Samsung Heavy targets $14.2b in orders in 2013

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a South Korean shipbuilder, said Thursday that it aims to clinch orders worth $14.2 billion this year.In a regulatory filing, the shipbuilder also said it aims to log 14.9 trillion won in sales this year. Samsung Heavy did not release comparable figures for last year.Samsung Heavy is believed to have received orders valued at $9.6 billion last year, falling short of its yearly target of $12.5 billion, as demand for new ships dropped amid the protracted economic slum

Jan. 10, 2013

Household loan growth hits 6-year high

South Korean banks’ household loans grew at the fastest pace in six years in December as more people took out mortgage loans ahead of the end of the government’s temporary housing tax benefits, the central bank said Thursday.Local banks’ household loans, including home-backed and credit loans, amounted to 466.5 trillion won ($439.4 billion) as of end-December, up 4.9 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.The December data compared with a 1.1 trillion won gain talli

Jan. 10, 2013

Banks expand overseas, credit card firms to follow

Credit card issuers are grappling to find a new growth engine in a saturated local financial market by mapping out projects to make inroads into foreign countries.Their movement, however, faces deadlock amid protectionist stances in China and some Southeast Asian countries, officials in the non-banking industry said Thursday.A Lotte Card official stressed that the credit card business is one of the hardest sectors to expand overseas.“Major card firms with excellent products and services have fai

Jan. 10, 2013

Seoul shares gain 0.75 pct on China‘s trade data

South Korean stocks closed 0.75 percent higher Thursday as upbeat Chinese trade data offset uncertainties over bleak quarterly corporate earnings, analysts said. The local currency strengthened against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 14.99 points to finish at 2,006.80. Trading volume was moderate at 494.5 million shares worth 4.47 trillion won (US$4.21billion) with gainers outnumbering decliners 470 to 307. “China‘s trade data gave investors a se

Jan. 10, 2013

High-tech fork can help with dieting

A high-tech fork its developers say can help people diet was introduced at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas.The HapiFork that pairs itself to a smartphone using Bluetooth will vibrate if the user is eating too fast, developers HapiLabs said.The fork contains a capacitive sensor that determines how long it has been since the user has taken the last bite, and will gently vibrate to tell the user they are eating too fast.Though there is no set or recommended time between bites in most die

TechnologyJan. 10, 2013

Top 10 conglomerates dominate earnings of all listed S. Korean firms

Net profits of South Korea's top 10 business groups took up nearly 80 percent of those of all 1,345 listed South Korean companies, data showed Thursday, in the latest sign of economic domination by family-owned conglomerates.The combined net profit of 80 listed companies affiliated with chaebol reached 36.9 trillion won ($34 billion) in the first nine months of last year, accounting for 78.1 percent of total net profits, according to FnGuide Inc., an online financial information provider, and Ch

IndustryJan. 10, 2013

Korea's import prices dip most in over 3 years in December

South Korea's import prices declined by the most in more than three years in December on a fall in global oil prices and a strong local currency, the central bank said Thursday. In local currency terms, the country's import prices dropped 8.8 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with a 7.6 percent on-year fall in November, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The figure declined for all of the second half of last year, except in August, as the Korean won's appreciation against the U

Jan. 10, 2013

Gov't seeks to convert irregular public workers into regular employees

The government will seek to convert irregular workers in the public sector into employees on regular working contracts as part of its efforts to make sure they have better job security, sources said Thursday. According to the finance ministry sources, the ministry is expected to report the plan to the presidential transition committee in a briefing on its 2013 policymaking scheduled for Sunday.The plan seems to be in line with the campaign pledge of President-elect Park Geun-hye that she will co

Jan. 10, 2013

Nationwide blackout drill due Thursday

A nationwide drill to prepare for a possible power blackout will start at 10 a.m. for 20 minutes on Thursday, the government said.The Ministry of Knowledge Economy, which is responsible for the nation’s energy policy, said the drill was aimed at raising the public’s awareness about a possible blackout. “The training session will start with the sound of siren at 10 a.m. nationwide and it will run under a mock scenario that power reserves fall below 2 million kilowatts,” a ministry official said.

Jan. 9, 2013

Ssangyong union member in coma after suicide attempt

Ssangyong Motor said Wednesday that a 50-year-old union member fell into a coma after attempting suicide at the company’s assembly line in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi province, on Tuesday. In a message that was made public with the consent of his family, the worker, surnamed Ryu, called for the government to take prompt action to resolve the deepening labor-management conflict at the company. Despite being offered first aid by a colleague and moved to a nearby hospital immediately, the company said, he

IndustryJan. 9, 2013

1 in 3 elderly dementia patients live alone: report

More than one-third of elderly patients with severe dementia in Korea are living alone without family support, a report found Wednesday.According to a research team at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul, about 36 percent of a group of patients with severe cognitive impairment or with a score of 2 on the clinical dementia rating said they were on their own. The CDR is a scale that assesses the severity of dementia. “Patients with a CDR score of 2 can only do simple housework. They are in the severe sta

TechnologyJan. 9, 2013