Finance Ministry unveils major goals in mid- and long-term strategy

Sony Corp. is in talks to sell its battery business to Japan’s state-backed investment fund, said a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations. Innovation Network Corp. of Japan hasn’t made an offer for the acquisition, said the person, who declined to be identified as the information isn’t public. Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, has also shown interest in the buyout, the Nikkei newspaper reported Dec. 22. Sony’s Chief Executive O

The monthly fee for freely listening to music online is expected to more than double next year.The nation’s largest online music service portal Melon has decided to raise its current 3,000 won monthly plan, which provides unlimited access to listen to its music, to 6,000 won, sources said. The price of Melon’s monthly plan to download up to 150 songs will also rise, from 9,000 won to 15,000 won, according to the sources. LOEN Entertainment Inc., which runs Melon, said on Tuesday that the new rat

Violations of intellectual property rights held by South Korea‘s large conglomerates grew in 2011 though the overall number of intellectual property violations dropped from a year earlier, a report showed Wednesday.The portion of large companies whose intellectual property rights were infringed upon grew from 3.2 percent in 2010 to 5.3 percent last year, according to the report released by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.The portion for all companies and institutes with intellectual properties

The number of debit cards issued in South Korea surpassed 100 million in the first 11 months of the year as a growing number of consumers used them because they offer more tax benefits than credit cards, industry sources said Wednesday.The number of debit cards issued in the January-November period reached 100.2 million, up 1.46 percent from 98.7 million for all of last year, according to the sources.The increase was attributed to greater tax incentives provided by debit cards. The income tax de

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start on Wednesday, buoyed by gains in key exporters, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 13.48 points, or 0.68 percent, to 1,995.3 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Blue chips shored up the KOSPI, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics adding 0.75 percent and the country‘s top automaker Hyundai Motor rising 0.9 percent.The local currency was trading at 1,073.55 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 0.65

South Korean consumers’ confidence stayed below par for the fifth straight month in December as the economy loses steam on weak domestic demand, the central bank said Wednesday.The consumer sentiment index -- a gauge of consumers‘ overall economic outlook, living conditions and future spending -- came in at 99 for December, unchanged from the previous month, according to a monthly survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK).A reading below the benchmark 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists. The survey

The country’s three mobile carriers will team up and introduce a new communications service named “joyn” on Wednesday to compete with top mobile messenger Kakao Talk.SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus all announced Tuesday that they will release the Rich Communication Suite, which allows people to use a number of communication services ― such as Rich Call, Rich Messaging and Rich Phonebook ― in an integrated manner.Users who have downloaded the joyn service will be able to send messages up to 5,000 cha

New employment by South Korea’s top 500 companies next year is forecast to be similar to that of this year despite a prolonged global economic slowdown, a poll showed Tuesday. According to the survey of 500 companies conducted by the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the top 288 companies by sales said that they will employ 32,521 people next year, a mere 1.3 percent drop from 32,936 people this year. By industry, recruitment by textile, food, machinery, steel, shipbuilding and petrochemi