Metal workers to stage four-hour strike Friday

An estimated 130,000 workers at 211 companies nationwide will stage a one-day strike on Friday, complying with an umbrella labor group’s call for improved working conditions, labor unionists said Thursday.The 211 firms, which include the nation’s top automakers ― Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., and GM Korea Co. ― are all affiliated with the country’s largest industrial union, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, which has about 170,0000 workers in the local automobile, steel, machinery and ship

July 12, 2012

Kakao, Samsung Galaxy top IT search on Google

“Kakao Talk” was the most popular information and technology search term on Google in the first half of this year, said Google Korea.Korea’s mobile messenger, used by some 50 million people worldwide, recently made headlines over the announcement of its free mobile Voice over Internet Protocol service Voice Talk.This has led to escalating tension between Kakao and two giant mobile carriers ― SK Telecom and KT, further helping Kakao Talk to be the most searched term on Google, the Korean subsidia

TechnologyJuly 12, 2012

Samsung to showcase Galaxy Note 2 ahead of IFA 2012

Samsung Electronics is most likely to showcase its new wireless gadget Galaxy Note 2 at an event prior to the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin later in August.According to industry sources, the world’s top smartphone maker is expected to hold its “Mobile Unpack” event with its mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun present at its press event on Aug. 30. IFA runs from Aug. 31-Sept. 5.The company has yet to release its final showcase date of the gadget which is categorized to be between a smartphone and

IndustryJuly 12, 2012

Hyundai Motor’s 6-month sales rise 2.6% in China

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Hyundai Motor Co. sold more than 370,000 vehicles in China in the first six months of this year, market data showed Thursday, showing a steady performance by South Korea’s largest automaker in the world’s largest auto market. The China Passenger Car Association, which provides automotive statistics every month, said Hyundai Motor sold 372,801 units in China during the January-June period, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier.In the month of June, Hyundai Motor sold 58,150

MobilityJuly 12, 2012

FTC chief opposes cap on conglomerate investment

The nation’s chief antitrust regulator reiterated his stance of skepticism toward calls for the revival of a ceiling on equity investment by big business groups at a forum in Seoul on Thursday.The remarks of Fair Trade Commission chairman Kim Dong-soo come while a group of opposition lawmakers are issuing the necessity of more rigidly regulating the conglomerate sector by reintroducing the equity investment ceiling.While some lawmakers argue the government should restrict conglomerates from inve

IndustryJuly 12, 2012

Shares drop despite rate cut

South Korean stocks plunged 2.24 percent on Thursday as investors were not cheered by the central bank’s rate cut and foreigners dumped local stocks upon a futures and option expiry, analysts said. The local currency tumbled against the U.S. dollar.After starting 0.08 percent higher, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index dived 41 points to finish at 1,785.39, falling below the 1,800 level for the first time in more than a month.Trading volume was light at 314.5 million shares worth 4.24 trillion

July 12, 2012

Banks’ long-term foreign borrowing costs decline

Korean banks’ long-term overseas borrowing costs fell sharply in June on the back of eased market conditions over the debt-mired eurozone, the financial watchdog said Thursday. The spread on mid- and long-term foreign borrowing by local lenders that mature in one year stood at 93 basis points at the end of last month, sliding from 112 basis points in May, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. The spread on short-term overseas borrowing, however,

July 12, 2012

Car registration slows

The rise in the number of registered vehicles in Korea slowed down in the first half mainly due to a large drop in new vehicle purchases, the Transportation Ministry said Thursday.The number of registered vehicles came to 18,661,866 as the end of June, up 1.2 percent from that of 2011 when the number had surged 2.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.The slowdown was apparently caused by a significant drop in the number of new vehicle pu

July 12, 2012

Only 32% of elderly benefit from public pension system

Only 32 percent of South Korean senior citizens benefit from the public pension system, stoking concern over financial difficulties for the aged population, data showed Thursday. The proportion of public pensioners aged 65 and older stood at 31.8 percent at the end of 2011, according to the data by Statistics Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service. Beneficiaries of the National Pension Service accounted for 28.3 percent of the elderly, with 3 percent benefiting from the pension fund for civ

July 12, 2012

Luxury goods imports from EU soar after FTA

Korea’s imports of luxury goods from the European Union have surged since the implementation of a bilateral free trade deal a year earlier, customs data showed Thursday.Korea imported a total of $1.24 billion worth of wrist watches, bags, shoes, perfumes and cosmetic products from the EU between July 1, 2011, and June 30 this year, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service.That amount is up 21.68 percent from $1.02 billion worth of imports of such relatively high-priced products during

July 12, 2012

Real-estate reform wanted, poll finds

Experts predict sentiment will worsen in latter half: KCCI surveyMore than half of Seoulites and the people residing in satellite cities said vitalization of the real estate market is necessary, a survey showed on Thursday.According to a poll by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 54 percent of the 500 adults and 88 property experts said a boom in the real estate market is needed.About 20 percent of the respondents said vitalization is unnecessary while 25 percent of them did not pick ei

IndustryJuly 12, 2012

DNA study adds weight to disputed view of migration into North America

LOS ANGELES ― Supporting a controversial view of how humans might have populated the Western Hemisphere, geneticists have found that groups from Asia traveled over the Bering Strait into North America in at least three separate migrations beginning more than 15,000 years ago ― not in a single wave, as has been widely thought.“We have various lines of evidence that there was more than one migration,” said Dr. Andres Ruiz-Linares, a professor of human genetics at University College London and seni

TechnologyJuly 12, 2012