South Korean stocks closed 0.37 percent lower Monday, largely due to a selling binge by institutional investors to take profits, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 7.16 points to finish at 1,916.22. Trading volume was light at 230.4 million shares worth 2.71 trillion won ($2.42 billion), but gainers outnumbered decliners 417 to 360. "There was institutional demand for profit-taking after the KOSPI rallie

Aug. 5, 2013

In yet another twist in a series of patent wars with Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone maker, has submitted an appeal of a June ruling by a U.S. agency which said the iPhone maker was not infringing upon some of the South Korean company's patents, industry sources said Monday.Samsung's appeal in the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit came as U.S. President Barack Obama last week issued a veto on a patent ruling by the International Trade Commission (IT

Industry Aug. 5, 2013

South Korea's parliament said Monday it has earmarked for next year a reduced budget for globally promoting the country's ownership of its easternmost islets of Dokdo.According to the National Assembly, a total of 3.47 billion won ($3.1 million) has been allocated to the foreign ministry's 2014 budget to finance archival and legal efforts to back up the country's claim to sovereignty over the easternmost islets that lie about halfway between the two rival nations. The 2014 budget marks an 18 per

Politics Aug. 5, 2013

South Korea's top two smartphone makers -- Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. -- saw their presences in the North American smartphone market rise in the second quarter, helped by robust sales of their flagship line-ups and product mix, data showed on Monday.Samsung Electronics, the world's top smartphone maker, held a 35.2 percent share in the region's smartphone market in the second quarter, up from the 29.4 percent the previous quarter, according to the data compiled by Strategy A

Industry Aug. 5, 2013

North Korea remained silent over the "final talks" proposal for reopening a suspended inter-Korean factory park on Monday, the government said, a day after Seoul warned it is losing patience with Pyongyang's reticence.The Ministry of Unification, which handles all inter-Korean affairs, said the communist country did not send any message to the South regarding the dialogue offer when the first daily contact was made at 9 a.m. via the inter-Korean communications line that runs through the neutral

North Korea Aug. 5, 2013

A year ago, the world's largest particle collider made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of science, identifying what is believed to be the Higgs Boson -- the long-sought maker of mass.Today, its computer screens are dark, the control desks unstaffed and the giant, supercooled tunnel empty of the crashing proton beams whose snapshots of the Big Bang helped flush out the elusive particle.But the silence is an illusion.Behind the scenes, work is pushing ahead to give the vast machine

Technology Aug. 5, 2013

They say par is a good score in a major. If that's true next week at the PGA Championship, then Tiger Woods is already dialed in.Woods played safe and smart with a big lead, parring 16 holes in an even-par 70 Sunday to coast to a seven-shot victory at the Bridgestone Invitational for his eighth win at the event _ matching the PGA Tour record he shares for victories in a single tournament.“As blustery as it was, it was going to be really hard for someone to shoot 62 or 63,” Woods said. “If I didn

Golf Aug. 5, 2013

Police arrested a man on suspicion of murder after a driver plowed into crowds at a popular Los Angeles boardwalk, a seemingly intentional hit-and-run that killed an Italian woman on her honeymoon and injured 11 others.Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, was arrested after he walked into a police station in neighboring Santa Monica about two hours after the incident and told police that he was involved.Campbell, of Los Angeles, remained jailed Sunday on $1 million bail. Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese decline

World News Aug. 5, 2013

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Monday led by a loss in Samsung Electronics, analyst said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 1.24 points, or 0.06 percent, to 1,922.14 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The world's leading smartphone maker, which takes up about 17 percent of KOSPI's market cap, slid 0.7 percent, after the U.S. government overturned its trade panel's sales ban on older devices made by Apple Inc.The veto from the Obama administration on Satur

Aug. 5, 2013

South Korea's foreign-exchange reserves rose to a record high in July following the largest fall in 13 months in June as a weaker U.S. dollar raised the conversion value of non-dollar assets, the central bank said Monday.The country's foreign reserves reached US$329.71 billion as of end-July, up $3.27 billion from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The FX reserves fell by $1.66 billion in June, the largest monthly decline since May 2012, due mainly to repayment of maturing

Aug. 5, 2013

South Korean stocks closed 0.14 percent higher Friday on better-than-expected economic data from the United States, analysts said. The local currency ended lower against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 2.64 points to close at 1,923.38. Trading volume was low at 293.6 million shares worth 3.98 trillion won (US$3.54 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 460 to 321."The better-than-expected manufacturing data from the U.S. and China added to investor

Aug. 2, 2013