Most Popular
-
1
Heavy snow alerts issued in greater Seoul area, Gangwon Province; over 20 cm of snow seen in Seoul
-
2
Seoul blanketed by heaviest Nov. snow, with more expected
-
3
NewJeans to terminate contract with Ador
-
4
Seoul snowfall now third heaviest on record
-
5
Samsung shakes up management, commits to reviving chip business
-
6
Heavy snow of up to 40 cm blankets Seoul for 2nd day
-
7
How $70 funeral wreaths became symbol of protest in S. Korea
-
8
Hybe consolidates chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s regime with leadership changes
-
9
Why cynical, 'memeified' makeovers of kids' characters are so appealing
-
10
BOK makes surprise 2nd rate cut to boost growth
-
‘LTE users to hit 42m in 2013’
The number of Koreans who use smartphones with the Long Term Evolution network is expected to pass the 40-million subscriber mark in 2013, a Seoul-based consulting firm forecast on Tuesday.ROA Consulting said that the number of subscribers may hit 42 million, marking a new era in the domestic telecommunications industry. According to the company’s report, about seven out of 10 mobile device users in Korea will use a smartphone with 4G LTE technology in 2013. This represents a significant jump fr
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
-
Card firms earn over 2tr won in peripheral services
Korean credit card firms earned more than 2 trillion won ($1.76 billion) from their secondary businesses last year as they scrambled to diversify profit sources, industry data showed Tuesday.The card issuers’ combined revenue from insurance sales, travel agency business and mail orders reached 2.45 trillion won in 2011, up 36 percent from 1.84 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Credit Finance Association. Their ancillary revenue has grown five-fold in 10 years, with
July 31, 2012
-
Korea basks in exports of cultural products this year
Korea earned income by selling its cultural products and services this year on the back of the popularity of Korean culture in overseas countries, data by the central bank showed Tuesday.The account tracking exports and imports of cultural products and contents hit a record high of $30.1 million in May, compared with $12.5 million tallied in April, according to the Bank of Korea.The account also posted a surplus of a combined $72.7 million in the March-May period, marking the first time that it
July 31, 2012
-
Peru FTA boosts Korean cars, TVs
The Korea-Peru free trade pact has boosted the competitiveness of Korea-made products over its first year of implementation, with the nation’s automotive and TV manufacturers outpacing Chinese and Japanese rivals in the South American country. The Korea International Trade Association said on Tuesday that the nation’s exports to Peru increased 28.9 percent in the 11 months up to June, though imports from the country decreased 7.6 percent during the same period. The growth figure surpassed the 6.
IndustryJuly 31, 2012
-
Cheil Worldwide acquires U.S. marketing firm
Cheil Worldwide Inc., South Korea’s largest advertising agency, said Tuesday that it has taken over a U.S. marketing firm in a bid to expand its global business.Cheil Worldwide said in a filing that its U.S. unit, Cheil USA Inc., acquired a 100 percent stake in Mckinney Ventures LLC. It did not elaborate on financial terms of the deal.The U.S. firm, founded in 1969, has led global advertising campaigns for Nike Inc. and Sony Corp. It posted $37 million in revenues in 2011.Cheil Worldwide said th
IndustryJuly 31, 2012
-
Best summer holiday reads for CEOs
Since 2004, Samsung Economic Research Institute has conducted surveys of CEOs and their reading habits. This year a total of 567 CEOs participated in the survey and recommended more than 1,000 books to read. Among them, SERI picked the 14 best summer reads, including seven on economy and management and the rest on humanities and culture. In the economy and management category, the first to make the list was “Multipliers.” The authors classify leaders as diminishers or multipliers. Diminishers ar
July 31, 2012
-
Business uncertainties likely to raise M&A opportunities
But analysts say supply may exceed demand in auction marketResearch analysts predict some large local enterprises will be put on the market for mergers or acquisitions in the coming months.They cite worsening financial situations for some companies, hit by the eurozone debt crisis and global uncertainties, for a possible vitalization of the nation’s M&A market.According to brokerage industry data, three sectors ― construction, shipping and shipbuilding ― have been hit severely by rapidly declini
IndustryJuly 31, 2012
-
Seoul shares jump 2.07 percent on eurozone hopes
South Korean stocks finished 2.07 percent higher Tuesday as investors' sentiment was boosted by expectations that stimulus measures from Europe and the U.S. will come, analysts said. The local currency rose sharply against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) soared 38.2 points to close at 1,881.99 Trading volume was moderate at 353.6 million shares worth 5.55 tr
July 31, 2012
-
Romance is over when photos are stashed
The point at which people put an ex-partner‘s photo away after a split is usually when they are emotionally ready to move on, a British psychologist says.“It’s not surprising that nearly half of us keep some kind of visual memento of past partners -- this goes for partners who were divorced or died as well -- a photo generates strong emotions as it unleashes memories of past attachment and times,” Corinne Sweet, behavioral psychologist said in a statement.A survey for Friends Reunited, a social
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
-
Twitter clocks half-million users: Monitor
