Most Popular
-
1
S. Korea, Singapore seal supply chain agreement
-
2
North Korean troops killed, wounded in Ukraine war: Seoul defense minister
-
3
Korean language teaching expert says demand has outstripped supply
-
4
Conscripting women to lead to 'more babies,' claims military think tank
-
5
[KH Explains] Samsung chief says he is still ‘hungry’ for foundry growth
-
6
Who is pollster roiling politics with claims of government string-pulling?
-
7
Taking away phones during school hours not a human rights violation: watchdog
-
8
Kim Jong-un vows to thwart S. Korea-US 'nuclear alliance'
-
9
Korea launches antidumping probe into Chinese steel
-
10
Korea added to key bond index
-
Korean Air Q1 net loss sharply widens due to foreign exchange loss
Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's top air carrier, said Friday its net loss sharply widened in the first quarter of 2013 from a year earlier due to foreign exchange loss. Consolidated net loss reached 300.6 billion won ($285 million) in the January-March period, up from a 64.2 billion won loss a year earlier, the carrier said in a regulatory filing. The figures also represent a sharp decline from a profit of 140.1 billion won in the fourth quarter of last year. The carrier said its for
May 3, 2013
-
FTC in final stage of deliberation on Google in antitrust case: sources
South Korea's corporate watchdog is expected to soon announce the results of its deliberation into an antitrust case against Google Inc. for its alleged involvement in activities that hurt fair market competition, industry sources said Friday.Some sources also speculate that the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) might be considering dropping the charges against the U.S. Internet search engine giant as it is in the final stage of its deliberation into the case.In 2011, NHN Corp. and Daum Communications
May 3, 2013
-
Samsung Galaxy S4 wins security approval from Pentagon
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top maker of smartphones, said Friday it has received security approval for its new Galaxy S4 smartphone from the U.S. Department of Defense, making it the first Korean smart device to earn such approval.The winning of security approval indicates that Samsung is allowed to make a foray into the market for security-concerned U.S. defense agencies, which has been largely dominated by BlackBerry."The Galaxy S4 has won security approval from the U.S. Department o
May 3, 2013
-
KT Q1 net profit down 47.6 pct
KT Corp., South Korea's top fixed-line and No. 2 mobile operator, said Friday its first-quarter net profit fell 47.6 percent from a year earlier due to increased marketing costs on long-term evolution (LTE) service and one-off costs.The company's consolidated net profit reached 212.6 billion won ($193 million) in the January-March period, down from 405.6 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said in a regulatory filing.KT attributed the weaker bottom line to an increase in marketin
May 3, 2013
-
Expensive air purifiers no better: watchdog
The Korea Consumer Agency said Thursday that not all premium air purifiers were functional, high-quality products.The consumer watchdog evaluated the performance, efficiency, noise and maintenance requirements of 22 air purifier models made by six companies. The air purifier makers were LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Coway, Chungho Nais, Kyowon L&C and Whirlpool.It said that Chungho Nais’ CHA-310BA had many functional options, but fell short in terms of efficiency, and that its maintenance
May 2, 2013
-
Korea-based carmakers see mixed performance in April
Car sales in April showed mixed results across the nation’s five carmakers, with Hyundai and Kia leading the pack, largely boosted by their newest models. Hyundai Motor sold 407,666 vehicles globally in April, including 58,365 in Korea and 349,301 in overseas markets, up 9.7 percent from the same period last year. Despite reduced production following the union’s refusal to work on weekends, sport utility vehicles, such as the Santa Fe and Maxcruze, saw 5.2 percent growth in domestic sales. In ov
May 2, 2013
-
Hyundai Motor to turn factory rooftops into solar power plant
Hyundai Motor announced plans on Thursday to convert the rooftops of its Asan factory in South Chungcheong Province into a huge solar power plant by the end of this year. About 40,000 solar panels will be installed across 213,000 square meters on the rooftops of four factory buildings there, about 68 percent of the total rooftop area at the factory. Hyundai, which has teamed up with regional power generation company Korea Midland Power, said the new facilities would supply 11.5 million kilowatt-
May 2, 2013
-
LG Chem CEO outlines company’s core values
LG Chem’s chief executive Park Jin-soo on Thursday emphasized the company’s core values of a safe corporate environment, fair trade and mutual growth with smaller players.“In creating a safe working environment, (achieving) 99.9 percent is meaningless,” Park said at a quarterly executive meeting at the company’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. “In this case, minus one does not equal 99, but zero. That’s how important a safe environment is.” The same priority applies to the corporate principles o
May 2, 2013
-
East Sea FEZ aims to become high-tech materials industry hub
DONGHAE, Gangwon Province ― The new free economic zone to be established on the east coast will focus on attracting foreign materials and parts companies toward the goal of building an industrial cluster in Korea, officials said.The East Sea Free Economic Zone Authority, which will oversee the massive project, was launched on Tuesday with the aim of completing the construction of the East Sea (Donghae) FEZ by 2024.An FEZ refers to a specially designated economic zone intended to attract foreign
May 2, 2013
-
Gas leak at Samsung plant injures three workers
