Korea and Indonesia will hold the first round of feasibility study talks on a bilateral free trade deal this week, the Trade Ministry in Seoul said Wednesday.In 2007, a free trade agreement between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Indonesia, went into effect. But Seoul has been seeking to forge higher-level separate free trade deals with Indonesia, Malaysi

July 6, 2011

Korea’s automotive exports reached a record high in the first half of the year as local automakers increased their shares in overseas markets on the back of improved quality, a trade association said Wednesday.According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, local automakers exported a total of 1.55 million units in the first six months of the year, up 15.1 percent from a year earlier.

July 6, 2011

Apple’s iPhone has leapfrogged Research In Motion’s Blackberry to grab fourth-place among handset manufacturers in the United States, tracking firm comScore said Tuesday.The iPhone’s share of U.S. mobile subscribers rose to 8.7 percent in the three months ending in May from 7.5 percent three months earlier, while RIM’s share fell to 8.1 percent from 8.6 percent, comScore said.Samsung was the top h

World Business July 6, 2011

China may have understated the debt burden of local governments by as much as $541.6 billion, and the proportion of bad loans could be higher than previously forecast, ratings agency Moody’s said Tuesday.In a stern warning, Moody’s warned the lack of a plan to tackle bad loans to local governments meant it could downgrade its outlook for Chinese banks to negative.The agency’s findings came after i

World Business July 6, 2011

Foreign investors continued to offload South Korean shares for a second consecutive month in June amid jitters over the eurozone debt crisis and other economic uncertainties, the financial regulator said Tuesday.Overseas investors sold a net 918.6 billion won ($863.8 million) of local equities in June, after selling a net 2.8 trillion won in the previous month, according to the Financial Superviso

July 5, 2011

Sales of imported vehicles in Korea surged 17.5 percent last month from a year earlier, helped by aggressive marketing strategies by local car dealers, a trade association said Tuesday.A total of 8,964 imported vehicles were sold here in June, compared with 7,629 units sold a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.Sales in June also represented a 2.1

July 5, 2011

The hybrid version of the Sonata sedan, made by Korea’s leading carmaker Hyundai Motor Co., ranked as the second best seller in the U.S. hybrid car market in June, industry sources said Tuesday.Sales data from Hyundai and U.S.-based automotive media showed the Sonata’s sales reached 1,422 last month compared to 4,340 for the Prius, which has effectively dominated the global hybrid car market since

July 5, 2011

Korean banks are expected to tighten their grip on home-backed lending in the third quarter as the regulator’s move to curb rising household debt will lead them to be wary of extending mortgage loans, the central bank said Tuesday.An index gauging lender attitudes on mortgage loans came in at zero for the July-September period, compared with 6 tallied in the second quarter, according to a survey o

July 5, 2011

Koreans’ real wages contracted for the first time in 18 months in the first quarter as income gains remained stagnant amid high inflation, data showed Tuesday.Korean workers’ real wages reached 2.36 million won ($2,222.3) in the January-March period, down 4.08 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by the labor ministry and the state-run statistics agency.The real wage, the

July 5, 2011

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― U.S. online retailer Amazon.com announced Monday it will acquire British online bookstore The Book Depository. The cost of the transaction remains undisclosed.The British company based in Gloucester was expected to chalk up sales of 120 million pounds ($180 million) for the fiscal year ending in June, according to industry specialist TheBookseller.com.The Book Depository last ye

World Business July 5, 2011

DURBAN, South Africa (AFP) ― PyeongChang hopes that at the third time of asking it will prevail here on Wednesday and win the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and deliver Asia only its third ever Games.The Koreans have twice finished runners-up ― to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi for 2014 ― and here they must wait once again to see if at last they have convinced the electorate of International

More Sports July 5, 2011

Koreans await midnight decision on PyeongChang’s Olympic bidKim Hyun-chul, a 32-year-old office worker in Seoul, plans to stay up until midnight Wednesday to find out whether PyeongChang succeeds in its third attempt to host the Winter Olympics. “I hope with all my heart that the city is selected this time around,” he said. “People worked really hard,” he added. The fate of PyeongChang’s bid for t

More Sports July 5, 2011

SBS, the country’s third-largest broadcaster, has secured exclusive broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced on Monday.The agreement is the first broadcast deal with the IOC that goes through 2024, the Olympic governing body said in a statement.SBS has acquired the broadcast rights across all media p

More Sports July 5, 2011