Combined market share of mid-sized sedans made by Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister company Kia Motors Corp. ranked first in the United States last month, industry sources said Sunday.Sources said sales of Hyundai’s popular Sonata sedan reached 22,754 units in May, while Kia sold 7,401 Optima sedans in the one month period. This pushed up market share of the two models to 19.0 percent of all mid-si

Industry June 26, 2011

Local chambers of commerce join to press government to stick to tax policyRepresentatives of one of the nation’s top private economic organizations on Thursday called for the government and politicians to stay committed to tax reduction to help the corporate sector. “Tax reduction is necessary to enhance corporate competitiveness and attract foreign capital,” the heads of the country’s 71 regional

Industry June 23, 2011

GS Caltex Corp., the nation’s No.2 oil refiner, on Wednesday said it has borrowed 870,000 barrels of diesel oil from reserves kept by the Korea National Oil Corp. This marks the first time in three years that the refiner has dipped into government fuel reserves.The borrowed fuel is expected to be released at local gas stations next week. GS Caltex has recently been unable to properly provide to ga

Industry June 22, 2011

The country’s top 30 conglomerates were found to have set up a spiraling number of overseas corporations in countries without tax treaties with the South Korean government. Lotte Group had the largest number of corporations in such nations overall, according to Chaebul.com, an online portal devoted to analyzing conglomerate activities on Wednesday.As of last year, the conglomerate had 33 such offi

Industry June 22, 2011

Samsung Everland Inc. on Tuesday said its theme park “Everland” was ranked among the global top 10 of such facilities for a fifth straight year in 2010. Everland stood at 10th place, with 6.88 million visitors according to recent figures from the Themed Entertainment Association. Everland has been included in the list of top 10 theme parks since 2006, the Seoul-based company said. In the category

Industry June 21, 2011

Samsung Electronics marked its splash into the global fourth-generation telecom market in earnest with a contract for providing long-term-evolution equipment to Japan’s second-largest mobile phone operator.Samsung will be offering its LTE equipment to KDDI to help the firm launch its LTE services starting next year, the Seoul-based electronics company said on Monday.LTE is the fourth-generation of

Industry June 20, 2011

In an emotion-charged speech against corruption, President Lee Myung-bak called for a sweeping overhaul of the way the government works, imploring top officials Friday to end long-ingrained irregularities in officialdom.Speaking at a brainstorming meeting that brought together all Cabinet ministers, vice ministers and other top officials, Lee expressed deep frustrations about the bureaucracy, repr

Politics June 17, 2011

Prosecutors put a former aide to President Lee Myung-bak and state auditor on trial on Friday, accusing him of receiving kickbacks in return for using his influence to help a corruption-ridden savings bank survive inspections by financial regulators.Eun Jin-soo, 50, is suspected of having received 70 million won (US$64,844) from Busan Savings Bank through a broker last year in exchange for lobbyin

National June 17, 2011

Corporate image has a major influence on local consumers who said their purchases were largely based on the image companies cultivate, according to a survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.More than 80 percent of those surveyed said they were influenced by corporate image when purchasing products, while only about 15 percent said they were not. Consumers also were found to hold domes

Industry June 16, 2011