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
-
eBay Korea backs small business exports
Exports through online commerce are drawing attention as an example of “creative economy,” a key policy task of the Park Geun-hye administration, as they create new jobs and add value.eBay Korea, which runs the nation’s two largest online shopping malls Gmarket and Auction, has been serving as the window to overseas markets for small businesses through unsparing investments and various assistance programs. eBay is the only Korean retailer to run an online export program for small businesses. The
April 25, 2013
-
CJ chairman soars on Forbes Korea’s rich list
CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun shot up more than 10 spots on Forbes Korea’s list of the wealthiest Koreans, the publication said on Thursday.Lee catapulted to 10th place from No. 22 last year on the list of the 50 richest people in the country. Lee’s company has played a big role in Korean entertainment amid the Korean Wave, and the chairman’s wealth jumped 70 percent on-year to $1.7 billion.The increase was mostly thanks to an 84 percent rise in the stock prices of CJ Corp., the group’s holding
April 25, 2013
-
Forbes: Samsung chief Lee Kun-hee is South Korea's richest man
Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., remains South Korea's richest man for the nine straight year while his only son Lee Jae-yong joined the top three spots, Forbes Korea said Thursday.The senior Lee's net worth jumped to US$12.6 billion from $10.8 billion in 2012, according to the Korean language edition of Forbes, as Samsung Electronics' smartphones overtook the iPhone as the world's most popular smartphones last year. He held on to the top post since 2005 when the list was first
April 25, 2013
-
LGE acquires auto engineering firm
LGE acquires auto engineering firm LG Electronics on Wednesday said it has purchased V-ENS, an affiliate of LG CNS, to pursue a merger on July 1.V-ENS is a company specializing in automotive engineering and consulting involving mostly the building process. LG Electronics said the 17 billion won deal was aimed at delving into the automotive parts industry and obtain the necessary knowledge and expertise for helping car infotainment — also known as in-car entertainment — programs take off. V-ENS w
April 24, 2013
-
LGE pulls off solid quarterly performance
LG Electronics, one of the world’s biggest mobile phone makers, proved it was fully back in the game after recording a 7 percent rise in sales in the first quarter on account of robust handset sales. The company said it shipped 10.3 million smartphones between January and March, its highest number yet since entering the smartphone race in 2009. The turnaround was dramatic, as sluggish handset sales ― under the mobile communications unit ― had previously been criticized for being responsible for
April 24, 2013
-
SK Hynix beats forecasts by wide margin
SK Hynix beat market forecasts to post a net profit of 178.7 billion won ($160 million) in the first quarter of this year on the back of rising demand for mobile DRAM chips, the company said Wednesday. Operating profit also rose to 317 billion won, up from a 264 billion won deficit in the same period last year. Sales rose 16.4 percent to 2.78 trillion won. SK Hynix shares rose 0.87 percent to close at 29,100 won on the day.The market consensus for the company’s quarterly earnings had been at an
April 24, 2013
-
UNESCO water institute to open in Korea
A UNESCO-affiliated international water research institute is to open new headquarters in Korea next year.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday that the operational committee of UNESCO resolved earlier in the day to establish the International Hydrological Program research center in Korea.The institute, to be located within the K-Water research complex in Daejeon, will be the fifth IHP center to open in Asia, following those in China, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia.The
April 24, 2013
-
GE picks Korea as global HQ for marine business
General Electric said Wednesday it has chosen Korea as its global headquarters for offshore and marine business in light of the country’s burgeoning offshore plant industry.GE, which supplies key parts such as propulsion systems, engines and distribution transformers for drillships, FPSOs (floating production, storage and offloading units) and LNG carriers, considers technological development near Korea’s major shipyards along the southern coast, acquisition of local firms or setting up joint ve
April 24, 2013
-
Shinsegae vice president fined for boycotting parliamentary audits
A Seoul court on Wednesday imposed a 10 million won ($8,870) fine on a Shinsegae Group executive for not attending parliamentary audits over the company‘s alleged infringement on the business rights of small retailers. Chung Yu-kyuang, the 41-year-old vice president of the country’s second-largest retail conglomerate, was found guilty of not responding to the government‘s call three times to appear at the hearings and audits of the National Assembly between October and November of last year, cit
April 24, 2013
-
LG Electronics Q1 net drops
South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings sank from a year earlier largely due to reduced prices and increased marketing costs. Net profit reached 22 billion won (US$19.6 million) in the January-March period on a consolidated basis, compared with a profit of 248 billion won a year earlier, LG Electronics said in a regulatory filing. Revenue slipped 6.8 percent on-year to 14.1 trillion won over the cited period, while operating profi
