Ha focuses on speed, openness and collaboration SK Telecom Co., the nation’s top mobile carrier, will speed up its transition to the next-generation network and boost cooperation with application developers and suppliers, its new chief executive said on Wednesday. In his first news conference since taking office on Jan. 1, Ha Sung-min, 54, unveiled a new management strategy focused on speed, op...

Workers entrust wage decision to management in return for job security The trade union of Hyundai Oilbank Co., the nation’s smallest oil refiner, pledged to refrain from labor strife this year to concentrate on boosting the firm’s competitiveness, the firm said Wednesday. In a ceremony held in Seoul, the refiner’s union members voluntarily entrusted the management with a full right to decide on...

DETROIT (AFP) ― Hyundai is ramping up production in the face of growing U.S. demand but will likely not be able to build enough vehicles to satisfy all prospective buyers, the head of U.S. operations told AFP. “Our challenge is going to be can our plants supply what we think will be a remarkable consumer demand,” John Krafcik, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor America, said ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Struggling entertainment site MySpace said Tuesday that it is cutting nearly half of its staff worldwide, or about 500 people, after an extensive revamp in October overhauled its look and allowed it to be run with fewer people. The cuts, part of a two-stage layoff plan, better position the site for a possible sale or spin-off by parent News Corp. Mike Jones, the chief executiv...

DETROIT (AP) ― The sunny yellow Ford C-Max minivan that greets visitors at this year’s Detroit auto show says it all. After taking a pounding during the recession, the U.S. auto industry is full of optimism, and a strong mix of new products will greet buyers as they return to dealerships. “Looking around at what’s at the show, we’ve never been happier,” said Mike Jackson, the CEO of AutoNation I...

Kia Motors Corp.’s sedans proved once again to be the most popular among Samsung Group’s executives this year. Among the 318 newly appointed executives, 78.6 percent picked Kia’s K7 and Opirus as their company cars. They joined the executive ranks for the first time in the latest reshuffle on Dec. 8. The Opirus held sway with nearly half, with 155 choosing the model. It maintained its status as...

CES dominated by new models of 3-D televisions, tablet PCs and upgraded smartphones LAS VEGAS ― The world’s largest technology tradeshow bore witness to several major technology trends that can be summed up as: 3-D vision and “smart” devices. Top electronics firms showcased upgraded 3-D televisions that promised to become more comfortable living room features by becoming bigger, yet thinner, an...

LG Electronics said Tuesday it would seek to consolidate its status as one of the world’s largest home appliance makers by 2014 by taking advantage of “smart” technology. The firm said in a statement it would target double-digit sales growth from its home appliance business this year and was aiming for sales of $20 billion from the sector in 2014. “This year will be the beginning of a new era o...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Intel Corp. is paying $1.5 billion to end a fight it started with Nvidia Corp. over a key computer technology. The legal battle centered Nvidia’s ability to make “chipsets” that are compatible with Intel’s latest processors ― a fight that has implications for many of the world’s computer users, since Intel and Nvidia’s chips are ubiquitous. Nvidia is a top maker of graphics...

GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Co. aims to export more than 1.8 million vehicles and knockdown kits under the Chevrolet brand this year, its president Mike Arcamone said Monday. The Korean unit of GM will also launch eight new vehicles to Korea, instead of the originally planned seven, this year. Four of the eight models will be those in segments the company does not currently compete in, he adde...

Top Korean carmaker confident of raising U.S. market share to 5 percent Hyundai Motor Co. will focus on boosting quality and brand image as it steps up its challenge for global automobile leadership, vice chairman Chung Eui-sun said Monday. “Hyundai’s biggest challenge is to secure competitiveness in terms of quality in order to improve the brand image,” Chung said at the North American Interna...

After a year of fiery growth, micro-blogging site Twitter is seeing a sharp drop in traffic in Korea while social networking hotspot Facebook continues to grow, figures show. According to Internet market research firm KoreanClick on Monday, Twitter’s page views in the last week of 2010 fell to about 25 million from nearly 45 million three months ago. The number of unique visitors ― people who v...

Korea’s low-cost airlines showed improved performances last year thanks to a surge in demand for air travel and expanded routes, industry data showed Monday. The country’s biggest discount carrier Jeju Air Co. posted 158 billion won ($143 million) in sales last year, up 80 percent from a year earlier, data showed. It did not post its operating profit, but its operating loss came to a smaller-tha...