Most Popular
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Korea added to key bond index
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Taking away phones during school hours not a human rights violation: watchdog
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North Korea notifies UN Command of plans to fortify border with South
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Will Apple quit smart ring race with Samsung?
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[KH explains] Will CATL’s Korean push reshape battery alliance with Hyundai, Kia?
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Jay Park returns with quintessential R&B album after 8 years
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More deaths in ICU following doctors' mass walkout: lawmaker
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Security issues to take center stage at ASEAN summit
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Netflix's latest runaway hit is a Korean reality cooking show
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[Herald Interview] Byun Yo-han embraced voice of powerless in ‘Snow White Must Die – Black Out’
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Samsung institute moves to serve group better
Samsung Economic Research Institute appears to be shifting its activities to more exclusively serve its parent group, given the latest changes within the think tank. As Samsung Group’s arm for conducting macro and microeconomic research, SERI, with over 300 employees, ranks as one of Korea’s largest privately run economic think tanks. The institute, however, will no longer be releasing macroeconomic figures, including annual economic growth forecasts, starting next year. It also will discourage
Nov. 20, 2012
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Daewoo Electronics wins kudos with innovative design
INCHEON ― Imagine a sleek little washing machine that hangs on your dining room wall. Mindboggling as it is, a team of designers at Daewoo Electronics turned this vision into reality. “Our ‘Mini’ is a classic case of how important it is to think through a design and turn a concept into an actual product,” Han In-cheol, head of Daewoo’s design center, told the Korea Herald. Mini is the fitting name given to the world’s smallest washing machine created by Daewoo. At about one-sixth the size of con
Nov. 20, 2012
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Law change lets KAMCO manage Ssangyong E&C
Ssangyong Engineering & Construction will continue to operate under the government after the state-run Korea Asset Management Corp. failed several times to find a new owner for the ailing firm.As ministers agreed on a law revision on assets belonging to the state at a recent Cabinet meeting, the government is entitled to own Ssangyong E&C over the coming years even if the sale process led by KAMCO fails again.Under the initial law, KAMCO was banned from holding its stake in Ssangyong E&C after 2
Nov. 19, 2012
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Korean Air to expand aerospace business
Korean Air is speeding up efforts to nurture the aerospace business as its future growth engine, unveiling on Monday a plan to create a 1-million-square-meter industrial cluster in Busan by 2020. Adding to its existing 710,000-square-meter tech center, established in 1976, the nation’s largest flag carrier plans to set up a new 230,000-square-meter center and related facilities at another 150,000-square-meter site in the coming years.Korean Air is the only air carrier in the world that both prod
Nov. 19, 2012
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Hyundai Motor matches BMW for profitability
Hyundai Motor saw its profitability match the level of BMW, far outperforming several major automakers such as Volkswagen and General Motors.Hyundai Motor’s ratio of operating profit to revenue in the vehicle sector came to 10.91 percent during the third quarter, which is nearly equivalent to the 10.94 percent of BMW.Few carmakers are enjoying a double-digit figure, and Volkswagen and GM recorded below 7 percent.Market insiders say it is noteworthy that Hyundai Motor, whose main products are aim
Nov. 19, 2012
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‘Less is more’ is Puma Korea’s key strategy
Wearing a pair of sneakers or a t-shirt with the Puma logo was a sure-fire way to be “in” among teenagers here about a decade ago. Cheesy knock-offs reading “Pama” or “Fuma” were easily spotted on the streets, reflecting the popularity of the German brand. During the past few years, however, the fever has waned. Olivier Lorans, general manager of Puma Korea, said that he is well aware of this, and has plans to win back the teens. “During those couple of years, it was not clear what the brand sto
Nov. 19, 2012
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Unfamiliar scents open up purses
The nation’s imported perfume market is not only untouched by the extended economic slowdown ― it’s enjoying its heyday. Sales of imported perfumes are soaring at local department stores, up about tenfold compared to those of cosmetic products which dropped hard this year. The spotlight is not on the licensed perfumes produced by luxury brands like Gucci, Chanel or Dior, but rather on the recently launched “premium” perfumes such as Joe Malone or diptyque, which are less familiar and more expens
Nov. 19, 2012
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Samsung founder’s commemoration event tainted by family discord
YONGIN, Gyeonggi Province ― The late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull’s 25th commemoration ceremony was marred on Monday by family discord caused by an inheritance lawsuit.Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee and his family members including heir apparent Lee Jay-yong, and about 100 Samsung senior executives paid their respects to the founder at around 11 a.m. at the family burial ground in Yongin.Hong Ra-hee, chairman Lee’s wife and chief of Ho-Am Art Museum, and Lee’s two daughters Boo-jin
Nov. 19, 2012
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Overseas construction orders top $50 bln for 3rd year
Overseas orders won by South Korean builders surpassed $50 billion for the third straight year in 2012, due to increased demand from the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, data showed Monday.Local builders signed deals worth $51.6 billion during the January-November period, up 13 percent from the same period last year, according to the data released by the International Contractors Association of Korea.Still, industry officials said it remained unclear whether the companies could achieve the