Three people were injured Thursday after a toxic gas leaked again at Samsung Electronics Co.’s chip plant in Hwaseong, Gyeongggi Province, the company said.In January, one worker was killed and several others injured after they were exposed to poisonous hydrofluoric acid gas. At 11:30 on Thursday, a small amount of the gas leaked while the workers were replacing a pipeline inside the Central Chemical Supply System.They were slightly injured and treated at a nearby hospital, according to the comp
May 2, 2013
-
Hyundai Merchant may issue shares amid liquidity woes
The nation’s No. 2 shipping firm Hyundai Merchant Marine may move to increase its capital by issuing new stocks this year to overcome a prolonged liquidity problem.The logistics company, in an inquiry disclosure earlier this week, denied that it has plans to recapitalize, saying it would issue 130.4 billion won ($118 million) in convertible bonds on the Singapore Exchange, officials said.But considering the 200 billion won ($181 million) worth of corporate bonds that expire this month, it is wid
May 1, 2013
-
Big businesses under pressure to hire more regular workers
A growing number of businesses here are joining a recent move of granting regular status to their contract workers, responding to enhanced calls for them to shoulder heavier social responsibilities. On Tuesday, SK Group announced it will elevate the status of up to 5,800 of its temporary workers to regulars this year and lower the proportion of irregulars to around 3 percent by 2015. Following similar announcements made by Hanwha and Shinsegae in recent months, more than 20,000 contract workers
May 1, 2013
-
LINE messenger breaks 150m user milestone
South Korea’s top portal operator NHN Corp. said Wednesday that its free messenger application LINE broke the 150-million download mark as worldwide smartphone users rushed to connect with one another through the mobile messenger service.The milestone came four months after the service drew 100 million users in January this year. The free messenger service was launched in June 2011.Since the initial launch, the company has expanded the service to roughly 230 countries in 11 languages, including
May 1, 2013
-
100,000 Chinese tourists to swamp Korea this week
Hundreds of Chinese tourists waited in a queue to get on the elevators to Lotte Department Store’s duty free shop in central Seoul last Saturday afternoon.The duty free shop on the top floors was bursting with Chinese customers snatching up Prada and Louis Vuitton bags for which they have to pay extra taxes at home.Some 100,000 Chinese tourists, known as “youke” in Mandarin, are expected to stream into Korea during this week’s Labor Day holidays.The Chinese government reduced the number of offic
April 30, 2013
-
Ahn to take helm of GE’s offshore and marine arm
Ahn Soong-bum, 53, former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Korea, will lead General Electric’s global growth offshore and marine business, whose global headquarters will be stationed in Korea, GE said. He was also named general manager for GE’s power conversion business in Korea. The company said in a statement that it expects Ahn to create synergy effects with other regional headquarters by using the competitiveness of the power conversion business in Korea and to build strategic relationships wit
April 30, 2013
-
SK Group to turn 5,800 workers into regulars
SK Group on Tuesday said it planned to upgrade the status of up to 5,800 of its temporary workers to regular employees.The move was the first such among the nation’s top five conglomerates, and part of a bigger road map SK previously announced to reduce the portion of temporary workers to around 3 percent by 2015 from the current 12 percent. The temporary employees are mostly those employed in the customer services or telemarketing units at the affiliates of SK Telecom or SK Planet. Others are e
April 30, 2013
-
Defining female leadership in Korea
Chae Eun-mi, managing director of FedEx Korea, took office seven years ago as the first female CEO in the male-dominated logistics industry. She is still the only one. But she said there has been some progress in female leadership in Korea in recent years, including last year’s election of the country’s first female president. “I used to receive speech inquiries mostly from my alma mater, Ewha Womans University. But more recently local conglomerates have asked me to lecture on female leadership,
April 30, 2013
-
LG Electronics forecast to ship over 50 mln smartphones this year
South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. is expected to sell more than 50 million smartphones this year on the back of strong demand for its flagship Optimus G line-up and mid and low-end smartphones, brokerage houses said Tuesday.LG Electronics, the world's No. 3 smartphone maker, sold some 26.3 million smartphones last year.Korea Investment & Securities said in a report that LG Electronics is expected to sell 53.29 million smartphones this year. Hyundai Securities and KB Inv
April 30, 2013
-
S. Korea's industrial output drops for 3 straight months in March
South Korea's industrial output shrank for the third straight month in March amid worries that its economy is losing steam in the face of toughened market conditions at home and abroad, a government report showed Tuesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries dropped 2.6 percent last month from a month earlier, the sharpest contraction in 12 months.This also marked the third on-month contraction following a 1.2 percent
April 30, 2013
-
Samsung maintains top slot in U.S. TV market for 60 months
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest flat-panel TV maker, maintained its status as the top flat-panel TV seller in the U.S. for 60 consecutive months, data showed on Tuesday.Samsung Electronics retained the top spot in March with a 29.4 percent market share in terms of revenue, according to the data compiled by global market research firm NPD Group. The figure was 3 percentage points higher than in February, the data showed.Samsung has kept its top position since April 2008 in terms of m
April 30, 2013