The Korea Herald

Prudential Life Insurance honors CSR legacy

Heart-warming stories about Prudential Life Insurance Co.’s community service tradition trace back to 19th century America. Prudential’s history began with John Fairfield Dryden who created “The Prudential Friendly Society” in 1875 in order to help poorer people. The first U.S. company to make life insurance affordable to the working class, Prudential has supported people shunned by the old social security system ever since.For more active and systematic CSR activities, Prudential Life Insurance

IndustryDec. 12, 2012

Prudential Life Insurance honors CSR legacy

Korean exporters see worse conditions in 2013: poll

Six out of 10 South Korean exporters expect their export conditions to worsen in 2013 due to a prolonged economic slump in advanced countries and the local currency’s ascent against the U.S. dollar, a poll showed Wednesday.The survey of 204 major exporters, taken by the Federation of Korean Industries last month, found that 57.2 percent of the respondents said the export situation will aggravate in 2013. Only 12.3 percent said the export situation would get better next year.The 204 companies exp

IndustryDec. 12, 2012

STX mulls sale of stake in shipping unit

South Korean shipbuilding and shipping conglomerate STX said Wednesday that it is considering selling a stake in its key affiliate STX Pan Ocean Co. as part of efforts to improve its financial health.“We are working to improve the group’s overall financial standing through sales of stakes in affiliates,” said an official at the group. Selling a stake in STX Pan Ocean “is one of our options now under consideration.”STX Group has been seeking to sell units or list them on the local stock market as

Dec. 12, 2012

Nonlife insurers’ overseas operations swing to loss

South Korea’s nonlife insurers saw their overseas operations swing to a net loss in the first half of the fiscal 2012 from a year earlier on increased insurance payouts, the financial regulator said Wednesday.The combined net loss of 23 overseas units managed by six local nonlife insurers reached $6.36 million in the April-September period, compared with a net profit of $7.73 million the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The loss came as their insurance payouts increa

Dec. 12, 2012

KT may bid to take over Moroccan mobile carrier

Korean mobile carrier KT is considering taking part in bidding for Moroccan mobile carrier Maroc Telecom, according to news reports on Tuesday. Reuters reported that KT may jump into bidding for the 53-percent stake in Maroc Telecom currently held by French conglomerate Vivendi. Citing two people familiar with the situation, the agency reported that the seller, Vivendi, hopes to make about $7.15 billion. But KT officials neither confirmed nor denied the news. “They (decision makers) said ‘no com

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012

OB sees exports top $100m

The Korea International Trade Association awarded Oriental Brewery Co. for the company’s record-breaking export performance this year.OB’s yearly exports surpassed $100 million for the first time in history among beer producers in Korea.OB said it posted exports totaling $106.6 million per annum between July 2011 and June 2012. It sold about 15.7 million boxes, with 20 0.5-liter bottles, in the overseas market during the period.While the liquor industry calculates a fiscal year from July to June

IndustryDec. 12, 2012

China expected to tighten monetary policy: SC Bank

China will have to tighten its monetary policy toward the end of next year to curb inflation and clean up mounting local government debts, Standard Chartered Bank’s head of research for Korea said Wednesday.Inflation in China, which is currently in the 2-percent range, is expected to rise to an average of 4 percent, or even to 5 percent on a monthly basis, next year, SC Bank economist Oh Suk-tae told reporters.“Beijing will have to do something about the local governments’ sour loans, and will s

Dec. 12, 2012

Audi Korea aims to sell 16,000 cars in 2013

Audi Korea, which saw car sales almost double this year, aims to sell 16,000 vehicles next year, its recently-appointed managing director Johannes Thammer said at a press meeting on Tuesday. The new Korean chief of Audi said the carmaker launched 14 new models this year into the market, with its car sales increasing 43.6 percent to 14,046 units in the first 11 months from a year ago. He predicted a further 6 to 8 percent growth in sales next year, citing the market outlook that was recently anno

IndustryDec. 12, 2012

Audi Korea aims to sell 16,000 cars in 2013

Financial markets immune to N.K. rocket launches

South Korean financial markets barely reacted to the North Korean rocket launch on Wednesday, indicating investors’ indifference to any expected moves by Pyongyang.The KOSPI, which opened at 1,972.33 points, up 0.39 percent from Tuesday’s market close, continued to rally despite news of the missile launch shortly before 10 a.m. It closed at 1,975.44 points Wednesday, up 0.55 percent from the previous day. The Korean won pared gains, ending at 1,075 won per dollar.“The missile launch had been exp

