The Korea Herald

Samsung releases multimedia laptop

Samsung Electronics, Korea’s biggest tech manufacturing firm, has released its all-new laptop computer line with high-performance multimedia applications, targeting young consumers.The laptop, named “Series 5 Boost,” in 15-inch and 17-inch display models, is embedded with the latest audio and video software and hardware, the company said on Sunday in a press release.It has audio speaker systems provided by the U.S.-based JBL, with subwoofers that can process low-pitched audio frequencies into hi

TechnologyJune 3, 2012

Korea’s GDP by purchasing power tops $30,000, think tank says

South Korea is about to join the ranks of advanced countries in terms of gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity, a local think tank said Sunday in a report on Koreans’ actual living standards.The Hyundai Research Institute said that South Korea’s per capita GDP reached $22,778, the 34th largest in the world, in 2011, but its GDP by PPP per capita is estimated at $31,714, the world’s 25th highest.The wide gap between nominal and PPP-based GDP data apparently stems from below-aver

June 3, 2012

LG Display to feature advanced tech in OLED, mobile panels in U.S.

LG Display will exhibit its technology prowess in OLED and mobile panels at the Society for Information Display conference, held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center from June 3-8 in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.The Korean display manufacturing giant said that it plans to showcase its 55-inch OLED panel, developed for the first time in the world, which it had originally considered too difficult to construct for large televisions.Using oxide-thin film transistor and four-color pixel

IndustryJune 3, 2012

State to increase farm product reserves to stabilize prices

The government will move to increase the country’s reserves for farm and fishery products in an effort to help stabilize consumer prices, the Finance Ministry said.After a meeting of economic policymakers on Friday, the government said it plans to actively buy up farm products in advance and hold them in reserve to deal with a spike in prices. It added emergency imports of products that are in short supply can also be utilized to help increase the stockpile and alleviate inflationary pressure.“S

June 3, 2012

Stocks to be exposed to greater volatility

South Korean stocks will likely be exposed to greater volatility this week caused by disappointing U.S. and Chinese economic data and persevering eurozone woes, local analysts said Saturday.The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 1,835.51 points on Friday, up 10.34 percent from a week earlier helped by a technical rebound and bargain hunting for big caps that had fallen in May.Analysts said despite the gains this week, lingering external uncertainties remain that could weigh down the

June 3, 2012

South Korean firms tapped for compensation over Japan’s rule

The world’s third-largest steelmaker POSCO will donate millions of dollars to support South Koreans forced to work in Japan during colonial rule, decades after it was set up through Japanese reparations.Other South Korean firms that also benefited from the reparations are being encouraged to follow suit, as victims of imperial Japan’s forced labor schemes or their descendants keep pressing for compensation.Japan’s brutal rule over Korea from 1910 to 1945 is still a source of resentment among old

June 3, 2012

KESI seeks to enhance children’s safety

Officials from the Korea Elevator Safety Technology Institute and nine civil social organizations discussed children’s safety at a meeting in southern Seoul last week.In the event titled “Children’s Safety Network Construction Meeting,” on Friday, the participants focused on ways to work together to prevent children’s accidents while using elevators. A number of safety issues, including school bullying, child sexual abuse and prevention of traffic accidents, were also discussed. KESI officials

June 3, 2012

Korea to focus more on boosting growth

South Korea will focus policy efforts more on boosting economic growth and allocate additional state funds to support small companies and exporters, Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said.“We need to make more effort to support economic growth as some progress has been made in terms of stabilization of prices,” Bahk told reporters in Seoul on Saturday. “We are not in a situation where we need an extra budget but we will try to use more state funds to support small firms and exporters.”Bahk reaffirme

June 3, 2012

Goldman Sachs ups won-dollar rate outlook

Maintains above-consensus 3.5 percent GDP growth forecast for 2012Goldman Sachs said that it will up its won-dollar exchange rate outlook while maintaining South Korea’s above-consensus GDP growth forecast of 3.5 percent for 2012. It raised its won-dollar rate forecasts from 1,110, 1,080 and 1,040 on three-, six- and 12-month horizons, respectively, to 1,140, 1,100 and 1,050, said the leading investment bank through the Korean Economics Flash report released on Friday. “We recognize that our abo

June 3, 2012

Mahindra to reveal model developed with Ssangyong Motor in 2015

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s biggest SUV maker, will reveal the first jointly developed platform with Ssangyong Motor Co. by 2015, seeking to integrate its South Korean unit and boost margins from a five-year low. Mahindra will spend 300 billion won ($253 million) to develop the platform with the automaker it acquired last year, Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra’s automotive division, said. The two companies have also begun working on a new engine, he said.New products catering to emergin

