The Korea Herald

Shares up on optimism about economy

South Korean stocks closed 0.7 percent higher Wednesday as signs of a recovery in the U.S. economy eased concerns over a possible recession, analysts said. The local currency rose to a fresh one-year high against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 13.61 points to 1,955.15. Trading volume was moderate at 493.9 million shares worth 4.16 trillion won ($3.76 billion), with gainers outpacing decliners 459 to 352.“Good news from overseas markets boosted investor senti

Oct. 17, 2012

Korea seeks to protect SMEs from tech leaks

The government will step up its efforts to protect small and mid-sized enterprises from technology leaks as related damage has continued to increase in recent years, the top economic policymaker said Wednesday.“The government will stay at the forefront to prevent SMEs from being victimized by technology leaks,” Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told a crisis management meeting.Bahk said such damage sustained by SMEs has been increasing every year and they remain vulnerable to such problems. He also

Oct. 17, 2012

Households’ pension, insurance assets hit record

Pension and insurance investments held by South Korean households reached a record high in the first half as they looked for safety amid a protracted economic slump, data showed Wednesday. The amount of pension and insurance assets held by local households and non-profit organizations stood at 629.4 trillion won ($569.5 billion) as of the end of June, accounting for 26.4 percent of the 2,384.8 trillion won total, according to the data by the Bank of Korea. It is the biggest portion tallied since

Oct. 17, 2012

AmorePacific to complete 2nd Chinese plant in 2014

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― AmorePacific Corp., South Korea’s No. 1 cosmetics manufacturer, plans to complete construction of its second Chinese plant in 2014 in a bid to expand its capacity in the world’s most populous country, company officials said Wednesday. The factory, currently under construction in Shanghai, will manufacture cosmetics products worth 1 trillion won ($905 million) per year when it is completed, they said.The South Korean cosmetics maker runs another factory in Shanghai, whic

Oct. 17, 2012

Yeouido finance center troubled by low occupancy

The International Finance Center opened last year in Yeouido, the financial nerve center of Seoul, with an ambitious goal of becoming a Northeast Asian financial hub. But a sluggish real estate market is pulling down the occupancy rate. The center also is failing to attract international financial firms, contrary to its initial expectations. The Seoul City government, under a memorandum of agreement with the operator AIG Real Estate Development, started the IFC complex project in 2006. Construct

IndustryOct. 17, 2012

Yeouido finance center troubled by low occupancy

Ministry to focus on commercializing robots

The nation’s focus of policy for the robot industry will shift to commercialization from research and development, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Wednesday. The new policy direction was unveiled in the ministry’s second-round roadmap for the robot industry, titled “Future Strategy for Robot (2012-2022).”“One of the key points in the future robot policy is to support various sectors, public or private, to adopt and use robots in their daily work,’’ Kang Kam-chan, a ministry official, said

Oct. 17, 2012

Eximbank sponsors teenage brass band from South Sudan

The Export-Import Bank of Korea said on Thursday that its staff including chief executive Kim Yong-hwan agreed to be personal mentors for about 30 members of a teenage brass band from South Sudan while providing them with regular scholarships.The brass band from the South Sudanese village of Tonj was created by the late Catholic priest Lee Tae-seok who devoted his life to healing people in the worn-torn country through both medicine and music. Lee had served as a clergyman, doctor, teacher and m

Oct. 17, 2012

Eximbank sponsors teenage brass band from South Sudan

LG goes global with Optimus G

Firm to release new smartphone through Japan’s NTT DoCoMoLG Electronics is going global with its new flagship smartphone Optimus G as it announced plans Wednesday to begin selling the gadget in the U.S. and Japan next month.The 4.7-inch smartphone, which was the first to be equipped with Qualcomm’s next-generation Snapdragon S4 processor, is seen by industry observers as the handset to decide the fate of LG.Equipped with the True High Definition IPS Plus display and a 13-megapixel camera on the

IndustryOct. 17, 2012

Businesses hit back at candidates

Experts say economic democratization won’t solve real economic problemsPolicies laced with political ideology will fail to offer any comfort for the real problems people grapple with every day, experts said at a think tank discussion on Wednesday, referring to the election pledges from top presidential candidates.“It’s simply too abstract for solving the real problems of real people,” said Chang Yong-geun, a law professor at Hongik University. Mentioning issues such as the rapidly spiraling debt

Oct. 17, 2012

Web portals roll out new services for election

Online portals and media are gearing up for the presidential election on Dec. 19.Firms such as SK Communications and Daum recently introduced their respective websites presenting news on the presidential candidates.The National Election Commission also approved the use of the Internet and social networking services for the candidates’ election campaigns. SK Communications, which runs the online portal Nate, said Tuesday that it launched a special webpage for the 18th presidential election focusi

