Most Popular
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North Korean troops killed, wounded in Ukraine war: Seoul defense minister
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S. Korea, Singapore seal supply chain agreement
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Korean language teaching expert says demand has outstripped supply
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Korea added to key bond index
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Conscripting women to lead to 'more babies,' claims military think tank
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[KH Explains] Samsung chief says he is still ‘hungry’ for foundry growth
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North Korea notifies UN Command of plans to fortify border with South
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Taking away phones during school hours not a human rights violation: watchdog
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Who is pollster roiling politics with claims of government string-pulling?
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Kim Jong-un vows to thwart S. Korea-US 'nuclear alliance'
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Sales of iPhone 5 miss market expectations
Sales of Apple Inc.‘s iPhone 5 in South Korea have fallen short of market expectations largely because of its belated debut in the country, industry sources said Sunday.As of Friday, about 400,000 units of Apple’s latest gadget were sold in the South Korean market, well below an earlier estimate of up to 2 million, according to the sources.On Dec. 7, SK Telcom Co. and KT Corp., the country‘s two biggest mobile carriers, kicked off the release of the first iPhone that runs on the fourth-generatio
Jan. 6, 2013
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Lock & Lock unlocks Chinese market
South Korean cookware maker Lock & Lock Co. said Friday that its glass container sales in China are estimated to have grown about 60 percent last year on its efforts to tap deeper into the world’s most populous country.Lock & Lock’s glass container business is estimated to have logged 70 billion won ($65.8 million) in sales in China in 2012, up nearly 63 percent on-year from 43 billion won in 2011, company officials said.With China’s disposable income rising and Chinese people’s eating habits be
Jan. 4, 2013
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Listed firms’ quarterly earnings to miss expectations
Fourth-quarter earnings of South Korea’s major listed companies are expected to hover below earlier forecasts due to a protracted global economic slump, data showed Friday.The combined operating profit of 116 listed firms is estimated at 26.5 trillion won ($24.9 billion) for the October-December period, according to the data based on predictions made by local brokerage houses and compiled by local financial information provider FnGuide.The estimate is down 1.13 percent from the 26.8 trillion won
Jan. 4, 2013
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Gucci to raise prices of bags and wallets
Italian luxury brand Gucci has decided to raise the prices of some of its main products, to the ire of designer brand lovers here. The price for the popular Soho tote bags and other leather goods will be increased by up to 11 percent, starting from Jan. 14, Gucci Korea officials were quoted as saying Friday.The price hike, the first since April 2011, was decided by the company’s head office in Florence, Italy, and will be applied to all Gucci stores around the world. Once the change is made, the
Jan. 4, 2013
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Hanjin Group children get promotions
Hanjin Group Cho Yang-ho’s three children ― Hyun-ah, Won-tae and Hyun-min ― were all promoted in the company’s recent personnel reshuffle. The eldest, Hyun-ah, 39, was promoted to vice president of Korean Air, along with her younger brother Won-tae, 38. They were given the promotions just three years after they were made executive vice presidents in 2009. Cho Hyun-min, born in 1983, was made a managing vice president of the company. She had been a rank immediately below just two years earlier. K
Jan. 4, 2013
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Samsung, LG fined for LCD price-fixing in China
LG Display agreed to pay damages ordered by the Chinese government for fixing the price of its panels, while Samsung Display said it would need more time to look into the issue.On Friday, the world’s two top makers of liquid-crystal display panels ― Samsung and LG Display ― were ordered to pay $35 million in damages by China’s National Development and Reform Commission for price-rigging its panels.The commission said it fined Samsung 101 million yuan ($16.2 million) and LG 118 million yuan, for
Jan. 4, 2013
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'Korean customers are too picky'
An online article pointing out difficulties in the Korean market sparked fresh debate over the cause of recent withdrawal-spree of foreign companies. A blogger familiar with the matter posted Wednesday an article titled “Foreign companies leaving Korea: Have the locals successfully kicked the invaders out?” on his blog.A series of foreign enterprises recently decided to leave Korea in various industries. Global IT companies Yahoo Korea, Motorola, HTC, and RIM, as well as financial companies Gold
Jan. 4, 2013
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‘Actually’ unemployed population nears 4 million in Nov.: data
The number of “actually” unemployed people in South Korea has reached nearly 4 million as job seekers tend to give up on finding work amid prolonged weak labor market conditions, data showed Friday.According to the data by Statistics Korea, the country’s actually unemployed totaled about 3.89 million as of November last year, slightly down from 3.94 million tallied a year earlier.Actual unemployed people refer to those who give up looking for work, temporarily quit seeking employment to prepare
Jan. 4, 2013
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Corporate regulator removes 11 firms from watch list
South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Friday that it has taken 11 companies off the list that limits mutual investments and loan guarantees.The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the number of corporate affiliates on the list stood at 1,791 as of end-December, down from1,802 tallied in the previous month.Eighteen companies were newly added to the list, while 29 affiliates were taken off over the past month, the FTC said.The net decline comes as the political community is pushing for a fairer busin
Jan. 3, 2013
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Zodiac may look to buy STX Pan Ocean
