SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― Cross-shareholding among affiliates of large business groups in South Korea has been strengthened over the past year, the country’s antitrust watchdog said Thursday.Cross-shareholding refers to a tactic frequently used by conglomerates or chaebol that enables a handful of the owner’s family members to control the entire business group with small stakes through circular shareholding methods.According to a report by Fair Trade Commission, 14 business groups maintained cross-

The prosecution on Thursday is poised to investigate suspicions that fraudulent quality certificates were issued on faulty components used in the suspended nuclear reactors.The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office launched a special task force in Busan to respond to the charge filed by the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corporation against the cable suppliers.The task force will not only take charge of the KHNP’s case but also look into all cases of irregularities found in nuclear reactor businesses, accord

South Korean telecom titan KT Corp. said Thursday that it will launch a cloud computing service in Japan this week to meet growing demand for reliable Internet storage systems that can protect their data in the neighboring country.KT said its cloud computing service, “Cloud K,” will be sold through SoftBank Telecom Corp., a telecom unit of the SoftBank group.KT and SoftBank have jointly set up an infrastructure in Gimhae, a city near South Korea’s second-largest city, Busan, located close to Jap

Google Korea, the South Korean unit of the U.S. Internet giant, said Thursday that it started to sell its Nexus 4 smartphone in South Korea, to compete with rivals such as the Galaxy S and iPhone devices.The Nexus 4, equipped with Jelly Bean, Google’s latest Android 4.2 operating system, can be purchased at the Google Play store (play.google.com), it said.Consumers will be able to use two of the country’s mobile carriers ― SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp. ― for their operations.The Nexus 4 for an 8GB

Hankook Tire, Korea’s largest tire maker, has recently submitted a letter of intent to the Hungarian government for the expansion of its plant there, officials said Wednesday. An official deal for the new investment, which aims to meet surging demands in the European market, will be signed possibly in the coming two to three months, the company said. The expansion would elevate the factory’s annual output to 17 million tires. If the construction work starts in July as planned, its operation is e

A leaked image of Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 is circulating on the Internet, suggesting that a start button might be included in the new minor upgrade version. Some of the leaked screenshots of Windows 8.1’s home screen have been posted on The Verge, an online tech news site on Wednesday. According to The Verge, Windows 8.1 is expected to feature a “Start“ button in an unadorned form of a Windows 8 logo on the left bottom side of the home screen, as it had been adopted on the previous versions of W

South Korean stocks finished slightly lower Thursday after swerving in and out of positive territory for most of the session, as growing concerns over a possible tapering of monetary easing from the United States sapped investorsentiment, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 1.10 points, or 0.05 percent, to end at 2,000.10. Trading volume was moderate at 428.5 million shares worth 5.0 trillion won (US$4.

Food and entertainment conglomerate CJ Group is suspected of holding hundreds of borrowed-name accounts at local financial institutions to use them as a conduit for managing a massive slush fund, prosecutors said Thursday.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said it has requested the country's financial watchdog launch a special audit into the financial institutions, including leading lenders Woori Bank and Shinhan Bank."We have requested the Financial Supervisory Service open a specia