The Korea Herald

Korea’s money supply almost flat in March

South Korea’s money supply remained nearly unchanged in March from the previous month as gains in short terms trusts and savings were offset by contractions in funds and certificates, the central bank said Wednesday.The country’s M2, a narrow measure of the money supply, reached a seasonally adjusted 1,768.5 trillion won ($1.54 trillion) in March, effectively unchanged from 1,756.3 trillion won for the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. Compared with a year earlier, the M2 expanded

May 9, 2012

Standard Chartered to foster trade between Korea, Southeast Asia

Standard Chartered Bank said on Wednesday it will bolster efforts to facilitate the growth of trade flows between Korea and Southeast Asia and assist Korean companies doing business in the region.“Standard Chartered is superbly positioned to facilitate the growth of trade flows between Korea and South East Asia. With our long history of over 150 years, deep local knowledge and a strong network in South East Asia, we are able to help Korean companies expand their businesses in these markets,“ Ric

May 9, 2012

Standard Chartered to foster trade between Korea, Southeast Asia

Shares drop on U.S. falls, eurozone woes

South Korean stocks closed 0.85 percent lower Wednesday on overnight Wall Street falls and growing concerns that France and Greece may reverse course on fiscal austerity measures, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI lost 16.72 points to 1,950.29, a turnaround from a gain in the previous session. Trading volume was moderate at 462 million shares worth 4.90 trillion won ($4.29 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 537 to 306.U.S. stocks fell to a tw

May 9, 2012

FSC chief rebukes union’s threat against Woori stake sale

Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, on Wednesday stressed that the government will go ahead with its plan to privatize Woori Financial Group despite warnings of a strike by the Woori union.The labor union of Woori warned on Monday that it will launch a general strike if the government takes steps to merge the nation’s largest financial group in assets with rival KB Financial Group. “The privatization of Woori Financial Group is not something people can protest against,”

May 9, 2012

KDIC moves to sell troubled savings banks

Sets May 18 deadline for bids to manage sale of suspended banksThe state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. has begun the procedure to sell off four suspended savings banks ― Solomon, Mirae, Korea and Hanju.The KDIC announced Wednesday on its website that it will receive bids from select companies to manage the sale and provide legal advice.The requests for proposals should be submitted to the KDIC headquarters in Seoul by 5 p.m. on May 18. The selected sale manager and legal consultancy will hav

May 9, 2012

Facebook execs talk growth as IPO meetings begin

Facebook Inc. officials are touting growth prospects for the largest social network in meetings this week in New York and Boston with hundreds of would-be investors before its record initial public offering. Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and chief financial officer David Ebersman led a presentation in Boston Tuesday. They were joined Monday in New York by chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg. The executives discussed reasons for acquiring photo-sharing site Instagram and told invest

TechnologyMay 9, 2012

Facebook execs talk growth as IPO meetings begin

CA Technologies sees partnerships, acquisitions key to global growth

Choe says company may consider establishing R&D center domesticallyKorea’s software industry may have been in the shadows for quite some time.But Michael Choe, president of CA Technologies Korea, the local subsidiary of the world’s biggest IT management software company, said that with the emergence of cloud computing technology, it will stand at the forefront of innovation.“Software had been a ‘necessary evil’ in the past (in Korea), but now it has become a more integral part of the drive for

TechnologyMay 9, 2012

CA Technologies sees partnerships, acquisitions key to global growth

SKT takes English-study mobile service to Indonesia

SK Telecom said on Wednesday the company held a ceremony to mark the start of its new mobile service for learning English in Indonesia.Titled “English Bean,” the mobile service enables users to learn English regardless of time and location, the country’s leading telecommunication company said. The smart-learning program runs on several platforms, including its website, Facebook page, mobile phones and landlines.The telecommunications company has included a multitude of Facebook content such as E

TechnologyMay 9, 2012

Treasury yields sink as turmoil deepens in Greece

NEW YORK (AP) ― Rattled investors took refuge in U.S. government bonds after stock markets dropped around the world.Investors were alarmed by the deepening political turmoil in Greece, which threatens to undermine that country’s financial rescue program.The leader of a left-wing party declared that Greece was no longer bound by its pledges to impose steep spending cuts in return for relief from international lenders. Alexis Tsipras is struggling to form a new government two days after Greek vote

May 9, 2012

Left-wing leader rejects Greek austerity pledge

ATHENS (AP) ― The smoldering debate over European austerity flared hotter Tuesday as the left-wing politician trying to form a new Greek government declared that his country is no longer bound by its pledges to impose crippling cutbacks in return for rescue loans.The comments by Alexis Tsipras flew in the face of EU leaders’ insistence on fiscal discipline and sent the Greek stock market tumbling just two days after Greek voters rejected mainstream pro-austerity politicians. Instead, the people

