domestic consumption. “The package will include administrative support, benefits for land rental and tax incentives,” said Kim Sang-woo, an official from the ministry.He added that the ministry will treat those companies as for
Oct. 4, 2012
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Fall of Woongjin casts doubt on solar energy business
Major solar power investments are put on hold amid growing uncertaintiesThe solar energy business has long been touted as one of Korea’s future growth engines. Major conglomerates have started related businesses or taken over firms with solar power technologies at home and abroad. But doubts over the profitability of solar energy are growing fast, following the recent fall of Woongin Group, which runs two solar energy-related arms. Woongjin Holdings, the holding company of the nation’s 32nd-larg
IndustryOct. 4, 2012
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Distant planets seen in strange alignment
Two exoplanets have been detected forming a never-seen-before celestial alignment, a phenomenon so new it doesn't yet have a name, Japanese astronomers say.Teruyuki Hirano of the University of Tokyo and colleagues used data from the Kepler space telescope to probe KOI-94, a star seemingly orbited by four planets, looking for a momentary dimming of the star's light when the planets transited, or pa
TechnologyOct. 4, 2012
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Deadly snake venom may make painkiller
The deadly venom of the black mamba snake can yield a painkiller as powerful as morphine but without most of the side-effects, French scientists say.One of the speediest and most dangerous snakes found in Africa, the black mamba uses its venom, which contains neurotoxins, to paralyze and kill small animals that are its prey.However, researchers at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology in France discovered its venom also contains a potent painkilling protein called mambalgins.Scien
TechnologyOct. 4, 2012
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Vitamin D supplements don’t prevent colds
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (UPI) -- A randomized controlled trial of people who received a large dose of vitamin D did not have fewer incidence or severity of colds, New Zealand researchers say.Dr. David R. Murdoch of the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on incidence and severity of upper
TechnologyOct. 4, 2012
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Study: Cellphones contain toxic chemicals
Thirty-six cellphone models, including the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III, contain toxic chemicals from their manufacture, a U.S. study found.Researchers from the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., and www.ifixit.com said their study did not examine whether there is a danger of exposure for cellphone users but focused instead on analyzing how chemicals used in cellphones can pollute throughout their life cycle, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.“We‘re not making any claim that there
TechnologyOct. 4, 2012
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'Vampire' dinosaur preferred plant diet
A dwarf dinosaur weighing less than a modern house cat had a sharp beak and fangs like a vampire but was a plant-eater, a U.S. paleontologist says.The single specimen of the new species was originally chipped out of red rock in southern Africa in the 1960s but lay mostly unexamined in a fossil collection at Harvard University until Paul Sereno, a paleontology professor at the University of Chicago
TechnologyOct. 4, 2012
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Foreign investors in politics-driven stocks may face probe
KRX looks into possible involvement of local cartels in election-themed stock riggingThe Korea Exchange said on Wednesday that it will look into a possible stock price rigging scheme, regarding recent mass purchases of stocks linked to key politicians by foreign investors.Foreigners made net purchases worth 37 billion won in eight trading days between Sept. 19 and 28 of so-called “politically-themed” stocks linked to presidential election frontrunners such as Ahn Cheol-soo and Park Geun-hye. Obs
Oct. 3, 2012
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KaKaoStory, Anipang Korea's favorite mobile pastimes
The smartphone application hits “KakaoStory” and “Anipang the Puzzle” have become the nation’s most popular sources of mobile entertainment, research has found.Launched on March 20 this year, KakaoStory provides a cyber forum for users to put up daily photos and add comments, similar to a personal blog. The application made a rapid expansion in seven months since launching, with about 650 million postings, 6 billion comments and 11 million daily hits. Kakao, the developer firm of social network
TechnologyOct. 3, 2012
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Oil refinery supports family of deceased firefighter
S-Oil Corp. has donated funds to the family of a firefighter who died on duty only a couple days before Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving, the company said on Tuesday. The country’s third-largest oil refiner delivered 30 million won ($27,000) to the bereaved family of Kim Seong-eun, the deceased firefighter.Kim died after inhaling an excessive amount of toxic gas while extinguishing fire at a corporate warehouse in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 27. The firefighter was immediately transfe
Oct. 3, 2012
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Conglomerates expand business reach in past decade
South Korea’s top 10 conglomerates, including Samsung and Hyundai Motor, have been expanding the number of areas they do business in over the last decade, data showed Wednesday.The country’s 10 biggest family-owned conglomerates had companies in 56 industries as of late last year, up 43.5 percent from 39 in 2001, according to the data by the Fair Trade Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service.The data also showed that business operations of the so-called chaebol were present in 73.4 perc
Oct. 3, 2012
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Rate cut might do little for growth: BOK policymaker
One policymaker at South Korea’s central bank told last month’s rate-setting meeting that a rate cut might do little to boost consumption and investment due to a prolonged global economic slowdown, the bank’s September minutes showed Tuesday.Trumping market players’ bet on a rate cut, Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his six fellow policymakers left the benchmark 7-day repo rate unchanged in September. In July, the central bank made a surprise rate cut.“It would be difficult to make a turna
Oct. 3, 2012
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Nonlife insurers likely to face losses
South Korean nonlife insurers are expected to face losses for the 2012 fiscal year due to a cut in auto insurance premiums and decreasing returns from asset management, industry data showed Tuesday.Ten local nonlife insurers reported a combined operating loss of 103.2 billion won ($92.6 million) in insurance operations in the April-May period of this year, according to the data. The operating loss of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., the country’s leading nonlife insurer, came to 3.4 billion
Oct. 3, 2012