...anish and Pakistani-British nationals, respectively. “Their fundamental motive for the attacks was prejudice and discrimination against social minority groups in the countries,” he explained. Korea’s situation is different from those countries attacked by religious extremists or children of immigrants from former colonies, Lee said. “There is almost no religious discrimination in Korea and it h...

... ash was found on top of a stove ― carbon monoxide poisoning from burning coal indoors is a common form of suicide here. Firefighters responded to the scene after receiving a distress call from Park’s girlfriend. “My boyfriend had posted ‘I am going to commit suicide” online, and when I went to his house to check on him the door was locked, so I called 119,” said Park’s girlfriend, whose name was also undisclosed to the media. The local police suspect the men met through an Internet portal site pertaining to suicide, due to their differences in age and places of r...

...ility. The central bank announced plans to overhaul its organization for the first time in 13 years, focusing on slimming down departments and enhancing international affairs capability. The nation’s foreign currency reserves reached an all-time high of $295.9 billion at the end of January, up $4.39 billion from a month earlier. The U.S. has recently criticized Korean policymakers for actively intervening in the foreign exchange market. The central bank said it plans to widen the scope of the division and hire more private-sector ...

Korea’s household credit grew at the fastest pace in more than eight years in the fourth quarter as economic recovery and eased lending rules spurred demand for bank mortgage loans, the central bank ...and India in tightening monetary policy to fight inflation as Asia leads the global recovery. Asia’s fourth-largest economy expanded 6.1 percent in 2010 from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 20...

...tary lay-off program. KB Financial Group, the parent of Kookmin Bank, swung to a loss in the fourth quarter and posted a net loss of 231 billion won in the October-December period. But Kookmin Bank’s net interest margin topped the industry, together with that of IBK. Net interest margin is the ratio of a bank’s interest bearing assets. Kookmin’s NIM, which already accounts for more than 80 percent of the group’s assets, was 2.94 percent in the fourth quarter, versus 2.63 percent in the previous quarter. Wages were higher at foreign banks. ...

Lotte Mart, one of the country’s biggest discount store chains, said Monday that it is putting a 24-inch television on sale at most of their branches for less than 300,000 won ($268). The company stirred controversy last year for selling ultra-cheap chicken, inviting criticism from smaller stores. In a joint effort with a local mid-size firm Moneual, Lotte Mart declared it will target the low-e...

Korea Express Co.’s controlling shareholders have set a March 4 deadline for initial bids as they sell about 40 percent of Korea’s biggest logistics company, according to a person familiar with the s...Monday. A 40 percent stake would be worth about $930 million based on Bloomberg data. Posco, Korea’s largest steelmaker, and Lotte Group, owner of the country’s biggest department-store chain, have b...

The Kyunghyang Housing Fair and Housing Brand Fair 2011, the country’s largest building materials and construction exhibition, is to kick off Wednesday, its steering committee said Monday. The two tradeshows were integrated last year, aiming to provide one large cohesive venue for professionals to create a global network. In the five-day event at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, about 600 c...

...bonds amounting to about 800 billion won ($715 million) at Hyundai E&C found by Hyundai Motor Group’s due diligence team. However, Hyundai Motor Group said in an e-mailed statement that the reported ...yundai E&C’s creditors, the final price can vary by a maximum of 3 percent from Hyundai Motor Group’s bid. The group’s bid is reported to be about 5.1 trillion won, 3 percent of which would be 153 bi...