The Korea Herald

KEB labor union welcomes Yun as new chief executive

The labor union for Korea Exchange Bank welcomed the new chief on his first day at work with roses on Monday in a sign that it will support the leadership appointed by Hana Financial Group, the bank’s new owner.KEB’s union leader Kim Kwi-chul and his team embraced new CEO Yun Yong-ro as he entered the bank’s headquarters and called Yun “a new member of the family that we all should work with closely.” The gesture signals a fresh start to the partnership between the management and the union, whos

Feb. 20, 2012

KEB labor union welcomes Yun as new chief executive

Swiss education fair to showcase hospitality

The first Swiss Education Fair in Seoul will take place at the Sheraton Seoul D Cube City Hotel later this week.This event is organized by Swiss Business Hub Korea and aims to promote the highly regarded global education curriculum of Swiss schools in Korea. In attendance at this year’s fair are two public and six private hotel and business management schools.There will also be five prestigious Swiss boarding schools.Visitors to the fair on Feb. 25 will have the opportunity to consult directly w

Feb. 20, 2012

Connecting New Zealand F&B with Busan

New Zealand Food Connection 2012 will be held Feb. 28 at Paradise Hotel in Busan hosted by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.Held twice a year, once in Seoul and once in Busan, the event aims to showcase a wide range of premium New Zealand food and beverages to Korean food industry professionals, including hotels, restaurants, distributors and retailers, and to promote cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean food and beverage industries,.“Busan is a very attractive market, well-known for t

Feb. 20, 2012

Global Biz Center site tour, Korean lessons

The Seoul Global Business Support Center, Gangnam office, will hold a site tour and offer a Korean language course taught by a popular local broadcaster.The site tour of the Seoul International Sourcing Fair at the COEX center will take place on Feb. 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.On the same day, the center will stop taking applications for foreign businesspeople interested in advancing their Korean business language skills and perfect their professional presentations about their products or other bu

Feb. 20, 2012

Newcomers meeting illustrates networking importance

The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry held their first seminar to welcome newcomers on Feb. 13, offering information and advice on doing business in Korea.“We wanted to give insider views by experienced practitioners and the chamber for the new arrivals in Korea, be it new German companies or executives, Germans or foreigners, who work for member companies of the chamber,” KGCC Secretary-General Jurgen Wohler told The Korea Herald.During the meeting, the chamber’s directors offered

Feb. 20, 2012

Newcomers meeting illustrates networking importance

Penetrating with products beyond beverages

Austria looks to showcase year-round leisure companiesAustria is offering more this year than the standard food, beverages and classical music as the promotion of winter products takes center stage.“We have the mountains and the winter sports and that is where we will have the angle this year,” said Advantage Austria commercial counsellor Michael Otter.Several winter sports products have made their way to Korea in the past few years but one that has revolutionized the industry is Fischer’s Vacuu

Feb. 20, 2012

Penetrating with products beyond beverages

Kolon chairman honored for women-friendly management

Kolon Group chairman Lee Woong-yeul won an award from Business and Professional Women Korea for setting an example to encourage women’s participation in the workplace, the business group said on Monday.Lee was honored with the BWP Gold award for raising female employment to 39 percent at Kolon while adopting a quota system to secure work for female workers. He also introduced a mentoring system for women workers in need of career advice. The BWP Gold Award is a recognition given to an individual

IndustryFeb. 20, 2012

Kolon chairman honored for women-friendly management

'Military can make you less agreeable'

A research by a Washington University team found that serving in the military negatively affect a person’s agreeableness for a long time, the Science Daily reported Friday.It is well known that battlefield trauma can leave war veterans with deep lasting psychological scars, but the new finding sheds light on the fact that an individual’s personality can change even for soldiers who never see combat.The study showed that men who do military service tend to score lower in terms of agreeableness th

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2012

Leader with an unassuming taste, many hobbies

While leading 47 affiliated companies at home and 65 abroad, LS Group chairman John Koo is a family-oriented master baduk player who likes simple dishes like sujebi.Wearing a jumper, he often goes to a small restaurant in an apartment complex in Daechi-dong, southeastern Seoul, for the hearty soup with dough flakes torn by hand.“People laugh when I say I waited alone in a line to get into a small restaurant, but that’s who I am,” Koo said.As the eldest of four brothers and two sisters, Koo place

IndustryFeb. 20, 2012

Leader with an unassuming taste, many hobbies

People losing sleep over social media

Millions of Britons are losing sleep because they are updating or checking status updates on Facebook or tweeting, a survey indicated. The study commissioned by Travelodge hotels surveyed 6,000 adults in Britain indicated 72 percent spend their time in bed before falling asleep updating or checking

