Most Popular
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Heavy snow alerts issued in greater Seoul area, Gangwon Province; over 20 cm of snow seen in Seoul
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Seoul blanketed by heaviest Nov. snow, with more expected
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NewJeans to terminate contract with Ador
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Seoul snowfall now third heaviest on record
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Samsung shakes up management, commits to reviving chip business
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Heavy snow of up to 40 cm blankets Seoul for 2nd day
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Hybe consolidates chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s regime with leadership changes
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How $70 funeral wreaths became symbol of protest in S. Korea
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NewJeans terminates contract with Ador, embarks on new journey
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Chaos unfolds as rare November snowstorm grips Korea for 2nd day
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Samsung violates Chinese workers' rights: report
Samsung forces employees at its Chinese factories to work up to five times the legal overtime limit, bans them from sitting down and denies basic labor rights, according to a US-based watchdog.According to China Labor Watch's probe of eight factories, the South Korean electronics giant is guilty of widespread "legal and inhumane violations."These include forcing workers at the Tianjin Samsung Mobi
IndustrySept. 5, 2012
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Apple announces Sept. 12 event as new iPhone anticipated
Apple Inc. (AAPL) sent out invitations to a Sept. 12 product event in San Francisco, where the company is expected to unveil a redesigned iPhone. “It’s almost here,” Cupertino, California-based Apple said in the invitation, whose image includes a ‘5’ in shadow, possibly in reference to the new product’s name. At the event, set for 10 a.m. at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple will introduce a
TechnologySept. 5, 2012
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Local governments’ debt snowballs
The fiscal status of local governments in major provinces has worsened critically as their combined debt has snowballed over the past five years.When the nation was hit by the 2008 global financial crisis, the central government recklessly used budgets held by local governments for boosting the economy, according to some research analysts.Local governments expanded their expenditure by issuing local bonds, and as a result, their debt increased by 61 percent from 17.4 trillion won ($15.5 billion)
IndustrySept. 4, 2012
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Watchdog probes big retailers’ commission
Korea’s antitrust watchdog has launched a probe into commission rates major retailers charge on vendors in an apparent move to press them into cutting their rates, industry sources said Tuesday. According to the sources, the Fair Trade Commission on Monday opened a two-week-long investigation into the commission rates charged by the nation’s top two department store chains: Shinsegae and Hyundai. “The probe appears to be designed to pressure the retailers to further cut their commission rates fo
Sept. 4, 2012
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Shares slip 0.29% on auto earnings
Korean stocks closed 0.29 percent lower on Tuesday as investors scaled back holdings in automakers on concerns over their third-quarter earnings, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 5.58 points to 1,907.13. Trading volume was heavy at 868.2 million shares worth 4.5 trillion won ($4 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 423 to 395.The loss was largely attributed to falls in auto shares.Industry data showed tha
Sept. 4, 2012
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Speculation grows about KEPCO CEO Kim
The presidential office on Tuesday downplayed the rumor that Korea Electric Power Corp. CEO Kim Joong-kyum will soon be dismissed.Speculation has risen that President Lee Myung-bak is considering replacing the top post at the state-run KEPCO as Kim’s management was going against government policies.While Cheong Wa Dae said it is “not considering” whether to discharge Kim “at the current stage,” public officials still did not rule out the possibility of dismissal before Kim’s term expires. Kim ha
IndustrySept. 4, 2012
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SKT holds alliance meeting in Jeju
SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile carrier, said that it held a meeting called “Bridge Alliance” with telecom companies in Asia Pacific in Jeju on Tuesday.The top of the agenda was boosting partnerships in Long Term Evolution roaming across the region and between alliance members.According to Wireless Intelligence, a telecom researcher, the number of LTE users worldwide is expected to grow 69 percent annually to 580 million in total by 2016.SK Telecom and CSL in Hong Kong were the first companie
TechnologySept. 4, 2012
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Foreign IBs forecast BOK’s key rate cut for September
Major foreign investment banks expect South Korea’s central bank to make another rate cut in September due to slumping exports hurt by the eurozone debt crisis and slowing inflationary pressure, a report showed Tuesday.The Bank of Korea is forecast to lower the benchmark 7-day repo rate next Thursday by a quarter percentage point to 2.75 percent in what would be the second rate cut this year, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance.The BOK froze the rate at 3 percen
Sept. 4, 2012
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Capital erosion swamps 34 asset management firms, 10 brokerages
A slew of financial investment companies here are suffering from capital erosion as their losses surged on excessive competition and the economic slump caused by the eurozone fiscal crisis.Forty-one percent of local asset management firms and 16 percent of brokerage houses had impaired capital, according to the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Financial Investment Association.Some of the smaller companies with impaired capital, whose total capital is less than their paid-in capital, a
