Most Popular
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Can Jennie break the K-pop solo artist slump?
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Yoon, Marcos agree to upgrade military, infrastructure, nuclear ties
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'Culinary Class Wars' producers deny trying to spice up results
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Ex-president's daughter investigated for drunk driving accident
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[Exclusive] Korea’s defense acquisition agency fails to meet legal standard for women representation
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Seoulites celebrate coexistence at Wellness Seoul 2024
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First lady’s Dior bag scandal to be at center of Assembly audit
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Yoon honors veterans of Korean War in trip to Philippines
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20 minors registered as CEOs making over 100 million won
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Netflix, streaming platforms come under fire for loose ratings
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Competition heats up among budget carriers
Competition in South Korea’s budget airline industry is heating up as rival carriers are eager to increase their flight routes or raise more money for business expansion.Among the big players, Jin Air has laid out aggressive expansion plans while Jeju Air is strengthening its top position with an initial public offering in the fourth quarter. Jin Air, the low-cost carrier of Korean Air, unveiled its annual plan to become the first domestic budget airline to launch long-haul international routes
March 19, 2015
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Kia to unveil new K5 sedan
Kia Motors, the nation’s second largest carmaker, released an artistic rendering on Thursday of its new K5, a midsize sedan brand, ahead of its official launch at the Seoul Motor Show to be held April 3-12. The second-generation K5 comes five years after the brand debuted in 2010. An artist’s rendering of the new K5. (Kia Motors)“All new K5 will set new standards in design,” the carmaker said in a press release. “The new K5 was developed in pursuit of the world-class sporty design and a bulked-
March 19, 2015
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Kim Dok-man to head Beginning Farmers Center
Kim Dok-man, a former professor at the Korea National University of Transportation, was appointed as the new head of the newly established Beginning Farmers Center, Korea, officials said Thursday.The Agriculture Ministry said it selected Kim through an open registration procedure. Kim Dok-manKim, a former Herald Business journalist, was a spokesman for the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission from 2005 to 2012.Kim also served as a professor of journalism and broadcasting at the Korea Nati
March 19, 2015
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LG to kick off overseas release of Aka phone this week
LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's second-largest smartphone maker, said Thursday it will start selling its latest character smartphone in neighboring countries this week, before gradually expanding to the Middle East. The Aka phone comes with four different, detachable casings that each has its own personality, shown in digital eyes placed on the top of the front cover that peek out from the metal sleeve enveloping three-fourths of the body. Since it debuted on the home turf in November, the Ak
March 19, 2015
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Duty-free shops set to lower prices on dollar gain
South Korean duty-free operators are set to lower their U.S. dollar-denominated product prices as the greenback continues to strengthen against the Korean won, companies said Thursday.Major duty-free chains, such as Lotte, Shilla and Shinsegae, plan to lower prices of products manufactured by Korean brands, such as Samsung Electronics and LG Household & Health Care, by roughly 3 percent, according to the companies.Under the move, the price for Samsung Electronics' NX3000 mirrorless camera will f
March 19, 2015
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Corporate earnings outlook slightly upgraded on Samsung, tech firms
South Korea's listed firms are expected to show improved earnings in the first quarter of 2015 from a year earlier, helped by the steady performance of tech firms, including Samsung Electronics Co., data showed Thursday.The combined operating profit estimate for 170 listed companies was raised by 0.2 percent to 28.47 trillion won ($25.6 billion) for the first quarter as of Wednesday from a month earlier, according to the data by financial information provider FnGuide."Some companies are expected
March 19, 2015
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Samsung mass produces memory chip for mid-end smartphones
South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it has started mass producing a 128-gigabyte (GB) memory chip for mid-end smartphones, paving the road to release more high-capacity handsets at reasonable prices.Samsung said the mobile memory chip is based on the embedded MultiMedia Card (eMMC) 5.0 and 3-bit NAND technology. It also boasts a data transmission speed of 260 megabytes per second."While flagship smartphones are already transitioning to 128GB memory storage based on Uni
March 19, 2015
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Retailers, furniture makers tap homeware to compete with IKEA
South Korean retailers and furniture makers are turning to the homeware business, a nascent industry awakened by the local opening of Swedish furniture giant IKEA that promises big growth ahead as South Koreans begin to renovate and decorate their aging homes.Over the past year, a handful of homeware stores stocked with colorful arrays of tableware, textiles and lighting have popped up across Seoul as alternatives for consumers who find IKEA's massive showroom in the Seoul suburb of Gwangmyeong
March 19, 2015
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Kurdistan authority considers suit against Korean bribery allegations
The Kurdistan government has demanded an apology from a Korean lawmaker and newspaper over allegations it took bribes from state-run oil developer Korea National Oil Corp. back in 2008, according to officials.The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Natural Resources Ministry said it would take legal action against Rep. Chun Soon-ok from the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, and a local daily unless they apologized, the officials said.The KRG’s ministry sent emails on Monday to Kor
