LG Electronics said Thursday that it will launch four new wireless gadgets, including a 5-inch smartphone, by the first half of this year.Starting with the release of its tablet PC Optimus Pad LTE, the firm will unveil three more smartphones as it aims to make a comeback this year with devices that run on the fourth generation Long Term Evolution network.“Including the Optimus Pad LTE and the 5-inch smartphone, we plan to roll out two other smartphones in the first half,” said an LG official. Th

IndustryJan. 26, 2012

With a surging number of Chinese tourists here, their shopping list are becoming more diverse to include sanitary napkins and rubber kitchen gloves, industry officials said Thursday.China has been boasting of their growing appetite for air travel, luxury goods and other high-end products as the middle class expands rapidly in the world’s second-largest economy.A typical shopping list for a Chinese visitor to Korea would include designer-brand bags, cosmetics, jewelry and clothes. During Asia’s b

IndustryJan. 26, 2012

Two leading mobile carriers, SK Telecom and KT Corp., said Thursday they would begin selling used smartphones at outlets across the nation in the upcoming months.KT plans to sell used smartphones online and offline starting in March and its rival SKT expects to offer used smartphones at the firm’s outlets a month later in April.KT is also planning to devise a discounted monthly payment plan called the “green sponsor” policy in May to give further assistance to used phone purchasers, according to

IndustryJan. 26, 2012

Backed by family-owned corporate network, chaebol progeny chase easy moneyFounders of Korea’s major enterprises devoted their lives to building a manufacturing powerhouse of the world’s best ships, cars and electronics, but their grandchildren are more interested in selling pastries and importing luxury items. A slew of chaebol offspring have jumped into the bakery or coffee shop business, possibly driving out small, individually owned confectioneries. The number of bakeries run by self-employed

IndustryJan. 26, 2012

Shinhan conducts early retirement program for first time since 2009The nation’s banking sector has been striving to cut workforces amid growing worries over low cost-efficiency from the lackluster earnings outlook.Among the banks are Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Standard Chartered Korea and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation. Others such as Woori and Citi will possibly follow suit.Shinhan Bank, which conducted a large-scale personnel reshuffle on Thursday, said about 250 employees will

Jan. 26, 2012

Samsung Electronics and POSCO have been included in the top 100 of the world’s most sustainable large companies, Canadian business paper Corporate Knights announced Thursday.Samsung ranked 73th, rising 20 spots from last year. POSCO secured the No. 30 slot, positioning itself as the only steelmaker to have put its name on the list released at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. The 2012 Global 100 list isolates the top 10 percent of companies from 3,500 global stocks, which were then

IndustryJan. 26, 2012

Korean stocks finished 0.25 percent higher on Thursday as foreign investors continued buying local shares following the Federal Reserve’s pledge to keep interest rates low, analysts said. The local currency climbed against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark KOSPI added 4.95 points to reach 1,957.18, extending a winning streak to a fourth straight session. Trading volume was moderate at 403 million shares worth 5.46 trillion won ($4.86 billion) with gainers leading losers 511 to 286. “After the KOSPI

Jan. 26, 2012

Financial regulators are been in the last stage before their ruling on Lone Star Funds’ eligibility as the biggest shareholder of Korea Exchange Bank.“Inspectors are finally reviewing the issue as to whether Lone Star has been a non-financial investor (which is banned from owning a local bank),” Financial Services Commission chairman Kim Seok-dong told reporters Thursday.But Kim said the FSC has yet to decide whether to announce its stance on the U.S.-based equity fund at the panel discussion, s

Jan. 26, 2012

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said Thursday that its 2011 earnings reached a record high on brisk sales in domestic and overseas markets.Net profit reached 8.1 trillion won (US$7.1 billion) last year, up 35.1 percent from 6 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a reg

MobilityJan. 26, 2012

Korea’s credit card spending jumped nearly 10 percent last year despite regulators’ policy that attempted to keep the purchases through plastic at bay, data showed Wednesday. According to the Bank of Korea and the Credit Finance Association, the country’s credit card spending last year is estimated at upward of 540 trillion won ($478.5 billion) as of the end of 2011, up from 493.7 trillion won in the previous year. The 2011 figure ranked second-highest after 622 trillion won recorded in 2002, a

Jan. 25, 2012

Geislinger GmbH, Austria’s leading engine parts maker, will set up a manufacturing base in Busan to facilitate supplies to local shipbuilders, city officials said Wednesday.The Salzburg-based firm clinched an agreement with the Busan government to build a plant at the southern port city’s industrial complex and hire more than 100 workers by injecting $10 million, officials said. They did not give details on the time frame. The deal marks the largest project involving an international company sin

IndustryJan. 25, 2012

Medipost, a Korean biotech startup, is seeking to export its stem-cell based arthritis medicine Cartistem to other countries in Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, company officials said Wednesday.Cartistem is the world’s first approved allogeneic stem cell drug. It is designed to regenerate knee cartilage using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. The Korea Food & Drug Administration gave approval for commercial sales of the new product last week. Dong-A Pharmaceutical, the count

IndustryJan. 25, 2012

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea’s leading consumer electronics maker, said Wednesday that it won a patent dispute with Whirlpool Corp. over technology used in refrigerators.In 2009, Whirlpool, a major American producer of home appliances, filed complaints against LG Electronics with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, claiming that it developed technology used to make a water and ice dispenser in refrigerators earlier than LG.The U.S. patent agency did not accept Whirlpool’s claim as it faile

TechnologyJan. 25, 2012

Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, said Wednesday it plans to draft measures to root out price rigging practices by next month amid growing public criticism against price collusion by big businesses.The group quoted Kim Soon-taek, head of the group’s revived team named the Samsung Corporate Strategy Office, as saying that price collusion is a clear act of harming a company.The group, which controls tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., said it plans to determine causes of why price

IndustryJan. 25, 2012