The government will accept “preliminary” bids from potential investors for Kwangju Bank and Kyongnam Bank after it puts up a notice on the sale of the two provincial units of Woori Financial Group next Monday.Among the preliminary bidders, state agencies will single out several competitive investors ― the so-called “short list” ― for the taxpayers’ money-injected Woori Financial.The state-led project, however, is likely to face several stumbling blocks. There is a high possibility that the “logi

NTSB investigators put focus on pilot error in crash-landing of Asiana jet in San Francisco

South Korean stocks closed 0.41 percent lower Friday, led by steep falls in auto stocks following media reports that China may restrict new car purchases, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 7.62 points to finish at 1,869.98. Trading volume was light at 262.3 million shares worth 3.42 trillion won ($3.04 billion), but gainers marginally outpaced losers 404 to 380. "News from China that it may further expa

South Korean stocks traded 0.26 percent lower late Friday morning, led by losses in automakers and financial firms, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.88 points to 1,872.72 as of 11:20 a.m.Hyundai Motor tumbled 4.5 percent, with its smaller affiliate Kia Motors also dropping 4.2 percent. No. 4 lender Shinhan Financial and leading life insurer Samsung Life Insurance lost ground, slipping 1.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. But chemical companies a

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Friday, as investors opted to sell off shares on profit-taking following the 3 percent rally in the previous session, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 5.59 points, or 0.3 percent to 1,872.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top-listed blue-chips led the fall. Tech giant Samsung Electronics inched down 0.08 percent, with leading carmaker Hyundai Motor tumbling more than 3 percent. In contrast, steelmaker POS

International flights to and from South Korea increased significantly from a year earlier in the first half on a growing number of South Koreans going overseas, the government said Friday.In the first six months of the year, the total number of international flights coming to and from the country totaled 167,237, up 9.64 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport."International traffic surged greatly from the same period last year, ref

Luxury brands including Burberry, Gucci and Ferragamo have suffered from sluggish sales in Korea due to the nation’s protracted economic slump, data showed Thursday.According to data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service, Burberry Korea marked a 5.3 percent sales drop on-year and reached 228.1 billion won ($202.3 million) in sales for the fiscal year 2012. The company’s net profit declined 35.1 percent to 16.8 billion won. Burberry Korea showed a drop of 25.6 percent in net profit in the

Lender accused of reckless investment as well as lax cyber security

Frequent and fractured updates by the U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board on what happened in the cockpit of the doomed Asiana jet that crash-landed at San Francisco Airport have triggered a flood of speculations over the exact cause of the incident. News reports on the accident have flooded the media based on varied information attained from the Washington-based NTSB’s press briefings. In the four days since the accident, the chief investigator hosted two media conferences, releasing

Korea’s leading IT solution provider LG N-Sys and world’s top computer chipmaker Intel have come together to create Korea’s largest supercomputer infrastructure for developing computer graphic visual content, especially for motion pictures.Dexter Digital ― Korea’s leading visual effects film producer ― together with LG N-Sys and Intel Korea on Thursday held a media event to showcase the technology behind its latest production “Mr. Go,” which had been made possible by the new technology. Making t

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, is suffering from double trouble this week, with the nuclear power plant scandal on one side and an escalating labor dispute on the other.The Busan prosecution on Thursday arrested three incumbent and former executives of HHI over bribery allegations related to nuclear facility corruption, adding to two others who had been arrested on the previous day.The arrested employees allegedly delivered cash bribes to a manager-level official at t

LG Display Co., a South Korean display giant, Thursday unveiled what it claims to be the world’s slimmest full HD LCD panel for smartphones.The 5.2-inch panel is only 2.2 millimeters thin enabling sleeker smartphones featuring better grip-ability and a superior viewing experience.The panel will also provide larger visible display space on smartphones, which is critical as mobile devices are used for multimedia viewing more than ever before, LG Display said.The new panel will be mounted on the Op

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. will help set up power distribution lines at the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan as part of its global support program, the company said Thursday.The decision came after a request was made from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to provide technical consultation on power distribution and maintenance.A group of experts will head for Jordan on Sunday to help evaluate the camp’s power distribution sy

Dongbu HiTek, a Seoul-based semiconductor maker, said Thursday that it started mass production of 2-megapixel CMOS image sensors for Chinese smartphone manufacturer BYD Microelectronics.As the demand for smartphone components has increased recently with more mobile phones being equipped with the 2-megapixel image sensor on the front, it is expected that shipments of the sensors will likely double this year compared to last year, the Korean firm said in a press release. The smartphone sensor is u