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2012

South Korean scientists find new anti-cancer agent

South Korean scientists have discovered a new anti-cancer agent that may offer a new and safe way to treat cancer without the side effects of anti-cancer drugs, as the substance already exists in human bodies, the science ministry said Monday.A team led by Prof. Kim Sung-hoon of Seoul National University has confirmed anti-cancer activities of Glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GRS), an enzyme that was previously only known to interact with other bodily substances to create protein, according to the Minist

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2012

LS Group taps into emerging markets, green business

LS Group taps into emerging markets, green businessKicker: Chairman John Koo says companies’ social contribution is mandatory investment)HERALD INTERVIEW By Kim So-hyunLS Group, unrivaled in Korea for industrial cables and electrical systems, is aggressively expanding abroad with a focus on green businesses, such as smart grids, renewable energy, electric car parts and resource development. With LS Cable & System and LS Industrial Systems as its two main pillars, LS has grown into the nation’s 1

IndustryFeb. 20, 2012

PHNOM PEHN (Yonhap News) ― The red wooden gates of 400 Monivong Boulevard are difficult to find if you are not looking for them. Only a sun-bleached sign overhead marks them as the entrance to the compound of Pyeongyang Restaurant, a North Korean chain and one of Phnom Pehn’s most famous dining destinations. It’s also the place that Lee Un-yong and her fellow waitresses call home. Like many of the women who have worked here, Lee is a transitional employee. Now eight months into her three-year co

IndustryFeb. 20, 2012

Popular but secretive, North Korean restaurant keeps the ‘North’ part low-key

German newcomers meeting illustrates importance of networking

The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry held their first seminar to welcome newcomers on Feb. 13, offering information and advice on doing business in Korea.“We wanted to give insider views by experienced practitioners and the chamber for the new arrivals in Korea, be it new German companies or executives, Germans or foreigners, who work for member companies of the chamber,” KGCC Secretary-General Jurgen Wohler told The Korea Herald.During the meeting, the chamber’s directors offered

Feb. 20, 2012

First test-tube hamburger ready this fall: researchers

The world's first "test-tube" meat, a hamburger made from a cow's stem cells, will be produced this fall, Dutch scientist Mark Post told a major science conference on Sunday.Post's aim is to invent an efficient way to produce skeletal muscle tissue in a laboratory that exactly mimics meat, and event

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2012

Big four car importers face antitrust probe

FTC to focus investigation on pricing policy and distribution systemAntitrust authorities have launched an investigation into local importers and distributors of overseas brand cars for alleged unfair business practices such as over-pricing, industry sources said Sunday.The Fair Trade Commission, the sources said, sent an official notification to importers of the big four car makers ― Mercedez-Benz Korea, BMW Group Korea, Audi Volkswagen Korea and Toyota Motor Korea ― to ask for cooperation in t

IndustryFeb. 19, 2012

Major conglomerates see profits decline in 2011

LG Group expected to pull off a recovery, helped by improvement in the IT sectorKorea’s major conglomerates grappled with worsening business conditions last year and LG Group suffered the most in terms of combined earnings, data showed Sunday.On the flip side of the dismal earnings coin, though, is that LG is widely expected to stage a recovery this year, thanks partly to the lower base in comparison and improving market position in key product categories. Based on the earnings reports filed und

IndustryFeb. 19, 2012

Major conglomerates see profits decline in 2011

Pernod Ricard donates W100m to Busan

BUSAN ― Pernod Ricard Korea has donated 100 million won ($88,800) to Busan to help the local government promote bicycling, the local unit of the French drinks group said Sunday.The funds will be used to help create a bike park and set up related facilities in the southeastern port city, said the company, which distributes Ballantine’s and Imperial whiskies, Chivas Regal scotch and Absolut Vodka. The donation also coincides with the launch of a limited edition of the company’s Imperial whisky ded

IndustryFeb. 19, 2012

Hyundai Motor backs design to drive sales

After winning a long battle for quality, Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor is focusing on beauty.Hyundai, together with its affiliate Kia, was ranked the world’s fourth largest carmaker in 2010 thanks partly to a decade-long drive to improve workmanship.Now the firm sees its core competitive edge as good design, expressed in a “fluidic sculpture” philosophy.“We are now in the global top five and we needed a product that could reflect that, a product that could differentiate itself from other m

MobilityFeb. 19, 2012

Builders gear up for $66.7b project in Saudi Arabia

A consortium of local contractors will begin negotiating with the Saudi Arabian government later this month to bid for construction of 500,000 homes there. They embark on one of the biggest state-backed projects in the Middle Eastern nation, the Land Ministry said on Sunday. A taskforce participated by Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., SK Construction Co., Kyungnam Enterprise Ltd., and state-run property developer LH Corp. are making a detailed estimate of the project’s cost and size based

IndustryFeb. 19, 2012