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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Military aircraft evacuating S. Koreans in Lebanon returns home
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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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Market uncertain on Korea's October rate cut despite slowed inflation
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Samsung unveils 'personalized AI' for all devices
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1,430 minors investigated for drug offenses from 2018 to 2023: police
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Special counsel bill to probe first lady scrapped
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[Robert Fouser] Why the US election looks so close
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6 in 10 startups fail within 3 years: report
Six in 10 Korean venture businesses fail within the first three years, according to a report Wednesday.In a report titled “2nd-round Startup Ecosystem in Numbers,” the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the number of venture companies in Korea had risen to over 30,000 due to continuous deregulation over the past decade. For example, the process for creating a startup business was reduced from 12 steps to two steps, speeding up the process from 22 to four days. However, a lack of an inv
Feb. 15, 2017
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Finance minister vows full support for more offshore contracts
South Korea's finance minister promised Wednesday to bolster efforts to help local companies obtain more overseas deals in a bid to prop up their growth."The ministry will make utmost efforts for a turnaround in local firms' overseas contracts over the next three years as a way of bringing new momentum to our economy," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said during a visit to a Hyundai Elevator plant in Icheon, south of Seoul. Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho talks with an official while paying a visit to Hy
Feb. 15, 2017
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Doosan Bobcat 2016 net rises 22% on high-priced products
Doosan Bobcat Inc., a construction equipment unit of Doosan Group, said Wednesday that its earnings spiked 22 percent last year from a year earlier, largely due to an increase in sales of high-priced products.Net profit reached 180 billion won ($158 million) last year, up 21.7 percent from a profit of 148 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. (Yonhap)Operating income surged 7.4 percent on-year to 414 billion won last year, while sales fell 2.2 percent to reach 3.95
Feb. 15, 2017
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Will Lee Boo-jin fill in Samsung’s leadership vacuum?
Expectations rose Wednesday that Lee Boo-jin, the eldest daughter of the Samsung family, could fill a possible power vacuum to be created if the special counsel team’s second request to arrest Samsung heir apparent Lee Jae-yong is accepted by the court.As market watchers saw the possibility of Lee Boo-jin’s role being reinforced across the No. 1 family-run conglomerate in South Korea, shares of her Hotel Shilla continued rallying for a fourth trading day in a row, from around 42,000 won ($36.80)
Feb. 15, 2017
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Daewoo Shipbuilding mulls slew of options to avert 'April crisis'
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major shipyard in South Korea, is looking at a slew of options to deal with massive debt due in April, its chief said Wednesday, brushing off concerns that the cash-strapped shipbuilder may fail to pay off the maturing debt.The shipyard should pay off or refinance up to 1 trillion won ($869 million) worth of debts that mature this year, but the shipbuilder's financial status is not good enough to deal with the situation amid the dearth of new order
Feb. 15, 2017
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Hankook Tire to raise tire prices by 4%
Hankook Tire Co., South Korea's largest tiremaker, said Wednesday it will raise the price of its tires by up to 4 percent starting later this week amid higher rubber prices. The company said the price hike will be applied to the tires for its outlets and wholesalers, and the tires for 1-ton trucks, taxis, and the eco-friendly and fuel-efficient series will be excluded. Hankook Tire Co., South Korea's largest tiremaker, said on Feb. 15, 2017, that it will raise the price of its tires by up to 4 p
Feb. 15, 2017
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Global DRAM market grew 18.2% in Q4 last year
The global market for dynamic random access memory chips rose 18.2 percent on quarter during the fourth quarter of last year, thanks to rising prices of memory chips for personal computers, according to industry data Wednesday. Global DRAM revenues climbed to US$12.4 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, from $10.5 billion a quarter earlier, market researcher DRAMeXchange said in a statement. (Yonhap)The market researcher attributed the solid growth in the DRAM market to "peak season dema
Feb. 15, 2017
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Most Korean startups fail early
Nearly 6 in 10 South Korean venture companies go belly-up within three years after establishment due to an insufficient investment system and difficulties finding a market, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report compiled by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the number of venture startups in South Korea has exceeded a record number of 30,000 due to sharply lowered entry barriers over the past decade. A fair for venture startups is under way at the Convention and Exhibition Ce
Feb. 15, 2017
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[NEWS FOCUS] Smartphone subsidies back in firing line
With the extraordinary parliamentary session slated to end within two weeks, calls are growing to scrap or revise the law that places a limit on telecom operators and phone makers in providing subsidies for new subscribers.South Korean consumers often change their telecom operator to buy a new handset, as the firms provide a certain amount of kickbacks to new customers on the condition of a two- or three-year contract. Handset subsidies, which began in the late 1990s when mobile phone service fi
Feb. 14, 2017
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Customs brokers to help SMEs on FTA
