SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's central bank is expected to hike its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage point this year to fight oil and commodity price gains, a senior economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. said Thursday.   "South Korea's central bank may raise its interest rate 75 basis points further from where we are now through the course of this year," HSBC Group Chief Economist Step

March 24, 2011

Apple has been fiercely criticized for approving the “gay conversion” application which offers guidance on how a homosexual can convert to heterosexuality.The “gay cure” application, which can be used on Apple’s handheld devices, was created by a religious organization, Exodus International.According to Britain’s Daily Telegraph, the organization believes in teaching “freedom from homosexuality th

TechnologyMarch 24, 2011

   South Korea's top wire and cable maker LS Cable Ltd. said Thursday that it has changed its English name to LS Cable & System Ltd. to reflect the company's growing businesses.   Shareholders adopted the new English name on Wednesday as the new name better indicates the company's expansion into businesses that offer a package of applications, equipment, software and systems to clients, the compan

IndustryMarch 24, 2011

  Cumulative exports by South Korea's second-largest automaker Kia Motors Corp. surpassed 10 million units on Thursday, a feat achieved 36 years after it started overseas shipments in 1975, the company said.   It took 30 years for Kia Motors to reach the 5 million unit export mark, but only six years since 2005 to reach 10 million.   The number only includes vehicles shipped from South Korea.Overs

MobilityMarch 24, 2011

  Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top memory chipmaker, said Thursday that it has begun mass production of a new type of mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) that packs denser memory in a slimmer package.   Earlier this month, Samsung started mass producing the 4-gigabit, low power double-data-rate 2 (LPDDR2) DRAM based on 30-nanometer class technology, the company said in a statement.

TechnologyMarch 24, 2011

    South Korea's trade commission said Thursday that it has decided to extend anti-dumping duties on Chinese float glass products, citing unfair price cuts.   The Korea Trade Commission said punitive duties of 12.04-36.01 percent will be maintained on Chinese imports for the next three years.   The decision follows investigations carried out following formal complaints raised by KCC Corp. and Han

March 24, 2011

Childbirth in Korea grew over 10 percent in January from a year earlier as improving economic conditions encouraged couples to have more babies, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in January stood at 47,500, up 10.7 percent, or about 4,600 from the same month a year earlier. The January figure marked the 11th consecutive on-y

IndustryMarch 23, 2011

SK Telecom, the country’s top mobile carrier, said Wednesday it has signed a deal for the first exports of its universal subscriber identification module, which could help businesses better manage products such as liquor and pharmaceuticals.SKT said that the company and its Chinese partner Sunnada Communication Co., a leading wireless coverage solution provider in China, agreed in Beijing to sell

IndustryMarch 23, 2011

Japan’s earthquake will likely exert upward pressure on energy prices over the short term as the disaster, along with unrest in Arab countries, increases market volatility, the finance minister said Wednesday.“The massive earthquake in Japan is expected to disrupt supply and demand of major energy resources over the short haul, possibly causing price fluctuations,” Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun

IndustryMarch 23, 2011

South Korea, battling outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and bird flu, will increase tariff-free import quotas of breeding pigs, chickens for breeding and seed corn to ease a shortage and stabilize prices.The government boosted the quotas for breeding pigs to 5,000 from 1,850 head and to 661,000 from 461,000 for breeding chickens, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Wednesday. The measures

IndustryMarch 23, 2011

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., the biggest unit of Korea’s Hyundai Group, jumped the most in almost four months in Seoul trading as opposition to a share sale plan prompted speculation it may be a takeover target.The shipping line rose by the daily limit of 15 percent limit, the biggest climb since Nov. 30, to close at 33,250 won in Seoul. The stock was the second-best performer on the KOSPI index W

IndustryMarch 23, 2011

Reinstating debt-to-income caps may further weaken property marketKorea’s plans to reinstate mortgage lending limits that were temporarily scrapped in August to spur property transactions may lead to a further decline in the real estate market. Korean banks will resume restrictions on the amount of loans homebuyers can get as a proportion of their annual income starting in April, the government sa

March 23, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ―A federal judge has cleared the way for Apple’s ailing leader Steve Jobs to be deposed in a class-action lawsuit charging the iPod maker turned iTunes into a digital music monopoly.U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd ruled on Monday that attorneys for the plaintiffs may question Jobs for a total of two hours, but only about an iPod update making RealNetworks digital music inope

IndustryMarch 23, 2011

South Koreans now spend more time online and on mobile phones than five years ago, a survey said Wednesday, the latest sign that the Internet has become a daily necessity for many people in one of the world's most wired countries.   South Koreans surf the Internet for an average of 37 minutes during weekdays, up 25 minutes from 2005, according to the findings of a research institute of KBS, a majo

TechnologyMarch 23, 2011