AmorePacific Corp., South Korea’s leading cosmetics manufacturer, has opened its first “Sulhwasoo”brand outlet in Singapore as it steps up efforts to make inroads into the Southeast Asian market, company officials said Thursday. The outlet in a department store in Singapore’s popular Orchard Road shopping district sells the company’s top-of-the-line brand, which uses traditional herbal treatments. It is Amore Pacific’s 18th overseas outlet. The company also has Sulhwasoo brand stores in such cit

BMW Korea unveiled on Thursday the new BMW 7 Series, the facelift models of the latest fifth generation of the German carmaker’s flagship luxury line. The Seoul launch was the first in Asia. “We plan to import some 600 new 7 Series vehicles this year. Of them, reservations for 500 have already been made,” said BMW Korea CEO Kim Hyo-joon at a launching event held in southern Seoul. Despite their expensive prices hovering at 130-180 million won ($110,000-150,000) here, the 7 Series models have bee

Standard Chartered Bank Korea bowed to public criticism and decided to pay out a total of 100 billion won ($88.2 million) in interim dividends, half of the originally planned amount.The Korean unit of the British banking group, which had been under fire for its planned payments of a high dividend, made the decision at a board meeting on Thursday.“The dividend amount was determined with consideration to our responsibility to the shareholders to remit a regular dividend flow, but also the local ec

South Korea will seek to develop shale gas as a new major source of energy and expand the country’s imports of the new fossil fuel to 20 percent of all natural gas imports by 2020, the government said Thursday.The country will also take part in overseas development projects to further improve its energy self-sufficiency with shale gas accounting for 20 percent of its self-developed energy supplies in 2020, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.The move comes as shale gas is opening up what the

A Seoul court ordered the communications watchdog Thursday to release cost structures of the country's three mobile carriers in a decision that could possibly help raise pressure on the firms to cut down service charges. The Seoul Administrative Court delivered the ruling in favor of civil rights group People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, which petitioned the court to overturn the Kore

South Korea's potential economic growth rate is estimated to have fallen to the 3-percent range on its economic slowdown stemming from the eurozone debt crisis and population aging, economists said Thursday.The country's potential growth rate, or the maximum possible rate at which an economy can grow without triggering inflation, had remained in the range of 4.5-5 percent between 1998 and 2007, ac

Japanese watch manufacturer Casio announced plans on Wednesday to put a function into wristwatches that allows users to control their smartphone with only their watch. Bluetooth 4.0 technology in the new G-SHOCK series will allow users to find out about incoming calls, texts, emails, and more through alarms or vibrations from the watch. Also, users wearing a piece from the new Casio line will be able to locate their phone by pressing a button on their watch which will ring an alarm from the phon

Apple Inc. has taken its patent row with Samsung Electronics Co. to South Korea's anti-trust watchdog by accusing the top smartphone maker of abusing its dominant market position, sources said Thursday.Since April 2011, the two top smartphone giants have been embroiled in a high-stakes battle across four continents to conquer the $219 billion global smartphone market.Apple has filed a complaint ag