Most Popular
-
1
Heavy snow alerts issued in greater Seoul area, Gangwon Province; over 20 cm of snow seen in Seoul
-
2
Seoul blanketed by heaviest Nov. snow, with more expected
-
3
Seoul snowfall now third heaviest on record
-
4
Samsung shakes up management, commits to reviving chip business
-
5
Heavy snow of up to 40 cm blankets Seoul for 2nd day
-
6
How $70 funeral wreaths became symbol of protest in S. Korea
-
7
Seoul's first snowfall could hit hard, warns weather agency
-
8
Why cynical, 'memeified' makeovers of kids' characters are so appealing
-
9
BOK makes surprise 2nd rate cut to boost growth
-
10
Hybe consolidates chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s regime with leadership changes
-
Chaebol ownership strengthened this year: FTC
Chaebol owners’ control of management has been strengthened with an increase in conglomerate shareholdings, a government report said.The Fair Trade Commission said Sunday that the nation’s top conglomerates were still slow to reform ownership and had adopted intra-group shareholdings more actively this year. The FTC, which surveyed the nation’s 63 large companies, found that 43 conglomerate owners, especially, have expanded control through the so-called “circular shareholding” structure.Circular
IndustryJuly 1, 2012
-
SKT launches multicarrier service
SK Telecom, Korea’s biggest mobile carrier, said Sunday that it has officially launched its new multicarrier service as of midnight, July 1.This marks the first time for a telecom company anywhere to offer such a service, which uses two frequencies of 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz for Long Term Evolution smartphones.It allows 4G consumers to experience less mobile traffic in locations such as Gangnam in southern Seoul where people using mobile devices are densely populated.The telecom giant launched a tes
TechnologyJuly 1, 2012
-
E-Mart looks to buy stores from NS Home Shopping: reports
Discount chain store operator E-Mart is looking to acquire retail stores and a distribution center belonging to NS Home Shopping, according to media reports.The company is said to have signed a memorandum of understanding with NS and that E-Mart will begin due diligence on its counterpart’s assets next week.The acquisition price of 23 nationwide stores owned by NS is estimated to be around 50 bill
IndustryJuly 1, 2012
-
LG Uplus vows to lead LTE technology in Korea
LG Uplus said Sunday that it would introduce five exclusive Long Term Evolution network services this year.The country’s third-largest mobile carrier said it would provide high-definition voice services as well as upgraded cloud services as the second part of its project to expand fourth generation network provision.“What defines LTE service is that it will be faster and the network will enable us to enjoy various media services, as well as offering a platform for all Internet-based services,” t
IndustryJuly 1, 2012
-
Top 100 firms’ assets total nearly W1,500tr: report
The top 100 companies in South Korea have collective assets of nearly 1,500 trillion won ($1.36 trillion), equaling 95 percent of the nation’s public assets, according to a report released on Sunday. Chaebul.com, an online corporate information provider, said that the 100 groups excluding state-owned or public enterprises had assets of 1,446.76 trillion won as of last year. The financial power of private companies stands shoulder-to-shoulder with that of the nation, said the report, and is expec
July 1, 2012
-
Korea’s Iranian oil imports nearly halve in May
Korea’s imports of Iranian oil fell nearly half in May from the previous month as local refiners moved to switch their suppliers in the face of international sanctions against Tehran, industry data showed Sunday.Korea imported 3.96 million barrels of Iranian crude in May, down 47.3 percent from 7.52 million barrels in April, according to the data compiled by the Korea National Oil Corp. It is the lowest monthly tally since October 2010 when the country bought 3.72 million barrels of oil from Ira
July 1, 2012
-
Samsung Electronics expected to hit record earnings in second quarter
But technology giant will still fall short of market expectations, analysts saySamsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, is likely to have reached record-high earnings in the second quarter of this year.But the company is expected to deliver results below market expectations, with many analysts lowering their initial forecast due to the eurozone crisis and continued slowdown in the semiconductor sector.The general consensus among analysts indicated that the tech manufacturing gi
TechnologyJuly 1, 2012
-
Public institutions’ debt ratio soars in 2011
Korean public institutions’ debt surged in 2011 from the previous year due mainly to increased spending on large-scale investment projects, government data showed Sunday.According to the data from the Finance Ministry, the debt-to-equity ratio of 286 state-invested companies and other public institutions averaged 197 percent last year, up from 165 percent a year earlier.As of the end of last year, their liabilities totaled 463.5 trillion won ($404 billion), while their equity capital came to 235
July 1, 2012
-
Korea’s trade surplus widens to $4.96b
South Korea’s trade surplus rose to a 21-month high in June as overseas demand for South Korean products grew while the country’s imports shrank, the government said Sunday.The country’s trade balance came to $4.96 billion in the black last month, up from a $2.4 billion surplus tallied in May, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.Exports rose 1.3 percent from a year earlier to $47.35 billion in June, ending a three-month losing streak. Imports, on the other hand, shrank 5.4 percent on-
July 1, 2012
-
Stocks to continue upward
