South Korea's trade surplus reached $5.82 billion in April up sharply from US$2.78 billion the previous month amid brisk exports, a government report showed Sunday.April marks the 15th straight month that the country has posted a favorable balance. Exports rose 26.6 percent on-year to $49.77 billion last month, with imports rising 23.7 percent to $43.95 billion, according to the report by the Mini

May 1, 2011

South Korean stocks are expected to trade in a tight range next week as investors will likely take a breather after the benchmark index's sharp rise, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,192.36 on Friday, down 0.25 percent, or 5.46 points, from one week ago.Although the KOSPI finished this week lower, the market staged a rally during the whole

April 30, 2011

A semi-government committee on mutual growth said it will select in August the industries conglomerates would be discouraged from entering or expanding in to give their smaller counterparts more opportunities.At their meeting in Seoul, the members, led by former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, said for now, they have confirmed the selection guidelines and will be choosing the industries based on how

IndustryApril 29, 2011

Regulators plan to select preferred bidders in JuneThe nation’s top financial watchdog decided Friday to put seven debt-saddled savings banks up for auction to find preferred bidders among bigger financial companies.“After conducting due diligence on them and launching the bidding process in May, we plan to pick preferred bidders in June,” the Financial Services Commission said in a statement.The

April 29, 2011

Financial regulators on Thursday issued sanctions against a Korean asset management firm and a brokerage house for incurring huge losses after allegedly making reckless investments in stocks last November.The Financial Supervisory Service held a committee meeting where they fine-tuned the level of penalties they would levy against Wise Asset and Hana Daetoo Securities for their alleged negligence

April 29, 2011

World’s top memory chipmaker sees tough conditions in coming quarterSamsung Electronics Co. said Friday it logged 2.95 trillion won ($2.7 billion) in net profits for the first quarter of this year amid globally weak demand for flat panels and TVs sets. It is a 33 percent decline from the same period last year and it is the lowest operating profit in seven quarters.Its sales stood at 36.99 trillion

IndustryApril 29, 2011

MOSCOW, (AFP) - The reclusive Russian maths genius who solved one of the world's most perplexing mysteries said in a rare interview Thursday that he began his training by figuring out how Jesus walked on water.Grigory Perelman shot to international fame by solving the seemingly intractable Poincare conjecture and then turning down the million-dollar prize awarded in the mathematics world's version

TechnologyApril 29, 2011

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top memory chip and liquid crystal display (LCD) panel maker, said Friday that its first-quarter earnings fell 30.3 percent on-year, hurt by weak demand for TVs and PCs that eroded component prices.Net profit reached 2.78 trillion won (US$2.59 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 3.99 trillion won during the same period a year earlier, the compan

IndustryApril 29, 2011

A group of Korean iPhone users on Thursday filed a class action lawsuit against U.S. telecom giant Apple Inc. and its Korean unit over the firm's allegedly illegal collection of users' location data.It will be the first such case in the country."We learned that our whereabouts over the past six months were entirely revealed. It's a privacy violation," said legal representatives of 29 plaintiffs in

April 29, 2011

Korea's industrial output grew for the 21st straight month in March, indicating that the nation's economy continued to expand, a government report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining and manufacturing industries rose 8.7 percent last month from a year earlier. Output has increased every month since July 2009. The expansion was fueled mainly by increa

April 29, 2011

Financial regulators on Thursday issued sanctions against a local asset management firm and a brokerage house for incurring huge losses after conducting allegedly reckless investments in stocks last November.The Financial Supervisory Service held a committee meeting where they fined-tuned the level of penalties against Wise Asset and Hana Daetoo Securities for their alleged negligence in internal

April 28, 2011

The Korea Communications Commission said Thursday that it plans on sending a questionnaire to Google Inc. involving the collection of location information of its smartphone users here.The event takes place a few days after the state media and telecommunications regulator launched an investigation against Apple Inc. on Monday over collection of information of its smartphone users.In a questionnaire

April 28, 2011

The dollar slid to 1,071.2 won on Thursday, posting its lowest level in 32 months against the Korean currency.The Korean currency’s value rose by 8.3 won from a day earlier, bringing it to its highest point since Aug. 22, 2008, when it stood at 1,062.5 won per dollar.Economists attributed the won’s rise in value to U.S. policymakers’ stance which hinted at easing ― or a wait-and-see approach towar

April 28, 2011

Hyundai Motor Co.’s quarterly sales increased 21.4 percent from a year ago, while that of its affiliate Hyundai Steel rose to record levels.In a regulatory filing, Hyundai Motor revealed that its first quarter sales increased 21.4 percent compared to the same period last year to come in at 18.23 trillion won, while operating profits soared 45.6 percent over the same period to come in at more than

IndustryApril 28, 2011

Two top mobile carriers SK Telecom and KT Corp. said they will release Apple’s iPad 2 in the local market Friday, according to companies’ officials Thursday.KT, which was the first telecom to service Apple’s iPhone in November 2009, said it will release two different models ― one that operates only on the Wi-Fi network and another which runs on Wi-Fi and 3G networks ― beginning at 10 a.m. at its o

IndustryApril 28, 2011

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee on Thursday supported a presidential aide’s call for public funds to more actively exercise their rights as shareholders.The business tycoon said he was not only unperturbed by the remarks, but he “welcomes the idea of having shareholders publicly exercise their rights.”Lee was remarking on a speech given Tuesday by Kwak Seung-jun, head of the presidential

IndustryApril 28, 2011

Budget spending focused on investment in new growth enginesThe Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Thursday unveiled its policy to improve the nation’s fiscal soundness next year by slashing unnecessary expenditure.The government is aiming to minimize the 2012 fiscal deficit by curbing the growth of total expenditure, ministry officials said citing its report to the Cabinet meeting held earlier in

April 28, 2011