Apple Inc. will update its lineup of iPads at an Oct. 22 event, a person with knowledge of the plans said, as the company works to remain ahead of rivals in the increasingly crowded tablet market.The Cupertino, California-based company will unveil a new version of the original 9.7-inch iPad as well as the smaller iPad mini, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made official. Apple also will show its new Mac personal-computer operating system, called Mave

Technology Oct. 16, 2013

More companies are likely to have difficulty in raising funds by issuing commercial paper or bonds, as a huge portion of investors pull their investment out of the corporate bond market in the wake of a liquidity crisis among some conglomerates.Over the past year, business groups such as Tong Yang, STX and Woongjin undermined retail investors for an insolvent financial status.Investors for CPs and bonds issued by the three conglomerates are estimated to have faced collective losses of some trill

Oct. 14, 2013

The liquidity crisis at Tong Yang Group has reignited the long-standing debate over the pros and cons of greater restrictions on conglomerates owning financial subsidiaries.The question of erecting a strict firewall between manufacturing capital and financial units has resurfaced amid mounting allegations that Tong Yang’s owners exploited the group’s financial units as behind-the-scenes funding sources for some of its distressed nonfinancial units.The nation’s top antitrust regulatory official,

Oct. 13, 2013

AmorePacific Corp. said it would disclose its official position on allegations that one of its employees tried to blackmail a dealership of the nation’s largest cosmetics maker.According to an audio clip file released by a broadcaster on Sunday, the employee of AmorePacific verbally abused a middle-aged owner of the regional dealership.In the clip, the employee appears to be pressuring the middle-aged man to relinquish his retailer ownership, scolding him with curse words for the dealership’s re

Oct. 13, 2013

Financial regulators launched their inquiry into allegations that some affiliates of the embattled Tong Yang Group manipulated stocks before they filed for court receivership.Out of the five Tong Yang units that applied for the court’s control last week, three firms ― Tong Yang Inc., Tong Yang Networks and Tong Yang Cement & Energy ― are listed on the Korea Exchange.The main exchange issued a trading ban on equities of the three firms after they filed for the court’s control.Another listed unit,

Oct. 10, 2013

The sales disparity among 23 foreign carmakers in Korea has deepened while the overall import car industry has continued to expand its presence over the past few years.Though import car sales in the local market increased by 21.3 percent in the past nine months on-year, Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 24.8 percent drop over the corresponding period.Toyota Motor CEO Akio Toyoda had vowed to become the champion of sales among foreign automakers in Korea by 2014. The company, however, has yet to be s

Industry Oct. 9, 2013

The financial regulator said Monday that it uncovered 2,339 cases of illegal foreign currency trading through its crackdown between June and September, vowing stern disciplinary measures against tax evaders.“We’ve completed the probe into 1,160 cases out of 2,339 cases and are still conducting a full-fledged probe into the remaining 1,179 cases,” said the Financial Supervisory Service in a statement.It has already referred 49 individuals suspected of dodging taxes via their investments in overse

Oct. 7, 2013

Tax revenue collected during the first eight months of this year shrank by nearly 6 trillion won from a year earlier, data showed Friday, affected by the prolonged low economic growth trend.According to the data provided by the National Tax Service, it had collected about 129.7 trillion won ($121 billion) in tax revenue during the January-August period. This is down 5.8 trillion won from what was collected a year earlier.The on-year revenue decline stood at 8.3 trillion won until July, but the l

Oct. 4, 2013

South Koreans’ holdings of overseas securities advanced in 2012 from four years earlier, data showed Friday, due mainly to low interest rates and favorable foreign exchange market conditions.The value of foreign securities held by local investors reached $116.5 billion in 2012, compared to $93.8 billion tallied in 2008, when the U.S. financial crisis dented investors’ sentiment, the Bank of Korea data showed.The figure came to $130.8 billion at end-July this year, maintaining its stable growth.S

Oct. 4, 2013

Tong Yang Securities CEO Jeong Jin-seok was found to have pushed forth a voluntary business suspension in a low-key manner, which is inviting mounting criticism in the financial market.Though his attempt failed in the face of skepticism from financial regulators and the company’s executives, the chief of the embattled Tong Yang Group’s brokerage unit had sought to halt operations before the conglomerates’ five units filed for court receivership earlier this week, according to industry sources on

Oct. 4, 2013

Financial regulators have widened the scope of their inquiry into the debt-saddled Tong Yang Group, not ruling out the possibility that six financial units of the conglomerate were misused as an illegitimate funding source to nonfinancial affiliates.The group’s financial units are Tong Yang Securities, Tong Yang Investment, Tong Yang Asset Management, Tong Yang Financial Services, Tong Yang Life Insurance and TY Money Financial Services.The expanded probe of the Financial Supervisory Service com

Oct. 3, 2013