South Korea's air carriers have again agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as part of national efforts to fight climate change, the government said Friday.The voluntary agreement is the third of its kind signed by the country's seven airlines, including flag carriers Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs."Under the first agreem

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its 2012 growth estimate for South Korea to 3 percent on Thursday, citing the heightened eurozone crisis as a major risk factor.In June it forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy would grow 3.25 percent. But the IMF said South Korea's economy is likely to hit the bottom soon and called for preparations for raising interest rates. "The Korean economy is slow

Samsung Electronics plans to add Apple Inc.’s latest smartphone iPhone 5 to the list of devices targeted in its patent lawsuits with the U.S. tech giant.Samsung officials in Seoul said on Thursday that the company had submitted a document to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which states its plan to include iPhone 5 in the ongoing suit against Apple.In the motion, Samsung said that based on currently available information, it believes the new smartphone will infrin

South Korean builder Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co. said Thursday it has won an order from Iraq. Under a deal with the Kurdistan regional government, Ssangyong E&C will build a water treatment plant and transmission and storage facilities in the cities of Halabja and Sulaymaniah in Iraq’s self-ruled northern Kurdish region under a project financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the company said. The company is scheduled to receive 45 billion won ($40 million) as an adva

Four out of 10 South Korean exporting companies expect their faltering exports stemming from a slowdown in China and Europe to bounce back as early as the second half of next year, a poll showed Thursday. According to the survey of 500 exporters by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 40 percent of the respondents said their sluggish overseas shipments will begin to recover in the second half of 2013. Another 17.2 percent expected their exports to rebound from the second half of 2014. “Ex

South Korea’s international air passenger traffic surged to a new monthly high last month on a spike in visitors to and from Japan and China, the Transportation Ministry said Thursday.The number of international passengers to and from South Korea jumped 11.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.72 million in August, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.The August tally marks a new monthly record. The previous record of 4.34 million passengers was set only the previous mo

South Korean stocks closed 0.87 percent lower on Thursday as concerns over China’s weak manufacturing data weighed on investor sentiment here, analysts said. The local currency dropped against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 17.55 points to 1,990.33. Trading volume was heavy at 612.4 million shares worth 5.28 trillion won ($4.7 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 461 to 366.“The market expects the Chinese economy to make a turnaround. However, this

KT said that it has been chosen to build an information and communications system for electric vehicles in Korea.The state-run Korea Environment Corp. selected the country’s second-largest telecom company to establish infrastructure that can support KECO to operate an EV transportation system, including recharging of the eco-friendly automobiles.KT plans to use advanced software, and WCDMA and radio-frequency identification networking technologies for the establishment of the EV communication sy

Global investors’ holding of local stocks to hit record high of W500trForeigners recently became net buyers of Korean stocks amid policies of the U.S. and European Union to boost the regional and global economies.Data released by the Financial Supervisory Service showed that foreign investors have bought local stocks and bonds worth a net 40.3 trillion won ($35.9 billion) so far this year.Their net buying of bonds and shares came to 15.3 trillion won and 25 trillion won, respectively, between Ja

South Korean stocks opened lower on Thursday as shares lost ground across the board, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.61 points, or 0.43 percent, to 1999.27 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Tech blue chips led the decline, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 1.07 percent and its smaller rival LG Electronics losing 0.26 percent. Leading car