Most Popular
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Ex-presidential official’s leaked phone call rattles conservative bloc
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Man escapes DUI charges by downing bottle of soju while pulled over
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Pay debate plagues foreign nanny pilot
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K-pop star lip-syncing controversy flares up again
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35% of S. Koreans view unification 'unnecessary'
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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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[Reporter’s Notebook] Was Netflix film opening BIFF really a bad thing?
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N. Korean leader's sister derides Seoul's Hyunmoo-5 missile as 'useless'
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Controversial cult leader’s sentence reduced to 17 years
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Celltrion set to discuss fleeing Kosdaq
Celltrion, the largest company in market cap on South Korea’s second-tier bourse, is poised to hold a nonregular shareholders meeting to discuss moving to the main bourse. The announcement by the nation’s second-largest biopharmaceutical firm on its website Wednesday implied signatures for the petition were collected from minor shareholders with a combined stake of more than 3 percent in total, a minimum requirement to hold an extraordinary board meeting. The petition was submitted on Aug. 7. Ce
Aug. 17, 2017
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[Monitor] Mobile shopping reaches all-time high
The proportion of mobile shopping in South Korea reached an all-time high in the second quarter of the year in the retail sector, data from Statistics Korea showed Thursday. Purchases made through smartphones and tablets surged 41.5 percent on-year to 9.4 trillion won ($8.25 billion), accounting for 9.4 percent of the total retail sales tallied at 99.2 trillion won.This is the highest proportion since related data began to be compiled in the first quarter of 2013.In comparison, department stores
Aug. 17, 2017
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Starfield Goyang challenges Lotte Mall with family-friendly entertainment spaces
GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province -- Shinsegae Group‘s shopping mall brand Starfield held its pre-opening for its Goyang branch on Thursday, putting its family-friendly entertainment facilities front and center. Starfield Goyang is designed to fill a gap in the underserved consumer market in the residential area northwest of Seoul. It is the third mall to be operated by Shinsegae under the Starfield name, after Starfield Hanam and Starfield Coex.With store spaces covering 135,500 square meters and 4,500
Aug. 17, 2017
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Dong-A Pharmaceutical brings art into product packaging
South Korean drugmaker Dong-A Pharmaceutical has set out to raise the appeal of its consumer products by introducing art into its marketing scheme.Dong-A Pharmaceutical has adopted a new packaging design for its drugs and female hygiene goods — imprinting the works of world-famous artists on the covers of its product.Tempo (Dong-A Pharmaceutical)For instance, Dong-A’s tampon brand Tempo features Claude Monet’s famed oil painting “Water Lillies” on the cover in a move to express the warmth and pu
Aug. 17, 2017
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KDIC sells 2.75% stake in Hanwha Life
The state-run Korea Depository Insurance Corp. said Thursday it sold a 2.75 percent stake in Hanwha Life Insurance Co. as part of efforts to recoup taxpayer money injected into the insurer.The stake, or 23.9 million shares, was offloaded to domestic and foreign institutional investors through a block sale in after-hours trading for 173.9 billion won ($153 million), or 7,280 won per share.The state deposit insurer said the stake sale has raised the recovery ratio of public funds pumped into the i
Aug. 17, 2017
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Kakao's game business to merge into Kakao Games
Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said Thursday that it has decided to merge its game business unit into Kakao Games Corp., a game company under its arm, in an effort to boost competitiveness."It was a strategic decision to strengthen the game business unit," said Rim Ji-hoon, CEO of Kakao, said in a press release.The game unit under Kakao has so far carried out game publishing and intellectual property affairs of Kakao Friends, characters based on KakaoT
Aug. 17, 2017
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Samsung tops global smartphone market in Q2
Samsung Electronics Co. topped the global smartphone market in the second quarter, data showed Thursday, with the Galaxy S8 series emerging as the most-sold Android-powered models.According to the data compiled by industry tracker Strategy Analytics, the South Korean tech giant stood as the No. 1 player in the area with a combined market share of 22.1 percent. Samsung's US archrival Apple Inc. followed with 11.4 percent. (Yonhap)China-based Huawei Technologies Co. and OPPO Electronics Corp. trai
Aug. 17, 2017
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Samsung's earnings growth may slow in Q3: analysts
Samsung Electronics Co., which has been posting robust earnings for past quarters, may see its earnings growth slow for the third quarter of the year, analysts said Thursday.According to data compiled by industry tracker FnGuide, Samsung Electronics is expected to post an operating income of 14.8 trillion won ($13 billion) in the July-September period, sharply up from 5.2 trillion won posted a year earlier. For the April-June period, Samsung's operating profit came to 14.1 trillion won, also up
Aug. 17, 2017
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Top 30 groups see spike in H1 operating income
South Korea's top 30 conglomerates saw their combined operating income soar nearly 48 percent on-year in the first half of the year on strong performances by two chip giants, a market tracker said Thursday.But their total payrolls inched down as the country's three major shipbuilding companies cut a large number of jobs in the wake of last year's huge losses due mainly to plunging orders.The combined operating income of the leading business groups came to 53.1 trillion won (US$46.6 billion) in t
Aug. 17, 2017
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More traces found in eggs as contamination fears spread
Traces of banned or excessive levels of insecticides were found at additional egg farms and distributed batches of eggs in South Korea on Wednesday, as the government rushed to inspect large-scale ranches in response to spreading fears of contaminated eggs.An inspection of 84 stores selling eco-friendly, organic eggs revealed two products contained excessive levels of bifnethrin. The two products were Fresh Large Homeplus eggs and Buja Teuknan eggs. This is the first time that excessive levels o
Aug. 16, 2017
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Nongshim‘s instant noodle sold at all Walmart stores in US
Nongshim Co., the country's top instant noodle maker, said Wednesday its best-selling instant noodles are now sold at every Walmart store in the United States, as it attempts to expand its presence in the global market.Nongshim said its Shin Ramyun is now being sold at 4,692 Walmart stores throughout the North American country, becoming the first South Korean product available at every store of the US hypermarket chain. This undated photo provided by Nongshim Co., the country`s top instant noodl
Aug. 16, 2017
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[Monitor] Meaning of codes printed on eggshells
Under the regulations of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, a set of codes are printed on every eggshell to identify the region and producer of the eggs.