May 9, 2012

Left-wing leader rejects Greek austerity pledge

Missouri resident claims rock is alien skull

A witness in the U.S. claimed Sunday to have found an “alien skull,” a civilian UFO research organization said.According to Mutual UFO Network, the witness discovered something appearing to be a unique type of skull in a creek.The unidentified witness from Missouri said they wanted to have the “skull” checked for alien DNA.“I’ve had it a couple of years and would love to find out once and for all if it’s a real alien skull or just a cool looking rock,” the witness said.It was the latest in the s

TechnologyMay 9, 2012

Missouri resident claims rock is alien skull

Facebook ‘Like,’ not protected as free speech

A U.S. judge said Facebook’s “like” buttons are not protected as free speech and employees fired for “liking” something written on Facebook cannot protected by the legal shield, according to news reports.The ruling came after six employees of Hampton Virginia Sheriff B.J. Roberts were fired for supporting Roberts’ opponent Jim Adams during his 2009 re-election campaign. At that time, three of the six had “liked” the Facebook page of Adams. The six employees filed a lawsuit in the Eastern Distric

TechnologyMay 9, 2012

Light from distant 'super Earth' detected

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has, for the first time, detected light emanating from a so-called super-Earth planet beyond our solar system, scientists say.Although the planet is not habitable, detecting it is a historic step in the ongoing search for signs of life on other planets, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Tuesday.Super Earths are more massive than Earth but lig

TechnologyMay 9, 2012

Brain scans decipher the thoughts of dogs

MCTA U.S. researcher who looked into what dogs think said he was inspired to do the research when he saw a Navy dog was on the team that killed Osama bin Laden.Gregory Berns, director of the Emory Center for Neuropolicy, said he was amazed when he saw pictures of what military dogs can do.“I realized that if dogs can be trained to jump out of helicopters and airplanes, we could certainly train the

TechnologyMay 9, 2012

Brain scans decipher the thoughts of dogs

Savings banks probe expands to corruption

Mirae head suspected of embezzling W300bState investigators on Tuesday were expanding their probe into alleged irregularities to include accounting fraud, embezzlement and illegal loans at four suspended mutual savings banks, with one of their chairmen in detention. Kim Chan-kyung, chairman of Mirae Savings Bank, is suspected of embezzling over 300 billion won ($264 million) by issuing illegal loans and withdrawing company money as he prepared for his flight to China early this month, news repor

May 8, 2012

Savings banks probe expands to corruption

Korea to launch multipurpose observation satellite May 18

Korea will launch its third satellite to observe the Earth from a Japanese space center on May 18, officials announced Tuesday.The KOMPSAT-3, also known as Arirang-3, is designed to provide geographical information of the Korean Peninsula with better technology than its two predecessors.Loaded on a Japanese rocket, the multipurpose satellite will lift off from the southern island of Tanegashima, some 115 kilometers south of Kyushu. The launch is due at 1:39 a.m. on May 18 from the Tanegashima Sp

TechnologyMay 8, 2012

Korea to launch multipurpose observation satellite May 18

New questions raised about U.S. beef safety

Views conflict over dangers of BSE; government ignores pressure to stop customs clearanceMadThe safety of U.S. beef imports into Korea faces new questions after U.S. authorities confirmed a case of mad cow disease in a dairy cow from a California farm on April 24.The latest discovery was the first in six years and the country’s fourth case ever.For Korea, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad cow disease, is a high-profile issue affected by political considerations a

TechnologyMay 8, 2012

New questions raised about U.S. beef safety

BSE has long incubation period, no treatment

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system in cattle. The disease has a long incubation period (averaging four to five years) and there is currently no treatment or vaccine for the disease. BSE is one of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Other TSEs include scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.The measures to deal w

TechnologyMay 8, 2012

Korea to buoy demand amid global woes

The government plans to bolster domestic consumption and fuel the country’s overall economic buoyancy to cope with mounting global market uncertainties, the finance ministry said Tuesday.In its monthly “green book” report, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that economic data in such areas as industrial production, retails, business investment and construction all backtracked in March.Industrial production, a key barometer of economic health, contracted 3.1 percent in the cited month from

May 8, 2012

Korea’s trade with China lags far behind Japan

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s trade with China lagged behind Japan in the first quarter of this year due to fierce competition from a rival exporting country in the world’s most populous market, a Chinese government report showed Tuesday. Trade between South Korea and China reached $60.3 billion in the January-March period, compared with Tokyo’s trade volume of $79.4 billion with Beijing, according to the report by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.Taiwan, the majority of whose exports

May 8, 2012