South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. saw the net number of subscribers sharply rise on the first day that Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5 made its debut in Korea, industry data showed Sunday.Apple’s iPhone 5 made its belated debut in South Korea on Friday with SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp., Korea’s two biggest mobile carriers, kicking off the release of the first iPhone that runs on the Long Term Evolution network.SK Telecom lured a net 9,555 subscribers on Friday while its rivals KT Corp. and LG

The South Korean government is likely to cut its 2013 estimate for economic growth to the 3-percent range as downside risks at home and abroad will weigh on the economy, officials said Sunday.The government earlier forecast that Asia’s fourth-largest economy would grow 4 percent next year, much rosier than outlooks presented by the central bank and private think tanks.“I think that we have to consider the weak growth in the third quarter (in adjusting the growth forecast). The government is taki

South Korea’s No. 3 conglomerate SK Group said Sunday it has agreed to team up with U.S. buyout fund Carlyle Group as part of its push into overseas investments.SK Group said that it has clinched a strategic partnership with the U.S. private equity fund in a bid to strengthen business synergy by combining the group’s expertise in corporate management and energy with Carlyle’s investment skills.“The partnership would pave the way for SK Group to grow as a global portfolio investor,” the group sai

The South Korean government is likely to cut its 2013 estimate for economic growth to the 3-percent range as downside risks at home and abroad will weigh on the economy, officials said Sunday.The government earlier forecast that Asia's fourth-largest economy would grow 4 percent next year, much rosier than outlooks presented by the central bank and private think tanks."I think that we have to consider the weak growth in the third quarter (in adjusting the growth forecast). The government is taki

South Korea will gradually increase the age of eligibility for public pensions to 65 from the current 60, the country's national pension fund said, in what could be a move to ease the government's financial burden from the retiring population. The age for a retirement pension will be 61 years in 2013 and increase one year every five years to reach 65 years in 2033, the National Pension Service (NPS) said on its Web site.People born between 1953 and 1956 will become eligible to claim their benefi

South Korea and the United States have agreed to step up cooperation on shale gas, an increasingly popular source of energy, a visiting top Seoul official said Friday."In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu yesterday, I had a lot of discussions on cooperation in the shale gas sector," South Korean Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo told reporters. His ministry handles trade, energy and industry affairs. He is on a trip here for the U.S.-Korea Investment and Trade Cooperation

A consortium comprising four South Korean firms said Friday that it has signed a preliminary deal to build a solar farm in Japan.Under the deal, STX Solar Energy Co. and the Korea South-East Power Co., a unit of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., and two other South Korean firms will construct and operate the solar farm in Sendai with a capacity of 45MW, according to the consortium.Sendai in northeastern Japan is one of the areas that was hit hard by the unprecedented quake in March 2011.

South Korea has instructed domestic and foreign ships to reroute their courses in the West Sea to avoid any possible collisions with falling debris from a long-range rocket that Pyongyang could launch, the government said Friday.The precautionary move comes as North Korea informed the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization that it will fire off the Unha-3 rocket between Dec. 10-22 during the hours of 7 a.m. and noon to put a satellite into orbit.The

South Korean stocks finished up 0.4 percent Friday as investors scooped up large-cap shares on signs of progress in the U.S. fiscal cliff negotiations, analysts said. The local currency gained ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 7.83 points to 1,957.45. Trading volume was moderate at 405.9 million shares worth 4.26 trillion won ($3.94 billion) with gainers outnumbering losers 409 to 391.“The U.S. policy makers showed somewhat strong determination

Import car sales, led by smaller, cheaper models, are expected to continue their growth momentum next year, a business lobby for foreign carmakers here said Friday. The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, or KAIDA, predicted new registrations could reach 143,000 units next year, about 8 percent growth from this year. The growth rate is lower than the more than 20 percent growth of the market this year that was driven by the free trade pacts with the U.S. and EU, consumption