Most Popular
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Slew of top K-pop stars ready to return from military
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S. Korea, US clinch 2026-30 defense cost-sharing deal in pre-election push
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N. Korean leader's sister derides Seoul's Hyunmoo-5 missile as 'useless'
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Military aircraft evacuating S. Koreans in Lebanon returns home
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Controversial cult leader’s sentence reduced to 17 years
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Concerns raised over chronic labor shortage at state-run center for digital sex crime victims
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BTS-themed moon jar to be unveiled on Hangeul Day
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Samsung, Hyundai chiefs to accompany Yoon on Singapore trip
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1,430 minors investigated for drug offenses from 2018 to 2023: police
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[Robert Fouser] Why the US election looks so close
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Korea to seek opportunities in Japan's infrastructure project
South Korean companies will seek business opportunities in Japan's mega infrastructure project ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, a state trade agency said Tuesday.In a 10.7 trillion-yen ($98.4 billion) project, Japan started building stadiums late last month, and plans to upgrade hotels and other existing facilities before the Summer Olympic Games that begin in July 2020, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said in a statement.(Yonhap)In a meeting arranged by KOTRA in Tokyo on Tuesday
April 18, 2017
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Pharmaceutical firms' exports of API increase
South Korea's major pharmaceutical firms saw their revenues from exports of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients increase last year, industry sources said Tuesday. API refers to key chemicals used to produce pharmaceutical drugs.Yuhan Corp., a major drug company, said its revenue from overseas shipments of API jumped nearly 30 percent on-year to 250 billion won ($220 million) in 2016, company officials said.(Yonhap)Yuhan said its API business also accounts for 19 percent of the company's total reve
April 18, 2017
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DoubleUGames to buy US game developer
DoubleUGames Co., a South Korean game firm listed on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market, said Tuesday it plans to purchase a US developer at a deal estimated at 942.5 billion ($830 million).DoubleUGames will purchase Double Down Interactive LLC, a developer of social casino games, marking the largest overseas acquisition ever conducted by a South Korean game firm. (Yonhap)Double Down Interactive, the world's top developer of social casino games, posted annual sales of $277 million in 2016. The figure
April 18, 2017
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Chamisul soju sales exceed W1tr mark for the first time in 2016
Sales of Hite Jinro's distilled liquor "soju" exceeded the 1 trillion won ($882 million) mark last year for the first time since its debut in 1998, the company said Tuesday.Chamisul soju sales hit 1.009 trillion won last year with a total of 1.7 billion bottles sold. (Yonhap)The company attributes the rise to people consuming more soju amid the protracted economic slump and the alleged corruption scandal involving then-President Park Geun-hye, senior government officials and owners of big busine
April 18, 2017
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Hanmi charged with belated reporting of new lung cancer drug’s side effect
South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical was found to have belatedly reported the occurrence of a fatal side effect in a patient during the clinical trials of its next-generation lung cancer drug olmutinib, sold under the trade name Olita Tab.The Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea announced Monday that the Korean drugmaker had broken two medical laws regarding the monitoring and reporting of its clinical trials. The board had opened an investigation after some lawmakers charged Hanmi of intentiona
April 17, 2017
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Female executives still sparse at financial firms
Nearly half of almost 120,000 employees at 20 major financial firms in South Korea are women, but only 21 of them were in executive positions as of 2016, according to data cited in news reports Monday. The data also showed that among the 21, only two of them -- Jung Soo-kyung, an auditor at Woori Bank, and Park Soon-ae, a non-executive director at Kookmin Bank -- were board members. There were 845 executive workers in total for both genders. None of the 21 women were in positions of vice preside
April 17, 2017
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[Monitor] More Koreans prefer music streaming services
One in 2 South Koreans listen to their music via paid streaming services -- the highest rate among 13 surveyed countries, including the US, the UK and Japan, the Recording Industry Association of Korea said Monday.Among South Koreans, 50 percent of South Koreans said they have used such paid streaming services in the past six months, higher than the average across the 13 countries of 37 percent. Some 41 percent of Koreans said they were using such services now.Industry sources said such a high r
April 17, 2017
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[Herald Interview] Future is female: Puma Korea chief
The future of athletic wear in Korea hinges on the female consumer, according to the general manager of Puma Korea.“The female consumers are spending more money than the men. They’re very trend savvy, and I think that the current athleisure trend is one that has performance and fashion meeting each other,” said Rasmus Holm, Puma Korea’s GM, in an interview with The Korea Herald. Puma Korea CEO Rasmus Holm at Puma’s showroom in Dongjak-gu, Seoul (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)According to Danish
April 17, 2017
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Samsung Electronics still a dream company for Koreans
Samsung Electronics clinched the No. 1 position this year as the company that college students and graduates here most want to work for, a survey showed Monday.According to online job site Saramin, around 14 percent of local job seekers said they wanted to land a job at Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest producer of smartphones and semiconductor chips by shipments. (Yonhap)The tech giant beat Hyundai Motor, which topped the list last year, it said. The nation’s top carmaker ranked second
April 17, 2017
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[News Focus] Will Daewoo Shipbuilding tide over financial crisis?
