FSC to overhaul system of corporate restructuring

South Korea‘s financial regulator said Thursday it will step up moves to revamp the procedures for the corporate restructuring system in a bid to prevent moral hazard often incurred by company owners. Under the envisioned plan, the regulator will strengthen creditors’ rights by giving them more power to engage in the process of court receivership and debt workouts, according to the Financial Services Commission. “We will look into improving the overall process so to avert moral hazard by stakeho

Oct. 4, 2012

Domestic car monthly sales show new sign of recovery

Korean carmakers saw moderate growth in domestic sales in September, indicating a further sales boom in the fourth quarter following the introduction of new versions of flagship models and the government’s tax cuts.Hyundai Motor, the nation’s largest auto company, said Thursday it sold a combined 371,743 vehicles at home and abroad last month, a 3.4 percent increase from a year ago. Driven by strong sales of flagship models such as Sonata, Avante and Grandeur, the carmaker delivered 57,559 units

IndustryOct. 4, 2012

Incentives lure Korean SMEs overseas to return home

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Thursday that it will provide support packages to Korean small and medium enterprises doing business overseas that return to their homeland. The plan came as part of the government’s efforts to create jobs at home and to stimulate domestic consumption. “The package will include administrative support, benefits for land rental and tax incentives,” said Kim Sang-woo, an official from the ministry.He added that the ministry will treat those companies as for

Oct. 4, 2012

Distant planets seen in strange alignment

Two exoplanets have been detected forming a never-seen-before celestial alignment, a phenomenon so new it doesn't yet have a name, Japanese astronomers say.Teruyuki Hirano of the University of Tokyo and colleagues used data from the Kepler space telescope to probe KOI-94, a star seemingly orbited by four planets, looking for a momentary dimming of the star's light when the planets transited, or pa

TechnologyOct. 4, 2012

Vitamin D supplements don’t prevent colds

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (UPI) -- A randomized controlled trial of people who received a large dose of vitamin D did not have fewer incidence or severity of colds, New Zealand researchers say.Dr. David R. Murdoch of the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on incidence and severity of upper

TechnologyOct. 4, 2012

'Vampire' dinosaur preferred plant diet

A dwarf dinosaur weighing less than a modern house cat had a sharp beak and fangs like a vampire but was a plant-eater, a U.S. paleontologist says.The single specimen of the new species was originally chipped out of red rock in southern Africa in the 1960s but lay mostly unexamined in a fossil collection at Harvard University until Paul Sereno, a paleontology professor at the University of Chicago

TechnologyOct. 4, 2012

Foreign investors in politics-driven stocks may face probe

KRX looks into possible involvement of local cartels in election-themed stock riggingThe Korea Exchange said on Wednesday that it will look into a possible stock price rigging scheme, regarding recent mass purchases of stocks linked to key politicians by foreign investors.Foreigners made net purchases worth 37 billion won in eight trading days between Sept. 19 and 28 of so-called “politically-themed” stocks linked to presidential election frontrunners such as Ahn Cheol-soo and Park Geun-hye. Obs

Oct. 3, 2012

Conglomerates expand business reach in past decade

South Korea’s top 10 conglomerates, including Samsung and Hyundai Motor, have been expanding the number of areas they do business in over the last decade, data showed Wednesday.The country’s 10 biggest family-owned conglomerates had companies in 56 industries as of late last year, up 43.5 percent from 39 in 2001, according to the data by the Fair Trade Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service.The data also showed that business operations of the so-called chaebol were present in 73.4 perc

Oct. 3, 2012

Rate cut might do little for growth: BOK policymaker

One policymaker at South Korea’s central bank told last month’s rate-setting meeting that a rate cut might do little to boost consumption and investment due to a prolonged global economic slowdown, the bank’s September minutes showed Tuesday.Trumping market players’ bet on a rate cut, Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his six fellow policymakers left the benchmark 7-day repo rate unchanged in September. In July, the central bank made a surprise rate cut.“It would be difficult to make a turna

Oct. 3, 2012

Nonlife insurers likely to face losses

South Korean nonlife insurers are expected to face losses for the 2012 fiscal year due to a cut in auto insurance premiums and decreasing returns from asset management, industry data showed Tuesday.Ten local nonlife insurers reported a combined operating loss of 103.2 billion won ($92.6 million) in insurance operations in the April-May period of this year, according to the data. The operating loss of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., the country’s leading nonlife insurer, came to 3.4 billion

Oct. 3, 2012

Samsung claims jury foreman misconduct tainted Apple trial

Apple’s billion-dollar trial victory in August was tainted by the jury foreman’s failure to disclose a lawsuit and his personal bankruptcy, Samsung Electronics Co. said in a request to a judge for the verdict to be thrown out. Samsung said foreman Velvin Hogan was asked during jury selection whether he’d been involved in lawsuits and didn’t tell the judge that he had filed for bankruptcy in 1993 and had been sued by his former employer, Seagate Technology Inc. Samsung has a “substantial strategi

TechnologyOct. 3, 2012

Welfare budget to increase W20tr by 2016

Budget for four public pension funds to increase by average 10.8 percent per year The mandatory welfare budget is expected to increase by 20 trillion won ($17.9 billion) by 2016, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said on Wednesday. The budget, which was 59 trillion won this year, will rise to 62.9 trillion won in 2013; 67.7 trillion won in 2014; 72.6 trillion won in 2015; and 78.8 trillion won in 2016, according to the ministry. The four public pensions ― the national pension fund, pension fu

Oct. 3, 2012

Galaxy Note 2 faces off with iPhone 5 in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Supply issues could hinder Apple Inc. in its latest smartphone showdown with Samsung Electronics Co. as the two tech behemoths face off in Hong Kong following the release of their new mobile gadgets here last month. Samsung Electronics started selling the Galaxy Note 2 in Hong Kong last Thursday, six days after Apple’s iPhone 5 hit the Chinese territory.So far, Hong Kong and Britain are the only places in the world where the latest products from the two top smartphone m

TechnologyOct. 3, 2012