Policymakers at South Korea's central bank froze the key interest rate in a 4-3 vote in April when the government had put pressure on the Bank of Korea (BOK) to lower borrowing costs, the bank's minutes showed Tuesday.   At a rate-setting meeting held on April 11, the Bank of Korea's seven-member monetary policy committee decided to leave the benchmark 7-day repo rate unchanged at 2.75 percent for the sixth straight month. The central bank cut the key rate in July and October last year.   In Apr

Samsung Electronic’s newly launched Galaxy S4 is more susceptible to damage than its previous model Galaxy S3 or Apple’s iPhone 5, a U.S.-based insurance firm claimed.According to SquareTrade, Galaxy S4 scored seven out of 10 in an extensive durability test, in which 10 is the worst score. Galaxy S3 scored 6.5 and iPhone got five.The firm said Galaxy S4 performed worse than its predecessor, except in water resistance. Testers noted the phone’s high breakability during drop tests, and pointed out

South Korean stocks gained 1.2 percent Tuesday, as investors hunted for bargains on upbeat corporate results by local companies, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 23.35 points to close at 1,963.95. Trading volume was moderate at 387.6 million shares worth 4.57 trillion won ($4.15 billion) with gainers far outstripping decliners 502 to 284. "Large-cap shares got a boost as we began to see more firms rep

South Korea's central bank on Tuesday warned against risks of household debt problems, saying that local households' debt-serving capacity worsened amid risks from low-credit borrowers and low-income families.The Bank of Korea said in a semi-annual financial stability report that the growth of household debt slowed last year, but the capacity of households to repay debt deteriorated amid the protracted economic recovery.The ratio of household debt against disposable income stood at a record 136

South Korean stocks traded 1 percent higher late Tuesday morning, led by gains in large-cap exporters, analysts said.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shot up 19.34 points to 1,960.04 as of 11:20 a.m.   Top-tiered blue chips drove up the main index, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics jumping 2.4 percent and Hyundai Motor climbing 0.5 percent.  In contrast, domestic-focused shares lost ground. State-run electricity provider Korea Electric Power Corp. fell 1.5 perc

South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. is expected to sell more than 50 million smartphones this year on the back of strong demand for its flagship Optimus G line-up and mid and low-end smartphones, brokerage houses said Tuesday.LG Electronics, the world's No. 3 smartphone maker, sold some 26.3 million smartphones last year.Korea Investment & Securities said in a report that LG Electronics is expected to sell 53.29 million smartphones this year. Hyundai Securities and KB Inv

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Tuesday, as upbeat U.S. housing data and the new Italian government eased jitters over the global economy, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) soared 13.86 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,954.56 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most shares gathered ground, with LG Uplus, the country's smallest mobile carrier, and electronic parts maker LG Innotek rising more than 2 percent. U.S. markets finished up Monday on a fore

South Korea's industrial output shrank for the third straight month in March amid worries that its economy is losing steam in the face of toughened market conditions at home and abroad, a government report showed Tuesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries dropped 2.6 percent last month from a month earlier, the sharpest contraction in 12 months.This also marked the third on-month contraction following a 1.2 percent

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest flat-panel TV maker, maintained its status as the top flat-panel TV seller in the U.S. for 60 consecutive months, data showed on Tuesday.Samsung Electronics retained the top spot in March with a 29.4 percent market share in terms of revenue, according to the data compiled by global market research firm NPD Group. The figure was 3 percentage points higher than in February, the data showed.Samsung has kept its top position since April 2008 in terms of m

Korea and China have agreed on basic guidelines concerning product origin marking and customs clearance in their latest round of free trade agreement negotiations that ended on Sunday, Seoul officials said Monday.The two sides, however, have differed over the classification of sensitive items, which require an alleviated level of tariff cuts.During the three-day meeting which was held over the weekend in Harbin, the two countries once again confirmed their mutual commitment to effectuating the b