Korea has been bolstering the vertical farming industry since 2009 as a future growth engine and a measure to stabilize food supplies. The country is a latecomer to the scene but is pinning high hopes on its advanced technologies in electronics and communications to help it emerge as a competitive player in the field.The concept of integrating agriculture into a built environment was invented in a

Technology March 7, 2011

Cities produce crops as Korea looks for green ways to boost food outputA farm in Yongin on the outskirts of Seoul is ripe with salad greens. But rows of lollo and romaine lettuces are not sprouting from the earth. The plants are thriving on plastic shelves inside a seven-story office building.The “vertical farm,” run by Insung Tech, cultivates indoor crops by artificially supplying air, water, lig

Technology March 7, 2011

A malicious code embedded in personal computers to attack Internet sites in Korea began to destroy hard drives of their host computers on Sunday, communication authorities said. Key government agencies and financial institutions suffered cyber assaults Friday and Saturday with minor damage caused. On Sunday, the code for the so-called “distributed denial-of-service” attacks activated an order to d

March 6, 2011

Hanwha SolarOne Co., a solar-products maker formerly known as Solarfun Power Holdings Co., formerly announced the change of its name and NASDAQ ticker symbol in a ceremony in New York City on Friday. Peter Xie, president and CEO of the company affiliated with Hanwha Chemical Corp., rang the closing bell to mark the completion of the company’s rebranding. The Shanghai-based company changed its name

Industry March 6, 2011

Korea’s No. 1 carmaker launches i40 D-class vehicle at Geneva auto showGENEVA (AP) ― Fast-growing Hyundai may be best known for its small cars, but plans to break into the premium market with a new sedan has the big guys looking over their shoulders.The Korean automaker is not half as well known in Europe as Toyota, for example, and consumers typically associate its cars with affordability rather

Industry March 3, 2011

Experts remain cautious due to oil prices, external uncertaintiesKorea’s industrial output grew faster than expected in January on strong overseas demand, with semiconductor and auto makers leading the way, official figures showed Thursday.But the government remained cautious about future economic trends, citing higher oil prices and other external factors that might serve as a drag on recovery he

March 3, 2011

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday that it has won an injunction from a Dutch court to temporarily ban Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. from shipping PlayStation game consoles to Europe. “LG requested the import ban on products that infringed on our patents as part of our patent protection policy,” Yoon Won-il, LG’s spokesman at the company’s headquarters, said by phone. The order from a civi

Industry March 2, 2011

Korean exports to the European Union are expected to register solid gains once a bilateral free trade agreement takes effect, a local trade organization said Wednesday.The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) said a survey of Europe’s 26 largest importers showed they will increase their purchases of Korean products by up to 15 percent once the Korea-EU FTA is enforced.The trade deal, si

March 2, 2011

Doosan Engine Co., the world’s second-largest maker of ship engines, said orders may more than double this year as shipping lines resume fleet-enlargement plans and the company works to expand its non-marine businesses.Contracts may climb to 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion) from 890 billion won last year, chief executive Lee Sung-hee said in an interview at the engine maker’s headquarters in Changw

Companies March 2, 2011