Lotte Mart to expand China business

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Lotte Mart Co., South Korea’s third-largest discount chain store, said Tuesday it will expand its China business by 2018 in an effort to boost its presence in China’s fast-growing retail sector. The chain, run by South Korea’s largest retail conglomerate Lotte Group, said i

IndustryAug. 16, 2011

Korea Finance head offers to resign over Hynix sale

The head of policy lender Korea Finance Corp. offered to resign on Tuesday, taking responsibility for an uproar over the conditions of Hynix Semiconductor Inc.’s sale.Early last month, top mobile carrier SK Telecom and shipbuilding conglomerate STX Group submitted preliminary bids for a 15 percent s

Aug. 16, 2011

Seoul to widen supply of Chuseok food items

Seoul plans to widen the supply of fruit, fish and fresh harvest products in the two weeks prior to Chuseok to control prices rising fast due to the long rainy spell, the Agriculture Ministry said. It will select 15 staple food items and allocate them evenly at major retailers and wholesale market p

Aug. 16, 2011

Analysts forecast quick stock recovery

A group of analysts have predicted that the stock market, hit by the fiscal woes in Europe and the United States, will stabilize in the near future.They shared the opinion that the possibility of the U.S. economy falling into a double-dip recession is not so high.“Though the U.S. will experience a s

Aug. 16, 2011

BC, banks team up to fight Visa

BC Card Co. and its 11 partner banks have agreed to join hands in protest against the “anti-market policy” of Visa, the Korean company said Tuesday. A consultative body, headed by a BC executive, expressed deep regret in a statement that Visa has fined BC unilaterally for refusing to use its global

IndustryAug. 16, 2011

Korea logs trade surplus for 18th month

South Korea posted a trade surplus for the 18th straight month in July, fueled by strong exports of petroleum products, ships and automobiles, the customs office said Tuesday.The trade surplus came to $6.3 billion last month, up from $2.8 billion reported a month earlier, according to data by the Ko

Aug. 16, 2011

Hyundai, Kia models named best low-cost cars to own in Australia

Cars made by Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. have been rated as the best low-cost ownership models in Australia, raising hopes for stronger sales down the road, industry sources said Tuesday.Hyundai’s i30 hatchback family car and Starex van and Kia’s Sportage R compact sport uti

IndustryAug. 16, 2011

Youngsters growing tired of social media

Youngsters are growing tired of social networking services including Facebook, You Tube and Twitter, according to a survey. In research conducted by marketing company Gartner, the frequency of total visits to those websites is ever-decreasing, while one out of four users between 18 and 29 said the o

TechnologyAug. 16, 2011

Coffee's anti-cancer link explained: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Coffee has been shown to reduce the risk of skin cancer by helping kill off damaged cells that could otherwise turn into tumors, according to a US study published on Monday.The findings indicate that moderate caffeine drinking, or perhaps even applying coffee to the skin, could be

TechnologyAug. 16, 2011

Europe accounts for half of foreign selling in Korea

Fitch, S&P to visit Seoul for yearly assessmentForeign investors pulled investments worth about 5 trillion won ($4.6 billion) out of Korea’s stock market over the past two weeks amid the fiscal woes in Europe and the United States.Funds from Europe accounted for more than 50 percent of the capital o

Aug. 15, 2011

More SMEs warm to shared growth

The number of small and medium sized enterprises positively rating the government-led shared growth drive has almost doubled since the introduction of a comprehensive plan last year, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Monday.The government implemented a comprehensive plan for supporting shared g

IndustryAug. 15, 2011

LGE ships record amount of smartphones

LG Electronics has shipped a record amount of smartphones in the second quarter of this year to step closer to its goal of rejoining the ranks of top-tier phone makers, sources said on Monday. The world’s third-largest handset maker showed a 590 percent increase in its shipment of smartphones in the

IndustryAug. 15, 2011

Conglomerates’ market cap slips near 20%

The sharp decline triggers concerns of revisit of 2008 financial crisisThe nation’s top 10 conglomerates’ market capitalization declined significantly, by about 130.46 trillion won ($120.59 billion) in the aftermath of the latest stock market volatility.The amount, tallied as of Aug.12, was roughly

Aug. 15, 2011