World-OKTA pledges to offer 10,000 internships in foreign countries

The largest association of overseas-based Korean business leaders put forward an ambitious vision Monday to offer overseas internship positions for 10,000 young Korean adults as it celebrated its 30th anniversary with a pledge to expand the "business territory" of their homeland.   The World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Association, or World-OKTA, also vowed to take advantage of its deep-

IndustryApril 18, 2011

Franchisers to get leg-up in overseas expansion

South Korea is poised to lend greater support for the overseas expansion of 10 local franchise chains, including well-known names such as Mr. Pizza and Cafe Bene to help bolster service-related exports, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Monday. “Due to their standardized quality of products, service and stores, franchises are easy to globalize. Also, they are highly prospective exports driver

IndustryApril 18, 2011

KT starts cloud computing service in U.S., Germany

South Korea’s telecom titan KT Corp. said Monday that it has started offering cloud services in three cities in the United States and Germany, aiming to attract game developers and other content providers. The telecom company rolled out remote storage services that allow streaming and downloading data from online servers in New York, Los Angeles and Frankfurt, it said in a statement. The company a

TechnologyApril 18, 2011

LG Display registers quarterly loss

Flat-panel maker LG Display incurred a second-straight quarter operating loss during the January-March period on falling panel prices triggered by dormant demand, the company said in a regulatory filing Monday. Operating deficit for the first quarter of this year stood at 239.2 billion won ($219.2 million).The figure was narrowed from 387 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2010, but industry wat

IndustryApril 18, 2011

S. Korea not to raise FMD alert level despite new outbreak

South Korea will not raise its present foot-and-mouth disease alert level despite a fresh outbreak in the southeastern part of the country over the weekend, a government official said Monday.Deputy Farm Minister Lee Sang-kil said animals at the small farm in Yeongcheon, 344 kilometers from Seoul, were affected by the “type O” FMD virus that had devastated South Korea since November.The farm owner

IndustryApril 18, 2011

Renault, traffic body sign road safety pact

Renault Samsung Motors Co. and the Road Traffic Authority formed a partnership to collaborate on promoting road safety for children on Monday.Under the agreement, the carmaker and the state-run organization will collaborate in educating children about traffic safety, and establish a system for cooperation and mutual support in reducing traffic accidents involving children, Renault Samsung said.The

IndustryApril 18, 2011

Summer internship at Hyundai Motor

Hyundai Motor Co. is hiring interns for the summer.The internship is open to university students who are scheduled to graduate in February 2012.The company is receiving applications through its public relations homepage at pr.hyundai.com from Tuesday until May 2. Successful applicants will work for five weeks at the company’s local and overseas operations during the summer vacation. The company wi

IndustryApril 18, 2011

Hyundai Heavy’s deals rise to $9.2 billion

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipyard, announced Monday that it won contracts for five vessels, worth 900 billion won ($826 million), pushing up the value of contracts won, including those awarded to its subsidiary Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., this year to $9.2 billion.The figure accumulated so far this year is about 46 percent of the $19.8 billion target the company has se

IndustryApril 18, 2011

Google, Twitter on Samsung fridges

Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday that it will roll out new refrigerators in the U.S. market this month with a flat screen that displays services from Twitter Inc., Google Inc. and the latest news from The Associated Press. The company will release two new side-by-side fridges with an 8-inch touchscreen that displays short-message updates from Twitter and Google as well as news and weather infor

IndustryApril 18, 2011

KEPCO prize to honor research

State-run Korea Electric Power Corp. said Monday that it will launch a 200 million won ($180,000)-prize to acknowledge distinguished energy-related research. The biennial KEPCO Research Grand Prix, being introduced to mark the firm’s 50th anniversary this year, is aimed at encouraging and supporting the works of local researchers and academics, KEPCO officials said. Full university professors at r

IndustryApril 18, 2011

KCSC considers app filters to protect underage users

The authorities may introduce measures to limit underage smartphone users’ access to applications stores, sources said Monday.The Korea Communications Standards Commission is considering adding software to smartphones to limit access to adult content available in application stores, or setting up separate applications stores according to the content provided.While smartphone applications have grow

IndustryApril 18, 2011

Odd work schedules pose risk to health

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Reports of sleeping air traffic controllers highlight a long-known and often ignored hazard: Workers on night shifts can have trouble concentrating and even staying awake.“Government officials haven’t recognized that people routinely fall asleep at night when they’re doing shift work,” said Dr. Charles Czeisler, chief of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.Cz

TechnologyApril 18, 2011

Dividends to foreigners grow 33 pct in 2010

 South Korea's listed companies paid out 33 percent more in dividends to foreign shareholders in 2010 than a year earlier, helped by an increase in earnings, data showed Monday.   A total of 4.97 trillion won ($4.6 billion) in dividends were paid to foreigners last year, compared with 3.73 trillion won in the previous year, according to the data by the Korea Exchange (KRX).   Last year's dividend

April 18, 2011