The Korea Herald

LG Electronics spend 6 pct of sales in research

South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. said Saturday it spent more than 6 percent of its earnings on research and development through September of this year in a bid to develop high-end products.The company said it had allocated 2.26 trillion won (US$2.08 billion), or 6.06 percent of its sales of 37.4 trillion won earned during in the January-September period, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier.Market watchers said South Korea's No. 2 tech giant increased its research fund to d

Nov. 17, 2012

KEPCO picks acting president as Kim quits

The Korea Power Electric Corp.selected its executive vice president Cho In-kook as acting president of the state-run power supplier, company officials said on Friday.The appointment was made one day after CEO and president Kim Joong-kyum left the company. Kim submitted his resignation earlier this month allegedly due to his conflicts with the government over energy policies.The company said it shifted into a crisis-management mode as the post of president remains vacant. Company officials said t

Nov. 16, 2012

Korea moves to curb electricity demand

The government launched a full-scale campaign on Friday to secure sufficient electricity reserves, estimating that the nation’s electricity reserves would fall below an alarming level of 2 million kilowatts this winter.“The nation could face an electricity shortage as power demand is expected to soar in a colder winter this year,’’ Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said in a statement to the public. He said the government will shift into emergency mode in case the country’s power supply reserve drops

Nov. 16, 2012

One in three KOSDAQ firms loses money in Q3

About one-third of South Korean companies listed on the secondary stock market chalked up net losses in the third quarter due largely to a prolonged global economic downturn, data showed Thursday. A total of 260 companies listed on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market, or 33 percent of the 789 companies surveyed, lost money in the July-September period, according to the data by the Korea Exchange and the Korea Listed Companies Association.Currently, 882 companies are registered with the minor bourse.Thi

Nov. 15, 2012

Hyundai E&C wins $2.06b order from Kuwait

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., South Korea’s leading builder, said Thursday that it has won a $2.06 billion deal to build a bridge in Kuwait with a local firm.Under the contract with Kuwait’s Minister of Public Works, Hyundai E&C will build a 36.14 kilometer-long bridge from Shuwaikh Port near Kuwait City to Subiyah in the central region, said the company in a filing.The South Korean builder will have a 78.5 percent stake in the $2.62-billion project, or $2.06 billion, while Kuwait’s Co

Nov. 15, 2012

Retail giants agree to avoid opening new stores in small cities

The nation’s top supermarket chains voluntarily agreed on Thursday that they will not open any new branches in cities with a population of less than 300,000 until 2015. Chains of super supermarkets, mid-sized grocery stores run by the nation’s leading retail business groups, also promised to rein in their pace of opening new branches in small cities with a population of less than 100,000 until 2015.Both supermarket chains and SSMs also agreed to close their shops at least two days per month. The

Nov. 15, 2012

Seoul shares dip 1.23 pct on persistent uncertainties

South Korean stocks dropped 1.23 percent Thursday as investor sentiment was muted by widespread uncertainties over the stalled U.S. budget deal and European fiscal woes, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 23.32 points to close at 1,870.72. Trading volume was moderate at 446.2 million shares worth 4.14 trillion won ($3.8 billion) with decliners far outnumbering gainers 608 to 230."Investors are worried

Nov. 15, 2012

Job creation slows down in October

South Korea’s labor market growth remained sluggish as job creation slowed in October compared to the previous month, according to a government report. Statistics Korea’s report released on Wednesday showed that the total number of employed last month was 25.07 million, with about 396,000 new jobs added to the economy. Job growth had reached 685,000 in September, the biggest figure in a decade. The employment rate in the manufacturing sector, however, increased by 3.6 percent year-on-year. By Pa

Nov. 14, 2012

Scholarship foundation vows to have Asia’s biggest fund

The biggest scholarship foundation in Asia, with a 1 trillion won ($1.1 billion) fund, will be launched in Korea within three years, according to plans by Kwanjeong Educational Foundation, which runs the nation’s biggest scholarship fund.SamYoung Chemical chairman Lee Chong-hwan, who established the foundation in 2000, said on Sunday that he would make additional contributions to the foundation to expand the current 800 billion won ($730 million) fund to 1 trillion won within three years. “With

Nov. 14, 2012

Scholarship foundation vows to have Asia’s biggest fund

Shares up on eased fiscal woes

South Korean stocks edged up 0.23 percent Wednesday as investment sentiment got a boost from emerging signs of an early settlement of the U.S. fiscal cliff, analysts said. The local currency rose sharply against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 4.34 points to close at 1,894.04. Trading volume was heavy at 525.2 million shares worth 4.7 trillion won ($4.3 billion) with losers outnumbering advancers 479 to 337.“Expectations are high on reports that Republicans

