The Seoul economy was unharmed on Friday despite the failed rocket launch by North Korea in the morning, with the country’s benchmark bourse regaining the 2,000-point level after four days. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,009.91, up 22.28 points, or 1.12 percent, from the previous day.The local currency finished at 1,134.8 won to the U.S. dollar, down 5.8 won from Thursday’s close. Senior financial policymakers here had already predicted that North Korea’s provocation would hav

April 13, 2012

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Technology that sent unmanned aircraft over Iraq and Afghanistan soon could be steering unstaffed naval boats for such dangerous tasks as minesweeping, submarine detection, intelligence gathering and approaching hostile vessels.Defense contractor Textron Inc. demonstrated what it calls its Common Unmanned Surface Vessel technology Thursday at its Textron Marine & Land Systems s

TechnologyApril 13, 2012

South Korea's central bank on Friday left the key interest rate unchanged for the 10th straight month in April, as lingering inflationary concerns and weak pace of economic recovery challenge policymakers. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers froze the benchmark 7-day repo rate at 3.25 percent for this month, as widely expected. All 20 analysts polled by Yonhap Infom

April 13, 2012

South Korea’s business community breathed a sigh of relief as the general elections ended with a victory for the ruling Saenuri Party. The result led to expectations that there won’t be any drastic change in key economic polices. But local business organizations expressed concerns about intensifying political clashes ahead of the presidential election, a host of “populist” welfare pledges and bipartisan moves in favor of more regulations for conglomerates. The Korea Employers Federation, an orga

April 12, 2012

BMW Korea is recalling nearly 19,800 cars due to flawed battery cables that could cause fires, the country’s Transportation Ministry said Thursday.The recall applies to 17 models of its 5 Series and two each from the 6 Series and M Series manufactured between April 2003 and March 2010, according to the local unit of the world’s largest premium automaker.The announcement comes on the heels of the Munich-based group’s largest-ever recall in late March involving about 1.3 million vehicles for a pot

IndustryApril 12, 2012

Philip Morris International Korea said Thursday it plans to lower the prices of its Virginia Slims brand by almost 14 percent to better compete with other superslim cigarettes. Starting April 23, the Virginia Slims will be sold at 2,500 won ($2.20) a pack, down from the current 2,900 won, the Korean unit of the U.S. tobacco giant said. The Esse, the top-selling ultraslim cigarettes by KT&G Corp., also has the same price tag. Its 17 varieties together control about 80 percent in the segment here

IndustryApril 12, 2012

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. expects to boost offshore equipment contracts 34 percent this year and is in talks for its first order for a floating liquefied natural gas plant.The world’s third-biggest shipbuilder may win the order early as next month, senior executive vice president Ryu Wan-soo said in an April 9 interview in Seoul, without elaboration. The shipyard said in February that it was in talks to build the plant for Petroliam Nasional Bhd.Daewoo may also get a separate

April 12, 2012

Korea’s oil spot market hit a snag just two weeks after its launch as refiners, traders and vendors appear lukewarm about the electronic bourse aimed at boosting transparency and competition in the local petrol market. Since March 30, a mere 10 transactions have been at the Korea Exchange, the completed country’s bourse operator, with trading volumes staying at 300,000 liters. Only 120,000 liters of gasoline was sold via four deals, which were initiated by importers. The trading scheme is the la

IndustryApril 12, 2012

Both ruling and opposition parties pledge rate reduction to court voter supportA mobile rate cut is a campaign promise made by political parties every election year. Regardless of their political ideology, parties pledge rate cuts to lure voters in a nation where the penetration rate of smartphones is nearing 50 percent. This year’s parliamentary election to form the National Assembly ended Wednesday and the presidential election will take place in December. Apparently mindful of the elections,

IndustryApril 12, 2012

South Korean banks’ household loans contracted in March from the previous month as people borrowed less money using their overdraft accounts, the central bank said Thursday. Local banks’ household loans, including home-backed loans and credit loans, reached 452.3 trillion won ($393.6 billion) as of the end of March, down 413.9 billion won from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. Lenders’ household loans fell last month after rising by 464.8 billion won in February, as loans secured

April 12, 2012

South Korea’s jobless rate decelerated in March thanks mainly to a rise in jobs in the service sector, a government report showed Thursday.The jobless rate stood at 3.7 percent last month, down from 4.2 percent in February, according to the report by Statistics Korea. A total of 419,000 jobs were added to payrolls in March with 24.26 million people employed in the country, the report showed.The employment rate edged up 0.3 percentage points to 58.6 percent, although the number of jobs created fe

April 12, 2012

South Korea’s money supply rose 0.7 percent in February from the previous month on the rise of short-term savings at banks, the central bank said Thursday. The country’s M2, a narrow measure of the money supply, reached a seasonally adjusted 1,768.3 trillion won ($1.54 trillion) in February, compared with 1,756.1 trillion won in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. Compared with a year earlier, the M2 also expanded 5.3 percent in the month. Since January, the central bank began re

April 12, 2012