When Shim Yeo-lynn was replaced by her colleague with better English-speaking skills for a meeting with foreign clients, she did not just set out to hone her English skills. She founded a start-up herself.After hopping from one English prep school to another and taking a series of one-on-one lessons from native speakers, she realized that there was no service that teaches how to communicate in the

Industry April 11, 2011

SK Telecom joined hands with China’s No. 1 wireless carrier to tap into one of the world’s fastest growing mobile game markets.ST Telecom and China Mobile’s game business unit signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday in China for cooperation in content, platform and networking technologies.China’s mobile game market has grown 100 percent annually for the past three years with the number of u

April 10, 2011

Korean stocks will continue to rise this week but the gains will likely be limited by rising oil prices and other economic woes stemming from Japan’s earthquake and continuing war in Libya, analysts said.The benchmark KOSPI ended last week at 2,127.97, up 6.96 points or 0.32 percent from a week earlier, extending its rally of weekly gains to a fourth consecutive week.The total market cap also reac

April 10, 2011

A free trade deal with China would help Korea expand its gross domestic product by nearly 3 percent, a think tank said Sunday, citing more exports to the fast-growing market through lowered trade barriers.According to a report by the Samsung Economic Research Institute, Korea’s GDP is expected to grow 2.72 percent more if Seoul and Beijing complete a free trade agreement intended to cut or remove

April 10, 2011

The Trade Ministry said Thursday it will review the Korean-language texts of all free trade agreements the nation has signed after more than 200 mistakes were found in the pact with the European Union.The ministry is currently reviewing the texts of its pacts with the United States and Peru which have yet to be approved by the parliament. “In addition to the two FTAs, we will conduct rereading of

April 7, 2011

Korean investors were crushed by the market crash that swept the world three years ago. The Seoul stock exchange’s KOSPI Index lost 41 percent during 2008, while the most popular mutual fund fell 39 percent.High-net-worth stock pickers looking for better performance have found Seo Jae-hyeong.Seo’s Korea Creative Investment advisory firm works with brokerages to sell Koreans “wrap accounts” ― packa

April 7, 2011

Korea’s three mobile service providers are being probed for illegal price fixing after a local civic group filed complaints with the state anti-trust regulator, business sources said.Sources said Fair Trade Commission inspectors carried out on-site inspections at SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus on Wednesday, with emphasis placed on checking factory prices of smartphones and the possibility that

Industry April 7, 2011

Asian economic growth will ease slightly to just under 8 percent for the next two years as the region continues a solid recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday, although rising food prices threatened to throw more people into poverty.Korea’s economy will grow 4.6 percent this year on the back of recovering domestic demand and export conditions, it predicted.The Manila-based lender said

April 6, 2011

The stalled sale of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. is likely to speed up as creditors of the chip maker are considering selling new shares to resume efforts to unload their stakes, market watchers said Tuesday.Creditors of Hynix plan to resume the process to sell a 15 percent stake in the world’s No. 2 computer memory chip maker following a set of failed attempts to sell it. Investors have been wary of

Industry April 5, 2011