The Korea Herald

Sales at discount outlets, department stores plunge in Jan.

Sales at the country's major discount outlet chains plunged from a year earlier last month with sales of department stores also dropping significantly, the government said Thursday, pointing to worsening consumer sentiments here.The combined sales of the country's three major discount outlet chains fell 24.6 percent from the same period last year in January, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The three outlet chains are Lotte Mart, E-Mart and Homeplus.The ministry attributed such a

Feb. 21, 2013

Sony bills coming PS4 console as future of gaming

Sony unveiled a new-generation PlayStation 4 system on Wednesday and laid out its vision for the "future of gaming" in a world rich with mobile gadgets and play streamed from the Internet cloud.At a press event in New York, computer entertainment unit chief Andrew House said PS4 "represents a significant shift from thinking of PlayStation as a box or console to thinking of the PlayStation 4 as a leading place for play."PS4 was designed to get to know players, ideally to the point of being able t

TechnologyFeb. 21, 2013

Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Thursday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 6.82 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,017.82 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Large caps mostly retreated, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics slipping 0.19 percent and the country's top steelmaker POSCO slumping 1.35 percent.The local currency was trading at 1,081.85 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 3.35 w

Feb. 21, 2013

Green energy industry prospects dimming

The nation’s clean energy businesses are going downhill, squeezed by a slump in domestic demand and exports, according to a report.The report released by the Renewable Energy Center under Korea Export-Import Bank forecast that sales of the local renewable energy industry were expected to post minus growth this year over 2012, mainly due to slow local demand. Sales in the clean energy industry have shown a downward trend for two consecutive years in 2011 and 2012, after peaking in 2010 at 8.1 tri

IndustryFeb. 20, 2013

[Newsmaker] Nominee for science ministry in tight spot

Controversy over the appointment of Kim Jeong-hoon as the minister of future creation and science is growing as opposition lawmakers are increasingly questioning his nationality and patriotism.Kim’s strong track record as an entrepreneur and engineer with a rich education background, was not enough for the opposition Democratic United Party, which argued that it was against the law to appoint someone who has foreign citizenship.It also raised concerns about Kim’s loyalties, pointing out that he

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2013

[Newsmaker] Nominee for science ministry in tight spot

[Graphic News] One in three North Americans uses a Korean smartphone

More than 1 in 3 North American smartphone owners use a made-in-Korea device, according to Strategy Analytics, a U.S. market research firm.The company said Apple became the biggest seller of smartphones in North America with a 37.6 percent market share last year. But Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics continued to increase their sales in U.S. and Canada with market shares of 26.6 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.Market analysts said the two Korean companies’ combined sales are expected

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2013

[Graphic News] One in three North Americans uses a Korean smartphone

Shinhan Financial may face rating downgrade

Investigations into Shinhan Financial Group by the prosecution and the financial regulators over a series of alleged wrongdoings may damage the lender’s credit rating this year, market insiders said Wednesday. They said Shinhan Financial would have to be wary of another downgrade in its credit rating this year, following a case from its embezzlement scandal in 2010.Their negative outlook on Shinhan Financial ― though it posted the highest earnings among Korea’s financial firms last year ― is bas

Feb. 20, 2013

Hyundai-Kia’s overseas sales to trump 50m units

Hyundai-Kia’s accumulated overseas sales volume is set to break the 50-million mark next month.The two affiliated automakers sold 48.33 million units abroad as of late last year since Kia shipped off 10 Brisa pickup trucks bound for Qatar 38 years ago.Since the two companies’ average monthly sales abroad range between half a million and 600,000 units, their accumulated sales volume is expected to surpass 50 million units in March, Hyundai said.Hyundai Motor started exports in 1976 by shipping of

IndustryFeb. 20, 2013

Shinsegae’s Chung steps down as board director

Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin will step down as board director of Shinsegae Co. and E-Mart, the retail giant said Wednesday amid ongoing prosecution’s investigations into those companies.The prosecution has for months been looking into whether Chung ordered Shinsegae affiliates to back their sister bakery firm, Shinsegae SVN, and allegations that E-Mart spied on its employees to discourage union activities.The CEOs of each Shinsegae affiliate will lead existing businesses while Ch

IndustryFeb. 20, 2013

Shinsegae’s Chung steps down as board director

Korea-made Chevrolet Trax unveiled

GM Korea unveiled Wednesday the Chevrolet Trax, a new compact sport utility vehicle that GM’s small vehicle development team has been leading the engineering and design of over the past five years. Amid the growing acceptance of small-engine, fuel-efficient vehicles globally, carmakers have recently been betting big on the niche segment ― compact SUVs. And the Korean-flavored Trax is the first of its kind to be introduced here. “Trax is a vehicle of a new concept. It combines functionality of SU

