Hanbul Motors Corp., the official importer of Peugeot vehicles, announced Monday that it signed an exclusive deal to import Citroen vehicles to Korea. With the launch scheduled for later in the year, the Citroen marque will return to the Korean market after a nine-year hiatus. Citroen vehicles were available in Korea during the 1990s and early 2000s, but imports were stopped in 2002.According to t

Mobility Feb. 6, 2011

Sales of the luxury sports car brand Porsche rose to a new high in 2010, Porsche Asia Pacific announced Tuesday.According to the company, Porsche sales in the region jumped 89 percent from the previous year to come in at 2,265 units.In the Korean market, Porsche saw sales increase by 75.4 percent over the period to come in at 705 units.Along with Korea, Taiwan and Singapore also contributed signif

Mobility Feb. 6, 2011

MUNICH (DPA) ― BMW is opening another chapter with open-top premium vehicles in launching the BMW 6 Series in Geneva with advanced chassis technology, more comfort, and numerous infotainment and safety features.The classic soft-top roof comes in customary “fin” design. According to BMW, the multi-layer roof has been optimized in terms of its acoustic properties and thermal insulation. The upright,

Mobility Feb. 6, 2011

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – A car bomb killed nine people close to the main northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, the latest in a rash of attacks that are challenging recent police claims of progress against Islamist militants in the region.Twenty others were wounded in the blast on a main road leading to Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan, said government official Siraj Ahmed Khan. Three

International Feb. 2, 2011

LG Electronics Inc., the world's third-largest mobile phone maker, said Wednesday that it will release its first tablet PC in March in the U.S. market, as it tries to take its share in the booming market.The upcoming product, dubbed "G-slate," is among the first tablet models to run on the "Honeycomb" operating system, which is Google Inc.'s latest generation of Android platforms designed for mobi

Industry Feb. 2, 2011

South Korea's industrial production growth index for the manufacturing and mining sector grew for the third straight month in December despite concerns of general economic slowdown, a government report showed Wednesday.The report by Statistics Korea said index numbers reached 63.6 in the cited month, which is also the second month in a row that figures topped the "break-even" 50 mark.A index readi

Industry Feb. 2, 2011

South Korea's state-run expressway corporation said Wednesday that a local company won a contract to build and operate a highway rest area in Uzbekistan.Korea Expressway Corp. said the rest area will be built on the 300-kilometer-long highway connecting Tashkent and Samarkand. The unidentified Korean company will build the 99,000-square-meter rest area and retain operational rights over the facili

Industry Feb. 2, 2011

South Korea's trade volume expanded three-fold in the last 10 years, helping the country become the seventh-largest exporter in the world, a government report showed Wednesday.The findings by the Korea Customs Service said the country's export and import volume that stood at just $291.5 billion in 2001 moved up steadily to $545.7 billion in 2005 and hit a record $891.6 billion last year.For 2011,

Feb. 2, 2011

The average exchange rate of the Korean won is expected to hover at 1,093 won to the dollar this year, a report by a state-run think tank showed Wednesday.The Korea Development Institute (KDI) report said that the local currency should gain in value vis-a-vis the greenback on the strength of such developments as steady economic growth and favorable trade balance.In 2010, the Korean legal tender tr

Feb. 2, 2011

BUSAN (Yonhap News) – South Korean crew members of a ship hijacked by Somali pirates last month returned home Wednesday, 13 days after being rescued by the Navy.The seven crew members, including the ship's first officer, Lee Ki-yong, arrived at Gimhae International Airport, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, earlier in the day and plan to head for the local Coast Guard office to help in the ongoing in

Politics Feb. 2, 2011

All five local carmakers saw January sales increase from a year earlier on the back of strong demand from overseas markets, industry data showed Tuesday.Their total sales came to 626,806 vehicles, up 21.9 percent from 514,094 units sold in the same period last year.Their domestic sales grew 1.4 percent to 120,577 units and overseas sales, including exports, jumped 28.1 percent to 506,229 units.Kia

Industry Feb. 1, 2011