“Compassionate finance” has been the tagline for a key corporate philosophy of Shinhan Financial Group lately.Shinhan Financial chairman Han Dong-woo presented what the nation’s third-largest financial group has been doing for “compassionate finance” at the 2012 Dow Jones Sustainability Index international conference early this month at Seoul’s Shilla Hotel.Shinhan Financial’s “compassionate finance” was chosen as the most leading example of “creating shared value” among Korean companies.The ann

Oct. 29, 2012

Samsung Electronics, already a leading business force in most emerging nations, is determined to solidify its footing in Vietnam and China, widely regarded as two of the most significant and influential overseas markets for both Korea and the world. The company has previously invested extensively in the regions, but is expected to further expand, armed with bigger investments and incentives for both markets.Reflecting the urgency of the issue, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee earlier thi

IndustryOct. 29, 2012

Last year saw the total number of foreign workers in Korea surpass 700,000 for the first time, a consequence of an ever-rising demand for foreign labor. For many, Korea offers the chance to earn a living and acquire new skills in an exciting new environment. For others, however, thriving in a work culture often vastly different from their own is a constant struggle.One skilled worker from India found the rigid, hierarchal company culture at his workplace, one of the country’s biggest semiconduct

Oct. 29, 2012

A survey found that Asian SMEs have a lack of understanding of eco-innovation and more active public engagement about eco-innovation will be needed in Asia. ASEIC conducted the pilot survey in 2011 to get a better idea of the status of eco-innovation in SMEs in ASEM member countries. The pilot survey used a random sample of 1,180 SMEs across 12 ASEM member countries. The 12 ASEM member countries are China, Japan, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam in Asia and Austria, Denmark, France, Ger

Oct. 29, 2012

I was very pleased to hear that Korea was selected as the host country of the secretariat for the United Nations Green Climate Fund, or GCF, which will play an important role in addressing climate change worldwide. I know that Korea still has a long way to go, but it made me very proud as being named the host of the GCF clearly indicates that Korea has become a leader in global green growth. Korea deserves credit for becoming the home to the GCF. Many sectors of the nation have been pursuing gre

Oct. 29, 2012

For the past four years, Korea has made contributions to bridging between developed and developing countries in many sectors, ranging from political to business areas. Green growth is one such sector as the nation has taken a leading role globally by adopting green growth as one of its key development strategies for the first time in the world in 2009. In line with a vision for a green future, the Small and Medium Business Administration under the Ministry of Knowledge Economy has made contribut

Oct. 29, 2012

Kyobo Life Insurance chairman Shin Chang-jae won the top award at this year’s Asia Insurance Industry Awards in recognition for his exceptional leadership and pioneering a new life insurance culture.Shin was chosen as the “Personality of the Year” at the annual award ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, being the first Korean insurance company chief executive to receive the honor.“Shin has endeavored to put the company on the right track and establish a firm customer-oriented corporate cultu

Oct. 29, 2012

Japanese scientists claimed that they have found a way to decipher dreams, according to a report in science journal Nature.By analyzing activity in certain brain regions of a person who is dreaming, it is possible to predict the contents of the dream, according to Yukiyasu Kamitani of ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan.“We built a model to predict whether each category of content was present in the dreams,” said Kamitami. His study was presented earlier this month, at th

TechnologyOct. 29, 2012

Two-thirds of Australia‘s adult population are overweight or obese, a key study found Monday, with rates continuing to climb despite a drop in smoking and drinking.The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said people were continuing to pile on the kilos despite other findings indicating a switch to healthier habits.The study found 63.4 percent of the population are now classified as overweight or obese -- an increase of more than two percent from four years ago.Australia is ranked fifth among a

TechnologyOct. 29, 2012

Smoking costs women at least 10 years of life on average, but quitting at about age 30 may gain back those years, researchers in Britain said.“Both in Britain in the United States, women born around 1940 were the first generation in which many smoked substantial numbers of cigarettes throughout adult life,” Richard Peto of the University of Oxford said in a statement. “Hence, only in the 21st century could we observe directly the full effects of prolonged smoking, and of prolonged cessation, on

TechnologyOct. 29, 2012

Osteoporosis is a “silent” bone disease because most people -- the disease affects 10 million U.S. adults -- are unaware of it until a fracture, an expert said.Dr. Khashayar Sakhaee, chief of the mineral metabolism division at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said most often osteoporosis affects postmenopausal women who undergo a dramatic drop in estrogen -- a hormone that assists in the absorption of calcium and prevents calcium loss from the bone. However, the dis

TechnologyOct. 29, 2012

The unmanned SpaceX capsule made a safe splashdown in the Pacific Sunday after successfully delivering its first commercial payload to the International Space Station.The capsule parachuted into the water at 1922 GMT after an 18-day mission to resupply the station and was now being recovered by a team of divers, US-based SpaceX said in a brief statement on its website. The mission -- the first of 12 planned trips in SpaceX's $1.6 billion contract with US space agency NASA -- is a milestone for A

TechnologyOct. 29, 2012