The Korea Herald

Korea's industrial output inches up in Sept.

South Korea's industrial output crept up in September from a year earlier, but its growth pace remained sluggish apparently affected by cooling demand amid concerns over the eurozone debt crisis and global slowdowns, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries grew 0.7 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from the previous month's 0.3 percent on-year gain. The output also g

IndustryOct. 31, 2012

Samsung, LG join forces with Google for new mobile devices

Samsung and LG Electronics have joined forces with U.S. software giant Google Inc. to launch their latest smartphone and tablet PC running on the upgraded Android mobile platform.On its official blog on Tuesday, local time, Google introduced the two new Nexus wireless gadgets, which are reference products operating on the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean mobile operating system. LG strengthened its alliance with Google by unveiling the 4.7-inch smartphone named Nexus 4, which is LG’s first reference phone

IndustryOct. 30, 2012

Samsung, LG join forces with Google for new mobile devices

Korea to check banks’ FX trading

Financial authorities are set to launch a special investigation into whether banks kept forward foreign exchange positions under a government-set ceiling, which is aimed at reining in banks’ short-term borrowing.Forward exchange is a type of foreign exchange transaction whereby a contract is made to exchange one currency for another at a fixed date in the future at a specified exchange rate. By buying or selling forward exchange, businesses protect themselves against a decrease in the value of a

Oct. 30, 2012

Korea mulls ban on silent camera apps for smartphones

The government is considering a ban on mobile applications that disable the shutter noise from smartphone cameras to prevent misuse by peeping toms.The Telecommunications Technology Association plans to create a group standard by the end of this year to address the misuse of the apps, cooperating with smartphone makers including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Pantech and mobile operators SK Telecom, KT and LG U+, according to the country’s telecommunications watchdog, Korea Communicatio

TechnologyOct. 30, 2012

Korea mulls ban on silent camera apps for smartphones

Auto imports to equal 10% ...of exports

The ratio of Korea’s automobile imports to its exports is likely to exceed 10 percent this year, for the first time in 20 years since 1992, a trade data showed.According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, the nation imported vehicles worth $3.46 billion (3.8 trillion won), which is equivalent to 10.8 percent of its vehicle exports worth $32.07 billion, for the first nine months of the year.The ratio last recorded a double-digit figure in 1992 when Korea’s vehicle exports stayed

IndustryOct. 30, 2012

Hyundai Motor rating raised by Moody’s on profitability

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp., had their credit ratings upgraded one level by Moody’s Investors Service, citing the carmakers’ profitability and global reach.Ratings on the senior unsecured bonds of the two Seoul- based automakers were raised to Baa1, the third-lowest investment grade, from “Baa2,” Moody’s said in a statement Tuesday. The outlook for the rating, which affects about $2.1 billion in debt, is stable, Moody’s said.The higher c

MobilityOct. 30, 2012

Current account surplus widens in September

South Korea’s current account surplus widened in September from the previous month as exports expanded at a faster rate than imports, the central bank said Tuesday.The current account surplus reached $6.07 billion in September, up from a revised $2.5 billion in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.The September figure marked the largest surplus since a record high of $6.14 billion in July.The September surplus marke

MobilityOct. 30, 2012

Samsung SDI sees Q3 net grow more than 10-fold

Samsung SDI Co., the world’s top maker of plasma display panels and renewable batteries, said Tuesday its net profit jumped more than 10-fold in the third quarter from a year earlier thanks to solid battery sales and a one-off profit.Net profit came to 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in the July-September period, compared with a profit of 100 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.Sales increased 3.8 percent on-year to 1.5 trillion won in the cited period, while o

MobilityOct. 30, 2012

Shares edge up on foreign, institutional buying

South Korean stocks closed 0.43 percent higher Tuesday, driven by foreign and institutional buying amid widening political uncertainties over the U.S. presidential race, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 8.06 points to finish at 1,899.58. Trading volume as light at 317.6 million shares worth 3.20 trillion won ($2.92 billion) with gainers outstripping losers 485 to 313. “Political uncertainties over how the U.S.

