Korea plans to call on China to open its domestic market to fermented food and beverages that cannot be formally sold due to the lack of sanitation guidelines, a senior government trade official said Wednesday.The request to allow shipments of such traditional Korean products as kimchi and makgeolli will be made at the bilateral working-level trade talks scheduled for next Tuesday, Deputy Trade Minister Lee Si-hyung told reporters.Kimchi is a spicy side dish made from fermented cabbage, radishes

Sluggish demand at home and abroad, slowing money flow add to deflation fears amid euro crisisKorea is facing rising deflationary concerns, experts said, as worsening external economic conditions weigh on the export-dependent economy and the property market slump draws out. Deflation, a decrease in the general price level of goods and services, is caused by many factors including a deflationary gap, in which total spending in an economy is insufficient to buy all the output that can be produced

LG Chem said Wednesday it posted about 5.99 trillion won ($5.24 billion) in sales and 503 billion won in operating profit in the second quarter, both boosted by increased sales in its information and electronic material and battery units.In its quarterly regulatory filing, the company said that its sales and operating profit from April to June went up 4.2 percent and 9.5 percent compared to the previous quarter. Its net profit, however, decreased 1.8 percent to 373.9 billion won.The information

Korean stocks closed 1.48 percent lower on Wednesday as investor sentiment took a blow from U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s bleak economic outlook, analysts said. The local currency climbed against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slumped 27.05 points to 1,794.91. Trading volume was moderate at 448.5 million shares worth 4.4 trillion won ($3.9 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 658 to 169.“Bernanke’s gloomy economic outlook as well as weakening hopes ov

Korea announced on Wednesday the official start of a program to install a nationwide smart grid system that will help the country’s businesses and households save billions of dollars in coming years.A ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy marked the official launch of the five-year project that will make the country one of the first in the world to have a nationwide smart grid system.A smart grid system largely consists of what is known as advanced metering infrastructure that aff

Korea’s trade surplus with the European Union fell sharply after the free trade pact went into effect a year ago due to eurozone woes that hurt exports and caused a rise in imports, government data showed Wednesday.According to data by the Korea Customs Service, imports from the EU shot up 13 percent on-year to $49 billion between July 2011 and June this year. Exports fell to $50.9 billion from $57.9 billion during the period, with the surplus dropping to just $1.9 billion from $14.5 billion rep

Korean banks’ daily foreign exchange trading volume rose to the highest level in more than four years in the second quarter amid a continued current account surplus, the central bank said Wednesday.The daily foreign exchange trading volume among banks averaged $22.72 billion in the April-June period, up 1.2 percent from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The reading marked the highest level since $23.37 billion in the first quarter of 2008.Daily transactions of foreign exchang

Korean financial holdings companies were lukewarm about expanding their overseas operations in the first half of the year due to jitters over the eurozone debt crisis and a slowing world economy, the financial regulator said Wednesday. The country’s 10 financial holding companies had 150 overseas branches, representative offices and wholly-owned subsidiaries as of June, compared with 151 six months earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The FSS said worsening global market condi

As demand in Korea slowed, exports drove up production last yearThe nation’s robotics industry broke the 2 trillion won ($1.75 billion) mark in terms of production last year, largely driven by strong demand from the soaring Chinese market, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Wednesday. A recent ministry report said the overall production of the nation’s robotic industry went up 20 percent to about 2.15 trillion won last year. Amid slowing demand in Korea as well as in Europe and North America

SAN JOSE, California ― It’s one of the most critical pieces of technology in your home. And though most consumers don’t think of their humble toilet as a tech product, researchers and engineers at global companies like Caroma and Toto are racing to improve designs so toilets consume far less water.Recent droughts, a growing global population and concerns about the impact of climate change on the world’s water resources have led to a surge of interest in water conservation as well as efforts to “

SK Telecom, Korea’s biggest mobile carrier, said Wednesday that it has launched an application where users can receive their bills and pay them through smartphones.The application named “Smartphone Billing & Payment Platform” can be downloaded by any smartphone users at SK Telecom’s T Store, Google’s Android or Apple’s App Store.With the app, users can not only pay their telephone bills, but also property and other taxes to regional government offices.The development of the app was part of effor