The Korea Herald

The Shilla Seoul to close for refurbishment

The Shilla Seoul said Friday that it would close in January for about six months for a major refurbishment. The hotel said that it would cease all hotel services during the six-month revamp, except the Shilla Duty Free Shop, which will be open throughout the refurbishment period. Having been built more than three decades ago, the hotel building needs to renovate the guestrooms and bathrooms, hotel officials said. They said that the project will only involve the interior of the hotel and not the

Nov. 23, 2012

The Shilla Seoul to close for refurbishment

LS Cable focuses on India in bid to become global leader in sector

LS Cable & System chairman Koo Cha-yol reaffirmed Friday the company’s goal of becoming the No. 1 player in the global cable industry, celebrating the 50th anniversary of its foundation. “Based on our prowess accumulated over the past 50 years, we will step up efforts to become the global No. 1 in the next 50 years,” Koo said during the ceremony at its headquarters in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday with some 400 company executives and guests in attendance. “The cable business is not just a

IndustryNov. 23, 2012

LS Cable focuses on India in bid to become global leader in sector

NPS chief Jun to serve one more year

The government decided to extend the term of National Pension Service chief Jun Kwang-woo by a year, officials said on Friday.The NPS chief’s three-year tenure was due to expire early next month.Health and welfare officials said the government made the decision in consideration of the performance the pension service achieved under Jun.According to officials, the number of subscribers of the national pension surpassed 20 million people and the NPS’ combined operating profits it collected by fund

Nov. 23, 2012

SK Telecom to merge SK Planet and SK M&C

SK Telecom, Korea’s biggest telecom company, is most likely to merge two of its subsidiaries ― SK Planet and SK Marketing & Company ― as a means to beef up its mobile business, industry sources said.The telecom giant will move forward with the merger and acquisition plan after it acquires SK Innovation’s 50 percent stake in SK M&C for a 100 percent controlling equity.SK Telecom will likely make SK Planet the surviving entity through a statutory merger with SK M&C, which will dissolve after the M

TechnologyNov. 23, 2012

4 investors show interest in Ssangyong E&C’s capital increase

Four domestic and foreign investors have expressed interest in Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co.’s planned rights offering of more than 150 billion won ($138 million), which is aimed at resolving the liquidity crisis of the embattled builder, officials of the state-run debt-clearer said Friday.The rights issue comes as Ssangyong’s creditors have been trying to sell the cash-strapped builder, the former construction arm of Ssangyong Group. Their latest attempt in August, fifth since 2007,

Nov. 23, 2012

Korea counters Lone Star’s ISD invocation

The government will have to pull out all the stops to ensure its victory over Lone Star Funds in a looming legal battle, pundits said on Friday, as the case will set a critical precedent. On Nov. 21, the Dallas-based private equity firm filed investor-state dispute, or ISD, arbitration claims at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Korean government for damages of up to 2.4 trillion won over its delayed approval of prospective buyers for Korea Exchange Bank.

Nov. 23, 2012

IEA says Korea a good example of green energy, nuclear power

South Korea is setting an example for the rest of the world to follow in developing new and clean energy sources, including nuclear energy, as part of efforts to fight climate change, a country report by an international organization said Friday.The International Energy Agency especially praised the country for its 2009 pledge to voluntarily cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from its business-as-usual levels in 2020.“In its report, the IEA very positively viewed the country’s setting a

Nov. 23, 2012

FILA Global chief Yoon wins Ernst & Young award

FILA Korea Ltd. and FILA Global chairman and CEO Gene Yoon won the sixth Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, or EOY, organizers said on Friday. The award is created to pioneer outstanding leaders of business whose strength and leadership inspire world. Out of six EOY awardees, Yoon won this year’s EOY Master’s Award in recognition of his excellence in mergers and acquisitions he showed in merging the global sports brand FILA, Ernst & Young Hanyoung said. In 2011, Yoon also succeeded in

IndustryNov. 23, 2012

FILA Global chief Yoon wins Ernst & Young award

Planets around cooling stars unlikely to support life: study

Exoplanets orbiting cooling stars like white dwarf and brown dwarf stars are unlikely to support life, new study suggestedAs those stars cool down over time, their habitable zone –- a zone where liquid water, therefore life may exist –- shift over time, according to research by Rory Barnes of the University of Washington and René Heller of Germany‘s Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam. Although theoretically both white and brown dwarf stars can be bright enough to create habitable zones,

TechnologyNov. 23, 2012

SK Telecom to merge SK Planet and SK M&C

SK Telecom, Korea’s biggest telecom company, is most likely to merge two of its subsidiaries -- SK Planet and SK Marketing & Company -- as a means to beef up their mobile business, industry sources said.The telecom giant will move forward with the merger and acquisition plan after it acquires SK Innovation’s 50 percent stake in SK M&C for a 100 percent controlling equity.SK Telecom will likely make SK Planet the surviving entity through a statutory merger with SK M&C, which will dissolve after t

