The Korea Herald

G-Star game exhibition opens in Busan

TechnologyNov 8, 2012

BUSAN ― G-Star, the nation’s largest international game exhibition, kicked off in Busan on Thursday, drawing in many spectators with the newest and most popular games.Reflecting the high popularity of online and mobile games, visitors packed the main hall at BEXCO for the eighth run of the annual game festival. Some of them formed a 100-meter line to watch the opening of the show.Held under the theme “Game, Touching the World,” the global game convention drew traditional game lovers as well as f
Export-oriented firms suffer as won rises

IndustryNov 8, 2012

South Korea’s export-oriented firms are suffering as the won continues to strengthen. The won-dollar exchange rate dipped below 1,100 won last month and has not risen above that value since. For some industries, the exchange rate has already fallen below the minimum needed to secure profit, which averaged 1,086.2 won per dollar, according to a survey conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on about 500 companies. About 57 percent of the surveyed companies said that their profits
HHI to make construction equipment engines

IndustryNov 8, 2012

Hyundai Heavy Industries held a ground-breaking ceremony to build a production line for its joint venture with Cummins, a U.S.-based construction equipment engine maker, in an industrial complex in Daegu on Thursday.Hyundai-Cummins Engine, the 50-50 joint venture between the two companies, will complete the diesel engine production site by May 2014 by investing 87 billion won ($80 million), Hyundai Heavy said in a press release. It added that once the plant is completed, the joint venture firm w
Officials oppose supervisory revamp

Nov 8, 2012

FSC advised to yield monopolistic power to upgrade financial market
Korean biz bodies hail Obama’s reelection

Nov 8, 2012

South Korea’s major business organizations welcomed the reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday as they tried to gauge opportunities and challenges Obama’s second term could bring to local companies and their exports.The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it hopes that Seoul and Washington will strengthen their economic cooperation and that Obama’s firm leadership will improve conditions of South Korean exporters.The Federation of Korean Industries, the lobby for the cou
Korea holds IR session in H.K.

Nov 8, 2012

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea urged investors in Hong Kong Thursday to invest in Asia’s fourth-largest economy by offering a variety of incentives.South Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy opened a national investor relations session in Hong Kong earlier in the day, designed to woo Hong Kong-based large-scale funds and other foreign capital.South Korean officials, led by Knowledge Economy Deputy Minister Moon Jae-do, promised various incentives, and private business meetings will be he
LG Hausys offers on-site tour for clients from Europe

IndustryNov 8, 2012

LG Hausys, the building material arm of LG Group, has invited about 50 key clients from European countries, including Russia and Turkey, to Korea and offered them a field trip to its headquarters and shops. “The field trip, which lasted from Nov. 5 to Nov. 9 in the company’s Cheongju factory, was designed to offer European clients a hands-on experience of our competitiveness in product design and technology,’’ a company official said. High-ranking officials invited work for construction and buil
Hyundai allowed to bid for Brazil rail project: report

IndustryNov 8, 2012

SAO PAULO (AFP) ― Brazil has cleared the way for South Korean industrial giant Hyundai to put in a construction bid for a bullet train to link Rio with Sao Paulo and Campinas, according to a report Wednesday.Economic daily Valor said the federal government has agreed to lower a requirement for prospective bidders: instead of requiring a ten year record of operating high-speed trains without accident, bidders would only need five.Hyundai, which has only eight-and-a-half years of high-speed train
Hyundai’s HB20 named Brazil car of the year

IndustryNov 8, 2012

Hyundai Motor’s new Brazil-only hatchback, HB20, has recently won the Car of the Year award in the Latin country, just one month since its official debut there, company officials said Thursday. Brazil’s auto magazine Auto Esporte, which has named the best car of the year since 1966, gave the top honor to Hyundai’s HB20 among the five finalists, including Chevrolet’s Sonic, Citroen’s C3, Pugeot’s 308 and Toyota’s Etios. The flex-fuel model HB20 was exclusively developed for the Brazilian market a
Overseas investors threat or opportunity?

IndustryNov 8, 2012

Foreign investors hold majority shares in major Korean companies
Foxconn says cannot meet demand for iPhone 5

TechnologyNov 8, 2012

Taiwan‘s Foxconn has admitted that it cannot meet strong demand for Apple’s new iPhone 5 due to difficulties in building the gadget, amid concerns over the U.S. giant‘s future earnings.“We can’t really fulfill Apple‘s requests. Our shipments are insufficient... given the huge market demand,” Foxconn chairman Terry Gou told reporters late Wednesday.He added that the design of iPhone 5, of which five million were sold over its launch weekend in September, has made the production difficult but did
Slowdown sees surge in young economically inactive people

IndustryNov 7, 2012

The ratio of people in their 20s not working and unwilling to find a job has jumped, data showed Wednesday, suggesting that tough employment conditions are hitting younger people harder than other age groups.According to the data by Statistics Korea, “economically inactive” people in their 20s accounted for 38.4 percent of the age group in September, up 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier. The figure is the highest since June.Economically inactive people refer to those who are not working
[Newsmaker] 4 retail chiefs shirk assembly hearing

IndustryNov 7, 2012

Four chiefs of major retail giants were ordered to attend a parliamentary hearing Tuesday. But none of them showed up, citing overseas business trips.Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin was visiting Indonesia for business talks with government officials there, while Chung Ji-sun, Hyundai Department Store Group chairman, was in China to discuss establishing a joint venture home shopping channel, according to company officials.Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin also was said to have left
Little change expected in Korea-U.S. economic ties

Nov 7, 2012

Korea and the United States were expected to undergo no drastic change in their economic relations after Barack Obama was reelected U.S. president, analysts in Seoul said Wednesday.Korea’s major economic think tanks forecast that U.S. President Obama’s reelection would help decrease uncertainties regarding his country’s economic policies. But they raised doubt over the outlook for the U.S. economy next year, which is a key factor for Korea’s continued economic growth. The U.S. is Korea’s second-
LIG Insurance supports victims of Gumi toxic gas incident

Nov 7, 2012

LIG Insurance Co., a major local non-life insurance company, has donated funds it collected through ticket sales for a volleyball match to those affected by the leaked hydrofluoric acid incident in Gumi in October.LIG said the volleyball game was between Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance and NH Nonghyup and held at the Park Chung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi on Tuesday. The donation amount was not disclosed.Company officials said it organized the charity event in the hope of relieving the pains that pe