Cash-strapped Hanjin Shipping Co. has come under growing pressure from its creditors to secure more money to tide over a deepening cash shortage, industry sources said Wednesday.According to the sources, Hanjin Shipping, the country's No.1 shipping line, has proposed raising some 400 billion won ($353 million) via stocks sales to its affiliates, but creditors want the shipping firm to jack up the figure to some 700 billion won.Hanjin Shipping needs some 1.2 trillion won over the next 18 months t

Industry July 27, 2016

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Wednesday said South Korea wishes to express gratitude to the invaluable support provided by the United Nations during the Korean War (1950-53), adding Seoul will continue to take steps to protect the country from Pyongyang's relentless provocations."Due to the efforts made by the war veterans and its people, South Korea achieved miracle-like industrialization and democratization, making it stand strong today," Hwang said in a ceremony marking the signing of the A

International July 27, 2016

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's No. 2 automaker, said Wednesday that its second-quarter net income surged over 10 percent from a year earlier on a large increase in sales.Net profit came to 825.7 billion won ($727 million) in the April-June period, up 10.6 percent from the same period last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.Sales jumped 16.1 percent on-year to 14.45 trillion won, marking the highest quarterly tally since 2010, when the company adopted international financial reporting

July 27, 2016

Kim Moon-soo, a former governor of Gyeonggi Province who has been cited as one of the prominent contenders for the ruling party's leadership election, said Wednesday that he will not join the race.In a statement, Kim, who was elected to parliament three times in the past, said he will not be running in the chairmanship election slated for next month, and instead will devote himself for the betterment of South Korea and the Saenuri Party. Kim Moon-soo, a former governor of Gyeonggi Province (Yonh

Politics July 27, 2016

LG Display Co., the world's largest maker of liquid crystal displays, suffered a net loss of 83.9 billion won ($73.7 million) for the second quarter of this year, hit by weaker demand for smartphone panels. Its second-quarter operating profit plunged 91 percent on year to 44 billion won, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. Sales for the April-June period also declined 13 percent from a year earlier to 5.9 trillion won, the company said.  (Yonhap)

July 27, 2016

South Korea and the United States will take steps to expand cooperation in defense technology exchanges and the conventional arms trade, the defense ministry said Wednesday. In the first ever Defense Technology Strategy & Cooperation Group meeting, Vice Defense Minister Hwang In-moo met his U.S. counterpart David Shear, principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, to discuss ways to promote defense technology cooperation between the two countries, the Ministry of National Defense said

Defense July 27, 2016

Hillary Clinton formally clinched the Democratic Party's presidential nomination Tuesday as opinion polls point to increasingly ominous signs against her bid to become the first female president in U.S. history.The former secretary of state and first lady received a majority of delegates in a state-by-state roll call vote on the second day of a four-day national convention held at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.She is the first female presidential nominee of a major party in U.S. history.Cli

World News July 27, 2016

LG Display Co. on Wednesday said it will spend 1.99 trillion won ($1.75 billion) to build a new production line for small to medium-sized organic light-emitting diodes used for smartphones and smartwatches. The new production line in South Korea will have a capacity of 15,000 sheets of the new OLED per month, LG Display said in a statement.LG Display said it will complete building the new facility by 2018, which will allow the company to produce a total of 30,000 sixth-generation OLED panels, th

Technology July 27, 2016

International air passengers to and from South Korea jumped nearly 48 percent on-year in June, marking a strong recovery from a large dip caused by the outbreak of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday.International air passengers to and from the country came to 5,968,161 last month, up 47.9 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.Overall air passenger traffic jumped 44.5 percent

Industry July 27, 2016

The overall sentiment of South Korean consumers slightly improved from a month earlier in July as a growing number of people predicted better economic conditions down the road, central bank data showed Wednesday.The composite consumer sentiment index for July came to 101, compared with 99 the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists.The rise in consumer sentiment came as people believe their living conditions could get

July 27, 2016

More than 70 percent of firms listed on the South Korean equity market disclosed their consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year 2015, a government tally showed Wednesday.Among the 1,846 listed companies, 1,327, or 71.9 percent, made public their CFSs, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The number jumped by 73 from a year earlier but the ratio dropped 1.9 percentage points due to an increase in the number of listed firms.The number of subsidiaries owned by the listed comp

July 27, 2016

The United States urged North Korea on Tuesday to refrain from destabilizing rhetoric and actions after Pyongyang's top diplomat threatened the country could conduct yet another nuclear test depending on the "U.S.' attitude."North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho made the remark to reporters in Laos on the sidelines of a regional security forum, arguing that what he calls the U.S. "hostile policy" toward the North is increasingly becoming severe.Ri also said the "biggest hostile act" by the U.

North Korea July 27, 2016

North Korea's top diplomat blamed the United States Tuesday for dashing hopes for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, saying that whether or not there will be additional nuclear tests depends "entirely" on Washington's attitude.In a hastily-arranged press meeting after attending a regional security gathering held in the Laotian capital, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho also demanded U.S. troops pull out of South Korea altogether."It is the U.S.' hostile policy that is making the cu

North Korea July 27, 2016