TechnologyNov. 23, 2012

Argentine experts find giant penguin fossils in Antarctica

Argentine experts have discovered the fossils of a two-meter tall penguin that lived in Antarctica 34 million years ago.Paleontologists with the Natural Sciences Museum of La Plata province, where the capital Buenos Aires is located, said the remains were found on the icy southern continent."This is the largest penguin known to date in terms of height and body mass," said researcher Carolina Acosta, who noted that the record had been held by emperor penguins, which reach heights of 1.2 meters ta

TechnologyNov. 23, 2012

Argentine experts find giant penguin fossils in Antarctica

IEA report says S. Korea a good example of green energy, nuke development

South Korea is setting an example for the rest of the world to follow in developing new and clean energy sources, including nuclear energy, as part of efforts to fight climate change, a country report by an international organization said Friday.The International Energy Agency (IEA) especially praised the country for its 2009 pledge to voluntarily cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from its business-as-usual levels in 2020."In its report, the IEA very positively viewed the country's sett

Nov. 23, 2012

Manufacturing output in Korea's provincial areas slows in Q3

Annual growth of manufacturing production in South Korea's provincial areas eased in the third quarter as an indication of the slowing economy, the central bank said Friday.Output by manufacturers in Korea's provincial regions grew a mere 0.4 percent in the July-September period from a year earlier, slowing from a 1.6 percent on-year gain in the second quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The BOK said that the production by automakers and machinery firms remained lackluster in the third

Nov. 23, 2012

Seoul shares start higher on improved economic data

South Korean stocks started higher Friday as investor sentiment got a boost from improved economic data from China and the eurozone, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 4.69 points, or 0.25 percent, to trade at 1,904.19 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Tech shares led the gain, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics moving up 0.71 percent while its electronics component-making affiliate Samsung Electro-Mechanics gained 2.73 percent. Samsung SDI, the

Nov. 23, 2012

Viagra copycats slash original’s sales in half

The sales of Viagra, formerly the nation’s best-selling drug to treat erectile dysfunction, have dropped by more than half in the five months since local generic drugs entered the market, market research company IMS Health Inc. said on Thursday. IMS said that the sales of Viagra dropped continuously after the drug’s patent expired in May. Between January and April, before its patent expired, Viagra had marked average monthly sales of 2.1 billion won ($2 million).In September ― only four months a

TechnologyNov. 22, 2012

Service-sector, sales workers have Korea’s highest smoking rate

The smoking rate of young “white-collar” workers in the service and sales sectors was higher than that of “blue-collar” workers, a study showed Thursday.According to the study, 62.6 percent of male workers aged 19 to 34 in the service and sales sector smoked, higher than workers in “crafts and machine operation” and “skilled agricultural, fishery, and forest workers” with 62.2 percent and 50.9 percent, respectively. The smoking rate of workers with managerial and professional positions was the l

TechnologyNov. 22, 2012

Diet therapy for anorexia nervosa

In order to live a healthy life, we must maintain a healthy body weight. Excessive gain or loss in weight changes the body composition, resulting in decreased physical ability of the body such as a loss of desire, weakened immunity and physical retardation. This results in a decreased quality of life. The development of the food industry and the mass media has led to a culture where one can easily access tasty, fatty foods. At the same time, society demands an excessively slim figure, resulting

TechnologyNov. 22, 2012

Korea faces looming dementia crisis

Frequently the subject of tragic TV dramas, dementia is increasingly becoming a feature of everyday life. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a major form of dementia, and their families struggle with a meager support system and the physical, psychological and financial burden imposed by the disease. Family caregivers end up sacrificing themselves to fight against the disease without a cure. According to a report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, about 534,000 people have dementia in Korea.

TechnologyNov. 22, 2012

IBK opens office in New Delhi

South Korea’s state-run Industrial Bank of Korea said Thursday it has opened an office in New Delhi in a bid to help support smaller Korean firms operating there.IBK said the move came as more Korean companies are expected to foray into the Indian market where sound economic growth is anticipated and the environment for foreign investors is improving.The bank added that it plans to upgrade the office into a branch later to better cater to smaller Korean firms operating there. The Indian office h

IndustryNov. 22, 2012

Lone Star sues Korean government

Lone Star Funds has filed investor-state dispute arbitration claims against the Korean government for delaying the sale of the U.S.-based private equity firm’s controlling stake in Korea Exchange Bank, officials in Seoul said on Thursday.The equity firm brought the Korean government to the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, accusing it of violating a bilateral investment treaty between Korea and Belgium.This marked the first time that the Korean governme

Nov. 22, 2012