Income gap widens in Korea

Income among the poorest people in South Korea grew at a slower pace than other income earners last year, further widening the overall wealth gap between the haves and have-nots, data showed Thursday.According to the data by Statistics Korea, those in the lowest 10 percent income bracket earned less than the equivalised disposable income of 643,000 won ($572.5) last year. The richest 10 percent earned at least 3.1 million won.Based on the results, the richest income earners made 4.82 times more

March 8, 2012

Detection of radiation in Japanese fish on rise

Korea is more frequently finding radioactive materials in fishery products from Japan but has no immediate plans to ban imports as their levels are far below the maximum intake limits, the quarantine office said Thursday.In the first two months of the year, the country has detected traces of radioactive materials, such as cesium, in 32 separate shipments of fisheries products from Japan, according to the Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency.The figure represents an over 5

March 8, 2012

Ape genes show we have gorillas in our midst

Our ancestors made the evolutionary split with gorillas around 10 million years ago, but we still share a remarkable number of genes with the great ape, according to a groundbreaking study published on Wednesday. A worldwide consortium of scientists sequenced the genome of the western lowland gor

TechnologyMarch 8, 2012

US studies confirm Europe close on 'God particle'

 More scientists are getting closer in the search for the ``God particle'' of physics that would help explain the fundamentals of the universe, but they haven't found it yet.    In the hunt for the Higgs boson, which is key to understanding why matter has mass, two teams of physi

TechnologyMarch 7, 2012

Hanwha Group names 5 new CEOs

Hanwha Group said Wednesday it has appointed new chief executives of its five affiliates as part of its sweeping reshuffle aimed at reinforcing its charge into sunrise industries. The Korean conglomerate said it also promoted 102 employees to executive positions, up from 90 last year.The new commanders-in-chief are Shim Kyung-seop at the group’s industrial powder unit, Park Se-hoon at Hanwha Galleria, Han Woo-je at Hanwha Venture Capital, Lee Yul-guk at Hanwha 63 City and Kwon Hyuk-woong at Yeos

IndustryMarch 7, 2012

Customs agency uncovers tax evasion through oil smuggling

The Korea Customs Service uncovered an oil smuggling case by two distribution entities who dodged some 4.3 billion won in taxes while selling oil from Singapore, the agency said Wednesday.The tax authority arrested one and filed complaints against seven others involved in smuggling 9.45 million liters of base oil used for making lubricant, it said. The Korea Customs Service is after the other three who fled during the investigation process.“We caught a total of 11 people who smuggled unrefined o

March 7, 2012

Top conglomerates continue to add subsidiaries: FTC

The business expansion of Korean conglomerates shows no sign of abating, with the number of their affiliated companies increasing for 10 consecutive months, according to the antitrust authorities Wednesday.According to the Fair Trade Commission, the nation’s 55 biggest companies saw the number of their affiliates grow to 1,667 this month from 1,554 in April last year since their cross-shareholdings started to face limitations. In February alone, an additional 29 companies were newly established

IndustryMarch 7, 2012

BAT cuts prices of Vogue amid sales drop

British American Tobacco Korea plans to lower the prices of its Vogue cigarettes less than a year after a controversial markup that triggered a plunge in sales and a customer migration to rivals.The local unit of the multinational tobacco giant said Wednesday it would bring the prices of Vogue back to 2,500 won ($2.20) per pack, down from 2,700 won, starting Monday.The pullback is aimed at better competing with other ultraslim cigarettes, the company said, chiefly KT&G Corp.’s Esse, which has lo

IndustryMarch 7, 2012

‘Lone Star may challenge tax on KEB sale’

U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Fund is reviewing measures to challenge a 391.5 billion won ($348 million) withholding tax on its sale of Korea Exchange Bank to Hana Financial Group Inc., a source said Wednesday. The amount equal to 10 percent of Lone Star’s KEB sale proceeds was paid to the National Tax Service on Monday as a withholding tax, a Hana Financial Group official said. “Hana Financial and Lone Star agreed to the fact that the tax must be paid so we paid the withholding tax as sche

March 7, 2012

Samsung Everland, Kyobo Life unlikely to go for IPO this year

Two Korean heavyweights are now unlikely to get listed on the stock market this year, forcing investors to readjust their bets on the much-anticipated initial public offerings. Samsung Group said on Wednesday that it has no plans to list shares of Samsung Everland, the group’s de facto holding firm, on the local stock market. Separately, industry sources said Kyobo Life Insurance is now expected to halt its plan to pursue an IPO this year in the face of volatile market conditions.“We have no pla

March 7, 2012

FSS to punish Samsung Card for massive customer data leak

The Financial Supervisory Service is set to take disciplinary action against Samsung Card for leaking customer information.The credit card firm’s CEO Choi Chi-hun also faces a regulatory sanction for allegedly negligent internal control.According to the FSS and police, the personal information of about 1.92 million customers of Samsung Card was leaked by a former employee between January 2010 and August 2011.FSS officials say punitive measures against the company and its CEO are inevitable.The r

March 7, 2012

Samsung refuses to confirm Apple’s proposal on patent litigation

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday said it was unable to confirm news reports that Apple put forward proposals to the firm that would settle some pending patent litigation cases.“We can’t confirm the reports at this point, but it is not true that we held an emergency meeting of executives involving the issue and our position on the ongoing patent battle with Apple remains the same,” said a Samsung official.On Wednesday, Dow Jones cited an anonymous source as saying that Apple made proposals to Sam

IndustryMarch 7, 2012

Vice Minister Shin warns of foreign capital inflow into bonds

Vice Finance Minister Shin Je-yoon on Wednesday said the inflow of foreign capital into the local bond market is a concern, projecting worries about yet another round of speculative capital inflow. “Foreign investors have been upping their share of Korean bonds and it is a concern,” Shin said at a business forum.Foreign investors in February raised their holdings of Korean bonds by the most since July last year. Their net holding of local bonds rose by 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion) to 86 trill

March 7, 2012