The Korea Herald

China aims to seal free trade deal with Korea within 2 years

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― China aims to strike a free trade deal with South Korea within two years, the country’s top state planner said Monday, stressing it will spur the pace of economic integration in Northeast Asia. Earlier this month, the two neighboring countries announced the start of free trade negotiations, setting in motion a process to tear down trade barriers between two of Asia’s biggest economies.The first round of talks on a bilateral free trade agreement will take place later thi

May 14, 2012

Korea, China agree on terms of FTA negotiations

Korea and China on Monday set the terms of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement in their first round of bargaining in Beijing, and agreed to hold the next round of talks in Korea in early July.The two sides set the detailed rules on how to proceed with the negotiations, discussed the scope and coverage of the FTA as well as how to organize the negotiation working groups, Seoul’s Trade Ministry said in a statement.The terms of reference covered the principles of the negotiation, obje

May 14, 2012

Regulator to inspect Nonghyup Bank, NACF

Financial authorities are set to launch an inspection into the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and Nonghyup Bank over frequent online transaction system breakdowns and irregular lending practices.“We plan to begin a comprehensive check-up on Nonghyup Bank within May. The inspection will take more than a month,” an official at the Financial Supervisory Service said, suggesting the high intensity of the examination.Nonghyup Bank’s cyber network broke down several times after transacti

May 14, 2012

World Bank to bring Korean development model to emerging markets

Korea is one of the world’s most connected countries with people enjoying high-speed Internet access and advanced information and communication technology. Its transportation system integrating with ICT is highly modernized and efficient.These are two of Korea’s most competitive development models the World Bank hopes to bring to developing and underdeveloped countries.Rachel Kyte, vice president of the World Bank, said whether it is fragile, poor, middle-income or low-income economies, they are

May 14, 2012

World Bank to bring Korean development model to emerging markets

Boehlinger Ingelheim seeks supporter group

Boehlinger Ingelheim Korea is seeking to recruit female college supporters for a new leg-cooling spray named Alistak.The 30 successful candidates will engage in online promotion activities for the new product for about two months, according to the company.Any female college students with fresh ideas will be able to apply for the position, the company added.Five excellent supporters among the group will be given prize money and an opportunity for an interview with the company to select an intern.

May 14, 2012

Joris Dierckx to head BNP Paribas Seoul

BNP Paribas announced on Friday the appointment of Joris Dierckx as country head for Korea and general manager of BNP Paribas Seoul branch. Dierckx started his post on Monday. Dierckx has been the country head for Greece for BNP Paribas since 2010. He started his career in Asia in 2001 at Fortis Bank, where he held management positions in Singapore and Tokyo in the area of export and project finance. He served as country manager for Japan as well as acting head for Merchant Banking Asia. He has

May 14, 2012

Young jobseekers covet Google Korea

Foreign companies popular among 20-somethings seeking benefits and challengesA 29-year-old office worker who has been working at a South Korean conglomerate for about four years recently turned in his C.V. to Google Korea. It was not that sudden a decision ― he has been networking with people working at foreign companies and attending study groups for a while. “The welfare or pay (at the company I am currently working at) is not bad. But as it is such a big group, there is little that an indivi

IndustryMay 14, 2012

Nine-meter ‘monster’ found in Alaskan lake may be shark

A mysterious underwater creature straight out of legend, or just your garden-variety marine life?A biologist has suggested that the nine-meter fish dubbed “Illie,” which has been spotted several times in Lake Iliamna in Alaska over the last several decades, may turn out to be just a strain of sleeper shark, according to local news reports.Bruce Wright, a senior scientist from the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association said that the size, shape and color of the elusive beast match those of a sleep

TechnologyMay 14, 2012

Nine-meter ‘monster’ found in Alaskan lake may be shark

S. Korea, China, Japan adopt joint declaration without mentioning North Korea

South Korea, China and Japan adopted a joint declaration Monday that sums up annual summit talks between their leaders held the previous day, but the document made no mention of North Korea and its provocative behavior.The omission of any clause on North Korea highlights the difference that the South and Japan have with China over how to deal with Pyongyang. Beijing, the North's last-remaining maj

May 14, 2012

‘UFO’ near Sun? NASA image sparks debate

A YouTube video purporting to show a UFO near the Sun has re-ignited the decades-old debate over alien existence.The video, posted by user “rob19791” on May 5, shows what the user claims to be a triangular object hovering just above the Sun’s surface. The image featured in the video was provided by NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.The object seems to be over 100,000 kilometers in length -- as big as the planet Saturn-- with long mechanical arms.A day after the video was uploaded on YouT

