The country’s air carriers are planning to recruit the highest-ever number of new employees this year, thanks to their record-breaking earnings reached in 2010.Korean Air is expected to hire up to 2,700 new workers, including flight attendants, pilots and technicians, in 2011.The nation’s No. 1 local airline employed 2,300 new hires last year and 2,050 new employees in 2009.Asiana Airlines, the se

Korea’s business community declared an “energy emergency” Thursday, pledging to implement energy conservation measures to help the country cope with high-flying oil prices.The resource-poor country relies almost entirely on imports for its oil needs, with 82 percent being imported from the Middle East.In a meeting with Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung in Seoul, business leaders from the

Foreign investors swung to massive net selling of Korean stocks in February as mounting inflation threats and political uprisings in Arab countries put a damper on sentiment, the financial regulator said Thursday. Foreigners pulled 3.7 trillion won ($3.3 billion) of Korean shares out of the local bourse last month, compared with net buying worth 1.4 trillion in January, the Financial Supervisory S

Korea needs to sign a three-way free trade deal with Japan and China in a bid to boost prosperity in Asia and better prepare for external shocks, a senior finance ministry official said Thursday.“Economic integration should be pursued to help the East Asian countries flexibly deal with global uncertainties and realize their co-prosperity in this region,” Vice Finance Minister Yim Jong-yong told an

Nouriel Roubini, an economist who predicted the credit-market collapse, said an expansion of troubles in the Mideast could push oil prices as high as $140 to $150 per barrel, triggering a double-dip recession in parts of Europe.“If troubles spread to other countries such as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, this could push oil prices up to $140 to $150 per barrel, which could trigger a double-dip recessio

Household debt is at an alarmingly high level. Worse still, interest payments are growing three times as fast as disposable income. But there are few signs indicating that the debt burden will shrink anytime soon. On the contrary, interest rates are rising as inflationary pressure is increasing.According to a recent report from the Bank of Korea, household debt, including purchases on credit, stoo

Those who have passed the state-run judicial examination are required to complete a two-year training course at the Judicial Research Training Institute before entering the legal profession. With the judicial examination being replaced by the Korean bar examination administered for law school graduates, the training at the institute is set to continue during a transitional period lasting until 201

The Obama administration put out a disturbingly weak statement last week after the latest piracy outrage off the coast of Somalia. Four Americans vacationing on a 58-foot yacht died during a standoff between a U.S. warship and the pirate crew that seized their vessel.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the act deplorable, which it was, but what did she urge? More “decisive action” by the “in

The Obama administration predictably is taking heat from conservatives about its restrained response to the crisis in Libya. There are even calls for a U.S. military response to hasten dictator Muammar Gadhafi’s departure. While well meaning, these critics seek short-term action that ignores substantial longer-term consequences.The administration’s initial restraint was appropriately designed to p

If per capita carbon emissions in China and India rose to car-happy U.S. levels, global emissions would increase by 127 percent, according to the International Energy Agency. If their emissions stopped at the levels found in hyper-dense Hong Kong, world emissions would go up less than 24 percent. As the Asian economies prosper, the United States should hope that they embrace the skyscraper more th