Sales at the country's major department stores grew slightly from a year earlier but sales of three major discount outlet chains here continued to drop last month, the government said Thursday.According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, combined sales of three department store chains rose 1 percent from the same month last year in May.The ministry did not reveal the actual amount, but said May sales marked a 7.1 percent gain from the previous month, when the department store chains

South Korea's cell phone replacement rate is the highest among major OECD countries as local mobile carriers' fat subsidies and aggressive marketing lure customers to change their gadgets frequently, a report said Thursday.About 15 million South Koreans, or 28 percent of mobile phone users in the country, replace their handsets every year, according to the report compiled by DigiEco, a research unit of KT Corp.The mobile replacement rate is the highest among major OECD countries, the report said

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Thursday as the U.S Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at a possible tapering of its monetary easing, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) nosedived 24.68 points, or 1.31 percent to 1,863.63 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Shares lost ground across the board, with tech giant Samsung Electronics falling 1.97 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor declining 0.24 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO moved down 1.4

Debt snowballed to more than W900tr during Lee administration: BOK

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday announced that it would investigate a complaint submitted by Black Hills Media last month regarding alleged patent infringement linked to major Korean and Japanese electronics companies. If the ITC rules in favor of the Delaware-based electronics firm, Korea’s Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics will face a ban of exports of their digital products including televisions, mobile phones and tablet PCs to the United States. The U.S. company filed

The Seoul High Court on Wednesday denied petitions by Qualcomm and Intel to annul fines levied by South Korea's antitrust watchdog for unfair business practices.The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in July 2009 had slapped 273.2 billion won ($241.7 million) in fines, the record amount the commission issued on a single company, against Qualcomm.The commission said the U.S.-based wireless chipmaker abused its dominant position in the Korean market by demanding discriminatory royalties and giving condit

“We feel that Dell Korea has not been able to communicate its product in the best way we could, and we want to start doing that,” said Kim Sung-jun, director of Dell Korea’s Enterprise Solutions Group.On Tuesday, Kim was introducing the company’s new network solutions, an area that despite taking up a large part of the portfolio ― over 50 percent ― of a firm that was once built around PCs. In fact, it was a start-up built on PCs, but today, Dell wants to be known as a top-notch solution provider

 

Commercial banks are scaling back their operating networks and hiring amid a retreat in earnings.First-tier lenders’ lower profitability is mainly attributable to soured loans from growing corporate insolvency and the reduced margin between their deposits and loans, according to research analysts.As an emergency remedy, major banks have slashed the number of branches through mergers or closures. Manpower restructuring due to branch integration is also expected in the industry.Shinhan Bank saw it

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday called for reform of government regulations to stimulate industry and help develop the “creative economy” being pushed by the Park Geun-hye government. The KCCI submitted a report to the government after selecting 100 grievances proposed by about 1,400 industrial organizations and the chamber’s 14,000 member companies nationwide between March and May this year. At the center of the proposals is the “Patent Box” ― a tax relief policy to sign

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said Korea would help Myanmar to adopt the Saemaul Movement, a development model, Korea used during the 1970s to grow the economy under the direction of late President Park Chung-hee, the father of President Park Geun-hye.A group of government officials led by Hyun visited Naypyidaw on Wednesday to hold a series of meetings with Myanmar officials, including Kan Zaw, minister for National Planning and Economic Development of Myanmar.Korea pl