The Korea Herald

Korean shellfish at risk for feces exposure, U.S. says

IndustryMay 18, 2012

The U.S. is curbing shellfish imports from South Korea after food safety regulators determined that inadequate sanitation may have exposed oysters, mussels, clams and scallops to human fecal waste. The Food and Drug Administration removed Korean shippers from its certified shellfish list on May 1, Curtis Allen, an agency spokesman, said in an e-mail today. The FDA cited risks from water and land-b
Seoul buses run uninterrupted after union, management strike deal

May 18, 2012

Buses in Seoul were running smoothly Friday after unionized drivers struck a last-minute wage deal with management and scrapped plans to strike.(Yonhap News)The breakthrough agreement came after marathon talks between the union and management, who agreed to a 3.5 percent wage increase and a 40,000 won (US$34) increase in extra pay for accident-free driving, officials said.Plans to strike from 4 a.
Bahk’s plan to appear on shopping TV disputed

May 17, 2012

Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said he plans to appear on a home shopping channel late this month to promote the products of small- and medium-sized companies.But his idea needs to go through some regulatory deliberation first, according to the nation’s broadcasting regulator.Bahk wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday that he will appear on Home & Shopping, an exclusive channel for SMEs that opened in January, to help the sales of SME products on May 29. Bahk said he hopes to attract a cash mo
Minister indicates electricity rates will increase

May 17, 2012

Commerce Minister Hong Suk-woo indicated Thursday that the government will approve a plan to raise electricity fees.“(Korea’s) cost of electricity for firms marks the cheapest among members of the OECD,” he told reporters. The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. has called for a hike in electricity prices for industry and homes, citing the long freeze in the prices as the main source of its widening deficit.But the government had opposed the plan, fearing that the hike would inflate consumer pr
LG to launch Optimus LTE 2 in Korea this week

IndustryMay 17, 2012

LG Electronics said Thursday that it will launch its new flagship smartphone Optimus LTE 2 in the local market this week.In a press event held at its headquarters in Yeouido, the company showcased the new handset, equipped with the world’s first 2 gigabyte RAM. The handset will only be released in Korea, according to the firm’s mobile chief Park Jong-seok. The new LTE phone also carries the 1.5 gigahertz Snapdragon S4 processor.“The places actively promoting the LTE networks are currently North
Korea, U.S. activate FTA committees

May 17, 2012

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― South Korea and the United States launched a ministerial consultation channel Wednesday on implementing their bilateral free trade agreement.“We established a very effective and efficient communication channel between the two countries in managing KORUS FTA,” Korean Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho said at a forum hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.He was referring to the first Joint Committee meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Washi
Hanwha E&C to sign $7 billion Iraqi housing project

IndustryMay 17, 2012

Iraq will soon sign a $7 billion agreement with South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering & Construction Corp. to build 100,000 housing units in the country, the chairman of Iraq’s National Investment Commission said.“The signing will be final and the work will start after that, the value of the deal is more than $7 billion,” said Sami al-Araji in a telephone’s interview in Baghdad on Wednesday.The commission is also due to sign a contract with Bloom Properties, a United Arab Emirates-based real estate d
Effects of Apple’s Elpida orders on Samsung, Hynix limited

TechnologyMay 17, 2012

Apple’s reported placing of large orders for Elpida Memory’s mobile DRAM chips will not affect Samsung Electronics shares or its global supply chain in the long-run, analysts said Thursday.The effects of the unconfirmed news are likely to be short-lived and limited to boosting the fundamentals of Korean semiconductor players, including SK Hynix, whose production capacity still outweighs that of the Japan-based chip maker.“Elpida’s production capacity lags behind that of Samsung and Hynix, still
LG unveils Google TV in U.S.

IndustryMay 17, 2012

LG Electronics unveiled its first Google television during Internet Week in the U.S. with plans to showcase the product in retail chains later next week.The North American subsidiary of the country’s electronics giant is conducting live demonstrations of LG’s Google TV called G2 Series ― the first to run on the U.S. software giant’s upgraded Android 2.0 platform ― at an event in New York this week.“LG is excited to work with Google to bring Google services to TVs, making it easier for consumers
STX mulls selling off assets to secure financial health

IndustryMay 17, 2012

STX Group, the nation’s 14th-largest business group, said Thursday that it is considering selling assets to revive its worsening financial health amid the ongoing slowdown in the shipbuilding industry globally. “As part of our financial restructuring, we are discussing plans to directly list STX Energy and STX Heavy Industries or to sell off assets through the establishment of financial restructuring covenants with the Korea Development Bank,” the company said in response to an inquiry from the
Hyundai, Kia struggle against hybrid rivals

TransportMay 17, 2012

Korean carmakers plan to roll out new K5, Sonata hybridsHyundai Motor and Kia Motors have yet to clarify their stance on whether to develop Genesis or K9 hybrid vehicles, though global carmakers are in heated competition to launch eco-friendly models of large-sized sedans.The players manufacturing hybrids for the luxury and premium-luxury segments include BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lexus.Spokespeople for Hyundai Motor Group declined to comment on the possibility that Hyundai-Kia would follow s
Koreans’ use of Internet banking up 9.5% in Q1

May 17, 2012

The use of Internet banking in South Korea accelerated in the first quarter from three months earlier as more people conducted financial transactions online, the central bank said Thursday.Online banking transactions reached an average of 45.23 million per day in the January-March period, up 9.5 percent from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea. The first-quarter data also showed a daily average of 33.18 trillion won ($28.43 billion) being sent online, a gain of 0.5 percent compa
Credit card spending up 15.9% in April

May 17, 2012

South Korea’s credit card spending jumped 15.9 percent in April from a year earlier due to modest improvements in domestic economic conditions, a credit association said Thursday.Purchases made with credit cards totaled 42.9 trillion won ($36.7 billion) last month, up 6.6 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Credit Finance Association. Compared with the previous month, however, products bought with plastic, which include credit, debit and prepaid cards, dipped 0.09 percent.The soli
Local firms’ overseas direct investment jumps in Q1

May 17, 2012

South Korean companies’ overseas direct investment soared 18.7 percent on-year to $10.98 billion in the first quarter of this year as firms beefed up their operations abroad, the government said Wednesday.The total is the fifth-largest quarterly overseas direct investment since such data tracking began in 1980, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said. A record $18.09 billion was recorded in the second quarter of last year.“There has generally been a steady rise in overseas direct investment in
SK Telecom raises $318m in Swiss franc-denominated bonds

May 17, 2012

SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile carrier, has successfully raised funds in the Swiss bond market, despite Europe’s economic woes.The company said that it issued Swiss franc-denominated bonds worth CHF 300 million ($318 million), with an annual interest rate of 1.75 percent at a maturity of 5 years.The fund-raising was part of plans to seek low-cost capital sources and repay its debt, it said. The company’s outstanding debt stood at 11.6 trillion won at the end of 2011, according to financial s