South Korea’s cash-strapped Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has moved one step closer to getting a fresh 2.9 trillion won ($2.5 billion) loan to tide over its financial woes, as its bondholders approved a debt-to-equity swap plan at their first three meetings Monday.At the separate meetings, bondholders who hold a combined 940 billion won of corporate bonds of DSME that mature by November this year approved the debt restructuring measures, initially suggested by the shipbuilder’s majo
April 17, 2017
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KDB-led creditors to proceed with Kumho Tire sale as scheduled
The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) said Monday that it will sell a local tiremaker to a Chinese firm unless the chief of Kumho Asiana Group exercises his right to buy back the logistics conglomerate's tiremaking affiliate currently under creditors' control.Park Sam-koo, chairman of Kumho Asiana Group, has urged the KDB, the main creditor of Kumho Tire Co., to allow him to form a consortium for the potential takeover.(Yonhap)But the KDB said Park is required to show his intention by Wedne
April 17, 2017
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Fuel surcharges go back to zero for May
Fuel surcharges applied to international flights will go back to zero in May, according to airlines Monday.Fuel surcharges, which are decided according to the monthly average of benchmark Singapore kerosene, had been added to international flight prices for the first time in February after a 17-month stretch of zero surcharges due to low oil prices. (Yonhap)From March 16 to April 15, the average price was $1.48 cents per gallon, falling below the $1.50 threshold for fuel surcharges.Meanwhile, fu
April 17, 2017
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Korea's fishery sector racks up W6.59tr in sales in 2015
South Korea's fishery-related industry posted sales of 6.59 trillion won ($5.8 billion) in 2015, with the employees reaching more than a million, a government report showed Monday.The conventional fishing and seafood retail sector marked 4.99 trillion won in 2015, while sales of the related industries like fishing boat-building businesses totaled 1.6 trillion won, according to the annual report compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. (Yonhap)The ministry said the aggregated sales of fi
April 17, 2017
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Advertising market grows to record size, dominated by top 10 firms
South Korea's advertising market reached 14.7 trillion won ($12.95 billion) last year, with more than 70 percent of it dominated by the top three firms, an industry study showed Monday.Last year's market size is 8.1 percentage points bigger than the previous year's 13.7 trillion won, according to the Korea Federation of Advertising Associations (KFAA). Not only were there growing demands by local advertisers, but profits at overseas branches in emerging markets like India and Southeast Asian cou
April 17, 2017
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Workforce at automakers rises 8.6% in past 5 years
The number of workers at South Korea's five complete carmakers has risen 8.6 percent in the past five years, a report showed Monday. The overall workforce at the five carmakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., SsangYong Motor Co. and Renault Samsung Motors Corp. -- reached 126,723 employees at the end of 2016, up from 116,714 at end-2011, according to the companies' annual business reports. (Yonhap)Workers at Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and SsangYong Motor increased in the fiv
April 17, 2017
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Small companies giving up on extended May holiday
Most conglomerates are giving their employees extra vacation days around holidays early next month, but many employees at smaller companies will have to keep working to meet manufacturing and supply deadlines, company officials said Monday.The first week of May has three holidays coming every other day. Most conglomerates are letting their staff take the days in between off, giving workers up to nine days off when including the two weekends. Some can take as many as 11 days off because May 9 has
April 17, 2017
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Koreans prefer streaming over downloading music: survey
Nearly half of all South Koreans enjoyed music content through streaming instead of downloading last year, a survey showed Monday, apparently helped by reasonable prices offered by local services.According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 41 percent of South Koreans subscribed to music streaming services, hovering far above other countries.(Yonhap)Sweden followed with 40 percent, trailed by Mexico and Brazil with 39 percent and 26 percent, respectively. The United St
April 17, 2017
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Major shipyards forecast to have returned to black in Q1
South Korea's major shipyards such as Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. are widely expected to have swung back into the black in the first quarter of the year from a year earlier, largely thanks to cost-cutting measures, industry sources said Monday.According to the sources, Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major shipyard here, is expected to have racked up an operating income of 38 billion won ($3.3 million) in the first quarter on sales of 2.1 trillion won. Last year, Samsung Heavy suffered a loss o
April 17, 2017
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Daewoo shipyard's main bondholder accepts debt rescheduling proposal
The main bondholder of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. on Monday agreed to the debt rescheduling measures proposed by the state-run Korea Development Bank led creditors, paving the way for the troubled shipyard's other bondholders to support the plan.After a weeks-long tussle over the debt rescheduling proposal, the National Pension Service said earlier in the day that it has accepted the plan to keep the troubled shipbuilder afloat.(Yonhap)The NPS, which owns some 30 percent of the
April 17, 2017
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Samsung’s M&A engine sputters with heir in jail
With its de facto leader in jail for the past two months on bribery charges, Samsung is facing a halt in investments that had been among the key driving forces of South Korea’s largest conglomerate.Aggressive investments for mergers and acquisitions had been Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s signature strategy to cement his leadership since he came to the fore of the group’s management in replacement of his ailing father Chairman Lee Kun-hee three years ago.In 2014 alone, Samsung
April 16, 2017