IndustryFeb. 20, 2013

Shares jump 1.95% on exporters

South Korean stocks ended 1.95 percent higher on Wednesday as a rosy outlook on the global economy prompted investors to pick up blue-chip exporters, analysts said.The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 38.81 points to 2,024.64. Trading volume was moderate at 401.6 million shares worth 4.8 trillion won ($4.5 billion), with gainers far outnumbering decliners 559 to 233.Foreigners and institutions snapped up shares, but retail inv

Feb. 20, 2013

Yongsan development project faces key decision this week

A crucial decision on the future of the faltering Yongsan project, the nation’s biggest property development worth about 31 trillion won ($30 billion), is expected to come this week as the developer and major shareholders are set to hold a separate meeting.The state-run KORAIL, the largest shareholder in the project, will hold a board meeting Thursday to decide whether to back the issuance of asset-backed commercial paper worth 300 billion won ($278 million), one of last resorts to finance the p

Feb. 20, 2013

Lee retires as CEO of Homeplus

Lee Seung-han, chief executive of Homeplus, Tesco Korea, has decided to retire from his post in May, Tesco plc said. Lee will be staying on as a non-executive chairman of Homeplus Group.“He will also be appointed to chairman and professor emeritus of the Tesco Leadership Academy; remain chairman of the e-Paran Foundation; and become a personal adviser to me,” Philip Clarke, CEO of the British retailer, said in a statement Tuesday evening.Lee took the helm of what was then Samsung C&T’s retail di

IndustryFeb. 20, 2013

Kim offers to resign as micro credit bank chief

Smile Microcredit Bank chairman Kim Seung-yu has expressed his intention to step down from his post, said the Financial Services Commission, the parent entity of the state-run bank.President Lee Myung-bak had installed his college classmate Kim as chief of the foundation, which runs more than 100 micro credit outlets across the country for the underprivileged.While the extended term of Kim, who had worked as chairman of Hana Financial Group, is scheduled to end in February 2015, he reportedly te

Feb. 20, 2013

Kim offers to resign as micro credit bank chief

2G phones back with a vengeance?

Someone casually pulls out his phone from his pocket during a coffee break in between a series of morning meetings, peers at it for a while before flipping open the lid to start talking into the mouthpiece.At the gesture, several of his colleagues look on in surprise ― shock even ― and they venture to ask him, “how in the world can you still be holding onto such a phone?”Flip phones are usually feature phones, also called second-generation or 2G phones running on the previous second-generation c

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2013

Samsung healthcare joint venture teams up with Merck

Samsung Bioepis, one of Samsung’s healthcare affiliates, said Wednesday it has signed an agreement with U.S. pharmaceuticals giant Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. to cooperate in the biosimilar sector.Under the deal with the New Jersey-based company, Samsung Bioepis will take charge of developing, testing and manufacturing biosimilar products, the company said in a press release.Merck will use its global distribution network to promote and sell biosimilars, officially approved copycat medicines develo

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2013

China becomes world’s top smartphone market

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― China has emerged as the world’s largest smartphone market on the rising demand of the device, overtaking the United States, a market report showed Wednesday.The number of smartphones sold in China is estimated to 150 million units between January 2012 and January 2013, industry researcher Flurry said. During the same period, a total of 55 million smartphones were sold in the U.S., according to Flurry.A total of 246 million units were used in China as of January, while

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2013

Keep eye on data centers’ electricity bills

In 2013, an unfamiliar item may start landing on the desks of many chief information officers: the electricity bill for their corporate data centers.My bet is that bill will be unwanted, but not unexpected. For years, managers in charge of these facilities handled those cost while CIOs ― well, most never saw or cared about that side of the business.But after a dozen years of designing data centers in an ad hoc way, throwing inefficient, commodity servers at the problem of ever-rising demand for

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2013

Keep eye on data centers’ electricity bills

LG Display drops Galaxy Note 10.1 sales ban request

LG Display Co. said Wednesday it has dropped its request for a domestic sales ban on Samsung Galaxy Note10.1 devices, raising hopes the No. 2 display maker and its rival Samsung Display Co. are inching closer to settling their longstanding quarrel over display technology.LG Display and Samsung Display, the world’s two biggest display makers, have been involved in a legal squabble over organic light-emitting diode and liquid-crystal display technology following investigations into an alleged leak

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2013

Samsung Everland to build eco-houses for low bracket

Samsung Everland is setting out to help rehabilitate the homes of low-income families, featuring its strength in eco-friendly, energy-saving technology.The company on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Habitat for Humanity Korea to jointly help reconstruct old houses of poor families, as part of its corporate social responsibility efforts, officials said.In the signing ceremony, held at the company headquarters in central Seoul, CEO Kim Bong-yung delivered a 300 million won ($280,

IndustryFeb. 20, 2013

Samsung Everland to build eco-houses for low bracket