Top 10 chaebol fill one-third of new auditor spots with ex-officials

South Korea's top 10 conglomerates plan to fill one-third of their new auditor positions with former bureaucrats and law enforcement officials, data showed Monday, a move that critics claim is meant to take advantage of their personal connections for corporate benefits.A total of 66 companies affiliated with the country's family-controlled conglomerates, known as chaebol, have either selected or plan to select 81 new finance managers through an annual general meeting of shareholders, according t

BusinessMarch 18, 2013

Music practice helps brain development

MONTREAL -- Musical training before the age of 7 has a significant effect on the parts of the brain involved with planning and motor abilities, Canadian researchers say.Virginia Penhune of Concordia University and her students Ph.D. candidates Christopher J. Steele and Jennifer A. Bailey, in collaboration with Robert J. Zatorre of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University tested 36 adult musicians on a movement task, and scanned their brains.The study, published in th

TechnologyMarch 18, 2013

Seoul shares down 0.44 pct in late-morning trade

South Korean stocks traded 0.44 percent lower late Monday morning due to losses in techs and logistics, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped8.76 points to 1,977.74 as of 11:20 a.m.Tech blue chips led the decline, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 2.43 percent and top flat panel manufacturer LG Display losing 0.16 percent. Leading plasma display panel maker Samsung SDI shed 0.71 percent.Logistics shares also traded lower, with Hyundai Glovis

BusinessMarch 18, 2013

S. Korea's producer price growth picks up in Feb.

South Korea's producer prices grew at a faster pace in February than the previous month as oil prices picked up and the local currency depreciated to the dollar, the central bank said Monday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, grew 0.7 percent in February from the previous month, after rising 0.2 percent on-month in January, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The data marked the fastest gain since a 0.7 percent on-month gain in February 2012.Last month, prices o

March 18, 2013

Sales of Hyundai cars in U.S. up 2 pct in Feb.

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. sold 52,000 vehicles in the United States in February, up 2 percent from a year ago, industry data showed Monday. The data showed that Hyundai's market share in the U.S. remained unchanged at 4.4 percent.Hyundai's smaller sister company, Kia Motors Corp., sold 41,500 units in the U.S., down 8 percent from a year ago. Its market share stood at 3.5 percent last month, down 0.44 percentage points from a year earlier.Hyundai and Kia ranked seventh in ter

IndustryMarch 18, 2013

Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street in the previous trading session, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell12.17 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1974.33 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares lost ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 2.3 percent and top auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis moving down 0.82 percent. Leading steelmaker POSCO decreased 0.15 percent.U.S. stocks ended l

BusinessMarch 18, 2013

Shares may trade in tight range this week

The South Korean stock market may trade in a narrow range this week, affected by a U.S. rate decision and overseas economic data, but it is not likely to face steep falls on global recovery hopes, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished at 1,986.50 last week, down 0.97 percent from a week earlier.The KOSPI was weighed down this week by heightened geopolitical risks from North Korea’s nuclear threats and the yen’s weakness, decoupling from the bullish gain in the U.

March 17, 2013

Nominee: M&A is alternative to Woori Finance privatization

The nominee to lead South Korea’s financial regulator has said that a merger and acquisition of state-owned Woori Finance Holdings Co. is an option to privatize the country’s top banking group by assets.Shin Je-yoon, President Park Geun-hye’s choice to lead the Financial Services Commission, said all investors should be allowed to place bids for Woori Finance and it would be better to quickly privatize financial firms that received public funds, according to a written answer to lawmakers as part

March 17, 2013

Government to allocate W1tr to energy R&D

The government plans to invest 1.36 trillion won ($1.22 billion) in energy-related research and development this year, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Sunday. Targeted R&D projects for investments will include technology development, improving human resources, international cooperation, and standardization in the energy sector. Most of all, the ministry will allocate 700 billion won to technology R&D, while human resources and international cooperation projects will attract 40.3 billion w

March 17, 2013

Rules may hurt local restaurants’ growth

Overseas business has been a dream for many Korean restaurant companies.They look up to global giants like McDonald’s or Yum! Brands, Inc., operator of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, that rake in billions of dollars worldwide.Among Korean firms, CJ Foodville is a frontrunner with about 130 stores abroad including Bibigo and VIPS restaurants, Tous Les Jours bakeries and A Twosome Place cafes, mostly in China and Southeast Asia.But even CJ is just in the investment stage, and is still far from thri

IndustryMarch 17, 2013

Hyundai ranks 4th in Brazil subcompact market

SAO PAULO (Yonhap News) ― Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, has maintained fourth place in subcompact passenger car sales in Brazil during the first two and half months of this year, the company said Sunday. Hyundai Motor, the world’s fifth largest automaker, has sold 6,124 units of the HB20 in the first half of March, a Hyundai spokesman said. The South Korean carmaker sold 10,179 units of the HB20 in Brazil in February alone, emerging as the fourth biggest seller in the subco

March 17, 2013

Government to help farmers sell directly to consumers

The government will soon introduce an agricultural products distribution system that connects farmers directly to consumers to greatly reduce the prices of farm products, government officials said Sunday. The move comes as President Park Geun-hye early last week pledged to improve the agriculture distribution system to guarantee higher incomes for farmers and lower prices for consumers.Both producers and consumers have long been unhappy with the country’s complicated distribution system in which

March 17, 2013

FSS to investigate ‘false’ leaks from KB Financial Group

Financial regulators pledged Sunday that they would take stern punitive measures against unidentified whistle-blowers at KB Financial Group, who leaked reportedly “skewed” insider information.One or more ranking figures of KB Financial have been suspected of spreading groundless allegations involving the financial group’s M&A strategies, said an official of the Financial Supervisory Service.A key unverified allegation is that “the financial group had to scrap its takeover bid for the Korean insu

March 17, 2013

Financial firms brace for customer protection report

The Financial Supervisory Service plans to publicize its yearly assessment of about 70 financial firms’ consumer protection, involving cases of customers’ complaints and dispute arbitration, next month.Attention is being paid to whether Kiwoom Securities in the brokerage industry and Chartis in the nonlife insurance industry will be given the lowest grade of “class 5 (or poor)” for the 10th consecutive year.Between 2004 (for the 2003 assessment) and 2012 (for the 2011 assessment), the two financ

March 17, 2013

EU hydrogen car project to use Hyundai Tucson ix

Hyundai Motor said Sunday that its hydrogen fuel cell sport utility vehicle Tucson ix, whose export name is ix35, will be used in the next round of the European Union’s pilot program promoting environment-friendly cars. Hyundai last month announced it started the mass production of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, becoming the first carmaker to do so in the world. The company expects sales to begin in Europe in 2015. Following its first participation in 2011, the Tucson ix will also join the seco

MobilityMarch 17, 2013