The Korea Customs Service said Tuesday it has assigned public customs brokers at municipal customs offices to help small and mid-sized businesses expand their overseas business by taking advantage of free trade agreements. In conjunction with the Korea Customs Brokers Association, a total of 101 customs brokers have been dispatched to 34 customs offices in such cities as Seoul, Busan and Incheon as of Monday. (Yonhap)The agents will be stationed at their designated offices once or twice a week t
Feb. 14, 2017
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E-commerce industry shackled in ballooning losses as competition stiffens
Despite the ballooning volume of e-commerce, deficits for online shopping malls are also bloating with even a rough estimate pointing to over 1 trillion won ($876.88 million) last year, industry officials said Tuesday.Industry records showed the country's three leading social commerce sites -- Coupang, Ticket Monster and WeMakePrice -- suffered combined losses of 834.6 billion won in 2015, with Coupang accounting for the largest at 547 billion won. Officials say their business last year has not
Feb. 14, 2017
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Samsung in panic over request of arrest warrant for Lee again
Samsung Group, the largest family-run conglomerate in South Korea, was in a panic Tuesday upon the special counsel’s request of an arrest warrant for its de facto chief Lee Jae-yong again and a separate request for one of senior executives, Samsung Electronics President Park Sang-jin. The group declined to comment in the late afternoon, saying “An official stance on the special counsel’s announcement hasn’t been made yet.” The announcement came hours after the special counsel team said during a
Feb. 14, 2017
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Chocolate prices jump 9 yrs in row in 2016
The price of chocolate grew annually for nine years in a row in 2016, a statistical agency said Tuesday, mainly on the back of an increase in expensive imported brands.Chocolate prices fell for seven years straight from 2000 to 2006, according to Statistics Korea. However, chocolate prices increased 5.5 percent on-year in 2007 and hiked 23.4 percent on-year in 2008. Last year's on-year rise was 0.1 percent, compared with 4.6 percent in 2015 and 16.7 percent in 2014. (Yonhap)Industry experts att
Feb. 14, 2017
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Annual R&D spending tops W100b at 4 Korean drug firms
Four major South Korean pharmaceutical companies spent more than 100 billion won ($86.9 million) each on research and development in 2016, industry officials said Tuesday.The four drug companies -- Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co., Green Cross Corp., Daewoong Pharma and Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. -- sharply expanded their R&D spending last year, according to the officials. (Yonhap)The latest move marks a significant change from 2014, when Hanmi Pharmaceutical was the only player that allocated
Feb. 14, 2017
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Daewoo Shipbuilding faces rugged road to paying off maturing debt
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major shipyard in South Korea, has to pay off or refinance up to 1 trillion won ($869 million) worth of debts that mature this year, but the shipbuilder's financial status is not good enough to deal with the situation amid the dearth of new orders and a delay in the delivery of drill ships, industry sources said Tuesday.According to the sources, Daewoo Shipbuilding has 440 billion won worth of debts scheduled to be due in April, 300 billion won in
Feb. 14, 2017
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Samsung, law firm Kim & Chang have most high paid staff
Samsung Electronics and the law firm Kim & Chang have the biggest numbers of high-paid employees, health insurance data showed Monday. Among Korea’s salaried workers, a total of 3,403 paid 2.39 million won -- the maximum contribution -- in health insurance fees as of December, according the state-run National Health Insurance Service. (123RF)That means they each had monthly wages of at least 78.1 million won ($68,000) The figure equates into 937.2 million won a year, more than 28 times the avera
Feb. 13, 2017
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Last year's PC sales rebounded for 1st time in 5 years
South Korea's domestic sales of personal computers inched up in 2016 from a year earlier, marking the first such growth in five years, industry data showed Monday.According to the data compiled by market researcher IDC Korea, South Korea's sales of PCs came to 4.62 million units last year, up 3.2 percent from a year earlier. Of that amount, slim-sized laptops accounted for 1.5 million units. (Yonhap)"Local sales of ultra-slim laptops came to 1.5 million units, more than 40 percent up from a year
Feb. 13, 2017
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Govt. to advance compensation payment for FMD-hit farms
The South Korean government will compensate livestock farms 50 percent of the damage and losses caused by the wide-spreading foot-and-mouth disease in advance to ease their financial burdens, the finance ministry in Sejong said Monday.Since the first outbreak in the central region on Feb. 5, nearly 800 cows infected with the FMD have been culled for the past week, raising concerns that the animal disease is spreading widely throughout the nation. (Yonhap)The country has already been still strugg
Feb. 13, 2017
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Korea's chocolate market grew 9.6% in 2015
South Korea's chocolate market expanded nearly 10 percent in 2015 from a year earlier, with its imports rising sharply, a report showed Monday.Total shipments of chocolates amounted to 1.16 trillion won ($1 billion) in 2015, up 9.6 percent from the previous year's 1.06 trillion won, according to the annual report on local processed food markets compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (Yonhap)The country accounted for 1.2 percent of the world's chocolate market worth $86.
Feb. 13, 2017
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Top 100 market cap firms' profitability improved in 2016
South Korea's first-tier firms by market value saw their profitability improve last year on the back of their cost-cutting efforts and increased sales, industry data showed Monday.According to the data compiled by industry tracker CEO Score, 75 out of the country's top 100 market cap firms reported a 12.4 percent rise in their operating income at a combined 111.1 trillion won ($96.2 billion) last year, with their combined sales also rising 1.7 percent to 1,344 trillion won. (Yonhap)Of the survey
Feb. 13, 2017