TechnologyMay 14, 2012

‘UFO’ near Sun? NASA image sparks debate

Fanatic Diablo 3 fans flock for rare edition

Avid fans of the wildly popular online role-playing game ‘Diablo’ series have gathered in masses to buy the limited edition of the game on Monday.By early Sunday, approximately 1,300 gamers were lined up outside a store near Wangsimni station in Seoul to purchase the game, a day before it was even released.Desperate fans have even packed sleeping bags and tents to spend the night anticipating the moment when their 12-year wait finally pays off.First released in 1996, the “Diablo” franchise has e

TechnologyMay 14, 2012

Fanatic Diablo 3 fans flock for rare edition

Panama fisherman sues cruise line for not helping

A Panamanian man who watched his two companions die while surviving at sea for 28 days in their small disabled boat has sued a U.S. cruise line because one of its ships failed to help, his attorney said Sunday.Attorney Edna Ramos said the lawsuit alleging negligence by Prince Cruise Lines was filed in a Florida state court on behalf of Adrian Vazquez.The 18-year-old Vazquez and companions Fernando

IndustryMay 14, 2012

Yahoo! chief steps down

Yahoo! announced Sunday that Ross Levinsohn will temporarily replace chief executive Scott Thompson, who has stepped down in the face of controversy about his allegedly inflated resume.The California-based company, in a compromise with activist investor Daniel Loeb, said Fred Amoroso would take charge of the board of directors as the struggling Internet pioneer seeks its sixth new chief in as many

IndustryMay 14, 2012

Fiat finalizing plan to reenter Korea

Italian auto giant Fiat is fine-tuning its plan to reenter the Korean market with its head office expected to finalize related discussions in the coming weeks. “The Asia-Pacific branch has already approved the reentry into Korea, with the final decision remaining to be made by the head office,” said a spokesperson of Chrysler Korea. She added that a high-ranking official from Fiat Group is scheduled to visit Seoul to finalize the issue in the coming weeks. The specific date of the visit has yet

IndustryMay 13, 2012

Hanwha to back eco-friendly small enterprises

Hanwha Group, a Korean conglomerate with businesses in chemicals and finance, said it will back eco-friendly and socially responsible small and medium-size companies for the first time.It has chosen 18 companies after screening a list of corporate applicants for shared growth between March 29 and April 13, the group said in a press release. The conglomerate plans to provide assistance in the areas of financing, marketing, product development and market entrance for the 18 companies, with the aim

IndustryMay 13, 2012

Hanwha to back eco-friendly small enterprises

Better 2Q performance for online portals: analysts

The country’s top internet portals are expected to make comebacks in the second quarter of this year, despite lackluster earnings in the first quarter, analysts said.Last week, the No.1 online portal NHN posted 576.7 billion won ($503 million) in sales and 161.8 billion won in operating profit from January to March.The firm’s sales figure surged 14.2 percent from the same period a year ago, but slipped 3.7 percent in operating profit.However, NHN, better known for its search engine Naver, was no

IndustryMay 13, 2012

SKT taps into black box business

SK Telecom said Sunday that it will tap into the wireless digital tachograph service market by rolling out black boxes for cars in collaboration with small and mid-sized firms.The country’s top mobile carrier said that it formed a consortium with device makers Dongsun Electronics and Choyoung Automotive as well as system operator UB First and its affiliate SK Marketing and Company to build the car accident data recording system, also known as the black box.Called the “smart digital” black box, i

IndustryMay 13, 2012

Lotte, Shinsegae sanctioned for deceptive labeling

Antitrust regulator slaps only 45 million won in fines on 9 online malls The Fair Trade Commission said Sunday that it has sanctioned some conglomerate-based online shopping malls for fabricating product labels in violation of laws on electronic commerce.They included the cyber shopping malls for the nation’s big three department stores ― Lotte (lotte.com), Hyundai and Shinsegae ― and four home-shopping operators ― GS, CJ, NS and Lotte (lotteimall.com).Two other players were the Interpark INT an

IndustryMay 13, 2012

Smartphones drive robust demand for AMOLED: report

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Global demand for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode displays is expected to remain robust thanks to their increased use in smartphones, a report said Friday. “Our channel checks indicate that Samsung is likely to expand its AMOLED capacity from July 2012 to meet robust demand for AMOLED-based smartphones. We expect AMOLED equipment vendors to benefit from this development,” said Shin So-yun, an analyst at Macquarie Securities, in the report. AMOLED displays are

TechnologyMay 13, 2012

Korea, Vladivostok reach open-skies accord

South Korea and the Russian city of Vladivostok reached an open-skies accord in an effort to meet growing two-way demand for passengers and cargo, the government said Saturday.Under the agreement, South Korean airlines will be allowed to fly an unlimited number of times per week to the city in the eastern edge of Russia, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said.At present, only one South Korean and one Russian airline company offer regular flights. Korean Air Lines Co., the coun

May 13, 2012