Nearly seven out of 10 elderly citizens in South Korea cannot make ends meet without having a job or receiving help from offspring, data showed Sunday, raising concerns over their quality of life.According to the data compiled by the LG Economic Research Institute, 71 percent of 2,884 elderly households surveyed had assets of less than 250 million won ($225,631), the amount needed for their post-retirement period.Elderly households refer to families of a single member or a couple aged 60-74. The

Beijing Automotive Group Co., which makes vehicles with Daimler AG and Hyundai Motor Co., started selling its first sedan based on Saab technology Friday as it prepares to list its BAIC Motor Corp. unit in Hong Kong. The Senova, with a 2-liter engine and a starting price of 139,800 yuan ($22,762), is the company’s first car developed using the technology it bought from Saab Automobile in 2009, Han Yonggui, president of BAIC Motor, said in an interview in Beijing. It is also the company’s first s

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday that it successfully developed a core technology of the fifth-generation network (5G) for the first time, aiming to enable users to access faster data services by 2020.   The new wireless technology will enable customers to access a stream of data faster than the current fourth-generation network and download an entire movie in less than a second, the world's largest smartphone maker said.   Under the new platform, users can download and upload data at speeds

The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea increased by more than 10 percent over the past years, but their contribution to the nation's exports dived, data showed Sunday.   According to the data released by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, 296,000 SMEs were operating here as of 2011, up 10.1 percent from 2006, with the number of their employees jumping 18.3 percent to 1.95 million.   In the same period, the number of conglomerate affiliates contract

South Korean stocks are expected to gather ground next week, as the Bank of Korea (BOK)'s Thursday rate cut that kept step with the government stimulus will likely spark momentum in the market, analysts said Saturday.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,944.75 on Friday, down 1.07 percent from the previous week. Poor Chinese manufacturing data released on Monday put downward pressure on the main index, dropping it to the early 1,960 level.   The KOSPI then staye

Four-year low yen further corners Korea

A district court on Friday ruled in favor of semiconductor testing firm iTEST Co. in a lawsuit claiming Citibank Korea reaped unfair gains from transactions with the Korean company. The Seoul Central District Court decided that the Korean operation of multinational bank Citibank did not sufficiently notify iTEST, a listed tech firm, of the high risks of KIKO, or “knock-in knock-out,” a financial derivative product that is highly susceptible to exchange rate changes. The court ordered the bank to

LG Electronics, the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker, has released its Optimus G Pro smartphone in the U.S., the Seoul-based company said Friday. The launch follows the release of a 5.5.-inch Optimus G Pro at home in February, and the full HD smartphone launched by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo in March.The latest phone features an IPS display consuming 50 percent less energy, despite being twice as bright as AMOLED screens of the same size, the company said.U.S. customers can pick up the latest version of t