The Korea Herald

KB Kookmin Bank puts out joint management-labor agreement

KB Kookmin Bank said on Wednesday it had made a joint management-labor pledge aimed at working together to tackle pending issues and push for reforms. The pledge was made on Tuesday at the bank’s training center in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, and top executives and labor union leaders joined the event. “The joint announcement has been made after months of discussions to find ways to improve the bank’s overall competitiveness,” said a spokesman from KB.According to the joint pledge, both management

April 18, 2012

KB Kookmin Bank puts out joint management-labor agreement

Shares gain on Spain’s debt easing

South Korean stocks closed 0.97 percent higher Wednesday on strong U.S. corporate earnings and easing of Spain’s debt concerns, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 19.23 points to close at 2,004.53. Trading volume was light at 376 million shares worth 4.56 trillion won ($4.01 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 456 to 362.“Good U.S. corporate earning figures for the first quarter and signs that the housing mark

April 18, 2012

Korea’s inter-bank FX turnover up 7.8% in Q1

South Korean banks’ daily foreign exchange volume rose to the highest level in four years in the first quarter as banks handled more deals to cope with robust trade, the central bank said Wednesday.The daily foreign exchange trading volume among banks averaged $22.45 billion in the January-March period, up 7.8 percent from the preceding quarter, according to the Bank of Korea. It marked the largest daily turnover since the first quarter of 2008 when the trading volume hit $23.37 billion.“The tra

April 18, 2012

Ministry to unveil measures to stabilize petroleum prices

The government will soon announce a set of measures to help control soaring oil product prices that can hurt economic growth, the country’s top economic policymaker said Wednesday.Minister of Strategy and Finance Bahk Jae-wan said at a weekly economic policymaker meeting that high global crude oil prices have been a big burden to the South Korean economy, Asia’s fourth-largest.“Crude prices have stabilized somewhat recently, but there is a need to address this problem,” he said. The minister str

April 18, 2012

Banks’ short-term foreign borrowing up in March

South Korean banks’ short-term overseas borrowing rose at a modest pace in March as lenders moved to secure foreign currency liquidity amid lingering global economic concerns, the financial watchdog said Wednesday.According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the spread on short-term foreign borrowing by local lenders stood at 15.3 basis points, a gain from 8.8 basis points in February. A basis point is 0.01 percentage points.The spread on mid- and long-term foreign borrowing that matures in f

April 18, 2012

MSCI likely to upgrade Korea, may bring influx of foreign funds

Brokerage expects an upgrade to draw in foreign funds worth $12 billionIf South Korea is included in the MSCI advanced market index, as much as $12 billion worth of foreign investment could flow into the local stock market, a brokerage said on Wednesday.Daishin Securities said the chance for the inclusion of Korea in the prestigious index is higher than ever this year as the country’s bourse operator Korea Exchange worked out the KOSPI 200 index data rights with MSCI Inc. Korean shares account f

April 18, 2012

Outdated security software plagues Korean Internet

Nine years ago when Kim Kee-chang came back to his native country of South Korea, he had no idea he was coming back to start a tech war. But when he booted up Linux on his computer something strange happened: he couldn’t use Korean websites. “Basically I couldn’t do anything,” said Kim, the founder of OpenWeb, an organization dedicated to expanding web accessibility in Korea. “Pages were not adequately displayed on the screen, links didn’t work, menus didn’t work. Nothing worked.” Kim had discov

TechnologyApril 18, 2012

Convergence tech offers new growth boost: report

Green biotechnology, intelligent robotics and value added telecom services take the lead in the sectorNew technologies and services are rapidly converging, fueling the growth of South Korea’s high-tech industries such as green biotechnology, intelligent robotics and value added telecommunications services, the Hyundai Research Institute said. In a report titled “Emergence of New Technology Convergence,” Hyundai said a host of convergences are taking place here, prompting policymakers and busin

TechnologyApril 18, 2012

Blacklist system draws mixed outlook for success

Watchdog predicts cuts in smartphone prices; companies see very limited impact The Korea Communications Commission plans to implement the so-called “blacklist system” in May, which officials predict could drastically transform the nation’s distribution structure for handsets. Currently, telecom companies register an International Mobile Equipment Identity number to activate the service of all new phones they sell, called the “whitelist system.”Under the new plan, however, all cell phones will be

IndustryApril 18, 2012

Blacklist system draws mixed outlook for success

KIBWA gets new president

Kim Hyun-joo, chief executive of Sandeul Information and Technology Co., took office as the fifth president of the Korea IT Business Women’s Association on Wednesday.Kim succeeded Kang Eun-hee who was elected last week as lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party.The KIBWA congress unanimously voted for Kim, who has led the association’s Daegu-North Gyeongsang branch since 2008, as the new president.Kim has contributed to creating jobs in IT companies run by women and supported start-up businesses in

IndustryApril 18, 2012

Will robot prostitution become a reality?