April 24, 2013
-
SK hynix swings to black in Q1
SK hynix Inc., the world's No. 2 memory chip maker, said Wednesday it returned to profit in the first quarter on the back of an improved product mix.Net profit reached 179 billion won ($159 million) in the January-March period, reversing from a loss of 271 billion won the previous year, SK hynix said in a regulatory filing.Revenue increased 16.4 percent on-year to 2.78 trillion won in the first quarter. SK hynix said it posted an operating income of 317 billion won in the first three months of t
April 24, 2013
-
[Graphic News] Cheaper yen benefits Japanese carmakers
The cheaper yen is improving the competitiveness of Japanese carmakers, while their Korean and German rivals are expected to struggle with falling profits. According to IBES earnings estimates on Tuesday, Toyota is estimated to log $4.79 billion in operating profit in the first quarter, a 60.5 percent increase from a year ago. Japan’s Nissan and Honda were also to see a 38 percent and 23.6 percent increase in profits, respectively. Despite their increased sales this year, however, Korea’s Hyunda
April 23, 2013
-
Employers oppose retirement age extension
Businesses, both small and large, voiced opposition to a parliamentary subcommittee’s decision to gradually extend the legal retirement age to 60 from 2016, saying the extension would overburden them under the current seniority-based wage system and only cause conflict with the younger generation over jobs.The Korea Employers Federation, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Korean Industries and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) are all against th
April 23, 2013
-
KORES under audit over overseas mining
Korea Resources Corp., a state-run mineral resources explorer and developer, is under investigation by the nation’s top audit agency for wasting its budget in pursuit of overseas mining projects over the past five years, industry sources said. One of the target overseas mining projects under investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection is the Boleo copper-cobalt-zinc project in Mexico, the sources said. KORES secured a 10 percent stake in the project for $276 million in 2008, but it increa
April 23, 2013
-
Korea’s Q1 int’l air passenger traffic surges to new high
South Korea’s international air passenger traffic jumped to a new first-quarter high this year on a sharp increase in the number of visitors to and from other Asian countries, the government said Tuesday.In the three months ending on March 31, the number of air passengers to and from the country reached 12.51 million, up 10 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The number of passengers to and from China jumped 14.8 percent on
April 23, 2013
-
Credit card spending growth slows in March
South Korea’s credit card spending grew at a slower pace in March than a year earlier as the economic slowdown dented consumer sentiment, a trade association said Tuesday.Purchases made with credit cards totaled 45.3 trillion won ($40.5 billion) last month, up 5.6 percent from the 42.9 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association.The number is far lower than the 14.5 percent on-year growth tallied in March 2012, the data showed. The figure
April 23, 2013
-
Banks’ overseas earnings slip 11.8% in 2012
South Korean banks saw their combined net profit from overseas operations shrink 11.8 percent last year from a year earlier due mainly to a profit decrease in stocks and bonds investment, the financial regulator said Tuesday. Net income of 139 overseas units and branches managed by 11 local banks reached $636.2 million in the January-December period of 2012, compared with $721.6 million the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The weaker bottom line came as their net pr
April 23, 2013
-
Prolonged Gaeseong complex suspension chokes SMEs
A prolonged suspension of the joint inter-Korean industrial complex in North Korea has begun to hurt South Korean small companies that have factories in the communist country, officials said Tuesday.North Korea has shown no signs of lifting the entry ban to the complex in its western border city of Gaeseong amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The North pulled out all of its 53,000 workers from the complex earlier this month, bringing operations of the 123 South Korean factories there to a hal
April 23, 2013
-
Daewoo Int’l seeks to shift from trading to project development
In 1985, Daewoo International became the first Korean firm to open a branch office in Myanmar, which was then one of the poorest Southeast Asian countries with little to offer to investors.But it is here that the company now expects to harvest an average pre-tax profit of 300 billion won ($267 million) for the next 25 years, starting from the later half of this year.“Back in the old days, the key role of trading companies was to act as trade broker, connecting local firms to the global market,”
April 23, 2013
-
Reactor at Shin Wolseong nuclear plant halts operations
A nuclear reactor at the country's Shin Wolseong power plant stopped operations early Tuesday with no immediate risk of radiation leak, plant operators said.The 1-million-kilowatt reactor stopped operating at 7:44 a.m., according to the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. The problem has yet to be identified, but company officials said the reactor was in stable condition with no dangers of a radiation leak.The reactor, located some 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, began commercial operation in J
April 23, 2013