Korea vulnerable to oil price hikes: Goldman

Higher oil prices will have a greater impact on Korea than other Asian economies, Goldman Sachs said, indicating its economic growth is more exposed to oil price risks.Goldman Sachs said Korea’s economic growth, along with that of Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore, will be reduced by 30 basis points in proportion to a 10 percentage point rise in global crude oil prices.Countries in Asia, with the exc

March 10, 2011

U.S. lawmakers threaten to stall Korea trade pact

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday threatened to hold up a trade pact with Korea unless President Barack Obama’s administration moves ahead on separate deals with Colombia and Panama.Obama, who faces skepticism on free trade from part of his Democratic Party’s base, has publicly called for approval of deals with all three nations this year but wants time to fine-tune the packages with

March 10, 2011

Ministry to review FTA documents, translations

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will review the entire text of the Korean-language version of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement, and correct any errors found before the provisional session of the National Assembly scheduled to begin in April.“Review will take place over the next three weeks from today until the end of March,” Deputy Trade Minister Choi Seok-young said. “A temporary taskf

IndustryMarch 10, 2011

FTC OKs Hana’s purchase of KEB

The Fair Trade Commission ruled on Thursday Hana Financial Group’s takeover of Korea Exchange Bank does not violate competition rules, bringing the nation’s fourth largest banking group a step closer to winning regulatory approval due next Wednesday.The watchdog notified the Financial Supervisory Commission that the planned purchase does not necessarily reduce competition in the industry as the nu

March 10, 2011

NPS halts trading with Deutsche Bank Korea

Korea’s biggest investor the National Pension Service said Thursday that it would stop placing stock and derivative orders with the Korean branch of Deutsche Bank AG for six months following the regulator’s six-month suspension of the local unit. The pension fund will not trade through the German brokerage “to limit exposure to institutions that received regulatory penalties, in order to reduce th

March 10, 2011

KORES drops bid for Australia coal producer

A consortium led by state-run Korea Resources Corp. has dropped a bid for an Australian coal producer to focus more on other businesses, KORES said Thursday.“Coal is no longer a priority when it comes to our business. We have been concentrating more on developing other minerals such as rare earth metals and lithium lately,” a KORES official told The Korea Herald. The consortium also includes local

IndustryMarch 10, 2011

KOTRA to offer consultations to foreign firms

State-run Korea Trade-Investment Agency said Thursday that it will offer visiting consulting services for foreign firms in the country, aiming to boost their investments. “The consulting service is expected to raise the amount of foreign direct investments in the country, as we will visit foreign firms here and try to solve their difficulties from now on,” the trade agency said. The Investment Con

IndustryMarch 10, 2011

Games industry to benefit from deregulation

But industry officials complain that multiple issues still have to be dealt withAttention is focusing on what impact the revised bill to open up the game market will have on the local gaming industry.The parliamentary legislation committee passed a revised bill on game industry promotions Wednesday, following a two-year delay.According to the revision, games that are designed to be released in an

IndustryMarch 10, 2011

Daejeon Ye Dental gains JCI approval

Daejeon Ye Dental Clinic earned accreditation from Joint Commission International in January. This type of accreditation ― a first for a Korean clinic ― is widely used to evaluate the overall facilities as well as the techniques and services of a medical institute according to an international standard. “Earning accreditation from the JCI will be another step toward excellence,” said clinic chief

TechnologyMarch 10, 2011

Constipation on rise among teens

The number of people suffering from constipation is on a steep rise, the National Health Insurance Corporation said Monday. According to its research on insurance payments between 2002 and 2009, 1.428 million people were treated for constipation in 2009, which is about a 50 percent jump from 2002’s 927,000.Women outnumbered men 800,000 to 630,000 and teenagers showed a significant increase of 7.65

TechnologyMarch 10, 2011

SNU hospital succeeds in lung transplant

Doctors at Seoul National University Hospital successfully transplanted a lung on a stage-4 lung cancer patient last year for the first time in Korea. According to Prof. Kang Chang-hyun of the cardiothoracic department, a 58-year-old patient was diagnosed with stage-1 lung cancer in 2006 and had her left lower lobe removed. Then in 2007, the disease relapsed, spread to both lungs and the cancer de

TechnologyMarch 10, 2011