Korean firms bearish on investment in 2012: poll

South Korean companies are bearish on increasing investments this year mainly because they see few viable growth opportunities, a poll conducted by the country’s largest economic organization showed Monday.The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry survey carried out on 1,026 local companies showed the investment sentiment index standing at 35.8 in the first half and reaching 49.2 in the July-December period.The two readings are below the break-even 50 mark for the index. A reading above 50 and

April 16, 2012

Shares fall on China slowdown

South Korean stocks closed 0.81 percent lower Monday on persistent eurozone concerns and China’s economic slowdown, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI lost 16.28 points to close at 1,992.63. Trading volume was moderate at 445 million shares worth 3.84 trillion won ($3.37 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 470 to 343.The drop came after the bellwether stock market index regained the psychologically important 2,000-point mark on Friday.“Eurozone

April 16, 2012

Import price rises hit 2-year low in March: Bank of Korea

South Korea’s import prices rose at their slowest clip in two years last month mainly due to a low base of comparison, the central bank said Monday.In local currency terms, import prices gained 3.5 percent on-year in March, slowing from a 5.2 percent on-year gain in February, according to the Bank of Korea.Last month’s figure marks the lowest on-year gain since March 2010, when import prices contracted 4.3 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said.The slowdown in the growth of import pr

April 16, 2012

China’s loosening grip on yuan may bring in positive effects: analysts

China’s expansion of the trading band for the yuan will likely generate positive effects such as greater investment of Korean firms in the Chinese market, analysts said on Monday. China began to allow the currency to move up and down by as much as 1 percent on a daily basis, up from 0.5 percent, from Monday. The move attracted keen attention as the country has long been under pressure to loosen its tight grip on the yuan. “As a result of the expansion of the trading band, the Chinese currency wi

April 16, 2012

Trading of Himart shares suspended

The Korea Exchange, the country’s bourse operator, suspended trading of Himart shares on Monday over alleged embezzlement and corporate malpractice by the head of the home appliance retailer. According to the KRX, Himart chairman Sun Jong-koo engaged in embezzlement and other irregularities amounting to about 259 billion won ($227 million), or 18.1 percent of the company’s total paid-in capital. Citing the stock market regulations, the KRX halted the trading of Himart shares at 1:59 p.m.As the s

April 16, 2012

Gene links to memory, brain size found

An international effort to understand the genetic building blocks of the human brain and its functions found patterns of DNA that may be linked to memory and intelligence. The research for the first time tracked genes that affect the size of infants’ heads, and the volume of the cranium and the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped organ crucial for memory. More than 200 researchers at 100 medical center

TechnologyApril 16, 2012

Korea’s exports to stay weak in Q2: poll

South Korea’s exports are expected to remain in the doldrums in the second quarter of the year on global jitters stemming from the eurozone debt crisis, a poll showed Monday.The leading indicator index for exports came in at 51.7 for the April-June period, up a mere 0.1 point from three months earlier, according to the survey taken jointly by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and Samsung Economic Research Institute.The survey was conducted on 2,156 foreign buyers of South Korean produc

April 16, 2012

Chin implant surgery skyrockets in U.S.

Cosmetic surgery to make the chin look more prominent has soared in popularity in the course of a year, making it the fastest growing trend among men and women, U.S. plastic surgeons said on Monday.Chin implants are particularly popular among those over 40, said the report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.A total of 10,593 men had the operation done in 2011, a 76 percent increase over t

TechnologyApril 16, 2012

Word-spotting baboons leave scientists spell-bound

Baboons can recognize scores of written words, a feat that raises intriguing questions about how we learn to read, scientists reported on Thursday.In a specially-made facility in France where they could come and go at will, monkeys learned to differentiate between a real word, such as KITE, and a nonsense word such as ZEVS.The baboons had access to a large enclosure with several touch-sensitive co

TechnologyApril 16, 2012

BOK revises down 2012 growth outlook to 3.5 percent

South Korea's central bank on Monday revised down its 2012 economic growth outlook due to deteriorating terms of trade and lowered its inflation projection in anticipation of more stable food and energy prices.The Bank of Korea (BOK) lowered its growth projection to 3.5 percent for the whole year from an earlier 3.7 percent estimate made in December. The economy will grow 3 percent in the first ha

April 16, 2012

Korea issues rabies alert after discovering infected dog

South Korea has issued a rabies alert after a dog tested positive for the potentially deadly disease, the country’s Farm Ministry said Saturday.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said a dog on a farm in Hwaseong 55, southwest of Seoul, tested positive for rabies. Local quarantine officials have been ordered to inoculate all domestic animals in the vicinity of the farm and to conduct decontamination.Also called hydrophobia, rabies is a contagious zoonotic disease, meaning

April 15, 2012

Another cover-up attempt suspected at nuke plant

The emergency power generator at a nuclear power plant in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province was found to have malfunctioned during a special checkup last month, stoking controversy over another possible attempted cover-up.The diesel power generator at the Yeonggwang-2 unit stopped a minute and 14 seconds after it was manually started for an examination on March 28, and the governor of Yeonggwang knew about it but did not report it to the public or nongovernmental watchdogs.This comes after autho

IndustryApril 15, 2012