The Korea Herald

Korea's 2012 per-capita GDP estimated to stay almost flat

South Korea's per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to only marginally inch up in 2012 compared with the previous year due to the slowing economy, a report showed Sunday. Korea's per-capita GDP is estimated to reach $22,705 this year, up 1.3 percent from a year earlier, according to a report by Korea Investment & Securities Co. In calculating the figures, the full-year economic growth rate was estimated at 2.3 percent and the local currency was set at an average of 1,127.1 ag

Dec. 30, 2012

Seoul shares to waver in choppy trading next week

South Korea's stock market will likely remain choppy with no clear direction next week amid mounting concerns over corporate earnings in the fourth quarter of this year, analysts said Saturday.Earnings estimates are expected to come down for the fourth-quarter, Park Jung-sup, an analyst at Daishin Securities.FnGuide Inc., a financial information provider, has said 114 major listed companies are forecast to report a combined operating profit of 30.4 trillion won (US$28 billion) for the October-De

Dec. 29, 2012

Industrial output grows 2.9% on-year in Nov.

South Korea’s industrial output bounced back in November, raising expectations that industrial activities might be picking up, a government report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries gained 2.9 percent last month from a year earlier, turning around from the previous month’s 0.8 percent on-year contraction. The output also grew 2.3 percent on-month, marking the third straight month of expansion. The ser

Dec. 28, 2012

Banks’ lending rates fall to new record low

South Korean banks’ lending rates fell to a fresh record low in November as market interest rates declined amid the central bank’s monetary easing, the Bank of Korea said Friday.The average rate for banks’ new loans to households and firms stood at 4.94 percent last month, down 0.04 percentage point from the previous month, according to the BOK.The November data marked the lowest level since 1996 when the central bank began to compile related data.The BOK lowered the key interest rates in July a

Dec. 28, 2012

Asiana Airlines helps typhoon-hit Palau

Asiana Airlines supported global rescue efforts to help the typhoon-devastated Palau by sending an airplane carrying solar lanterns to the western Pacific island country on Thursday.Company officials said the 350 lanterns were donated by the charity organization, International Peace Sports Federation in Seoul. They said the lanterns will be directly delivered to the incoming president Thomas Esang Remengesau Jr., who is scheduled to take office early next month.Asiana Airlines CEO Yoon Young-doo

IndustryDec. 28, 2012

STX’s European unit wins cruise ship order

South Korea’s shipbuilding and shipping conglomerate STX Group said Friday that its European unit has clinched a deal to build a cruise ship.Under the deal with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the world’s second-largest cruise operator, STX France will build the cruise ship by mid-2016, the group said. The deal includes an option to build another cruise ship.The group did not reveal the financial terms for the deal, but market watchers estimate the price per vessel will be less than the previous t

Dec. 28, 2012

Korea seeks equity in Mideast

A government-backed private equity fund to invest in overseas plant-building projects, led by South Korean companies, will invite major sovereign funds in the Middle East as investors.The fund, created by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, selected Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets as the fund operator on Thursday and will start courting investors during the first half of next year. “The plant fund, the first of its kind, plans to attract $500 million not only from local investors but als

Dec. 28, 2012

2012 key stock index rises 9.4%

The KOSPI climbed 0.49 percent on Friday to close at 1,997.05 points on the last trading day of 2012.The Korean won also gained, with the dollar ending at 1,070.6 won, down from 1,072.2 won on the previous day. The won appreciated 7.86 percent to the greenback this year, up from 1,151.8 won per dollar at market close on the last trading day of 2011.Buoyed by advanced economies’ quantitative easing and international agencies’ upgrade of Korea’s credit rating, the won’s appreciation accelerated, p

Dec. 28, 2012

Korea posts record current account surplus in Nov.

South Korea posted a record current account surplus for November as exports gained ground, the central bank said Friday, giving support to the already-strong local currency to the U.S. dollar.The current account surplus reached $6.88 billion in November, up from a revised $5.78 billion in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.The November surplus marked the 10th straight month of a surplus run, making the accumulativ

Dec. 28, 2012

Korea posts record current account surplus in Nov.

