Officials of South Korea and the United States will meet in Washington this week to check on the implementation of the free trade agreement between the two countries, the Trade Ministry said Wednesday.Seoul and Washington have established the minister-level Joint Committee and 19 subcommittees and working groups to oversee the implementation of the landmark trade pact that went into force in March.Of them, the committees on trade in goods, trade remedy, service and investment, and the working gr

June 6, 2012

Early retirement plan comes amid rumors on relocation of production basesGM Korea’s recent policy to downsize its manpower structure via a voluntary redundancy program has been inviting backlash from the carmaker’s labor union.Unionized workers at the automaker are set to stage a series of protests against the early retirement scheme, which has allegedly been initiated by new GM Korea CEO Sergio Rocha, according to sources.The Korean unit of U.S.-based General Motors is considering reducing the

IndustryJune 6, 2012

South Korea’s economy may not be able to recover from its current slowdown in the second half of this year mainly due to unfavorable overseas developments, local economists said Tuesday.In an economic assessment gathering hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries, experts predicted the persistent eurozone fiscal woes are exerting negative influence on the country. They added slower than expected growth in China and the United States is weighing down growth that was originally expected to pic

June 6, 2012

Korea Development Bank started marketing a sale of as much as 50 billion yen ($635 million) of Samurai bonds planned for next week, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.KDB told investors it plans to price the two-year notes to yield 60 basis points to 75 more than the yen swap rate as soon as June 13, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information is private.The lender is following Export-Import Bank of Korea, in selling yen-denominated debt as the ben

June 6, 2012

People who have held more than 1 billion won ($850,000) in overseas accounts even for a day in the past year are required to report to the nation’s tax agency by the end of this month.Up to 100 million won in rewards will be given to others who report them.The National Tax Service said Wednesday it will receive reports from residents of Korea or domestic legal entities that own a total of more than 1 billion won in listed stocks or accounts in foreign financial institutions.The overseas financia

June 6, 2012

Household loans offered by South Korean depository institutions rose in April, despite ongoing government efforts to curb private debt. the central bank said Wednesday, Household lending by local banks and non-bank institutions totaled 639.58 trillion won ($541.09 billion) as of the end of April, up 2.46 trillion won from the preceding month, according to the Bank of Korea.The monthly total is the second highest after 639.60 trillion won tallied in December 2011. The gains also come after loans

June 6, 2012

KOSDAQ market cap dips below W100tr for first time since SeptemberThe market capitalization of local bourses and the value of daily stock trading plunged recently on growing investor angst as the European debt crisis continues to drag down the global economy. Rising concerns of a Greek exit from the eurozone and a bank run in Spain, along with slowing growth in the world’s two largest economies ― the U.S. and China ― have weakened investor sentiment.The aggregate market value of the benchmark KO

June 6, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The Apple iPad extended its lead in the global market for tablet computers at the start of 2012 while Amazon’s Kindle Fire flamed out after a sizzling introduction, a survey showed Monday.The ABI Research survey showed overall global sales of media tablets amounted to 18.2 million in the first three months of the year, up 185 percent from a year earlier, but down 33 percent from the fourth quarter gift-giving season.Apple held 65 percent of the market with 11.8 million iPad sh

TechnologyJune 6, 2012

SK Telecom has launched security services for cloud computing servers to guard against hacking and security breaches.The company said that through a strategic partnership with U.S.-based Juniper Networks, it developed a cost-efficient cloud security system, named the “T Cloud Biz.” Infosec, which is part of SK C&C, will operate the system.This the first time a telecom company in Korea has launched such “firewall” services for business-to-business cloud computing that utilize systematic and real-

TechnologyJune 6, 2012

South Korea's stock market has seen trading volume and market capitalization plunge as investor sentiment worsened with the U.S. and Chinese economies showing signs of slowing down amid the eurozone financial crisis, market watchers said Wednesday.The benchmark KOSPI market's capitalization has dropped to 1,061 trillion won ($898 billion) as of May 31, a level similar to August last year. The seco

June 6, 2012

Google is escalating its rivalry with Microsoft with the purchase of Quickoffice, the maker of a widely used mobile application for working on documents created in Microsoft's programs for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations.The deal announced Tuesday gives Google Inc. a new weapon to foil Microsoft Corp. as more people get work done on smartphones and tablet computers. Quickoffice mak

IndustryJune 6, 2012

Clear guidelines needed before Kakao’s service launch, say carriersTension between Korea’s leading mobile carriers and Kakao Talk, a mobile messenger tech firm, is growing as the latter will introduce a mobile telephone service in the second half of this year.Kakao Talk has begun offering a test version of its mobile Voice over Internet Protocol, named Voice Talk, to over 4 million worldwide users wishing to try its new service either on their iPhones or Android-based smartphones. Voice Talk wil

TechnologyJune 5, 2012