Robot prostitutes could become commonplace in the future.In their paper “Robots, men and sex tourism,” published in the journal Futures, Ian Yeoman and Michelle Mars of the Victoria Management School in Wellington, New Zealand, explore a science-fiction prospect of android prostitutes being legalized in Amsterdam by 2050, and how it would impact the economies of countries, as well as on global sex trafficking and the exploitation of sex workers.The possible production and availability of such pl

TechnologyApril 18, 2012

Will robot prostitution become a reality?

Apple, Samsung chiefs to meet on patent disputes

The chiefs of iPhone-maker Apple and smartphone giant Samsung have agreed to meet in the coming months to try to resolve patent disputes before the matters go to trial, legal filings showed.At the behest of a San Francisco federal court, Apple boss Tim Cook and Samsung chief Gee-Sung Choi will take part in settlement talks presided over by a judge, according to filings posted online at Foss Patent

IndustryApril 18, 2012

Dinosaurs put eggs in wrong evolutionary basket: scientists

The fact that land-bound dinosaurs laid eggs is what sealed their fate of mass extinction millions of years ago while live birthing mammals went on to thrive, scientists said Wednesday. Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buerhle has a chuckle with "Baby T Rex" animated figure which threw out the first pitch before the game against the Detroit Tigers at at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois, Augu

TechnologyApril 18, 2012

Dinosaurs put eggs in wrong evolutionary basket: scientists

IMF revises up global economic growth to 3.5% on easing concerns

The International Monetary Fund raised its growth outlook for the world economy to 3.5 percent this year, reflecting the improving economic data for the United States and the softened concerns about the eurozone fiscal debt crisis. In the latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF said the sense of crisis has been eased to some extent. But it warned that the pace of the economic growth in emerging markets is slower than expected and worries over the eurozone problem continue, placing downside risks

April 17, 2012

Tesco China to have first Korean executive

Homeplus, the nation’s No. 2 discount chain store, said Tuesday that its financial planning and reporting director Christopher Kim has joined Tesco China as a finance executive.Since entering Homeplus in 2002, Kim has served in several positions, managing the company’s performance and developing its mid- and long-term business plans. Kim, who will be serving the job of finance director, is the first Korean executive officer to work at the Chinese operation of the U.K. retail giant, the company s

IndustryApril 17, 2012

Tesco China to have first Korean executive

Hyundai Heavy wins $120 million in orders for construction equipment

Hyundai Heavy Industries has grabbed $120 million worth of orders for earth-moving equipment at a trade fair in Europe, the world’s largest shipbuilder said Tuesday.In the deals, the Korean firm will supply 1,050 excavators and 450 wheel loaders to companies from around the world. But the number and nationality of its clients are unclear because some of the contracts were signed through agents, a company spokesperson said. The orders came while the shipbuilder is taking part in the Intermat 2012

IndustryApril 17, 2012

Intel still looking to buy after Olaworks takeover

Global chip maker continues eyeing tech start-ups for acquisitions, source saysIntel, a leading global chip maker, remains in buying mode and will continue to eye promising venture start-ups regardless of geographical location following its first takeover of a Korean tech firm, a source said on Tuesday.The Korean firm Olaworks, a tech start-up that develops facial recognition technology for smartphones, was founded by KAIST graduate Dr. Ryu Jung-hee in 2006. Olaworks, which has 60 employees,

TechnologyApril 17, 2012

New iPad to arrive in Korea this week

Apple said Monday that it will roll out the new iPad tablet computer in Korea on Friday but the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution service won’t be supported here. The California-based tech giant said in a press release that the latest iPad will be launched in 12 countries, including Korea, following the first batch released last month in the U.S. and nine other countries. The new retina display iPad will not offer the super-speed LTE service in Korea that it does in most other countries, sin

IndustryApril 17, 2012

Foreign hospitals to open in FEZs

The Cabinet passed a set of revised ordinances on the detailed conditions and procedures on Tuesday to allow foreign medical institutions in free economic zones.A 600-bed hospital in the Incheon FEZ in Songdo will be the first.Although there is a special law that permits opening foreign medical facilities in FEZs, a lack of rules on procedural details had made it difficult to actually set them up.Under the new enforcement ordinances, the foreign medical institutions to be set up must operate in

April 17, 2012

LG Display opens new R&D center in Paju

CEO vows to turn Paju R&D into high-tech display meccaLG Display announced Tuesday that it opened a research and development center which would focus on developing next-generation display panels, including the organic light-emitting diode displays, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.Built on 68,572 square meters of land, the 15-story building will bring together researchers and developers as well as those involved in OLED projects for better performance, according to company officials.According to an LG

IndustryApril 17, 2012