Hyundai names foreigner CEO

Peter Schreyer, vice president and chief design officer of Kia Motors, was promoted to president of the automaker, Hyundai Motor Group said Friday.This is the first time that Hyundai Motor Group has appointed a foreigner as president of one of its business units.Schreyer has been hailed as one of the top car designers with his contribution to the K series of Kia Motors. His K series has been praised as having created a signature automobile design for the nation’s second-largest carmaker.Beginnin

IndustryDec. 28, 2012

Trade Minister Bark runs for WTO director-general

Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho will sign up as a candidate for director-general of the World Trade Organization, the ministry said Friday.“The government has decided that Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho will run for WTO director-general to be elected by late May next year. His candidacy will be registered through the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the U.N. Secretariat and International Organizations in Geneva,” the ministry said in a statement.Incumbent WTO director-general Pascal Lamy’s t

Dec. 28, 2012

Trade Minister Bark runs for WTO director-general

Diesel models reach 50% of import car sales

Fuel efficient vehicles with a diesel engine are projected to account for the majority of the total sales of 25 import brands this year.Diesel-powered import models are posting 50.8 percent, or about 61,000 units of foreign brands’ collective vehicle sales so far this year, while the ratio stood at 35.2 percent in 2011 and 25.4 percent in 2010.According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, the number of imported diesel car registrations continued to surge ― 36,931 units

IndustryDec. 28, 2012

Daelim wins $155 order from Philippines

South Korean builder Daelim Industrial Co. said Friday that it has won a $155 million order to build a coal power plant in the Philippines.Under the contract with San Ramon Power Inc. on Thursday, Daelim Industrial will complete the project 35 months after work begins, the local builder said in a regulatory filing.The plant to be built in Mindanao, Philippines’ second-largest and easternmost island, will be able to generate 100 megawatts of electricity, Daelim Industrial said. (Yonhap News)

Dec. 28, 2012

Winter spa: Restore mind and body for the New Year

Everyone wants to face the New Year fresh of mind and body, but all the shopping and partying around Christmas and the year’s end may have you feeling fatigued. For these tired souls, spa treatments offer a quick, easy solution. Indeed, there are body and facial treatments for virtually all types of conditions ― or complaints. Spa facilities in Seoul provide various programs to help one regain the daily rhythm or relieve muscles stiff from hunching in the cold. A spa treatment also can simply be

TechnologyDec. 28, 2012

Winter spa: Restore mind and body for the New Year

Asparagus may help with a hangover

U.S. food experts remind New Year‘s revelers that researchers found eating asparagus may help guard against a hangover. The Institute of Food Technologists said it published a study in 2009 by researchers at the Institute of Medical Science and Jeju National University in South Korea found the amino acids and minerals found in asparagus extract may alleviate alcohol hangover and protect liver cells against toxins.Lead researcher B.Y. Kim said chronic alcohol use caused oxidative stress on the li

TechnologyDec. 28, 2012

Ancient 'Megapiranha' had strongest bite

An ancient "Megapiranha" weighing around 20 pounds delivered a bite with a force more fierce than even the toothy Tyrannosaurus rex, a U.S. researcher says.Based on bite strength versus body size as found in modern piranhas, the Megapiranha of 10 million years ago could have had a bite force from 280 to 1,070 pounds -- 30 times its body weight -- and possibly more, University of Washington biology doctoral student Stephanie Crofts said."If our calculations are correct, Megapiranha was probably a

TechnologyDec. 28, 2012

Ancient 'Megapiranha' had strongest bite

Holding back emotions may reduce lifespan

German researchers say exercising self-restraint and holding back negative emotions -- what Britons call keeping a "stiff upper lip" -- may reduce lifespan.Researchers Marcus Mund and Kristin Mitte at the University of Jena in Germany said the findings might explain why the generally more emotional Italians and Spanish live almost two years longer than the cool English who "keep calm and carry on," MedicalDaily.com reported.After analyzing more than 6,000 patients, Mund and Mitte found people wh

TechnologyDec. 28, 2012

Holding back emotions may reduce lifespan

Better language skills may reduce anger

Toddlers who have developed language skills are better able to manage frustration and less likely to express anger as they get older, U.S. researchers say.Principal investigator Pamela M. Cole of Pennsylvania State University and colleagues tracked 120 predominantly white children from families above poverty but below middle income from the time they were 18 months to 48 months.Through home and laboratory visits, they measured children‘s language and ability to cope with tasks that might elicit

TechnologyDec. 28, 2012

Trade minister runs for WTO director-general

Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho will sign up as a candidate for director-general of the World Trade Organization, the ministry said Friday."The government has decided that Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho will run for WTO director-general to be elected by late May next year. His candidacy will be registered through the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the U.N. Secretariat and International Organizations in Geneva," the ministry said in a statement.Incumbent WTO director-general Pascal Lamy’s

Dec. 28, 2012

African-designed smartphone, tablet seen

An entrepreneur in the Republic of the Congo is launching what he says is the first African-designed smartphone and tablet.Verone Mankou said his company‘s VMK devices will run the Android operating system and will cost $170 for the smartphone and $300 for the tablet computer, the BBC reported Thursday.“Only Africans can know what Africa needs,” Mankou said at a technical conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.“Apple is huge in the United States, Samsung is huge in Asia and we want VMK to be

TechnologyDec. 28, 2012

African-designed smartphone, tablet seen