MobilityJune 3, 2012

Mercedes leads BMW in U.S. sales for year after May gain

Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz held onto the U.S. luxury-vehicle sales lead for the year over Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW brand, as Mercedes deliveries in May jumped 19 percent. Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus brand, rebounding from inventory shortages after last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, soared 74 percent to 21,463. U.S. sales of Mercedes vehicles rose to 22,515 last month while BMW deliveries increased 7.3 percent to 22,168, according to statements yesterday from the companies. Lexu

MobilityJune 3, 2012

Import car dealers focusing on better customer service

Improved after-sales service expected to become a fresh threat to Korean brandsLee Jeong-kyu, a 63-year-old retiree, recently bought Hyundai Motor’s luxury sedan Genesis, which he said might be the last car in his lifetime. “I had long dreamed of driving an import car of foreign brands such as BMW or Mercedes-Benz. Considering after-sales services, however, my choice was the Korean brand,” he said. The nation’s import car market is enjoying a sales boom in recent years, with the number of newly

MobilityJune 3, 2012

Import car dealers focusing on better customer service

Many smartphone apps invade privacy, test finds

Smartphone apps are very useful but users often have to pay for them with their privacy.The German consumer protection group Stiftung Warentest looked at 63 applications and graded 28 of them as "critical" in regards to data protection. Another nine were determined to be "very critical" -including widely-popular apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Foodspotting and iTranslate.The applications take per

TechnologyJune 3, 2012

Visitors to Yeosu Expo top 1 million

More than 1 million people have so far flocked to the World Expo in South Korea's southern coastal city of Yeosu, organizers said Sunday.The Yeosu Expo has attracted 1.03 million people as of Saturday since the 93-day fair opened on May 12, the organizers said.If the current trend continues, the visitor turnout is expected to reach about 5 million, only about half of what South Korea had hoped to

June 3, 2012

Arctic ice sheets may provide clues in searching for alien life

U.S. scientists are studying sheets Arctic ice sheets, looking for evidence that can help them find alien microorganisms that may have evolved in the Solar System.A group of researchers, led by environmental biogeochemist Jeffrey White from Indiana University, looked at glaciers in Greenland to study the methane released by methanogenic microbes. By analyzing the methane emissions, White and his

TechnologyJune 3, 2012

Arctic ice sheets may provide clues in searching for alien life

Trade surplus widens to $2.4b in May

South Korea’s trade surplus widened slightly in May from the previous month as exports shrank at a slower pace than imports, a government report showed Friday.The country’s trade balance was $2.4 billion in the black last month, up from the $2.1 billion surplus tallied in April, according to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. Last month marked the fourth month in a row that the country posted a trade surplus, although trade volume contracted for the third straight month compared to

June 1, 2012

Eastar Air to have new chairman

Lee Kyong-il, former deputy head of Korea Insulation Co., took the reins of Eastar Jet Group as new chairman, the low-cost air carrier said on Friday. The group is one of KIC’s affiliates.Having built his career as the No. 2 man in KIC and CEO of Samyang Reduction Gear Co., Lee has extensive knowledge of the group, the company said. “Having become the company chairman is to face a series of new challenges, I will do my best,” Lee said. A Jeonju University graduate, Lee holds a bachelor’s degree

June 1, 2012

Kumho Asiana chief a Weihai honorary citizen

Kumho Asiana Group announced on Friday that its chairman Park Sam-koo was named honorary citizen of Weihai, China. Weihai presented Park a certificate of honorary citizenship in recognition of his contribution to enhancing the city’s economy and strengthening ties between Korea and Weihai as the head of Korea-China Friendship Association. Kumho Asiana Group runs a hotel and a golf resort in Weihai, helping attract tourists to the Chinese harbor city, the company said. Currently, Asiana Airlines

June 1, 2012

Kumho Asiana chief a Weihai honorary citizen

Woori Financial warns legal action against name-stealing lenders

Woori Financial Group said Friday it would take stern legal action against illegal money lenders that use the name “Woori.”The nation’s largest financial group by assets last month filed criminal charges against an illegal lender that used Woori’s name and logo for violation of trademark laws to the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office.The unregistered lender which had been running its business through a website set up under the name “Woori Financial” shut down the website after the financial group

June 1, 2012

Korea’s consumer inflation holds steady at 2.5% in May

South Korea’s consumer prices grew at the same pace in May compared to a year earlier amid the government’s push to tame inflationary pressure, a report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country’s consumer price index rose 2.5 percent in May from a year earlier, unchanged from a 2.5 percent gain tallied in April. The index rose 0.2 percent from a month ago.May’s reading marks the third month in a row that inflation stood in the 2 percent range, down from 4 percent gr

June 1, 2012

Korea’s consumer inflation holds steady at 2.5% in May