Aug. 16, 2017
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Private-label products expand presence in Korean market: report
Private-label products distributed by large retailers have experienced sharp growth over recent years in the South Korean market on rising consumer demand for cheaper price tags, a report said Wednesday.The market of such "store brand" products reached 9.3 trillion won in 2013, up from 3.6 trillion won tallied in 2008, according to the report by the state-run Korea Development Institute.Industry leaders of Lotte, E-mart and Home Plus earned some 20 percent of their sales from their private brand
Aug. 16, 2017
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Hankook Tire wins 1st ratings from S&P, Moody's
Hankook Tire Co. has obtained its first ratings from two of the world's three major credit ratings agencies due to its solid profitability, the company said Wednesday. Moody's Investors Service has assigned a first-time Baa2 rating to the country's biggest tiremaker by sales, with a stable outlook, the ratings firm said in a statement. "Hankook Tire's Baa2 rating primarily reflects its high operating efficiency, as evidenced by its robust profitability, low financial leverage, as well as its lea
Aug. 16, 2017
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Major pharmaceuticals expand R&D spending in H1
Major South Korean pharmaceutical companies expanded their spending on research and development during the first half this year, with Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. allocating the most, industry data showed Wednesday.According to their semi-annual business reports, 10 out of the 15 drug companies spent more on R&D during the January-June period, compared to the same period a year earlier. The 15 companies raked in more than 100 billion won ($87 million) in revenue each in the first half of the year.Th
Aug. 16, 2017
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Companies' labor cost burden rising: data
South Korean companies spent more on labor costs last year than two years ago despite a fall in their sales, with export industries bearing a heavier burden in salary payments, industry data showed Wednesday.CEO Score, which follows business performances of major corporations, analyzed 334 firms whose data were available for 2014 and 2016 for comparisons. Results showed that their total sales came to 1,607 trillion won ($1.4 trillion) last year, of which 94.2 trillion won was spent on paying sal
Aug. 16, 2017
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[News Focus] Is Samsung really doomed without its heir?
With the sentencing of Samsung’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong slated for next week, there have been growing speculations over whether the tech giant will change its previous strategy on consolidating his leadership.There is general consensus among Samsung insiders as well as chaebol reformists that the conglomerate will not give up on Lee and will try to put his succession back on track. But they differ on the question of whether Samsung does not have a future without him. Samsung Electronics (Par
Aug. 15, 2017
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Samsung’s semiconductor chief tops paycheck list in H1
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun rose to become the top earner among chief executive officers and owners of South Korea’s major conglomerates in the first half of this year, regulatory filings to the Financial Supervisory Service showed. Kwon, who is currently leading Samsung’s most lucrative device solutions division in charge of the world’s biggest chipmaking business, received a total of 13.98 billion won ($12.3 million) including massive incentives for the first six months of t
Aug. 15, 2017
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Koreans react to pesticide-tainted eggs
Koreans on Tuesday reacted strongly to the news that some eggs here have been contaminated with pesticides. Egg farms in Namyangju and Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province were found to have delivered eggs tainted with fipronil and bifenthrin -- both chemicals used to treat lice, flea and ticks in animals -- which could hurt the liver, kidney and thyroid gland. Eggs waiting to be delivered (Yonhap)Some Koreans took to social media to lash out at the previous administration for its failure to put safety
Aug. 15, 2017
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Korea’s health and beauty businesses expand despite weak consumption
South Korea’s health and beauty chains are moving to expand their businesses, as the market continues to grow despite overall weak consumer sentiment that has hurt the rest of the distribution sectors, industry data showed Tuesday. Health and beauty stores are the Korean version of drug stores. They sell cosmetics, beauty products, medicines, dietary supplements, snacks and goods of diverse global brands that are difficult to purchase in traditional retail stores. (Yonhap)In 2016, Korea’s top he
Aug. 15, 2017