Nov. 14, 2012

Climate change said threat to world coffee

Arabica beans, responsible for 70 percent of the world‘s coffee market, could face extinction due to climate change, researchers at Britain’s Kew Gardens say.Rising tides and warming temperatures worldwide could render 99.7 percent of popular current bean-growing regions unsuitable for raising coffee, possibly causing the world‘s predominant coffee crop to be extinct by 2080, the researchers said.Wild Arabica grows naturally in the mountains of Ethiopia and South Sudan, and while most commercia

Nov. 14, 2012

Climate change said threat to world coffee

S. Korea's jobless rate edges down in Oct.

South Korea's jobless rate inched down in October from a month earlier but job creation slowed sharply, raising worries that the labor market conditions remain sluggish, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 2.8 percent last month, down from 2.9 percent tallied in the previous month. The number of jobs added to the economy, however, decelerated markedly. About 396,000 jobs were added last month compared with a year earlier, do

Nov. 14, 2012

Korea’s economy to grow 3.2% next year

The nation’s major economic think tanks and brokerages expect the Korean economy to grow an average of 3.2 percent next year.The forecast by 15 securities companies and think tanks is lower than a growth outlook of 3.6 percent offered by the International Monetary Fund in October.The Finance Ministry projected Korea’s economy to grow at 4 percent, while major foreign investment banks on average expected a 3.1 percent growth rate.Analysts said the think tanks estimated the bearish outlook because

Nov. 13, 2012

Middle East sovereign funds seek projects with Korea

Officials from leading sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East said on Tuesday that they are looking for more collaborative investment projects with Korean partners. Invited by the Korea Investment-Trade Promotion Agency, or KOTRA, officials from the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and the Gulf Investment Corporation joined the two-day Middle East Business Week, which launched on Tuesday in Seoul. KOTRA hosts the event annually under a different agenda to pr

Nov. 13, 2012

Confronting the challenges facing Korea’s economy

Korea’s economy has undergone major changes in the past decade, including a massive increase in exports to China, and an opening of its markets, as well as rapid growth in household debt, a sluggish domestic economy, and polarization between income groups and between companies. Korea urgently needs to rebalance its economy away from export dependence, while diversifying into more industries, and improving labor markets and social safety nets.ChallengesThe Korean economy faces a multitude of exte

Nov. 13, 2012

Confronting the challenges facing Korea’s economy

Korea trails Japan, China in overseas M&A deals

Korean companies purchased 82 foreign firms in overseas merger and acquisition deals last year, lagging far behind Japan and China, according to an economic think tank on Monday.Samjong KPMG, a South Korean unit of the global services firm KPMG, said Japanese companies reached 453 cross-border M&A deals last year, while China bought 195 foreign firms. Analysts attributed brisk overseas M&A deals by Japan and China to Japanese companies and the Chinese government’s support to its companies, respe

Nov. 12, 2012

Korea trails Japan, China in overseas M&A deals

Hana Tour opens four-star business hotel in Insa-dong

Korea’s major tour operator Hana Tour opened a business hotel in Insa-dong, Jongno, one of the most popular tourist areas in Seoul, on Monday.Center Mark is the first four-star hotel to combine Hana Tour’s travel programs with hotel services. It aims to target the increasing number of foreign tourists, mostly coming from Japan and China. The former headquarters of McDonald’s now features 250 rooms, including suites, and outsourced food and beverage outlets. The hotel has a McDonald’s on the fir

Nov. 12, 2012

Hana Tour opens four-star business hotel in Insa-dong

Shares inch down on U.S. fiscal woes

South Korean stocks edged down 0.19 percent Monday as investors sat on the sidelines on renewed fiscal woes in the United States, analysts said. The local currency lost against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index dipped 3.54 points to close at 1,900.87. Trading volume was moderate at 468.6 million shares worth 3.73 trillion won ($3.4 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 436 to 387.“The fiscal cliff issue that recently dampened investors sentiment just after the U.S.

Nov. 12, 2012

LG Electronics recalls 161,000 electric ranges in U.S.

South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. has begun a voluntary recall of about 161,000 electric ranges in the United States, an official said Sunday.The move comes after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal agency, posted the recall on its website last week, citing burn and fire hazards to consumers.The U.S. product safety regulators said that LG Electronics has received 80 reports of incidents involving burners failing to turn off or the tempera

Nov. 12, 2012

Woongjin Coway’s sale to MBK Partners resumes

Woongjin Coway Co., South Korea’s top water purifier maker, said Monday the process of selling a major stake in the company to local private equity fund MBK Partners Ltd. has resumed after a court approved the sale that is set to be concluded in January.In August, Woongjin Holdings, the parent company of Woongjin Coway, signed a deal with MBK Partners to sell its 30.9 percent stake in the purifier unit to the private equity fund for 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion), to help improve its financial he

Nov. 12, 2012