South Korean financial workers staged their first strike in 14 years on Wednesday to protest the government’s pressure on the local finance sector to cut welfare and restructure.Clad in raincoats to weather the occasional drizzle, tens of thousands of workers at banks, bank-owned card companies and public companies sat down at Mokdong Sports Complex in western Seoul for the one-day strike.“We have demanded that the government stop its pressure on financial workers,” said Kim Moon-ho, who heads t

Sept. 3, 2014

Samsung Group is reviewing a plan to integrate Samsung Medison, a medical device affiliate of Samsung Group, into Samsung Electronics as part of its group-level efforts to streamline businesses. Lee Jun, the chief communications officer of Samsung Group, confirmed the plan in a meeting with a local media outlet on Wednesday. Samsung Medison, a local medical device maker, became a Samsung affiliate in 2011 as part of the group’s bid to nurture its medical device business as a new growth engine. L

Industry Sept. 3, 2014

The South Korean currency traded near a six-year high against the Japanese yen on Wednesday, raising worries that it could hurt the competitiveness of domestic firms, particularly in the steel, tech and auto sectors.The local currency rose to the highest it‘s been against the yen on Tuesday since 964.23 won on Aug. 25, 2008. The won pared some of the earlier gains to fall to 971.70 won per 100 yen as of 3:08 p.m., down 2.84 won from Tuesday’s close, on concerns about the currency authorities’ in

Sept. 3, 2014

CJ Group, Korea’s largest food and entertainment conglomerate, said Tuesday it will launch a program to support small and medium-size agricultural enterprises to grow into export-oriented companies. CJ Corp. vice chairman Lee Chae-wook signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Commission for Corporate Partnership.“With partnership with the commission, CJ, which has sought to grow side by side with SMEs, will increase investment to help agricultural SMEs with potential make inroads i

Industry Sept. 2, 2014

Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan urged provincial governments Monday to place their top priority on boosting the economy and supporting people’s livelihoods.In his meeting with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, Choi also said that Seoul City should lead other municipalities in economic stimulus efforts. This marked the first meeting between a finance minister and a mayor of Seoul since 2006. Seoul is the country’s largest city, where more than 10 million people live out of the total population of aroun

Sept. 1, 2014

False insurance claims increased 11.2 percent in terms of payments in the first six months of the year to nearly 300 billion won ($295.77 million), including cases of drunk driving and exaggerated injury, the financial watchdog said Monday.According to the Financial Supervisory Service, insurance fraud scammers took 286.9 billion won through wrongful filings during the January-June period, up from 257.9 billion won a year earlier.The watchdog detected 40,714 suspects over the six-month period, s

Sept. 1, 2014

Negotiators from South Korea, China and Japan met in Beijing on Monday for a fifth round of talks on a trilateral free-trade agreement, a Seoul delegate said, setting aside diplomatic tensions between Japan and the two Asian neighbors over their shared history. South Korea’s chief negotiator, Assistant Commerce Minister Woo Tae-hee, kicked off the talks at a hotel in Beijing by shaking hands and exchanging greetings with China’s assistant commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, and Japanese Deputy Fore

Sept. 1, 2014

South Korea’s trade surplus shrank from a year earlier last month as its exports dropped while imports grew at a steady pace, the government said Monday. Outbound shipments came to $46.28 billion in August, down 0.1 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports gained 3.1 percent on-year to $42.87 billion.The country’s trade surplus came to $3.41 billion, compared with $4.72 billion in August 2013. “Overall exports decreased slightly from

Sept. 1, 2014

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s top automaker, said Monday its August sales fell 5.9 percent from a year earlier, mainly due to choppy labor-management relations.Company data showed 357,698 cars were sold overall last month, with domestic sales edging up 1 percent to 48,143. Overseas numbers dropped 6.9 percent to 309,555 cars.In regards to domestic sales, the company said the transition to a two-shift system at its Jeonju plant and steady demand for the brand new Sonata, the 2015 Genesis premium s

Industry Sept. 1, 2014

The financial watchdog is expected to set tech loan quotas for local banks so that they will mandatorily lend to small and mid-sized companies that have high-end technologies but are short of capital to fund their business, financial sources said Monday.The Financial Services Commission last week announced it will push banks and other financial institutions to increase loans to start-up ventures to help boost the nation’s economy. It said technology credit bureaus will be established to assess e

Sept. 1, 2014

Belgium’s Ghent University opened its local branch in South Korea’s Incheon free economic zone Monday, becoming the first European school to open a campus here.A ceremony that also marked the opening of a branch of the University of Utah from the United States was held in the free economic zone in Songdo, also a home to the United Nations Green Climate Fund, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Ghent University, one of the top-rated schools in the world for bioscience, is expe

Industry Sept. 1, 2014

The government and the ruling party are considering a hike in the nation’s budget next year by about 5 percent, a move apparently aimed at boosting the economy, while keeping the country’s fiscal status sound. The expansion is lower than the 6 percent increase requested by government ministries and agencies. It is also much lower than the about 10 percent increase in spending that experts have expected since the government unveiled its economy stimulus measures in July.“We were briefed on the go

Aug. 31, 2014