The Korea Herald

Trade group urges swift Korea-EU FTA approval

The head of Korea’s largest trade organization urged the country’s National Assembly Monday to quickly ratify the free trade agreement with the European Union.SaKong Il, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, said the Korea-EU FTA is the key to boosting the country’s annual trade volume to over $1 trillion for the first time in its history. SaKong Il“The Korea-EU FTA is expected to

March 7, 2011

Trade group urges swift Korea-EU FTA approval

Car output rise in February

Output of five automakers in Korea rose 6.4 percent on-year in February with strong demand at home and abroad also keeping their sales humming, an industry group said Monday.Led by industry leader Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp., the automakers produced 297,350 vehicles last month, compared with 279,368 units a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Asso

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

Asian economies in danger of ‘overheating’

Experts warn subsidy spree may store up trouble for the futureKUALA LUMPUR (AFP) ― As prices of food and fuel reach historic highs, Asian nations with a wary eye on Middle East uprisings are doling out subsidies that experts warn are storing up trouble for the future.Robust Asian economies largely escaped the global downturn, and are now in danger of overheating, stoked by low interest rates, dema

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

Asian economies in danger of ‘overheating’

NASA scientist claim of 'alien life' draws scrutiny

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - A NASA scientist's claim that he found tiny fossils of alien life in the remnants of a meteorite has stirred both excitement and skepticism, and is being closely reviewed by 100 experts.Richard Hoover's paper, along with pictures of the microscopic earthworm-like creatures, were published late Friday in the peer-reviewed Journal of Cosmology, which is available free online.Hoov

TechnologyMarch 7, 2011

NASA scientist claim of 'alien life' draws scrutiny

Social commerce giant Groupon to launch here

Groupon, a U.S.-based social commerce firm, announced Monday that it will launch here next Monday further fanning competition over the increasingly popular form of cyber-shopping.Ahead of its official launch, it said it would organize a pre-launching event through its website (www.groupon.kr) which offers 1,000 won of Groupon cash to its e-mail subscribers. The figure of subscribers, however, must

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

FSS warns of credit card woes

Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kim Jong-chang speaks during a meeting with chief executives of credit card companies on Monday. (Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald)The nation’s chief financial regulator on Monday expressed his strong resolve to tighten supervision of credit card issuers, warning their excessive competition could bring the industry to a new crisis. In his breakfast meeting with CE

March 7, 2011

China’s focus on stability to create opportunities for Korea

China’s new drive for sustainable growth raised expectations of bigger opportunities for Korean exporters, with some advising more aggressive investment to target mainland consumers.Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Saturday pledged to make the country’s growth more sustainable over the next five years with a lower GDP target of 7 percent, a sign Beijing intends to fight inflation and strengthe

March 7, 2011

Korea ups rare earth reserve target

South Korea is to increase its rare earth reserves to around 1,500 tons by 2014 amid fierce global competition to ensure a stable supply.The new target for a group of 17 scarce metals key to mobile devices, electric vehicles and other high-tech products, would meet the local industrial demand for 100 days, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Monday.The government initially set the goal at 1,200

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

Team to combat offshore tax evasion

Tax, customs and financial authorities plan to set up a joint task force to better crack down on offshore tax evasion, sources said Monday.The new body will be established within this year with officials from the National Tax Service, Financial Supervisory Service and Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, they said.The government is seeking to strengthen its fight against tax offenders as a way of in

March 7, 2011

POSCO picked as most admired firm

The world’s fourth largest steelmaker POSCO ranked highest among South Korean firms in the latest world’s most admired companies list from the U.S. business magazine Fortune.The rankings are based on an analysis of 667 companies from 32 nations that reviewed nine categories including financial stability, innovation and human resource management. With a score of 7.21, POSCO received the highest rat

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

Korea targets wider Asia bond sales to cut crisis risk

Korea is seeking to sell bonds to a broader range of investors, especially within Asia, to limit the risk of large, swift investment outflows triggering a crisis, a finance ministry official said.“We would like to broaden our bond buyers overseas so that we can avoid a financial crisis caused by the sudden flight by a few,” Woo Hae-young, director of the Government Bond Policy Division at the Mini

