South Korean stocks retreated 0.6 percent on Monday as investors sat on the sidelines while keeping a wary eye on stalled spending cut talks in the United States. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 11.98 points to close at 1,983.06. Trading volume was moderate at 360.4 million shares worth 4.19 trillion won ($3.90 billion) with decliners outpacing gainers 497 to 309. “Investors felt more pressure as the deadline for an agreement

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a South Korean shipbuilder, said Monday that it has clinched a contract from a Canadian shipping company to build two liquefied natural gas carriers.Under the deal with Teekay Corp., Daewoo Shipbuilding will deliver the vessels with a capacity of 173,000 cubic meters of LNG by 2016, the company said.The contract also includes an option of three more carriers, it added.The shipbuilder, however, did not disclose the financial terms of the contract.Each

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea’s biggest auto parts manufacturer, said Monday that it has kicked off production of conventional braking systems at its plant in Slovakia.Hyundai Mobis, an auto parts arm of Hyundai Motor Group, spent 50 billion won ($46.6 million) to complete the line to produce the braking system components at its Slovakia plant located in the northern region of Zilina.The new production line will have an annual production capacity of 600,000 conventional braking system component

The nation’s ambitious goal to become one of the world’s top four electric-vehicle production powerhouses faces a bumpy road due to slower-than-expected market penetration.Under the 2020 vision for green cars, unveiled in 2010, the government plans to replace 20 percent of cars on the road with EVs for Korea to take 10 percent of the global EV market. For this goal, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy have invested in infrastructure for EVs to boost demand for the v

The sale of the Korea Aerospace Industries, or KAI, collapsed again as it failed to attract enough bidders on Monday.Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, placed its bid, but Korean Air, the nation’s flagship carrier, decided not to join the competition. At least two bidders are required to participate in bidding for the KAI sale to proceed.Korean Air said in a statement that it gave up the bidding because stock price of the state-run aircraft maker is overvalued. The first

Tech giant holds two-day global strategic meeting for next year

Creditors of troubled Woongjin Group seek debt-rescheduling via subsidiaries disposal

BMW Group Korea, the local distributor of German automaker BMW AG, is voluntarily recalling certain model year X5 and X6 sport utility vehicles for a problem with a bolt that can cause loss of power-assisted steering, the Transportation Ministry said Monday.The recall affects 1,579 X5 SUVs produced between Dec. 11, 2006 and Feb. 19, 2010, along with 616 units of X6 SUVs built from April 3, 2008 through Feb. 22, 2010, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.The ministry

Mobile carrier KT rolled out “olleh biz talk,” a messenger program specialized for corporate use, on Monday. Combining characteristics of a traditional messenger program and smartphone text-messaging, olleh biz talk provides services including chat, message, fax, phone call, audio and photo message, and group message. Unlike traditional messenger programs, olleh biz talk is accessible both through computers and mobile phones. The contact lists are organized by the company’s structure.The messeng

Hyundai Motor’s upper-segment car sales in Europe surpassed a milestone 10 percent of the carmaker’s total sales for the first time, largely driven by the i40 wagon. The Korean auto giant said Monday that it sold 247,151 passenger vehicles in the first 10 months of this year in Europe alone. Of them, larger models with an engine capacity of 1,600 cc or higher made up 11.8 percent of Europe sales, more than doubling last year’s 4.4 percent, the company said. The i40, whose engine capacity ranges

South Korea’s drug safety agency has suspended the sales of a cosmetic cream imported from the U.S. that contains steroids, and has ordered the company to recall it. Mario Badescu Healing Cream, known as “magic cream” for helping to minimize the appearance of acne scars, is produced by U.S. facial skin care and beauty product company Mario Badescu Skin Care, Inc.Through a test conducted by the Korea Food and Drug Administration, two types of steroids -- hydrocortisone and Triamcinolone acetonnoi