South Korea's two tech pillars, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., showcased their Android Wear-powered devices, starting another battle in the global tech industry where firms are in search of new opportunities amid slowed growth in the smartphone market.   Samsung, the world's top maker of smartphones, debuted the Samsung Gear Live, the first member of this year's wearable lineup that works under U.S.-based Google Inc.'s Android Wear platform, in San Francisco on Wednesday (local

Technology June 26, 2014

Samsung Everland Inc., the de facto holding company of South Korea's No. 1 conglomerate Samsung Group, said Thursday it is changing its name to Cheil Industries Inc. in the latest group-wide effort to restructure after its chairman's hospitalization.The company, which operates a resort and amusement park, acquired the fashion division of Cheil in September 2013, while the textile and chemical businesses were incorporated into Samsung SDI Co., the world's top maker of TV displays and smartphone b

Industry June 26, 2014

South and North Korea reopened their quarterly meeting on a joint industrial complex to discuss management issues on Thursday following a six-month suspension sparked by heightened cross-border tensions.The fifth meeting of the joint inter-Korean committee of the Kaesong Industrial Complex started in the namesake North Korea border city, the first high-level contact between the two Koreas since their last gathering in December. The two Koreas agreed to set up the joint committee in late August a

North Korea June 26, 2014

South Korea's government ministries and agencies have requested a 6 percent hike in their budgets for next year as they want to spend more on welfare, education, and research and development, the finance ministry said Thursday.The ministries and agencies asked for the central government to set aside a combined 377 trillion won ($370.3 billion) for next year, compared with this year' budget of 355.8 trillion won, according to the ministry.The hike is mostly attributed to a 10.8 percent budget inc

Politics June 26, 2014

South Korea's antitrust watchdog is investigating Japanese and German bearing producers on suspicions that they have colluded in fixing prices of parts being supplied to local manufacturers, a government source said Thursday.The companies under investigation include Japanese bearing makers such as NSK, JTEKT, NTN and MINEBEA and Germany's Schaeffler, he added."We have sent our investigation reports to each suspected company, which will later submit its own response to us," a Fair Trade Commissio

June 26, 2014

South Korea's energy minister said Wednesday that the country will have little choice but to raise its electricity rates partly to reflect growing costs, hinting the rate increase will take place next year. Yoon Sang-jick, minister of trade, industry and energy, said there already exists a need to raise electricity rates by about 2 percent due to a rise in the consumption tax on soft coal, set to go into effect on July 1."Once the consumption tax on coal rises, there will be a need to increase e

Politics June 25, 2014

South Korea's export is expected to increase 6.8 percent in the second half of the year from a year ago to record a yearly trade surplus higher than government projection, a report showed Wednesday.According to the Institute for International Trade, run by the Korea International Trade Organization, South Korea's trade surplus is expected to come in at $18.7 billion in the second half, as its exports are forecast to reach $302.4 billion, up 6.8 percent from a year ago, with its imports rising 9.

June 25, 2014

Childbirths in South Korea increased in April from a year earlier, turning around from the previous month's downturn amid worries over the country's chronically low birthrate, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in April came to about 37,400, up 1.9 percent or 700 from the same month a year earlier.This followed a 0.8 percent fall in March. Childbirths in South Korea had declined for 13 straight months before February when t

Social Affairs June 25, 2014