Online game developer Blizzard Entertainment launched the World Championship Series on Wednesday, featuring a showdown of top players of its “Starcraft 2.”The WCS will narrow down the best players in regional contests in Korea, the U.S. and Europe, who will then meet at the final round to be held in California in November this year, according to Blizzard.Among the three regions, Korea’s league will start first on Thursday, and GomTV and Ongamenet will alternate to operate WCS Korea seasons and w

LOS ANGELES (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday that sales of its cars and those of its sister company Kia Motors Corp. showed signs of recovery in the United States last month.Hyundai Motor sold 68,306 vehicles in the United States in March, up 30.6 percent from a month ago. Kia Motors sold 49,125 units in the U.S. last month, up 18.4 percent from a month ago.Still, the two carmakers, the flagship companies of Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest

South Korean electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it will sponsor the Los Angeles Dodgers, a U.S. Major League Baseball team, as part of its marketing strategy.The Los Angeles-based club signed South Korean left-handed pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin in December. It is also familiar to South Koreans for being the team that pitcher Park Chan-ho, who retired in November, played for the longest during his MLB career.As part of the sponsorship, LG Electronics plans to set up product showrooms a

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, South Korea’s top builder, said Wednesday that it has clinched a $1.89 billion contract to build facilities in an oil field in the United Arab Emirates.Under the contract with state-owned Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company on Monday, Hyundai E&C will build facilities on two artificial islands to gather and distribute crude oil produced in Sarb oilfield, 120 kilometers northwest of Abu Dhabi.The South Korean builder also said it will build facilities on nearby

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding’s request for help to creditors indicates that STX Group may be facing another liquidity crisis, analysts said on Wednesday. They said the future of STX Group, the nation’s 13th-largest conglomerate in terms of revenue, is seemingly murky as it faces a series of credit downgrades, following the self-restructuring plan proposed by the shipbuilding unit, its core affiliate, to its creditors on Tuesday. STX Offshore, the world’s fourth-largest shipbuilder, asked creditor

Retail archrivals Lotte and Shinsegae are clashing head-on all across the country ― in Busan, Incheon and regions northwest and southeast of Seoul. Shinsegae’s premium outlet in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, is scheduled to open its expanded section to host some 52 new brands next Friday, adding to its existing 167 labels.The suburban outlet was enlarged by about 30 percent to 40,182 square meters.“We cannot confirm the names of the new brands until our press conference next Thursday,” said Shinsegae

North Korea's bellicose rhetoric has highlighted geopolitical risks but stopped short of undermining South Korea's credit fundamentals, Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday.It cited defense commitments by the U.S. and optimism over South Korea's new government in terms of economic policy."North Korea's rhetoric highlights long-standing geopolitical event risk which, however, has not had material, adverse affects on market sentiment in Seoul or on South Korea’s economic fundamentals -- this i

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves stayed almost flat in March from the previous month as higher investment profits overshadowed the lower dollar conversion value of non-dollar assets, the central bank said Wednesday.The country's foreign reserves reached US$327.41 billion in March, up $10 million from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The FX reserves reached $327.4 billion last month, the first fall in nine months after hitting a record high of $328.91 billion in Jan

Korea’s economic dependency on top conglomerates has continued to rise, posing a challenge to the incumbent President Park Geun-hye administration seeking to restructure the country’s economic landscape.A report by Korea’s Fair Trade Commission showed that sales generated by the top four private conglomerates, or chaebol, accounted for more than 53 percent of the total in the first quarter of this year, up from 52 percent a year ago.The top four industrial groups sanctioned by the antitrust watc