The labor union of Korea Exchange Bank filed a court injunction Monday to block U.S.-based Lone Star Funds’ plan to sell its controlling state in the bank to Hana Financial Group. In its filing with Seoul Central Court, the unionized workers called for KEB executives named by Lone Star, including bank CEO Larry Klane, to suspend the scheduled share selling.Lone Star signed a contract with Hana Fin

Hyundai Heavy Industries has delivered the world’s first crude oil carrier fitted with equipment for treating ballast water, the firm announced Monday. Empty vessels are balanced by ballast water, which is then emptied out when cargo is loaded at ports. This practice can transport non-indigenous organisms to waters across the world, damaging foreign ecosystems.With the International Maritime Organ

Korea’s financial regulator said it plans to tighten inspections of capital flows this year to improve the soundness of its foreign-currency market.“There are persisting destabilizing factors in the global financial markets following the Group of 20 meeting, such as volatile capital movements and currency wars among major countries,” the Financial Supervisory Service said Monday in an e-mailed sta

Seven conglomerates including Samsung Group, Hyundai Motors Group, and SK Group signed up to participate in the 2012 World Expo in Yeosu, its organizing committee said.Other participating business groups include LG, Lotte, Posco and GS. The fact that leading local conglomerates decided to participate in the Yeosu Expo shows that expectations for the event are very high, organizers said. The expo i

Shinsegae Department Store announced Monday that its Gangnam branch became Korea’s second retail outlet to surpass the threshold of 1 trillion won ($894.1 million) in sales last year. The branch store in southern Seoul registered 1.09 trillion won in revenue, about 18 percent up from 920 billion won in 2009, the company said.Korea’s retail industry is estimated to have grown 7-8 percent in 2010 as

Korea Express Co., Korea’s largest logistics firm, said Monday that it is seeking to post 2.35 trillion won ($2.09 billion) in sales this year, up around 10 percent from last year.The company is also targeting an operating income of 157 billion won in 2011.Last year, Korea Express was estimated to have logged an operating income of 130 billion won on sales of 2.16 trillion won.Major shareholders o

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone company, will sell 9 million to 12 million iPhones this year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing analyst estimates. The lower number would boost Apple Inc.’s overall sales by 5 percent, according to Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos., the Journal said. The iPhone may capture 5 percent of Verizon’s customers in its first quarter on s

The current controversy over the nomination of Chung Dong-kee as the next head of the Board of Audit and Inspection raised two serious questions. One concerns the still prevalent practice of senior judges and prosecutors joining law firms upon retirement and getting huge rewards. The other is about the appropriateness of appointing a former presidential secretary to the job of top government watch

North Korea is desperate in its call for dialogue with South Korea. But Seoul is hesitant on deciding what to do about Pyongyang’s sudden peace offensive that comes after one of the worst years of military provocations since the Korean War.Pyongyang has heated up its language in the overtures since the three major official newspapers first proposed inter-Korean dialogue in their New Year joint edi

At first glance it seems the ultimate quixotic effort: persuading the new, more Republican Congress to enact legislation to shine light on the role of special-interest money in elections. But campaign reformers might consider appealing to members of Congress allied with the “tea party.” Those in the movement profess to believe that “we the people” have been eclipsed in the political process by sel