Over 500 million people are on micro-blogging site Twitter and Americans and Brazilians are the most connected, according to a study by social media monitor Semiocast released Monday.Twitter surpassed the half-billion mark at the end of June, with the United States accounting for both the most users and largest number of “tweets” or short messages of no more than 140 characters posted on the site.The Paris-based monitor carried out the study by analysing data like time zone, geolocation and lang
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
-
Apple to debut its new iOS devices on Sept. 12
Apple is planning to announce the launch of the iPhone 5 and a new iPad at a special event on Sept. 12 according to technology blog iMore.Citing sources who “have proven accurate in the past,” iMore said Apple’s new iPhone and iPad Mini, a new smaller-sized tablet computer, will be open to the market on Sept. 21, nine days after the announcement.The article also said that a new iPod Touch will make an appearance at the event, as well as a new iPod Nano.A French website App4Phone.fr also said tha
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
-
Humans would be also-rans in all-species Olympics: study
(AP)Human beings would be made to look decidedly unimpressive were animals allowed to compete in the Olympics -- outperformed by the likes of kangaroos, gorillas and ostriches, a science paper said Saturday.Usain Bolt, currently the world's fastest man, may just be able to outrun a Dromedary camel but would trail the cheetah, greyhound and ostrich in a sprint race, said a feature in the Veterinary
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
-
Star-spangled banners still there
NASA released new images from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) showing U.S. flags planted in lunar soil.The new images have finally given proof that the flags are still standing.Astronauts planted flags during each of the six American moon landings, starting from Apollo 11’s landing in 1969 to Apollo 17’s in 1972. The American moon landings remain the only manned flights to touch down on a heavenly body.According to an analysis of the shadows they cast on the surface of the moon, five
TechnologyJuly 31, 2012
-
Seoul shares start tad higher on eased Europe woes
South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday on eased eurozone debt concerns ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 2.99 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,846.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares traded mixed with market bellwether Samsung Electronics rising 1.49 percent and the country's biggest
July 31, 2012
-
Korean jobseekers target 27 million won in salary: report
The average annual salary requirement of Korean jobseekers is 27.56 million won, according to a survey released on Monday by Saramin, a local online recruitment website.The survey of 1,062 Korean jobseekers showed that they preferred 27.56 million won ($24,254) on average as their annual salary requirement.The survey also revealed that 29.4 percent of the total respondents preferred working for major conglomerates while only 17 percent wanted small and medium-sized companies.Meanwhile, more than
July 31, 2012
-
S. Korea's industrial output growth decelerates in June
South Korea's industrial output grew in June, but its pace sharply decelerated in the face of headwinds from the eurozone debt crisis and concerns over global slowdowns, a government report showed Tuesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries expanded 1.6 percent last month from a year earlier, sharply slowing from the2
July 31, 2012
-
Yeonggwang nuclear reactor comes to halt
A nuclear reactor at an atomic power plant in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province, automatically stopped running Monday afternoon after its reactor protection system gave warning signals, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. said.The 1-million-kilowatt Yeonggwang-6 unit came to a halt at around 2:57 p.m., according to the company. The unit had been under special treatment due to fuel rod defects that caused radioactivity levels in the reactor coolant to rise on April 30. The KHNP said it was lookin
IndustryJuly 30, 2012
-
Hanwha chief meets Iraqi leader on postwar projects
Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held a meeting in Baghdad on Sunday to discuss business opportunities from the country’s ongoing postwar reconstruction.The two leaders first met on May 30 when Hanwha signed an $8 billion contract to build a housing complex in Bismayah, a new satellite city of Baghdad. During their meeting, Kim explained the preparations for the housing project and proposed to organize a separate task force team to discuss new busines
IndustryJuly 30, 2012
-
HTC to close Korean office on slow sales
Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC said Monday it will close its Korean office soon. The Taiwanese company said it will continue to provide after-sales services for its products.The closure announcement takes place months after the head of its Korean office stepped down in May. With the company’s share narrowing in the Korean market, which is dominated by Samsung and Apple smartphones, it was unable to release a new lineup of smartphones this year.“Our after-sales service policy in Korea will not al
IndustryJuly 30, 2012
-
Hacking exposes digital security problems
Latest case again sheds light on vulnerability of nation’s data securityA 30-year-old Seoulite recently went through a bizarre experience, receiving numerous phone calls every day suggesting that she buy a new smartphone.What was odd was the fact that all the callers knew her two-year mobile contract was already over. They also offered promotions, recommending that she should make the shift to more advanced handsets running on the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution networks.“When I told one o
IndustryJuly 30, 2012
