The Korea Herald

Premium import car sales set for milestone

TransportOct 21, 2012

Foreign automakers expected to sell 10,000 units priced more than 100 million won in 2012Yearly sales of import cars with a price tag above 100 million won ($90,100) are expected to surpass 10,000 units for the first time in the nation.Amid the brisk sales of premium vehicles despite the economic slowdown, the import automobile industry saw its sales of cars priced more than 100 million reach 8,035 units for the first nine months of 2012, up about 10 percent over the same period last year.Accor
Int'l passenger traffic hits new quarterly-high in Q3

Oct 21, 2012

The number of passengers on international flights to and from South Korea reached a record high in the third quarter on increased demand from Chinese and Japanese tourists.The number of international passengers reached 12.95 million in the July-September period, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.The figure is 1.22 million higher than the previous quarterly record of 11.73 million during the same period last year.T
AIPPI kicks off intellectual property congress in Seoul

Oct 19, 2012

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) will open the 43rd World Intellectual Property Congress in COEX, southern Seoul, on Saturday to discuss IP protection and other issues.A number of international intellectual property professionals arrived in Seoul to take part in the 2012 congress, one of the biggest IP-related events, to run until Oct. 23. It is the first time for Seoul to host the World IP Congress of AIPPI, the world’s oldest global IP associati
World experts to discuss protection and future of intellectual property

Oct 19, 2012

Following is the opening address to be delivered at the opening ceremony of the 43rd AIPPI World Intellectual Property Congress in Seoul on Saturday evening. ― Ed.On behalf of the entire Bureau of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, I am honored to welcome all of you who have come to attend the 2012 AIPPI World Intellectual Property Congress in Seoul.Established in 1897, AIPPI has done a wonderful job of protecting intellectual property. AIPPI has contribut
Kolon vows fight against U.S. trade secret charge

IndustryOct 19, 2012

Kolon Industries Inc., a leading South Korean textile maker, said Friday that it will fight U.S. Justice Department charges that it stole trade secrets, expressing deep regret over the legal action.The prosecutor of the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday charged Kolon and five company executives for theft of trade secrets regarding aramid fiber products of DuPont Co. and Japan’s Teijin Ltd. Aramid is a class of heat-resistant, strong synthetic fiber.The Department of Justice’s allegations
HSBC projects 3.8% growth for Korea in 2013

Oct 19, 2012

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. forecast 3.8 percent economic growth for Korea next year, higher than this year’s projected 2.6 percent, as exports are expected to pick up on China’s economic recovery.Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian Economic Research for HSBC, told reporters here on Friday that the Korean economy faces a “challenging outlook for exports and industrial output” in the last three months of this year, but that economic growth would likely pick up in 2013 as Asia’s fourth-larg
GM Korea hopes to acquire KDB stake

IndustryOct 19, 2012

Carmaker reportedly wants to strengthen Korean operations but skeptics suspect plan to ‘cut and run’Industry rumors of GM Korea accosting state-run Korea Development Bank to sell its stake in the carmaker is bringing back old nightmares of what is referred to as a “cut-and-run” scheme. GM Korea is reportedly hoping to buy back its 17.02 percent stake from KDB, which is said to be hemming and hawing over the implications of the sale.Three years ago, Ssangyong Motor Co. ― the nation’s smallest aut
One-person households surge

Oct 18, 2012

Single-person households increased rapidly to take up over a quarter of Korea’s total thanks to delayed marriages and an aging population.The reshaping of Korean households is changing the investment landscape in favor of certain industries and companies catering to individualism. They include health care, cosmetics, convenience stores, home meal manufacturing, dining, online shopping and leisure product makers. Two-person homes were dominant until last year, but were overtaken by one-person hou
Translation app tops chart to mixed reviews

TechnologyOct 18, 2012

As the automatic translation application “GenieTalk” has taken the No. 1 spot on AppStore’s free popular app chart just one day after launching, early adopters across the nation and overseas are busy posting reviews on social network services ― on both the good and the bad. “GenieTalk,” a free Korean-English translation app developed by the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institution with support from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, was introduced on Wednesday and jumped straight t
KB Kookmin scores top in survey of custodian banks

Oct 18, 2012

KB Kookmin Bank received the highest marks to become among the “top rated” custodian banks for the seventh year in a row in an annual service evaluation by a British magazine. The Global Custodian has assessed the services of custodian banks worldwide since 1990, becoming a key trade journal for reference when global financial institutions and institutional investors choose their custodian banks.A custodian bank is a specialized financial institution responsible for safeguarding a firm or indivi
Korean banks resilient to household debt: Moody’s

Oct 18, 2012

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korean banks are resilient to the country’s heavy household debt, as they have a solid capital buffer against possible debt defaults, Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday.Heavy household debt has often been cited as one of the major concerns for the South Korean economy, which could pose a serious threat to the already slowing economy.“One reason for this resilience is that the loan portfolios of Korean banks, which account for about half of the household credi
Shares edge up ahead of European meeting

Oct 18, 2012

South Korean stocks edged up 0.2 percent Thursday as investors sat on the sidelines ahead of a key policymaking meeting in Europe, analysts said. The local currency rose to a new yearly high against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 3.97 points to 1,959.12. Trading volume was moderate at 490 million shares worth 4.22 trillion won ($3.82 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 540 to 277.“There are no bigger issues to push up the main index further following a
Self-employed people take hit from slump

Oct 18, 2012

The number of self-employed people shutting down their business last year jumped to a four-year high, suggesting that owners of mom-and-pop stores bore the brunt of the slowing economic growth, data showed Thursday.According to the data by the National Tax Service, business closures by self-employed people totaled 829,669 last year, up 3 percent or about 24,000 from a year earlier. It marked the largest number since 2007 when the figure was 848,000. By sector, the service sector including hair s
United Pharm first Korean firm to export anti-cancer drugs to Europe

IndustryOct 18, 2012

Korea United Pharm Inc. will export two kinds of cancer-treating medicine to Poland, becoming the first Korean firm to ship such drugs to Europe, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said Thursday. KOTRA officials said the Korean pharmaceutical firm and Polish buyers had signed a contract to export the drugs it developed to treat lymphoma and prostate cancer. The first drug export deal will pave the way for more medical exports to the European market, the officials said.The deal involves
SK chairman to focus on Southeast Asia

IndustryOct 18, 2012

Chey in week-long visit to Thailand, Singapore, MalaysiaSK Group’s chairman Chey Tae-won flew to Thailand on Thursday to kick off his week-long business cooperation expansion effort with Southeast Asian countries.Beginning his trip by taking part in the two-day Asia Business Council Forum in Bangkok, Chey will stop by countries including Singapore and Malaysia and return to Seoul next Wednesday, according to SK officials. Chey, who is the head of the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, is expec