Sept. 4, 2012
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IndustrySept. 4, 2012
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IFC Seoul in Yeouido hopes to be city’s landmark, leading tourist attraction
Executive at AIG’s real estate arm confident about project’s successAn exceptional shopping mall opened in Seoul’s Yeouido area last week, targeting fans of global clothing stores such as Massimo Dutti, Zara, H&M and Uniqlo.The three-story underground mall lies beneath the International Finance Center complex which is comprised of three office buildings ― the 32-story One IFC, the 29-story Two IFC, the 55-story Three IFC ― and the 38-story Conrad Hotel. It took nine years to complete the IFC Seo
IndustrySept. 4, 2012
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New supply in central Seoul means tenants’ market to continue
Abundant new supply in Seoul’s central business district has continued to perpetuate a tenants’ market in 2012. Tenants have kept control of the office rental market as the CBD experienced a record high vacancy rate and landlords were pressured to reduce rents. Approximately 1.35 million square meters of new prime and grade A office space will be added to the market by 2016. Most of this new space will be located in the CBD and Yeouido, and should drive vacancies up in these areas. Compared to t
Sept. 4, 2012
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Salary gap widens between conglomerates and small firms
Big conglomerates will increase salaries for new employees in the latter half of this year while most small or mid-cap companies plan to maintain the same level as before. The average annual salary of new employees to be hired in the latter half this year will be increased by 5 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Job Korea, an online job search portal. The job portal researched 206 companies that plan to hire four-year-university graduates as new employees within the year
Sept. 4, 2012
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AFoCO to help development through green growth
The Asian Forest Cooperation Organization, or AFoCO, was inaugurated last week, becoming the first organization in the region to deal with cooperation among member nations on issues related to forestry.The inauguration was made after the Governing Council held the first board session dealing with the agreement on cooperation in the field of forestry in Seoul last week.The council endorsed the proposal to establish the secretariat of AFoCO and regulations on how to operate the administrative grou
Sept. 4, 2012
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‘Korea is a reforestation model for the world’
Following is an open letter from President Lester R. Brown of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute to Korea Forest Service Minister Lee Don-koo about the meeting of forestry ministers from Korea and ASEAN member states in Seoul last week. ―Ed. Dear Minister Lee Don-koo:My congratulations to you for arranging the Agreement between the ASEAN Member States and the Republic of Korea on Forestry Cooperation, the first ever intergovernmental commitment to sustainable forest management in Asia.
Sept. 4, 2012
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Milestone set in forestry cooperation
Experts and government officials hailed the Seoul meeting of forestry ministers from Asia as a milestone in cooperating on forestry in the region. Forestry ministers from Korea and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation, or ASEAN, congregated in Seoul to participate in the Special Korea-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Forestry, where the Seoul Declaration was adopted last week. The two-day international conference voiced each nation’s cooperative support for forestry maintena
Sept. 4, 2012
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Study finds beauty has benefits but plastic surgery doesn’t help
Studies conducted by separate researchers indicate a correlation between beauty and money but also that virtually nothing can be done to change a person’s beauty, even through plastic surgery, according to news reports. According to a recent study by Middle Tennessee State University researchers, real estate agents who are relatively more attractive tend to sell properties at higher prices. Sean Salter, a finance professor who co-authored the study, believes that this is because of the “halo eff
TechnologySept. 4, 2012
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Coconut oil may help stem took decay
ATHLONE (UPI) -- Treated coconut oil could attack the bacteria that cause tooth decay and could be incorporated into dental care products, researchers in Ireland say. Study leader Dr. Damien Brady at the Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland tested the antibacterial action of coconut oil in its natural state and coconut oil that had been treated with enzymes -- a process similar to digestion -- against strains of Streptococcus bacteria common in the mouth. The study found the enzyme-modif
TechnologySept. 4, 2012
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Couple wed via Twitter in Turkey
ISTANBUL (UPI) -- An official in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday officiated an Internet-based wedding believed to be the first ceremony conducted via Twitter. Mustafa Kara, mayor of Istanbul’s Uskudar district, conducted the wedding between Cengizhan Celik, social media editor of news portal ensonhaber.com, and Candan Canik by asking the couple to respond to the ceremony’s questions on Twitter, Today‘s Zaman reported Monday. Hurriyet Daily News reported the couple’s witnesses also conducted their role
TechnologySept. 4, 2012
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Why Abercrombie & Fitch is struggling
Abercrombie & Fitch was a brand that was hugely popular in the 2000s, with its skin-baring ads appealing to teenagers while infuriating parents. Now, however, Abercrombie is not attracting the crowds like it used to, according to news reports.The retailer has lost one-third of its market value in the past fiscal year with sales falling in the U.S. and Europe and has closed down 71 U.S. stores. It is expecting to close another 180 by 2015. Even while the brand remains relatively popular oversea
IndustrySept. 4, 2012
