FTC head vows tighter law enforcement for fair competition

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog will intensify its efforts to enforce laws designed to crack down on unfair business practices, including price rigging, its head said. During a meeting with reporters on Friday, Fair Trade Commission chairman Noh Dae-lae said that his agency will muster all of its capacity to “produce results” in its drive to establish a fair business environment. His comments were embargoed until Sunday afternoon.“It goes without saying that pushing to improve systems and placi

Oct. 27, 2013

Foreign firms account for two-thirds of unpaid duty: data

Multinational enterprises operating in South Korea accounted for two-thirds of unpaid tariffs imposed between 2008 and 2012, data showed Sunday, drawing calls for the tightening of customs-related probes.According to the Korea Customs Service data submitted to parliament, the amount of unpaid tariffs imposed on foreign firms by fixing transfer price came to 786.5 billion won ($740.5 million) over the cited period.The number accounts for some 65 percent of the country's combined evaded tariffs of

Oct. 27, 2013

Finance minister raises economic growth estimate to 2.9 pct

South Korea's economy has moved into a recovery phase and may boast a 2.9 percent growth this year, the government said Sunday, urging parliament to pass stimulus-related bills to maintain the trend.   Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said Sunday that Asia's fourth-largest economy has posted a 1.1 percent growth in the third quarter this year from three months earlier, implying the country's economy is moving toward recovery.   "When such trend continues, (South Korea's) annual economic growth will

Oct. 27, 2013

S. Korea's economic growth hits over 2-year high in Q3

The South Korean economy continued to grow at the fastest pace in more than two years in the third quarter on improving domestic demand and a pickup in facility investment, the central bank said Friday.Korea's gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic performance, grew 1.1 percent in the July-September period from three months earlier, after expanding at an identical pace of 1.1 percent in the second quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).It marked the fastest quarter

Oct. 25, 2013

LG Electronics Q3 earnings decline

LG Electronics announced Thursday that it posted 217.8 billion won ($196.34 million) in operating profit and 13.9 trillion won ($12.5 billion) in sales revenue in the third quarter due to increased marketing costs and fierce competition. The performance is a drop of 54.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, compared to the previous quarter this year. But it is an increase of 27 percent in operating profit and 4.6 percent in sales compared to the same period of last year. Despite its all-out ef

Oct. 24, 2013

Samsung ranks 2nd on top 20 R&D spenders list

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphone and memory chips, took the No. 2 spot among the world’s top 20 spenders on research and development, industry sources said Thursday.Samsung’s R&D spending reached $10.4 billion in the period of June 2012 to June 2013, just behind Volkswagen which spent the most during the cited period at $11.4 billion, according to data compiled by Booz&Company.Roche Holding came in third with $10.2 billion R&D spending, followed by Intel wi

Oct. 24, 2013

Daewoo Engineering wins $643m order from Algeria

Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., one of South Korea’s leading builders, said Thursday it has won a $643 million contract to build an oil complex in AlgeriaDaewoo said it plans to complete oil facilities in Berkine, southeast of Algeria, by 2016 under a deal with Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach and a unit of Italian oil firm Eni.The facilities, when completed, will be able to handle 32,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to the builder.The latest order came a day after Daewoo E

Oct. 24, 2013

Passengers at low-cost airlines rise 21%

The number of passengers transported by low-cost air carriers in South Korea soared 21.1 percent for the first nine months of this year from a year earlier, the Transport Ministry said Thursday.Low-cost airlines carried a total of 11.68 million passengers in the January-September period, according to the data by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Domestic passengers accounted for 8.02 million of the total, up 13.4 percent from the previous year, while the number of international

Oct. 24, 2013

Plastic card spending up 1% in September

South Korea’s plastic card spending moved up 1 percent on-year in September, marking an all-time low growth due mainly to the lower number of business days amid the Chuseok holiday, a trade association said Thursday.South Korea’s combined plastic card spending totaled 46.3 trillion won ($43.6 billion) last month, inching up from 45.8 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data by the Credit Finance Association.It marked a sharp drop from a whopping 7.2 percent and a 7.6 percent on

Oct. 24, 2013

Euronics eyes ties with Samsung, LG

Executives from the biggest electronics retail chain in Europe visited Korean electronics behemoths Samsung and LG earlier this month to discuss marketing strategies, according to an official close to the matter.“High-ranking officials from Euronics Italia paid a visit to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics to discuss with the executives from each Korean firm the sales of their recently released products and retail channels in the region,” the source said Thursday.He added that plans for how

Oct. 24, 2013

Public firms move to hike fees amid public outcry

In an effort to reduce their excessive debt rate and alleviate the government’s subsidy burden, major public corporations are making moves to increase public utility fees such as water and electricity rates.This, however, not only triggered concerns of inflation but also raised suspicions that the state-run companies may be shifting their fiscal responsibility to the public.In its mid- and long-term financial management plan submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday, the government pledged

Oct. 24, 2013

Korean Air Q3 net edges down 1 percent

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's top air carrier, said Thursday its third-quarter net profit shrank slightly, as foreign exchange gains offset a drop in operating profit.The carrier said its consolidated foreign exchange gain stood at 596.8 billion won ($563 million) for the July-September period, compared with 208.5 billion won from a year earlier, due to the Korean won's strength against the U.S. dollar.Korean Air's debts stood at 13.8 trillion won as of Sept. 30. Among them, debts denomina

Oct. 24, 2013

‘Creative economy’ to bear fruit this year: minister

Efforts to foster an environment where creative ideas and innovative technologies lead to new jobs and markets are expected to show results starting this year, the country’s minister in charge of science and IT affairs said.The so-called “creative economy,” though it has many meanings and applications, is a method through which President Park Geun-hye said she can realize many of her economic development campaign pledges.“The creative economy has just taken shape, and would show visible results

Oct. 24, 2013

'Creative economy' to bear fruit this year: minister

Efforts to foster an environment where creative ideas and innovative technologies lead to new jobs and markets are expected to show results starting this year, the country's minister in charge of science and IT affairs said.The so-called "creative economy," though it has many meanings and applications, is a method through which President Park Geun-hye said she can realize many of her economic development campaign pledges."The creative economy has just taken shape, and would show visible results

Oct. 24, 2013

Plastic card spending up 1 pct in Sept.

South Korea's plastic card spending moved up 1 percent on-year in September, marking an all-time low growth due mainly to the lower number of business days amid the Chuseok holiday, a trade association said Thursday.South Korea's combined plastic card spending totaled 46.3 trillion won ($43.6 billion) last month, inching up from 45.8 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data by the Credit Finance Association (CREFIA).It marked a sharp drop from a whopping 7.2 percent and a 7.6 p

Oct. 24, 2013

Korea seeks localization of semiconductor equipment

The South Korean government said Wednesday that it plans to nurture the country’s chip-making industry by boosting local output of chip-making equipment.South Korea is one of the leading memory chip manufacturing countries in the world, but there have been calls to enhance its technological base on design-related services, semiconductor-related parts, components and manufacturing machines. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the localization rate of semiconductor equipment h

Oct. 23, 2013

Finance minister urges lawmakers to pass pending bills to boost economy

South Korea's finance minister called for lawmakers on Wednesday to accelerate their efforts to pass pending bills initiated by the government to boost the overall economy. "Over the past eight months, the government has worked hard to boost the economy and strengthen its fundamentals but such efforts have not resulted in helping how people actually feel (in their lives)," Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok told a meeting with other policymakers here. "This is blamed much on uncertain economic situat

Oct. 23, 2013