BARCELONA, Spain ― KT chairman Lee Suk-chae on Tuesday stressed the need for his company to transform from a telecommunications firm into an information communications technology company to deal with the trading of broadband-based virtual goods.“There is no future if we only cling to network traffic fees. We must create a global common market for distribution of virtual goods,” he said in a keynote session at the Mobile World Congress.“KT is directly entering the virtual goods market and transfo

IndustryFeb. 26, 2013

Ssangyong Engineering & Construction, the nation’s 13th-largest builder, filed for a debt workout program on Tuesday in an effort to overcome its liquidity crunch.Under the program, a company requests its creditor banks for a payment deferment or partial debt relief, in exchange for amending its financial and employment structure.The company’s credit rating was thus downgraded from B- to CCC, according to the Korea Investors Service Inc., Korea Ratings Corp. and NICE Information Service.Hit by t

IndustryFeb. 26, 2013

The National Pension Service, the country’s pension fund operator, said Tuesday that its assets reached more than 400 trillion won ($368 billion).This accounts for about one-third of Korea’s gross domestic product and is worth almost double the market cap of Samsung Electronics, the largest listed company on the stock exchange, it noted.It is also more than eight times the sum of Hyundai Motor’s total market value, and the pension fund operator could afford to acquire about an 88 percent stake i

Feb. 26, 2013

BARCELONA, Spain ― SK Telecom plans to triple the size of the firm’s business-to-business solution projects up to 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in sales by 2015 as part of its efforts to move beyond the telecom business.Ha Sung-min, chief executive of the country’s top mobile carrier, also said it would secure 7 million customers in its media business, which includes Internet protocol televisions, and have its health care project grow into one that produces 1 trillion won in sales by 2020.“In

IndustryFeb. 26, 2013

This is the third in a series of case studies on the nation’s leading state-run companies which have made success stories overseas. ― Ed.The state-run Korea National Oil Corp., or KNOC, is expected to shift its gears to quality-driven growth this year from external expansion through M&A deals to become a globally competitive energy giant, KNOC officials said. Under the initiative of the previous government to cultivate state-run energy development companies as global players, which was set in Ju

Feb. 26, 2013

Although the U.S. and Chinese economies are mending, and European leaders believe they have their three-year debt crisis under control, it would be premature to declare “all clear” from the global financial turmoil. In fact, several leading global trends in 2013 will involve jockeying for position to overcome low growth. Moreover, with nations at different stages of recovery, greater competition and little coordination should be expected. First, fiscal tightening in advanced countries will conti

BusinessFeb. 26, 2013

 Whenever a person uses a washcloth or towel, skin cells slough off the body and stick to the fabric and serve as food for bacteria, a U.S. germ expert says.Elizabeth Scott, co-director of the Simmons College center for hygiene and health in Boston, says bacteria thrive in the damp, densely woven material, which has lots of nooks and crannies for them to hide in, Men‘s Health magazine reported. As people reuse towels, these bacteria can transfer back to the person and cause skin infections, Scot

TechnologyFeb. 26, 2013

Scientists said Sunday they had found traces of a micro-continent hidden underneath the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.The slab, dubbed Mauritia, was probably formed around 61-83 million years ago after Madagascar split from India, but eventually broke up and became smothered by thick lava deposits, they said.In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists analyzed beach sand on Mauritius that contained ancient zircons between 660 million and about two billion years old.The m

TechnologyFeb. 26, 2013

The number of tourists traveling overseas hit a January record, thanks to a strong won, travel portal Tourgo said Tuesday.The state-run online database engine revealed that the number of tourists headed abroad totaled slightly more than 1.4 million, a 21.8 percent increase from the previous month. In particular, about 50 percent more prospective travelers are visiting travel agencies, searching for tour packages to Japan, hoping for more economical deals thanks to the strength of the won against

Feb. 26, 2013

BARCELONA, Spain -- Samsung heir apparent Lee Jay-yong visited the world’s biggest mobile trade show for the first time in three years and met with top executives of Korean telecoms upon his arrival.Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and the only son of chairman Lee Kun-hee, said that he has meetings lined up with 30 global mobile carriers on Monday and Tuesday on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress. “My schedule is fully booked,” he told reporters. “I don’t even have 30 minutes of

TechnologyFeb. 25, 2013