March 7, 2011

Former IBK CEO Yun to head KEB

Hana group nominates veteran financier ahead of acquisitionHana Financial Group chose Yun Yong-ro, former CEO of Industrial Bank of Korea, as president & CEO of Korea Exchange Bank, company officials said Monday.The nation’s fourth-largest financial group is poised to take over KEB and its executive recommendation committee proposed to the group’s board members that Yun head the new banking unit.T

March 7, 2011

Korea seeks LED, vertical farming synergy

Korea has been bolstering the vertical farming industry since 2009 as a future growth engine and a measure to stabilize food supplies. The country is a latecomer to the scene but is pinning high hopes on its advanced technologies in electronics and communications to help it emerge as a competitive player in the field.The concept of integrating agriculture into a built environment was invented in a

TechnologyMarch 7, 2011

Korea seeks LED, vertical farming synergy

Hyundai Heavy develops robot for joint surgery

Hyundai Heavy Industries and local venture firms have succeeded in localizing high-tech robotic equipment for artificial joint operations, the company said Monday.The country’s top builder developed bodies and controllers for the “Robodoc” in a joint project promoted by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in July 2009.Made by local robotics venture Curexo Inc., the Robodoc is the only robotic system

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

Hyundai Heavy develops robot for joint surgery

Toyota said to focus on emerging market growth plan

Toyota Motor Corp. which traditionally gets a majority of its profit in the U.S., will outline a strategy for growth in emerging markets in a 10-year plan the Japanese automaker is set to release this week, two people familiar with the plan said. Toyota also plans to cut two vice-chairman positions and shrink its board to 17 or fewer members as part of the biggest management shakeup in eight years

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

Technology breathes new life into farming

Cities produce crops as Korea looks for green ways to boost food outputA farm in Yongin on the outskirts of Seoul is ripe with salad greens. But rows of lollo and romaine lettuces are not sprouting from the earth. The plants are thriving on plastic shelves inside a seven-story office building.The “vertical farm,” run by Insung Tech, cultivates indoor crops by artificially supplying air, water, lig

TechnologyMarch 7, 2011

Technology breathes new life into farming

LVMH to take control of Italy’s Bulgari: report

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, will take a controlling stake in Bulgari SpA, the Financial Times reported, citing an unidentified person close to the deal. The Bulgari family will swap its 51 percent holding for a stake in LVMH in a deal to be announced Monday, the FT reported. LVMH will offer a “significant” premium to Bulgari’s market value of 2.3

IndustryMarch 7, 2011

LVMH to take control of Italy’s Bulgari: report

S. Korea's savings rate well below OECD average: report

South Korea's household savings rate stayed far below the average for major economies in the world, a report showed Monday, apparently indicating that the latest economic crisis resulted in a decline in income reserved for banksavings.According to the report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea's household savings rate -- the ratio of savings to total di

March 7, 2011

Stomach pacemaker could help obese lose weight

LONDON (AP) _ Patrick Hetzner tried diets and exercise, just about everything short of stomach stapling to lose weight. Nothing worked. Five months ago he tried something new: a stomach pacemaker that curbed his appetite. (MCT)Since having it implanted, Hetzner, a 20-year-old Munich mailman, has knocked off more than 10 kilos (22 pounds) from his earlier weight of 104 kilos (229 pounds).Hetzner go

TechnologyMarch 7, 2011

Stomach pacemaker could help obese lose weight

DDoS attack virus wipes hard drives

A malicious code embedded in personal computers to attack Internet sites in Korea began to destroy hard drives of their host computers on Sunday, communication authorities said. Key government agencies and financial institutions suffered cyber assaults Friday and Saturday with minor damage caused. On Sunday, the code for the so-called “distributed denial-of-service” attacks activated an order to d

March 6, 2011