The market value of biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc. has risen the most among South Korea's 100 largest listed companies by market cap over the past decade, with manufacturers of domestic-oriented consumer goods making strides, a market tracker said Wednesday.Celltrion's market capitalization stood at 12.6 trillion won ($11.1 billion) as of Oct. 2 this year, over 700 times more than its value of a mere 17.4 billion won on Oct. 4, 2006, according to CEO Score that tracks corporate performanc

Industry Oct. 19, 2016

South Korea's producer prices dropped slightly from a year earlier in September on a large cut in prices of coal and petroleum products, central bank data showed Wednesday.The producer price index for September came to 99.24, down 1.1 percent from the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.Producer prices serve as an indicator of future consumer inflation.The September index marked a slight increase from a revised 99.00 in the previous month.Prices of manufact

Oct. 19, 2016

Mercedes-Benz Korea, the local importer and distributor of the German automaker, will recall over 1,100 cars sold in South Korea for transmission-related problems, while global automaker Volvo will recall over 800 cars for waste water from air conditioners causing possible short circuits in electric units, the transportation ministry said Wednesday.According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, defective wiring in certain model year Mercedes-Benz cars could prevent the gear shi

Mobility Oct. 19, 2016

The United States is deploying the best military personnel and assets in the Asia-Pacific region under President Barack Obama's "rebalance to Asia" policy, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday.Carter also said in an article contributed to Foreign Affairs magazine that the Asia-Pacific security networks, including one involving the US, South Korea, and Japan, help ensure stability in the region amid a number of security challenges, including North Korea. "In the rebalance's second phase ...

Defense Oct. 19, 2016

South Korea's foreign and defense ministers arrived in Washington on Tuesday for security and alliance talks with their US counterparts that are expected to focus on how to counter ever-growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Defense Minister Han Min-koo will join US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Wednesday's "two plus two" talks, a biennial gathering designed mainly to demonstrate the firmness of the alliance and

Defense Oct. 19, 2016

hink tank has claimed that Pyongyang can shatter the consequences of US-led sanctions by independent growth amid growing international criticism of its fifth and latest nuclear test.The communist institute alleged that North Korea's "iron spikes of self-empowerment are capable of completely shattering the sanction stick that was imposed by the US and its followers," reported the Korea Central News Agency, the media mouthpiece of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "The US and its followers are lost

North Korea Oct. 19, 2016

South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp. said Tuesday its mobile payment platform Kakao Pay currently has more than 13 million users, two years after its launch.A total of 13 million active users have paid for items through the one-click payment system since it was officially launched in September 2014, the company said. South Korea has a total population of 51 million.The platform is similar to online payment service PayPal of the United States, as users pre-register their credit

Technology Oct. 18, 2016

North Korea is presumed to be capable of building up to 79 nuclear devices by the end of 2020 as it has made strides in its weapons and missile programs, a South Korean expert said Tuesday.Lee Sang-hyun, vice president at the research planning division of the Sejong Institute, told a forum that Pyongyang appears to be able to build four to eight miniaturized nuclear weapons annually.His assessment was based on the assumption that the North currently has a maximum of 50 kilograms of plutonium and

North Korea Oct. 18, 2016

South Korea will speed up the planned deployment of advanced weapons by a couple of years to better counter nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea, military officials said Tuesday. The defense ministry is planning to advance the deployment of missiles and other weapons systems from the original schedule of the mid-2020s due to the North's continued provocations, a senior defense ministry official said in a press briefing.Under the "three-pillar" system, South Korea aims to detect the N

Defense Oct. 18, 2016