Dec. 12, 2012

Samsung reorganized into three units

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday carried out a sweeping reorganization on Wednesday, splitting the tech giant into three individual business divisions: consumer electronics, IT and mobile, and device solutions.The world’s top smartphone maker had run the company under two different divisions: finished goods and device solutions. The finished products division included consumer electronics and home appliance units run by its head and president Yoon Boo-keun, and handset and IT device unit headed

IndustryDec. 12, 2012

Koreans lead mobile TV trend: report

Before the advent of TV delivered by Internet broadband, old-fashioned, a-la-carte television was king. In those days, viewers could only choose from limited content, in a limited time and space, on a limited device. But beyond the TVs sitting in living rooms and bedrooms, people now have access to TV content through desktop computers and laptops and even smart devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs.According to ConsumerLab’s annual research in 2012 on TV consumption that was compiled by Er

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012

LG Electronics to launch new LTE phone in Japan

South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it plans to roll out a new long-term evolution smartphone in Japan as it moves to strengthen its foothold in the neighboring country.LG Electronics plans to start receiving pre-orders for the “Optimus Life” phone via Japan’s top mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Friday and release the LTE device on Dec. 21, the company said in a press release.The 4.5-inch smartphone, available in three colors, is designed for Japanese consumers with l

Dec. 12, 2012

Korean mobile carriers launch LTE data sharing service

South Korean mobile carriers KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. said Wednesday they plan to introduce a service that enables long-term evolution data sharing among multiple mobile devices, as a growing number of people own more than one mobile gadget. “The number of mobile gadgets owned by an individual is increasing as people are using them for different functions. The LTE data sharing plan will increase customer satisfaction since they can share LTE data among various devices,” a KT official said in

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012

Is Samsung’s heir-apparent close to succession?

Samsung heir-apparent Lee Jay-yong has been the man of the hour in the nation’s business circles since he was appointed vice chairman of Samsung Electronics last Wednesday.Although the Lee’s promotion was widely predicted as he is the only son of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, the timing took observers by surprise as the country is getting ready for the Dec. 19 presidential election.Korean businesses have tended to stay low key during the election period, especially since candidates f

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012

Is Samsung’s heir-apparent close to succession?

SKC chief gets honorary Ph.D

SKC and SK Telesys chairman Choi Shin-won was conferred an honorary doctorate in business administration from Konkuk University on Wednesday. SKC said that Choi received the recognition for his contributions to raising brand-awareness of SK products and pioneering new major business sectors. Drawing no-imbroglio agreement between the company and its labor union also earned positive review in the business capability assessment from the university, SK Telesys said. In 2003, the chairman created a

IndustryDec. 12, 2012

FKCCI Gala

IndustryDec. 12, 2012

Asteroid came close to the Earth

An asteroid approached the Earth closely on Dec. 11. If it crashed into the Earth, it could have destroyed an area more than three times the size of Seoul, experts say.The 36-meter-wide asteroid named “2012 XE54” passed just 230,000 kilometers from Earth -- 156,000 kilometers closer than the moon. An asteroid of a similar size hit Siberia in 1908 and flattened 2,000 square kilometers.As the cycle of the asteroid “2012 XE54” is 2.72 years, scientists said it would be back, once more close to the

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012

S. Korean mobile carriers launch LTE data sharing service

South Korean mobile carriers KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. said Wednesday they plan to introduce a service that enables long-term evolution (LTE) data sharing among multiple mobile devices, as a growing number of people own more than one mobile gadget."The number of mobile gadgets owned by an individual is increasing as people are using them for different functions. The LTE data sharing plan will increase customer satisfaction since they can share LTE data among various devices," a KT official sai

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012

S. Korean mobile carriers launch LTE data sharing service

Biologic link to being gay or lesbian

Epigenetics -- how gene expression is regulated by temporary switches called epi-marks -- appears to be critical in determining sexuality, U.S. researchers say.Study co-author Sergey Gavrilets of the Working Group on Intragenomic Conflict at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis and a professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and colleagues said the study solved the evolutionary riddle of homosexuality. The finding that “sexually antagonistic” epi-marks, which

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012

Image of 'hobbit' human created

An Australian anthropologist has created what she says is an evidence-based image of the tiny "hobbit" species known as Homo floresiensis.With a background in forensic science, Susan Hayes was able to flesh out the face of a 3-foot tall, 30-year-old female based on remains uncovered in the Liang Bua cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.Homo floresiensis, nicknamed hobbits because of their diminutive size, lived on the Indonesian island of F

TechnologyDec. 12, 2012