South Korea and Paraguay have agreed to strengthen their economic cooperation, as they mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties, the foreign ministry here said Wednesday.Jang Keun-ho, head of the Latin American and Caribbean Bureau of Seoul's foreign ministry, and his Paraguayan counterpart Julio Cesar Arriola held a Joint Economic Commission, the fifth of its kind, in Seoul a day earlier, and discussed ways to strengthen ties on a wide range of issues of mutual concern, including trade, inv

South Korea posted a current account surplus for the ninth straight month in October as exports gained ground, weathering the global slowdown and the local currency's gain, the central bank said Wednesday.The current account surplus reached US$5.82 billion in October, down from a revised $5.91 billion in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.In the first 10 months of this year, the cumulative current account su

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted a gradual pickup for the Korean economy on the back of improved exports next year, forecasting a growth rate of 3.1 percent.Korea was one of six nations the OECD predicted to register a rate of over 3 percent. For 2014, the outlook was even higher at 4.4 percent. Overseas shipments will rise as global trade gains momentum, the OECD said in an outlook report on Tuesday. The recovery in the global economy, however, would be “hesit

STOCKHOLM (AFP) ― Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson said Tuesday that it was suing South Korean rival Samsung in a U.S. court for violating patents.“Ericsson has today filed a lawsuit in the United States against Samsung for infringing its patents, after nearly two years of negotiations failed to reach an agreement,” a statement said.“The dispute concerns both Ericsson’s patented technology that is essential to several telecommunications and networking standards used by Samsung

Apple Inc. and LG Electronics Inc. are set to face trial over claims by an Alcatel-Lucent SA unit that they infringed patents for electronic devices including phones and computers. The jury trial, scheduled to begin in federal court in San Diego, stems from a 2010 lawsuit by the Paris-based company’s Multimedia Patent Trust accusing Apple and LG Electronics of copying video-compression technology that allows data to be sent more efficiently over communications media, including the Internet and s

Exports of Korean traditional foods of kimchi and red pepper paste rose sharply over the past three years on the back of the Korean wave, industry and customs data showed Tuesday.According to the data, exports of kimchi, a spicy fermented dish usually made with cabbage or radish, came to $88.82 million in the January-October period.Overall exports of kimchi for all of 2012 are expected to reach $107 million, up from $104.6 million last year, the data indicated.Outbound shipments of kimchi have r

South Korean stocks closed 0.87 percent higher on Tuesday as eurozone agreements to cut Greek debts and aid the debt-ridden country helped ease investor jitters, analysts said. The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 16.69 points to 1,925.2. Trading volume was moderate at 572.1 million shares worth 4.49 trillion won ($4.14 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 425 to 392.“The recent development in the Greece situation, cou

South Korea’s total debt has ballooned to more than double the value of its gross domestic product, the financial regulator said Tuesday, calling for all-out efforts to rein in corporate and household debt.The country’s aggregate debt owed by the government, companies and households stood at 234 percent of its GDP as of the end of June, according to data by the Financial Supervisory Service. The debt-to-GDP ratio came in at 152 percent in 2000 for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, before jumping to