Oct. 30, 2012

Korea, China resume free trade negotiations

Korea and China began their fourth round of negotiations on a free trade agreement on Tuesday amid growing attention to whether the two sides will be able to draw up negotiation guidelines for each industry sector.During the three-day meeting that runs through Thursday in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, the two countries will discuss various issues including the classification of so-called “sensitive products,” Seoul’s Trade Ministry said.During the previous round of FTA talks, the two side

Oct. 30, 2012

Neowiz unveils new online multiplayer game ‘Bless’

Neowiz Games, one of the country’s top game firms, introduced its new online game called “BLESS” at an event in southern Seoul on Tuesday, stating that the game will be available for play at the upcoming game show G-Star 2012 next week.Produced by a team of 150 game experts who developed “Lineage 2,” “Aion” and “TERA,” “BLESS” is the company’s first independently developed online game in the genre of massive multiplayer online role-playing game.The game features a fantasy based on the medieval t

IndustryOct. 30, 2012

Neowiz unveils new online multiplayer game ‘Bless’

SK to revamp management system

SK Group will revamp its decision-making process in a bid to induce voluntary participation and the growth of subsidiaries, company officials said.The plan was unveiled by group chairman Chey Tae-won, who said during the 2012 CEO seminar that the currently “vertical” decision-making process would be shifted to a “horizontal” one.“We attained a surplus of all affiliates in 2005 and leaped again in 2007 by changing the group into a holding firm,” Chey told some 30 CEOs from each business unit.He s

IndustryOct. 30, 2012

Hyundai-Kia dominates midsize, large car markets

The Market dominance of Hyundai and Kia among locally made vehicles is stronger than ever, especially when it comes to midsize and large cars. Their combined market share has reached nearly 90 percent in those sectors, the companies said Tuesday. In September, Hyundai and Kia vehicles made up 89.2 percent of midsize and large cars sold by five Korea-based carmakers, which also include Renault Samsung, GM Korea and Ssangyong. The figure was a 4 percentage point increase from 85.2 percent in Augus

IndustryOct. 30, 2012

Restructuring may spread to more firms

Restructuring by POSCO and Hyundai Heavy, both of which are domestic market leaders in their respective industries, is raising alerts on the spillover effect to other big businesses. POSCO, the nation’s top steelmaker and eighth-largest business group by assets, confirmed on Tuesday that it has recently put its three retail companies on sale in a bid to clear off non-core businesses by the year-end. Retail businesses to be auctioned allegedly in the form of a package deal include Diamond Plaza,

Oct. 30, 2012

Japanese electronics firms weather a crisis

Japanese electronics makers have continued to show lackluster performance since the global financial crisis. In 2011, Japan’s eight largest electronics makers recorded huge losses of 1.1 trillion yen ($13.8 billion), with global companies like Sony, Sharp and Panasonic restructuring their businesses. There are exceptions however. These include Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric, the three general electronics firms. Hitachi’s current account surplus last year was 347 billion yen, up 45 perc

Oct. 30, 2012

LG Group takes social responsibility a step further

Fighting for social causes is among the core responsibilities that every company is shouldered with. LG Group takes the job as seriously and applies unique ideas to do it the “LG way.”Along with the usual acts of charity, such as making monetary donations, sending employees abroad as volunteers and sending food aid, LG adds its own flavor: it uses its leading-edge technology to provide support in fields that had difficulty receiving help. “This is our way of saying thank you to our customers and

IndustryOct. 30, 2012

LG Group takes social responsibility a step further

Advertisements a platform for communication and sympathy

Now is an era of communication and sympathy. It has become important for different individuals and groups to communicate and sympathize with one another in every area of modern life including politics, economics and culture. To better communicate with each other, it is essential to place oneself in others’ shoes instead of relying on simple one-way communication. An advertisement is the strongest tool for a company to communicate with its clients. Consumers build a certain notion about a product

Oct. 30, 2012

Advertisements a platform for communication and sympathy

IBK: For everyone, not only business

We thank The Korea Herald and the judges for choosing IBK’s corporate PR commercial, “Everyone’s Bank.”IBK is working every day to support companies both large and small, while offering customer-friendly financial services to become a bank that everyone and anyone in Korea can do business with. We hope that based on such efforts, we can step even closer to our customers. We know that there are still those who mistake IBK as a bank for corporations because of our company name ― the Industrial Ban

Oct. 30, 2012

SK supports sports that tell inspiring stories

First of all, I would like to thank the readers of The Korea Herald and its officials for placing our campaign in such high regard and giving us this award.It would not be an exaggeration to say that fringe sports categories were given a lot of attention during the Summer London Olympics, and that Korea did well in many of them.They include women’s handball, in which Korea continued to defeat many of the world’s strongest teams, fencing, in which the country brought home its best-ever results, a

IndustryOct. 30, 2012

SK supports sports that tell inspiring stories

Harmony of ‘humanity and technology’

We all share the childhood experience of dreaming about the future through drawing all sorts of imaginary things and watching science fiction movies. But when we think of it now, we are already experiencing most of these things that seemed so distant, so futuristic back then. Now we can enjoy vivid video calls through small mobile phones, and make purchases without having to carry wallets. We are now living in world of dreams, where our children can go to school and take lessons taught by robots

Oct. 30, 2012