Nov. 19, 2012
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Economy, election force companies to slim down
Korea’s corporate landscape is expected to witness some major pruning as companies, most noticeably the conglomerates, are avidly slimming down amid a deepening economic slump worldwide.Politics, however, also may be playing a part in their downsizing, as major presidential candidates are proposing pledges devised to ensure fair competition ― essentially meaning that conglomerates will face more restrictions to give their smaller counterparts a bigger advantage. The country’s top 10 industrial g
Nov. 18, 2012
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Black box-installed cars to get insurance discount
South Korea’s insurance companies are to offer a maximum 5 percent discount on insurance for cars equipped with black boxes, according to industry sources on Saturday. Local insurers including Dongbu Insurance, Meritz Insurance, Hanwha General Insurance, LIG Insurance, AXA Direct and Hyundai Hicar Direct decided to give a discount of 5 percent; Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance 4 percent; and Green Non-life Insurance and Ergo Daum Direct 3 percent. The discount for black-box equipped cars was only
Nov. 18, 2012
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Procurement agency leads transparency and digitalization
The Public Procurement Service is paving the way for advanced public procurement policies with innovative ideas based on expertise from more than half a century in service. The centerpiece of its achievements is without argument the digitalization of the public procurement process, according to Kang Ho-in, the agency administrator.But the agency also played a major role in introducing local companies to foreign procurement agencies, in addition to unwavering support for small and medium-sized fi
Nov. 18, 2012
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Homeplus faces backlash for duplicity
Homeplus, one of the nation’s biggest retailers, faced public criticism as it was found to have registered to open a new store on the day it promised small and medium-sized merchants to refrain from opening new stores. The retailer registered to open a large store in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 22, the same day it announced plans to create a win-win consultation body with small-and medium-sized merchants and other large retailers including E-Mart and Lotte Mart. The Osan city government app
Nov. 18, 2012
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Starbucks sees Korea as first priority in Asia
China may be the all-important market for future growth of Starbucks, which is intensifying expansion there. But for now Korea is most important in Asia, said Darrel Kim, director of Channel Business Development Asia Pacific at the world’s biggest coffee chain. “Starbucks senior leadership, starting with CEO Howard Schultz, look at Korea with a very high priority. We have so much growth aspiration here,” the Asian chief of Starbucks Global Consumer Products Group said in a recent interview with
Nov. 18, 2012
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LG head outlines strategies to battle crisis
LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo said a time of crisis was the best litmus test for measuring a company’s core competence, calling on LG executives to get through its current rough patch and map out plans for progress in the next year.Maintaining the quality of goods and services, timely investment, developing future technologies and securing the right human resources were the goals that Koo set out for the LG chief executives, who started their annual reports to Koo on this year’s achievement reco
Nov. 18, 2012
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High radiation found in Fukushima's fish
Fish caught near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant have radiation levels 100 times higher than normal, officials say.Japan's Environment Ministry carried out a study that found fish caught near the plant had more radiation than fish caught elsewhere, RIA Novosti reported.The levels found ranged from 4,400 becquerels per kilogram to 11,400 becquerels per kilogram, against the maximum "safe" level of 100 becquerels per kilogram.The findings have prompted a government investigation into the phy
Nov. 18, 2012
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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
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KT’s LTE subscribers exceed 3 million
KT said Friday that the number of its subscribers for the fourth-generation network technology Long Term Evolution service topped 3 million as of last Tuesday.The country’s No. 2 mobile carrier also said that the total number of smartphone owners that use its networks also surpassed the 10 million mark.The two figures were reached 11 months after the company introduced its LTE service named WARP.Being a latecomer in offering LTE services, KT secured 1 million LTE handset owners in June and 2 mil
Nov. 16, 2012
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Bill in favor of taxis stokes controversy
Some lawmakers are pushing to include taxis in the category of public transportation alongside buses and subways, while some say their move is merely to target votes in the Dec. 19 presidential election.Should the bill, aimed at promoting public transportation system, pass the National Assembly, taxis will enjoy more fiscal support by the central and provincial governments.In addition, taxi drivers could be permitted to use bus-only lanes when the laws and regulations are revised.Members of the
Nov. 16, 2012
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Samsung, Apple prepare for second U.S. patent litigation
Even before finishing their first patent litigation battle in the U.S., Samsung Electronics and Apple are gearing up to face each other in another lawsuit in California involving their latest gadgets: the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5.According to Bloomberg on Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal ruled that Samsung could add Apple’s iPhone 5 to its patent infringement claims and Apple could put the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, the U.S. version of the Galaxy S3 and Google’s latest Jelly Bean mobile op
Nov. 16, 2012