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

Doosan Heavy bags deal to build wind farm

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., South Korea’s leading power equipment maker, said Wednesday it has clinched a deal to build a wind farm on an island off the west coast of the country.Under the deal with the Korea South-East Power Co., a unit of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., Doosan Heavy will build the wind farm in a thermal power plant complex on Yeongheung Island. The wind farm, which will be able to generate up to 24 megawatts of electricity, will start commercial opera

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

Google rebuked by EU privacy watchdogs on data protection policy

Google Inc. was told by European Union regulators to bolster its privacy policy in a warning that may trigger a new round of clashes with data-protection watchdogs across the bloc. The company “empowers itself to collect vast amounts of personal data about Internet users” without demonstrating that this “collection was proportionate,” the privacy regulators said in a letter Monday to Chief Executive Officer Larry Page, obtained by Bloomberg News. “Google should modify its practices when combinin

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

LG Display rolls out new 84-inch displays for electronic boards

LG Display announced the launch of an 84-inch ultra definition liquid-crystal display panel to be used for next-generation electronic bulletin boards on Wednesday.Claiming to be the world’s first to introduce such displays, the new 8 million pixel LCD panel is 3.5 times brighter and 8 times more vivid than existing electronic boards that use projectors, its officials said.This indicates that electronic bulletin boards will be similar to a television, enabling users to even view 3-D videos. Peopl

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

LG Display rolls out new 84-inch displays for electronic boards

Electronics firms go ‘mini’

Critics raise concerns over strategy of making devices in several sizesWith the rising trend of bigger is better, are wireless gadgets getting too big for the global consumer market?That is the question that comes to mind as major electronics makers push mini versions of their already-released wireless gadgets.Samsung Electronics unveiled the Galaxy S3 mini at an event in Germany last week.The 4-inch Galaxy S3 mini is 0.8 of an inch smaller than the firm’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S3 but has t

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

Secrets of mysterious asteroids plumbed

(NASA)U.S. scientists say they have uncovered new clues in the ongoing mystery of the Jovian Trojans -- asteroids that orbit the sun on the same path as Jupiter.The asteroids are unusual in that they travel in packs, with one group leading the way along the orbit in front of the gas giant planet, with a second group trailing behind.Data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has revealed

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

Health authorities confirm first West Nile virus infection

South Korean health authorities confirmed Wednesday the country's first West Nile virus case involving a patient who contracted the disease while traveling in Africa.According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the patient, whose identity was withheld for privacy reasons, traveled to Guinea from January to June and returned to the country after developing symptoms of W

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

‘Predator X’ not as fearsome as thought

A monstrous prehistoric marine reptile that had been hailed as one of the biggest and most fearsome creatures ever is smaller than expected, Norwegian scientists said.Paleontologists Espen Knutsen, Patrick Druckenmiller and Jørn Hurum from the University of Olso discovered the remains of two big pliosaurs -- marine reptiles from the Jurassic and Cretaceous period with short-necks and large jaws -- between 2004 and 2012 on the Arctic island of Svalbard.The specimen, dubbed “Predator X” and “The M

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

LG Display unveils 84-inch panel for electronic chalkboard

LG Display Co., the world‘s No. 2 display maker, introduced an 84-inch ultra definition (UD) panel for an electronic chalkboard on Wednesday as part of its moves to jump-start growth in the burgeoning market.The market for electronic chalkboards, which enable schools and businesses to share and utilize multimedia contents in addition to existing analog features, is expected to grow to 1.05 million units next year.LG’s 84-inch UD panel, which the company claimed is the largest in the world, is 3.

IndustryOct. 17, 2012

LG Display unveils 84-inch panel for electronic chalkboard

Korean cigarettes said to contain addictive substances

Cigarettes produced by South Korean manufacturers may contain substances that make people become addicted to them more and faster, a report showed Wednesday, suggesting a possible change of tactics in future damage suits against tobacco companies.So far there have been three damage suits filed against South Korea’s tobacco manufacturers, but none were ruled in favor of the customers or plaintiffs.

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

Flip-flop of Earth‘s magnetic field probed

Some 41,000 years ago a complete reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field occurred and compass needles would have pointed south not north, German scientists say.Researchers at the Helmholtz Center Potsdam -- GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences report the most remarkable feature of the phenomenon was the speed of the reversal.“The field geometry of reversed polarity, with field lines pointing into the opposite direction when compared to today‘s configuration, lasted for only about 440 years

TechnologyOct. 17, 2012

Flip-flop of Earth‘s magnetic field probed