March 18, 2015
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Hyosung may buy supercar importer
Hyosung Group plans to add a supercar dealership to its business portfolio, seeking to create synergy with its existing luxury import car business, multiple sources said Wednesday.According to an industry source, the country’s 25th-largest conglomerate in terms of assets plans to purchase Forza Motors Korea, the Korean dealer of Italian supercars made by Maserati and Ferrari. The takeover deal is estimated at around 20 billion won ($17.7 million). Although the company has not yet signed the deal
March 18, 2015
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Eastar Air has most flight delays
South Korean budget carrier Eastar Jet saw the highest rate of delay for international routes among seven local airlines in 2014, data compiled by the Transport Ministry showed Wednesday. The Seoul-based airline placed at the bottom of on-time departure statistics for the 12-month period ending in December, with 20 of 2,653 flights, or 0.75 percent, delayed by more than an hour of the original schedule due to aircraft maintenance issues.Eastar Jet, which showed the worst performance in flight de
March 18, 2015
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Chanel cuts price of handbags 20%
In an unusual move, French fashion house Chanel will lower the prices of its handbags by 15-20 percent in South Korea to boost weak domestic consumption, the company said Wednesday.Chanel will start lowering the price of three of its most popular lines ― the Boy Bag, the 11.12 and the 2.55 ― on April 8.The move comes less than a year after Chanel raised the prices of some accessories by 5-15 percent in June and November. “Chanel has continuously raised its price tag in the past, and now it’s low
March 18, 2015
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Korean, U.S. experts discuss shale gas technology cooperation
Some 300 energy experts from Korea and the United States discussed ways to cooperate in the shale gas industry at a symposium in Seoul on Tuesday. The participants held in-depth discussions on ways to strengthen technical exchanges on shale gas development, organizers said.The Korea Gas Corp. and New Mexico-based research center Sandia National Laboratories jointly hosted the “2015 Korea-U.S. Shale Gas Technology Cooperation Symposium” as a follow-up measure after the two countries signed a pact
March 18, 2015
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[SUPER RICH] Hyundai Dept. Store chief diversifies portfolio
Hyundai Department Store is fast moving to expand its presence and diversify its portfolio, signing two real estate deals in succession.As the company eyes the tightly contested market, Hyundai Department Store Group chairman Chung Ji-sun is also increasing his public presence. While Chung is a member of the famous Chung Ju-yung family, he has for the large part kept a low profile.While a department store opening new branches is nothing new, Hyundai Department Store has taken on the unusual stra
March 17, 2015
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[SUPER RICH] Young Korean superrich transcend borders
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jay-yong and Daum Kakao chairman Kim Beom-su are two notable Korean billionaires with striking similarities.Both operate world-class companies, hold considerable wealth and status, and suggest that they are keen to rapidly expand their businesses by transcending borders. Lee Jay-yong and Kim Beom-suLee Jay-yongForbes selected Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jay-yong as the most influential person in Korea in 2014. Bloomberg estimates his total assets a
March 17, 2015
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GS Energy bids for stake in Abu Dhabi oil fields
GS Energy, an energy business arm of GS Group, joined a bid to secure a stake in the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations, which operates 15 oil fields in the United Arab Emirates, to expand its crude oil production business in January, the company said in a recent filing to financial authorities.“GS Energy is seeking to buy a 5 percent stake in ADCO, which is estimated at 1.25 trillion won ($1.11 billion),” industry sources said.“When GS Energy wins the deal this month, it will secure 4
March 17, 2015
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SK chairman to fund social enterprises
SK Group said Tuesday its imprisoned chairman Chey Tae-won will support social enterprises by funding related start-ups through his own investment company.The chairman, who is serving out a four-year prison sentence after being convicted for embezzlement in January 2013, injected his personal money worth 10 billion won ($8.8 million) into the company last year with an aim to nurture social enterprises whose profits are spent for social good. SK said five start-ups have been picked for the first
March 17, 2015
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SK E&C faces probe over collusion
SK Engineering & Construction is facing an investigation by the prosecution regarding its alleged price rigging in a huge local project.The probe was launched into the builder as the nation’s antitrust watchdog was criticized for slapping it with only a fine earlier this month for the alleged malpractice. According to the prosecution, Prosecutor General Kim Jin-tae requested the Fair Trade Commission to file a criminal complaint against SK E&C for its collusion in the Saemangeum reclamation proj
March 17, 2015
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Conglomerates to invest more, hire less this year
South Korea’s top 30 business conglomerates will invest a total of 136.4 trillion won ($135 billion) into their business this year, up 16.5 percent from 2014, the nation’s largest business lobby group said Monday.The employment by such businesses will slide but the total number of employees will still rise, the Federation of Korean Industries said in a report on its annual survey on forecasting the year’s economic climate.According to the report, a total of 136.4 trillion won will be allocated t
March 16, 2015
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[Graphic News] Korea’s growth lags behind G20 average
South Korea’s economic growth rate has fallen behind the G20 average for the fourth straight year, according to data released Sunday.Korea’s gross domestic product grew by 3.3 percent in 2014, lower than the G20 average of 3.4 percent, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Korea’s economic growth surpassed the G20 average from 1999 to 2010 ― even during the global financial crisis of 2006-2010 ― with the exception of 2003 and 2005.The nation’s unprecedented four
March 16, 2015