State regulator launches query on Apple

The state media regulator said Monday it launched an investigation against Apple Inc. over its collection of information of its smartphone users in Korea.The Korea Communications Commission said it requested Apple to promptly answer a questionnaire and return it by “the earliest date.”State authorities asked the company to clarify the duration and regularity of the location information storing on

IndustryApril 25, 2011

Kia Motors posts record sales in Q1

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, set a new quarterly sales record in the first three months of the year amid growing overseas demand for its vehicles, the company said Monday.According to data released by Kia Motors, the company sold 565,355 vehicles in the first quarter, up 20.2 percent from the same period last year. Domestic sales came to 125,631 units with exports risi

April 25, 2011

SK chairman suffers investment loss of over W100b

The chief of SK Group, a South Korean conglomerate, has suffered a loss of more than 100 billion won ($92.5 million) from futures investment, sources said Saturday.The National Tax Service, the country’s tax agency, found that Chey Tae-won had invested in the futures, but lost most of his money, according to the sources. The tax agency launched tax probes into the group’s key affiliates, such as S

IndustryApril 24, 2011

Hyundai Motor Group reaches new high in U.S. midsized market

Hyundai Motor Group’s share of the United States’ market for midsized sedans for the first quarter of the year rose to a record high, industry data showed Sunday.According to industry data, 66,554 units of Hyundai Motor Co.’s Sonata and Kia Motors Corp.’s K5, known as the Optima in overseas markets, were sold in the U.S. during the first three months of the year, giving the companies’ a combined m

IndustryApril 24, 2011

Struggling chaebol take out loans on stocks

Owners of top industrial companies took out loans against their own shareholdingsOwners of some of the nation’s top “chaebol” industrial groups have obtained loans from creditors by offering nearly all of their own company stocks as collateral, data from the Financial Supervisory Service and online corporate sources showed on Sunday.Almost 80 percent of Dongbu Group Chairman Kim Jun-ki’s 15.41 mil

IndustryApril 24, 2011

30 groups see debts surge 51% in 3 years

Combined debts of Samsung, Hyundai Motor grow by 89 trillion wonThe nation’s 30 biggest business groups saw their combined debts snowball over the past three years, which could undermine their financial soundness, the Fair Trade Commission said on Sunday.According to the antitrust regulator, debts held by the top 30 groups came to 1.03 quadrillion won ($925 billion) as of March 2011, up 51.2 perce

April 24, 2011

Jeep camping iPhone app

Chrysler Korea has launched an iPhone application that provides information on camping and off-road driving.The “Jeep Camping” application, available free on Apple’s App Store, provides information about 100 camping sites located across the country and tips for driving in off-road conditions provided by experts, the company said.The tips include those on vehicle maintenance, a checklist for driver

MobilityApril 24, 2011

Sony chairman credited with developing CDs dies

TOKYO (AP)- As a young man, aspiring opera singer Norio Ohga wrote to Sony to complain about the quality of its tape recorders.That move changed the course of his life, as the company promptly recruited the man whose love of music would shape the development of the compact disc and transform the Japanese electronics maker into a global software and entertainment empire.Sony's president and chairma

IndustryApril 24, 2011

S. Korea, China bust phone scam ring targeting S. Korea

Chinese prosecutors have arrested 23 suspects over phone fraud on South Koreans, Seoul's prosecutors said Sunday, the first bust on a scam ring after the two neighboring countries agreed to thwart voice phishing scams that have caused huge financial damage in South Korea in recent years.Voice phishing involves random phone calls to dupe victims to siphon their bank accounts. Callers, growingly tra

TechnologyApril 24, 2011

Hyundai, Renault Samsung to recall 74,000 mid-size cars

Hyundai Motor Co. and Renault Samsung Motor Co. will recall around 74,000 mid-size passenger cars sold in South Korea due to a manufacturing defect and a safety problem, respectively, Seoul's transportation ministry said Sunday.Renault Samsung, the local unit of French automaker Renault SA, will recall 55,648 units of its mid-size car SM5 produced between Aug. 12, 2009 and Oct. 29, 2010, and 65,15

IndustryApril 24, 2011

SK Group chairman suffers investment loss of over 100 billion won

Chief of SK Group, a South Korean conglomerate, has suffered a loss of over 100 billion won ($92.5 million) from futures investment, sources said Saturday.The National Tax Service, the country's tax agency, found that Chey Tae-won had invested in the futures, but lost most of his money, according to the sources.The tax agency launched tax probes into the group's key affiliates, such as SK Telecom

IndustryApril 23, 2011

POSCO Q1 sales reach W9.1 trillion

POSCO, Korea’s largest steelmaker, posted operating profit of 921 billion won (about $900 million) in the first quarter, a 36 percent decrease from the same period last year, amid continuing high raw material prices. In its earnings report released Friday, the company said it recorded sales of 9.1 trillion won, up 31 percent from the same period last year.The steelmaker attributed the sluggish ear

IndustryApril 22, 2011