Zodiac Maritime Agencies, a global ship owner and manager, could be interested in acquiring STX Pan Ocean, Korea’s leading operator of bulk carriers, industry sources said.The London-based ship management company, owned by the Ofer family, is believed to have emerged as one of the potential overseas candidates to purchase a controlling 36.8 percent stake in the Korean shipping company, the sources claimed.The 36.8 percent is held by STX, the parent holding company, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, S
Jan. 3, 2013
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LG Group vows to refuse gifts of money from vendors
LG Group on Thursday said it will refuse any monetary gifts from its vendor companies. It also will urge its executives to hold smaller wedding ceremonies as a part of the company’s ethics campaign. LG said the rules regarding the money gifts ― money that Koreans give at weddings or funerals ― will be applied to all of LG’s affiliates starting this year. Employees also will be banned from taking presents or money from vendors for promotions. “We have outlined these new rules and passed them arou
Jan. 3, 2013
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Hyundai slashes prices on flagship models
Hyundai Motor has decided to lower the prices of its larger flagship models by up to 1 million won ($940), bucking a seasonal trend of other carmakers that have already announced new price hikes this year. Hyundai said Thursday it will offer 10 versions of its five brand models, including the Sonata, Genesis and Santa Fe, at discounted prices from Jan. 1, with no change made to their specifications. The price of the best-seller sedan Sonata has been lowered from 26.5 million won to 26.28 million
Jan. 3, 2013
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Revised bill to affect supermarkets’ suits against ward offices
The revised Retail Industry Development bill, which the National Assembly passed on Tuesday, is expected to affect large discount store chains’ legal actions against ward offices’ rules on business hours and closing days of major retailers.Seven retail chains, including E-mart and Homeplus, have filed suits against 11 district offices in Seoul so far over their latest regulations aimed at protecting mom-and-pop stores from the retail giants’ dominance. This week’s revision of the Retail Industry
Jan. 3, 2013
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KT to separate divisions’ accounting
KT, the country’s No. 2 mobile carrier, is undergoing big changes to establish an independent financing system for each division that will improve efficiency and enhance the financial transparency of the firm.A key KT executive recently told a pool of reporters that the company was in the process of running a new financing system for its three divisions ― Telecom & Convergence, Customer and Global & Enterprise.The divisions currently are headed by three different chiefs ― Pyo Hyun-myung for T&C,
Jan. 3, 2013
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Duty free shops set to open outlets in small cities in Korea
Duty free shops will open in nine cities for the first time this year after the government approved the plan at the end of 2012.The Korea Customs Service licensed nine small and medium companies to run duty free shops in major cities ― Daegu, Incheon, Daejeon, Ulsan, Suwon, Cheongju, Suncheon, Gyeongju and Changwon ― to help local cities attract more foreign shoppers and boost their local economies. Currently, duty free shops only exist in Seoul, Busan and Jeju. The licensees, ranging from local
Jan. 3, 2013
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Korea may lose top spot in shipbuilding to China
Korea may drop to second in the international ranking for shipbuilding exports in 2012, giving the top spot to China for the first time since 2001, the Institute for International Trade said on Thursday. In the first 10 months of last year, exports of Korean shipbuilders marked $33.5 billion (35.6 trillion won), a 29.5 percent drop from the same period in 2011. It was the first time the nation’s shipbuilding industry posted minus growth since 1999 when the nation was hit hard by the currency and
Jan. 3, 2013
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Steel industry bets on business diversification
The nation’s major steelmakers are diversifying into non-core businesses such as energy, construction and agriculture to shore up falling profits. POSCO, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker by output, has cut its number of subsidiaries to 46 from 70 as of Jan., 1 mainly by merging those with overlapping businesses, the company said in a press release. The number of POSCO’s affiliates surged after takeover deals for the past few years, including Daewoo International, a trading company specializ
Jan. 3, 2013
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Zodiac may look to buy STX Pan Ocean
Zodiac Maritime Agencies, a global ship owner and manager, could be interested in acquiring STX Pan Ocean, Korea’s leading operator of bulk carriers, industry sources said.The London-based ship management company, owned by the Ofer family, is believed to have emerged as "one of the potential overseas candidates" to purchase a controlling 36.8 percent stake in the Korean shipping company, the sources claimed.The 36.8 percent is held by STX, the parent holding company, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding,
Jan. 3, 2013
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Developers find hints of iPhone 6
Application developers said they have spotted a technical hint that U.S. technology giant Apple is working on its next iPhone and an updated operating system.Next Web reported many developers had noticed their user logs with the company referencing “iPhone6,1” hardware using iOS 7, which would be the next generation phone and operating system No. 7.The company recently released its iPhone 5, which uses iOS 6.The Chicago Tribune noted Wednesday no information is available in the logs on what new
Jan. 3, 2013
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Halla Climate Control suffers as Hyundai Motor seeks new suppliers
Halla Climate Control, a top manufacturer of automotive air-conditioning and heating systems, has been dealt a blow as its key client Hyundai Motor seeks new suppliers. In 2011, trade with Hyundai made up 64.1 percent of Halla’s total sales. According to industry sources on Wednesday, Hyundai has recently stopped buying climate control products from Halla for the Sonata model produced at its Alabama plant and instead named Japanese auto parts maker Denso as the new supplier. The Korean auto gian
Jan. 2, 2013