The nation’s top financial regulator on Friday urged accounting firms to commit to a rigorous audit of troubled savings banks to uproot accounting fraud.Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se pinpointed the lack of transparency in financial reports in the industry at a breakfast meeting with chiefs of the industry’s 13 biggest accounting firms.“Transparency is an essential element in a trusted relationship between banks and the public, and demand for honest reporting is growing,” Kwon

Dec. 9, 2011

More than half of securities company chiefs in Korea are about see the end of their terms, signaling a wave of management changes in the brokerage industry.According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, 29 out of 49 securities firms will see their tenures end next year.In particular, most of the 10 major securities firms are affected. Samsung Securities replaced its CEO on Dec. 7.The current figures include Daewoo Securities CEO Im Kee-young, Woori Investment and Securities CEO Hwang S

Dec. 9, 2011

South Korea’s producer prices grew at the slowest clip in one year in November as prices of vegetables and fruits fell sharply, the central bank said Friday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, rose 5.1 percent in November from a year earlier, cooling from a 5.6 percent on-year gain in October, according to the Bank of Korea.Last month‘s data marked the slowest gain since a 4.9 percent gain tallied in November 2010, it added.Compared with the previous month, produc

Dec. 9, 2011

Samsung wins legal battle in Australia, but fails to ban sales of iPhone 4S in FranceSamsung Electronics will be rolling out its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia in time for the holiday season as its High Court rejected Apple’s request on Friday to extend the sales ban on Samsung’s tablet PCs.The three-judge High Court panel said that Apple failed to convince them that the firm could win on appeal and denied the company a hearing, according to news reports. Chief Justice Robert French, representing

IndustryDec. 9, 2011

1.6-liter Gamma engine selected for the ‘Best 10 Engines’ list by U.S. auto mediaHyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors became the No. 1 and No. 2 foreign carmakers, respectively, in Russian markets in November, according to industrial data.Hyundai posted sales of 17,283 units in Russia last month, maintaining the No. 1 position for the third consecutive month, according to the Association of European Businesses.Kia ranked second with sales of 15,115 units, overtaking GM Chevrolet with sales

Dec. 9, 2011

Korea’s antitrust regulator said Friday that it had launched a deliberation on U.S. search giant Google’s recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility, to decide whether the merger would undermine market competition. The California-based company filed on Tuesday for Korean clearance to complete the $12.5 billion deal announced in August, according to the Fair Trade Commission. “The purchase is expected to affect the nation’s smartphone market, including local handset makers Samsung and LG,” said Lee

IndustryDec. 9, 2011

South Korean stocks fell 1.97 percent on Friday as investor sentiment was dampened by uncertainties over the eurozone debt crisis and a grim economic growth forecast, analysts said. The local currency declined against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI lost 37.64 points to 1,874.75, sinking below the 1,900 point level for the first time since it finished at 1,847.51 on Nov. 30. Trading volume was moderate at 367.9 million shares worth 5.07 trillion won ($4.42 billion) with losers leading gainer

Dec. 9, 2011

Postmenopausal women with a common type of breast cancer that thrives on estrogen survived longer when treated with a combination of two drugs rather than just one, a US study said Wednesday.The results of the phase III trial, released at a meeting of breast cancer experts in San Antonio, Texas, sho

TechnologyDec. 9, 2011

US researchers said Thursday they have found evidence that tropical cyclones in Haiti and Taiwan were followed by earthquakes, suggesting that heavy rains and landslides may unleash temblors."Very wet rain events are the trigger," said University of Miami scientist Shimon Wdowinski, an associate res

TechnologyDec. 9, 2011

Samsung wins legal battle in Australia, but fails to ban sales of iPhone 4S in FranceSamsung Electronics will be rolling out its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia in time for the holiday season as its High Court rejected Apple’s request on Friday to extend the sales ban on Samsung’s tablet PCs.The three-

IndustryDec. 9, 2011

The high-speed fourth-generation network service appears to be literally a “long-term evolution” for KT Corp., the nation’s No. 2 telecom carrier. KT was scheduled to halt its second-generation mobile service and to announce the beginning of the long-awaited LTE service at a press conference on Thursday. A Seoul court, however, scuppered KT’s plan on Wednesday, saying “Irreversible damages are expected to the remaining 2G users.”Under a plan to start the faster LTE service in the 1.8 GHz band th

IndustryDec. 8, 2011

South Korea, China and Japan will hold their final joint study meeting next week on the feasibility of a free trade agreement between the three Northeast Asian countries, the Trade Ministry in Seoul said Thursday.The meeting, the seventh of its kind, will be held in Pyeongchang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, from Wednesday to Friday, according to the ministry. During the meeting, the three nations will discuss a draft covering commodities trade and other issues, such as service and investme

IndustryDec. 8, 2011

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest TV supplier, said Thursday it set a new record in monthly flat-screen TV sales in November, thanks to a demand spike during the holiday season in the United States. The company sold 5.7 million units of TVs in global markets last month, it said in a statement.The monthly sales record was largely driven by robust demand in the United States during the Thanksgiving holidays, Samsung said. The company saw more than a 40 percent surge in TV sales on Black

IndustryDec. 8, 2011

South Korean conglomerates expect export conditions to worsen in 2012 mainly due to eurozone debt woes and a U.S. economic slowdown, a poll showed Thursday.The Federation of Korean Industries survey showed that of 22 major businesses polled, 15, or 68.2 percent, expected next year’s export environment to be less favorable than in 2011.The data also showed that 63.6 percent of the conglomerates, including Samsung, Hyundai Motor Co., LG and SK, are bracing for financing-related difficulties in the

Dec. 8, 2011