The Korea Herald

Audi, BMW see ‘Gangnam Style’ sales boost in Korea

Kim Ju-hee says the Korean cars favored by her parents and winning customers around the world aren’t bad, just rather dull. So as she looks for a new set of wheels, she’s skipping the Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. dealerships near her Seoul home to scout Audi AG and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG showrooms in the city’s ritzy Gangnam district. “Audis are just better looking and offer something unique,” said the 27-year-old accountant, who has her eye on an Audi A6. “South Korean cars may h

MobilityDec. 23, 2012

Audi, BMW see ‘Gangnam Style’ sales boost in Korea

Local CEOs credited with import car boom

The nation’s import car market is enjoying a heyday.Foreign carmakers, largely led by the popularity of German brands have continued posting record sales here in recent years. This year their combined market share surpassed a milestone 10 percent in Korea where Hyundai and Kia vehicles dominate almost 80 percent of the market. Their car sales increased more than 20 percent to reach some 130,000 units this year. Next year the sales figure is expected to reach some 150,000. One of the reasons behi

MobilityDec. 23, 2012

Local CEOs credited with import car boom

KDB holds jazz concert by vocalist Nah

The state-run KDB Financial Group held a concert for jazz vocalist Nah Youn-sun for its third anniversary on Sunday.The financial group invited a group of its customers to the event held at its headquarters in Yeouido to share the anniversary celebration.KDB officials said the event was also part of the banking group’s efforts to expand its role to include cultural support. The group plans to use the funds collected through the concert to support children entrusted from the international organiz

Dec. 23, 2012

China holds test run on world’s longest high-speed rail line

China tested its 2,298-kilometer (1,428-mile) high-speed rail line, the longest in the world, as it prepares to start passenger service on Dec. 26. Bullet-trains on the line from Beijing to southern Chinese city of Guangzhou can run at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the official Xinhua news agency said. It will shorten the rail travel time from the capital to the Pearl River Delta to about eight hours from the previous 24 hours. China is accelerating railway investment again after

IndustryDec. 23, 2012

China holds test run on world’s longest high-speed rail line

S. Korea has more workforce with college diplomas than a decade ago: labor ministry

The number of South Korean salaried workers with four-year college education has risen drastically for the past decade driven by education-oriented South Korean society, government data showed Sunday.South Korea had 5.4 million employees with college diplomas as of the end of last year, up 88 percent from 2.87 million in 2001, according to figures on the country‘s salaried employees released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.The total workforce climbed 27.4 percent to 17.4 million from 12.

IndustryDec. 23, 2012

Global sales of LTE smartphones expected to triple next year: report

Global sales of long-term evolution (LTE) smartphones will likely triple next year, driven by South Korea‘s tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. and its U.S. rival Apple Inc., a report showed Sunday.The report by research firm Strategy Analytics (SA) predicted that about 275 million units of LTE smartphones will be sold worldwide next year, which will be three times larger than this year’s annual sales estimate of 90.9 million units.The report expected that the U.S., Britain, Japan, China and Sout

TechnologyDec. 23, 2012

EU: Samsung may have violated antitrust rules

The European Union’s executive arm, the Commission, has informed Samsung of its preliminary view that the company’s seeking of injunctions against Apple for allegedly infringing “standard-essential” patents in the EU amounts to an abuse of a dominant position.According to industry agreements, companies owning the rights to essential phone technology must usually license it to competitors on what are called fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s competition commiss

TechnologyDec. 22, 2012

Four S. Koreans abducted in Nigeria released: official

All four South Korean workers who were abducted earlier this week in Nigeria have been released, a government official said Saturday.They are all safe and have been handed over to South Korean officials in the African country, the official from the foreign ministry told reporters.They were freed around 10 p.m. Friday (Nigerian time), the official added.The workers from South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries were taken hostage Monday, along with a Nigerian co-worker, while working at a constructi

IndustryDec. 22, 2012

Shop without limits

The evolution of electronic commerce and smartphone technologies has no doubt made online shopping one of the most common diversions, especially in densely wired countries like Korea.Not even this week’s presidential election stopped shoppers from browsing malls on their computers and smartphones or calling home shopping networks.Kim Hye-jin, an office worker in her 30s, was busy shopping online while the last televised debate between presidential candidates was aired last Sunday.“My husband cal

IndustryDec. 21, 2012

Show hosts buttress of TV home shopping

TV home shopping has basked in a sales surge in the nation’s retail industry thanks to its appeal to many Korean shopaholics with its price competitiveness and entertainment quality. The beginning of this prosperous industry and culture followed in the steps of the Western home shopping advertisements that are more informative than entertaining. Even the pioneer show hosts of major Korean home shopping channels still say that, back then, they were not sure why home shoppers would order clothes w

