South Korea's largest automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. will implement a massive recall of their vehicles in South Korea and the United States, the companies and U.S. regulators said Tuesday.Hyundai said it is set to begin recalling 81,000 Tucson vehicles on July 15 in the U.S. to replace the secondary hood latch. A separate recall is also scheduled for 62,000 units in South Korea later this month.The recall affects Tucson vehicles built in South Korea from M

June 14, 2016

The ratio of female workers in South Korea's 600 largest companies by revenue has been on the rise in recent years, data showed Tuesday, as South Korea is pushing to bring more women into the nation's workforce.The number of female employees at the 600 firms stood at 235,171 last year, accounting for 21.6 percent of their total workforce. The figures represent a gradual increase from 207,941, or 20.6 percent, in 2011, according to data compiled by the Federation of Korean Industries that speaks

June 14, 2016

Real estate transactions involving Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho and the conglomerate's affiliates have come under the spotlight as prosecutors are looking into whether some deals were used as a way to create a slush fund for the owner's family, according to investigators and industry experts Tuesday.  Lotte is South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate, with the value of the real estate owned by its listed affiliates estimated at 10.7 trillion won ($9.12 billion) as of 2015, according to corpo

Industry June 14, 2016

South Korea and Azerbaijan agreed on Tuesday to expand bilateral economic cooperation in the infrastructure and industrial plant sectors, the trade ministry here said.The two sides held the first round of economic talks in Seoul to discuss ways to bolster trade and investment and help more South Korean firms participate in infrastructure projects in the Central Asian country, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Infrastructure.Azerbaijan, located along the Caspian Sea, is known for i

June 14, 2016

Cheil Worldwide Inc., an advertising unit of Samsung Group, said Tuesday that its negotiations to sell a controlling stake to Publicis Groupe SA, a French advertising company, have ruptured.The company, part of the country’s largest family-controlled conglomerate, said there are currently no talks under way with any other firm."Talks between main stakeholders and the global advertising agency ended without a specific conclusion," the company stated in a regulatory filing.Earlier, media reports c

June 14, 2016

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called for continued effort to revamp the public sector, reiterating that it is the "starting point" for inducing reform in the private sector. During a meeting with government ministers, heads of state-run firms and public organizations, Park also urged them to make an "all-out" effort to establish a performance-focused work environment that moves away from the deep-rooted culture favoring seniority, and retool their organizations to focus on key functions."(I

June 14, 2016

The South Korean government said Tuesday that it will downsize state-run energy and resource development companies and open the power supply market to the private sector as part of its industry-wide corporate restructuring efforts to increase adaptability to a global low oil price trend.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy unveiled a set of restructuring plans for public firms at a workshop presided over by Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Il-ho in Seoul.

Industry June 14, 2016

South Korea's total assets continued to grow from a year earlier in 2015 on a large increase in nonfinancial assets, central bank data showed Tuesday.As of the end of 2015, the country's national assets came to 12,359.5 trillion won ($10.54 trillion), up 6.7 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The 2015 tally is 7.9 times higher than the country's nominal gross domestic product for the same year.The increase, however, came mostly from a rise in nonfin

June 14, 2016

Political tension and regional rivalry are rising in South Korea as the government is slated to announce the site for a new airport in the southeastern part of the country soon.According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Tuesday, ADPI, a French company specialized in airport architecture and engineering, is slated to unveil the location of the new airport before June 24, ending a decade-long political and regional conflict. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport i

Industry June 14, 2016

South Korea's major commercial banks are going all out to keep customers from leaving, market observers said Tuesday, apparently as many have already left for non-bank financial institutions in search of higher interest returns on their deposits.Commercial banks generally continue to enjoy the largest share of savings customers as they are often considered the safest and the last to collapse among all financial institutions that offer interest on deposits, including savings banks, insurance firm

June 14, 2016

South Korean institutions invested more than 8 trillion won ($6.8 billion) in overseas properties last year as they sought stable investment gains away from low growth and rates at home, a global real estate consultancy said Tuesday.In 2015, institutional investors spent a combined 8.27 trillion won on stakes in real estate outside the country, up sharply from 327.6 billion won in 2007, according to CBRE Korea, the Korean operations of Los Angeles real estate services firm CBRE Group Inc. "Insti

June 14, 2016