Pernod Ricard Korea plans to collaborate with Korea Maritime University in preserving the marine environment in Busan.The Korean unit of France’s beverage giant said Wednesday that it had inked a memorandum of understanding with the university to launch the project. Officials promised to support environmental research in Busan over the next three years.The company said it will put 1,000 won ($0.88) from each sale of Imperial Classic 12 City Edition-Busan, a brand exclusively for regional consume

Industry May 29, 2013

Korea’s state-run funds that manage employment insurance, workers’ safety insurance, agriculture assets, and arts and culture businesses scored “low” in the government’s evaluation of sovereign management trusts, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Tuesday.In a report of over 140 funds to Cabinet members, the Finance Ministry said they performed below average in part due to a lack of professional human resources that can manage those funds worth some 14 trillion won ($12.4 billion).Meanwhi

May 28, 2013

Korea should brace for increased capital-flow volatility in the stock and bond markets stemming from the possibility of the U.S. and other advanced economies exiting monetary stimulus in the near future.There would be tumbles on global benchmark equities as seen with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index that fell more than 7 percent, Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo warned investment bankers in a meeting on Friday.Japan’s benchmark stock index suffered its highest drop in 13 years on Thursday due to a vari

May 24, 2013

Korea is looking to engage Russia with a new set of foreign and economic policies that it hopes will lead to the restart of their free trade negotiations.Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said Tuesday that Korea would need to readjust its foreign and economic policy, and implement so-called “New Nordpolitik” toward Russia.South Korea’s Nordpolitik was first adopted by the administration of former President Roh Tae-woo to engage communist countries or allies of North Korea,

May 21, 2013

Korea’s antitrust agency has taken disciplinary measures against five domestic agriculture equipment manufacturers for price collusion.The Fair Trade Commission said Monday it would levy combined fines of some 23.5 billion won ($2110 million) against the five for price fixing products such as combine harvesters, rice planters and tractors.The five companies are: Kukje Machinery, Daedong, Tongyang Moolsan, LS, and LS Mtron. Of the five, the FTC will also seek to have four ― Kukje Machinery, Daedo

Industry May 20, 2013

An increasing number of both Korean and Japanese companies are opting to settle their bilateral trade with the world’s key currency ― the U.S. dollar ― over the Japanese yen.This is due to Japan’s weakening currency since the world’s third largest economy launched fiscal stimulus along with aggressive monetary easing to recover from its two-decade-long stagnant growth.A weaker yen would result in foreign exchange losses for those companies trading goods between the two sides as currency deprecat

May 20, 2013

Japan’s economic growth rate is expected to surpass that of Korea for the first time in 15 years as the world’s third-largest economy gains momentum based on the yen’s rapid depreciation.Japan’s economy has been recording unexpected growth over the last couple of years, while Korea has been performing below market expectations, according to data from central banks in Korea and Japan.Korea’s GDP growth had fared well in comparison to Japan until 2011. Asia’s fourth-largest economy posted above it

May 19, 2013

The government is expected to make a sweeping overhaul of regional spending and subsidies as it seeks to balance the budget through expenditure cuts.It is looking to cut annual spending worth about 55 trillion won ($49 billion) for nearly 1,000 regional projects, including infrastructure development.Economic-related ministries, including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, reportedly proposed cuts in infrastructure spending of about 10-12

May 19, 2013

NHN, Korea’s largest search engine operator, has completed its liquidation of its overseas assets based in the tax haven of Cayman Islands, according to a public disclosure filing.The portal giant’s NHN Global, established in 2004 on the islands, is said to have shut down after converting its assets worth some 19 billion won into cash up until early this year. As of last Wednesday, NHN Global is now off the books.The operator of Naver set up its Cayman Islands-based entity after investing in a j

May 16, 2013

The government plans to offer better tax breaks and incentives for investors and entrepreneurs investing and launching innovative start-ups as part of efforts to sustain the economy.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced a package of measures to boost venture investments and support mergers and acquisitions after holding a meeting of economy-related ministries Wednesday. The ministry said that it would allow investors and entrepreneurs to push back payments of capital gains tax when re-i

May 15, 2013