IndustryDec. 21, 2012

More households struggling with heavy debts: data

The nation’s household debt has been rising at a slower pace recently, but the number of struggling families has increased, government data found Friday.According to Statistics Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service and Bank of Korea, the average amount of household debt was 52.91 million won as of the end of March. The growth rate was 1.7 percent, a sharp decline from 12.7 percent last year. Of the nation’s total households, those with debt made up 64.6 percent, up 1.8 percent from the same p

IndustryDec. 21, 2012

Settlement not in sight in Samsung-Apple patent fight

The patent litigation still looks to be far from reaching a settlement as Apple Inc. appealed a previous ruling by a U.S. federal judge to call off a sales ban on 26 Samsung Electronics’ products.Apple on Thursday decided to appeal a U.S. judge’s Dec. 17 ruling to reject its request for a sales ban on more than two dozen electronics devices manufactured by Samsung. Those gadgets include the Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 Epic and Galaxy S2 Skyrocket.U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has stated that “it wasn’t

IndustryDec. 21, 2012

Foreign biz community cautious about predicting economy under Park

The foreign business community here hoped for better days under a new government in Korea, but expressed lingering doubts over the future, citing the bleak external market conditions.“The good thing about having elected Park Geun-hye as president is that the risk factors, such as exactly how much change would be delivered to the corporate sector, has been pretty much eliminated,” said one source in the foreign industry who wished to remain anonymous. “However, because the overseas economies, suc

Dec. 21, 2012

Shares fall on institutional selloff

South Korean stocks retreated 0.95 percent on Friday, led by institutional selling in tech issues amid the stalled U.S. fiscal budget negotiations, analysts said. The local currency edged up against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 19.08 points to finish at 1,980.42. Trading volume was moderate at 545.5 million shares worth 5.27 trillion won ($4.90 billion) with losers outstripping gainers 445 to 359. “Institutions unloaded quite a bit of their holdings in

Dec. 21, 2012

STX Group sells stake in European unit

STX Group, a South Korean shipping and shipbuilding conglomerate, said Friday that it has signed a deal to sell its stake in its European shipbuilding unit to an Italian firm as part of efforts to ease the group’s credit crunchUnder the deal with Fincantieri Oil & Gas SpA, STX Europe AS, the group’s local unit, sold its 50.75 percent stake, or 599.85 million shares, in STX OSV Holdings Ltd. at 1.22 Singapore dollars per share, said the company. STX OSV started trading its shares on the Singapore

IndustryDec. 21, 2012

Park’s aides focus on growth, fair economy

Following is the second in a series of articles on President-elect Park Geun-hye’s key advisers and close associates. ― Ed. The academic backgrounds of the two key economic policy brains to President-elect Park Geun-hye indicate that the new government will put a priority on growth while promoting “economic democratization” for a fairer economy.Park’s economic pledges have allegedly been engineered by two economists, both of whom were economics professors at Sogang University, where the presiden

Dec. 21, 2012

Park’s aides focus on growth, fair economy

Financial watchdog issues English guidebook

The Financial Supervisory Service on Friday said it has issued an English language guidebook on investing in the Korean stock markets.The book is meant to provide assistance to foreign investors who are seeking to or are currently investing in local stocks, the financial watchdog said. Guidelines and regulations, such as how to register to make an investment, the ceiling on equity ownership, along with other “frequently-asked-questions” that the financial companies said they faced from the forei

Dec. 21, 2012

S-Oil Corp. congratulates ‘hero neighbors’

S-Oil Corp. held the “2012 Hero Neighbors Award” ceremony in Seoul on Friday to congratulate 19 winners.The oil refinery company has annually selected “hero neighbors” who it judged made noble sacrifices and showed great courage to help their fellow citizens in danger.The company selected the 19 winners at the recommendation of the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare and by deliberation of a panel of experts.The winners, who won a trophy and 20 million won each, include

Dec. 21, 2012

S-Oil Corp. congratulates ‘hero neighbors’

Banks need to take part in reviving economy: BOK chief

South Korean banks should take the initiative in boosting the slumping local economy as political uncertainties have been lifted with the presidential election now wrapped up, the central bank chief said Friday. "Lenders need to step up efforts to bring the economy back on track," Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo told a meeting with heads of major banks. "Four major world powers tied to the Korean Peninsula, including Japan and China, are at a new phase in their leadership." His rema

Dec. 21, 2012

Apple ‘pinch-to-zoom’ patent deemed invalid

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― A filing Wednesday in a high-stakes legal battle between Samsung and Apple revealed that a “pinch-to-zoom” patent central to the case has been deemed invalid.The patent was a centerpiece of a trial that ended in August with a jury ordering Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship Galaxy S smartphones.Samsung provided U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh a copy of a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office preliminary dete

TechnologyDec. 20, 2012