A prolonged anti-government protest in Egypt could deal a blow to South Korean exports to the North African state and hamper the recovery of Asia's fourth-largest economy by pushing up commodity costs, watchers said Tuesday.   Thousands of protesters took to the streets of major cities in Egypt last week, demanding their president, Hosni Mubarak, to end his iron-fisted rule of 30-odd years.   M

Feb. 1, 2011

   Millions of South Koreans headed to their hometowns Tuesday, on the eve of the three-day Lunar New Year holiday, which will extend through the weekend.   This year's Lunar New Year holiday, which falls from Feb. 2-4, is followed by the weekend and could last for nine days for those who took off the preceding Monday and Tuesday.   According to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs

Social Affairs Feb. 1, 2011

  South Korea's anti-trust regulator said Tuesday that it has placed 10 additional companies on its watch list that limits mutual business investments and loan guarantees.   The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said a total of 1,360 affiliates from 51 conglomerates, including Samsung, LG and Hyundai Heavy Industries were on its list as of Tuesday.    The FTC said 33 firms were included as affiliates of

Feb. 1, 2011

   South Korea's trade surplus narrowed sharply in January from the previous month as soaring crude and commodity costs overshadowed record exports, a government report showed Tuesday.   The country's surplus reached $2.96 billion last month, compared with $4.08 billion in December, with exports surging 46 percent to $44.89 billion and imports gaining 32.9 percent to$41.93 billion, according to th

Feb. 1, 2011

  The number of unemployed college graduates jumped to an all-time high last year despite faster-than-expected economic recovery, the nation's statistics agency said Tuesday.   According to data offered by Statistics Korea, the number of jobless people with college degrees totaled 346,000 last year, the highest ever since the agency compiled related figures in 2000.   The jobless people in the cat

Social Affairs Feb. 1, 2011

LONDON (AFP) – A climber who fell around 300 metres from the summit of a Scottish mountain is lucky to be alive, his rescuers said Sunday.The helicopter crew sent to search for the man were astonished to find him standing up and reading a map.Adam Potter, 35, lost his footing on Saturday and fell down the craggy and near-vertical eastern face of Sgurr Choinnich Mor, a1,094-metre high mountain in the western Highlands."We got to an area where it is a bit more slippy and a bit icier... I slipped,

More Sports Feb. 1, 2011

  President Lee Myung-bak has appointed Kim Dae-ki, a bureaucrat-turned-professor, as his new senior secretary for economic affairs, Lee's office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.   Kim, formerly the head of Statistics Korea and vice culture minister, replaces Choi Joong-kyung, who became the knowledge economy minister last month.   Kim, 55, now serves as a professor at Seoul National University's Gradu

Politics Feb. 1, 2011

  South Korea's consumer prices spiked in January mainly due to a rise in agricultural and energy-related product costs, adding to concerns that mounting inflationary pressure could undercut the nation's economic recovery, a government report showed Tuesday.   According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index surged 4.1 percent last month from a year earlier. The figu

Feb. 1, 2011

  Plunging prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, a key component in personal computers, have hit the bottom line and will rebound soon, senior officials from Samsung Electronics Co. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said Monday.   The remarks from Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung's semiconductor division, and Kwon Oh-chul, Hynix's chief executive officer, come after DRAM devices for PC

Technology Jan. 31, 2011

  South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan said Monday he will need plenty of work to stay competitive at this year's world championships.   Speaking to reporters before departing to Australia to begin his training, Park said despite his Olympic and world championships gold medals, he doesn't yet deserve recognition as a "top-class" swimmer.   "In terms of techniques, I am still at the lower rungs of th

More Sports Jan. 31, 2011