Korean stocks will likely rally again this week, local analysts said Saturday, following an agreement at a European summit to ease bailout rules for debt-ridden countries in Europe.The country’s key stock index, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, closed at 1,847.39, up 0.35 percent from a week earlier. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ climbed 0.82 percent from a week before to close at 489.16.Local investors, individuals and institutions alike helped keep the stock market afloat, purchasing a net 1.36
July 1, 2012
-
Coffee chain sales grow by 28%
Sales at popular coffee chains increased by 28 percent last year. The nation’s top six coffee franchises ― Starbucks, Caffe Bene, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Tom n Toms, Hollys and Coffine Gurunaru ― recorded total sales of 743.3 billion won ($651.1 million) in 2011, according to Financial Supervisory Service’s Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System. In 2010, they brought in 580.7 billion won. Starbucks topped the market, recording 298.2 billion won in sales. During the last decade, the coffee
IndustryJuly 1, 2012
-
Sejong City boosts area’s land prices
The following is the third in a series of articles on Sejong City, a new multifunctional administrative city that was launched on July 1. ― Ed.The Lee Myung-bak government had sought to build a new business hub in Sejong City, South Chungcheong Province, as an alternative to an administrative city plan.Though its idea of creating a business-oriented city instead of an administrative city reinvigorated the region’s property market in early 2010, the National Assembly voted down President Lee’s pr
IndustryJuly 1, 2012
-
Samsung barred from U.S. Nexus phone sales in suit
Samsung Electronics the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, was barred from selling its Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the U.S. by a second court ruling this week in its global patent dispute with Apple Inc. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, follows her June 26 order blocking U.S. sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 computer in the patent and trademark- infringement lawsuit over smartphones and tablets. On June 7, Koh expedited evidence sharing for Apple’s bid to
July 1, 2012
-
Mercedes looks to SUVs to extend lead in U.S. luxury race
After ceding the top spot for U.S. luxury car sales for more than a decade, Mercedes-Benz is plotting a comeback with new and updated sport-utility vehicles. The German automaker said its U.S. deliveries gained 18 percent this year through May, to 106,364 luxury vehicles. That puts Mercedes just ahead of rival Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, which last year stripped Lexus of the U.S. premium crown that the Toyota Motor Corp. unit took from Mercedes in 2000. “Mercedes has upped its game,” said Rebec
MobilityJuly 1, 2012
-
Toyota, BMW partner up on sports car technology
Toyota Motor Corp. said it will seek to gain from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s expertise in sports cars as a partnership on new powering systems expands to include auto components and high-performance vehicles. The carmakers will collaborate on developing fuel cells, lightweight materials and electric powertrains under a memorandum of understanding signed today, they said at a press conference at BMW’s Munich headquarters. “BMW knows how to make a car perform,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said
MobilityJuly 1, 2012
-
European automakers see no drastic sales increase after FTA
Additional tariff cut applied from July 1, but effect may be limitedEuropean carmakers expect no drastic increase in sales here despite tariff cuts on their cars exported to Korea in the wake of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement.The automakers said that the tariff cuts will only have a “psychologically” positive effect on its sales of cars in Korea.July 1 marked the first anniversary of the Korea-EU FTA in action. The tariff imposed on imported European cars fell for the second time, from 5.6 pe
MobilityJuly 1, 2012
-
New discovery indicate Mayan ‘doomsday date’ meant something else
Archeologists have found a new reference about so-called "doomsday date" of December 21, 2012, that suggests Mayans may have never predicted the apocalyptic end of world, according to news reports.Scientists from Tulane University and Universidad del Valle de Guatemala announced Thursday findings of Mayan hieroglyphs carved on a stone steps in the Mayan ruins of La Corona. It was the second known reference that mentions the famous date.Contrary to the beliefs of many new-age believers and doomsd
TechnologyJuly 1, 2012
-
BOK kicks off investment in China's stock markets
South Korea's central bank said Sunday that it has launched its investment in the Chinese stock markets in a bid to diversify its portfolio of foreign exchange reserves. In December, the Bank of Korea (BOK) earned qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) status from China's financial authorities, which allows the bank to invest in stocks and bondstraded on China's financial markets. The B
July 1, 2012
-
Severe sleep deprivation hurt immunity
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Severe sleep deprivation affects the body's immune system the same way physical stress does, researchers in the Netherlands and Britain found. Lead author Katrin Ackermann, a post-doctoral researcher at the Eramus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues at the University of Surrey said if the study findings were confirmed using more da
TechnologyJuly 1, 2012
-
S. Korea's females to outnumber males from 2015
The number of females in South Korea is expected to exceed that of males starting in 2015 due mainly to the country's rapidly aging population, government data showed Sunday.According to the data by Statistics Korea, the number of women in South Korea will likely reach 25.31 million in 2015, slightly surpassing the male population of 25.30 million.The female population is projected to continue to
July 1, 2012
