The head of Woongjin Group, a mid-size conglomerate in South Korea, has expressed his intention to contribute an unspecified amount of his personal wealth to the group’s troubled holding company in an effort to help it get back on its feet, a company official said Monday.Yoon Seok-keum, chairman of Woongjin Group, has made the decision to help Woongjin Holdings tide over a liquidity crunch, the official said. The holding company was placed under a court receivership last year, along with its con

Retailer Home plus on Monday said it has published a volume on the company’s 12-year history. Entitled, “12 Years of Home plus, the Dreams and Passion of the Great Stone Face,” the book deals mostly with the history of the company and also the management initiatives of CEO Lee Seung-han. There are also a series of illustrations to go along with the narrative, the company said via its website.Home plus was established in 1999, first as a joint venture between Samsung Group and U.K.-based Tesco, a

The Korea Finance Corp. plans to increase its financial support to the nation’s small and medium companies in 2013, the state-run finance promoter said on Monday in a New Year’s press conference. The state-run agency plans to assign about 7.6 trillion won, or about two-thirds of the company’s 12.2 trillion won capital for this year, to support small and medium enterprises.“We will be spending 62 percent of our total budget to support small and medium-sized companies,” said KoFC president and chi

The South Korean currency’s ascent to the Japanese yen hit a 14-year high last year, the central bank said Monday, spawning concerns about its impact on Seoul’s exports.The local currency reached 1,238.3 won per 100 yen as of the end of 2012, up 19.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.The 2012 numbers marked the strongest gain since the won appreciated 21.8 percent against the Japanese yen in 1998, it added.Last year, the local currency also appreciated 7.6 percent per t

Wal-Mart has decided to suspend the operations of its remaining Korean operations as of the end of this month, according to industry sources on Monday.The brand had served as the purchasing department for the U.S.-based retailer that handled the purchase of Korean products.In 2006, Wal-Mart pulled out of Korea after selling its shares and stores to E-Mart, citing a difference in corporate and social cultures that prevented the company from expanding its operations here.But it had left behind a b

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Sales of South Korean-brand passenger cars soared more than 30 percent in the first half of January from a month earlier, partly thanks to weaker shipments of rival Japanese brands, a market report showed Monday.During the first two weeks of January, South Korean cars sold in China numbered 6,646 units, up 31 percent from the same period a month earlier, according to the report by investment bank JPMorgan. South Korean carmakers’ market share was estimated at around 13.

Korea’s lottery ticket sales hit an all-time high last year, exceeding the regulatory limit imposed by the country’s gambling watchdog for two consecutive years.Sales reached some 3.2 trillion won ($3 billion) in 2012, up about 3.4 percent from 3.08 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Lottery Commission, which is under the wing of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, on Monday.An increase in consumer purchases of tickets for online lotteries, pension lotteries and traditional electron

South Korean stocks inched down 0.05 percent Monday as investors dumped large cap shares due to a pessimistic outlook on fourth-quarter earnings, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 0.99 points to finish at 1,986.86. Trading volume was moderate at 440.75 million shares worth 3.76 trillion won (US$3.54 billion) with gainers outpacing decliners 459 to 352."The mood is quite positive in recent times. Chin

South Korean stocks traded 0.42 percent lower late Monday morning due to concerns over the further weakening of the Japanese yen, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 8.28 points to 1,979.57 as of 11:20 a.m.Most exporters traded in negative territory, with top steelmaker POSCO dropping 0.7 percent and biggest shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries sliding 0.22 percent.No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.7 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors lost 1.85 per