South Korea's foreign exchange reserves reached a new record high in April as the strength of the euro and other currencies boosted the conversion value of those assets, the central bank said Thursday.The country's foreign reserves reached $316.84 billion at the end of last month, up $890 million from March, according to the Bank of Korea. The previous record was $315.95 billion set in the previou

South Korea’s leading automaker Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday its April sales gained 7.9 percent from a year earlier due mainly to solid demand in overseas markets.Hyundai Motor sold 371,597 vehicles last month, compared with 344,231 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Its April sales, however, were down 2.9 percent from the previous month, when the company sold 382,659 vehicles overall.Domestic sales contracted 7.6 percent on-year to 55,497 vehicles, while overseas sales j

Seoul and Beijing on Wednesday announced the beginning of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement expected to boost the Korean economy through increased trade with the world’s second-largest economy.China is Korea’s biggest trading partner and trade between the neighboring countries is forecast to reach $300 billion by 2015. A state-funded think tank in Seoul projected Korea’s economic output to gain up to 1.25 percent within five years and up to 3 percent within 10 years of the FTA ta

Tech giant moves to expand production of higher efficiency chipsSamsung Electronics is considering transforming some of its existing memory fabrication manufacturing lines into non-memory ones at its plants in Korea and abroad.Industry sources and analysts said that the move comes as demand for non-memory chips such as application processors is set to increase on burgeoning smart devices, while personal computers face decline.AP non-memory chips, which operate much like central processing units

The automotive industry led a surge in voluntary recalls across industries in Korea, in the wake of the massive recalls of Toyota in 2010, the nation’s antitrust watchdog said Wednesday. According to the Fair Trade Commission, Korea saw a 70 percent increase in recalls from 495 in 2009 to 848 in 2010 and 826 in 2011. Voluntary recalls surged 43.9 percent. Even though the food industry reported the most recalls last year with 247, the automobile industry exceeded other sectors for voluntary recal

Companies claim they followed price guidelines from Finance MinistryKorean noodle makers are considering legal action against the Fair Trade Commission over sanctions it imposed on them.The companies producing ramen include Nongshim, which holds the dominant position in the industry.The FTC fined Nongshim and three other players 135.4 billion won ($120 million) for collusion in fixing prices.The regulator said that Nongshim, Samyang, Ottogi and Korea Yakult sought to rig prices on six different

Shinhan Financial Group Co., South Korea’s largest financial company by market value, said first- quarter profit fell 11 percent after the company set aside more funds for bad loans as the economy slows. Net income dropped to 826.3 billion won ($733 million) in the three months ended March 31 from 924.3 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. That compares with the 766.1 billion won average of 20 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Earnings a

South Korean stocks closed 0.86 percent higher on Wednesday on U.S. economic data and solid earnings by local blue-chip companies, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 17.08 points to close at 1,999.07, rising for the fourth consecutive session. Trading volume was heavy at 639 million shares worth 6.21 trillion won ($5.50 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 529 to 320.“The overnight rally in Wall Street exerted p

The 2012 Yeosu Expo Organizing Committee will hold its final dry run on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. A total of 116,000 people recruited through an open call will participate.The committee has held two rehearsals so far ― the first on April 28 with some 30,000 family members of the committee staff, police officers, teachers and volunteers from the region and the second on Wednesday with 50,000 comprised of government officials from Yeosu City and residents from other nearby areas such as Gwan

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― South Korea and the United States began on-site consultations Tuesday on the latest case of mad cow disease here.A team of eight South Korean government officials and civilian experts arrived in Washington Monday for discussions with U.S. authorities and inspections of related facilities.Their visit comes amid unrelenting public concern over the safety of American beef in South Korea. The Seoul government has faced political pressure to suspend imports of U.S. beef.In

The combined net profit of Korean banks’ overseas sales operations nearly doubled last year, as their profitability recovered to pre-crisis levels, the nation’s top financial regulator said Wednesday.The total net profit of 93 overseas units run by 11 banks last year amounted to $721.6 million, up 95.5 percent from $369.1 million in 2010, thanks to a sharp drop in expenses from bad debt and a turnaround in securities-related profits.Profits had gone down to $312 million in 2008 and $286 million

Regulators vow more stern actions on practices burdening borrowersFinancial regulators plan to take disciplinary measures against a group of banks for engaging in irregular lending practices, based on a year-long investigation.A number of retail customers in the banking sector will face punitive measures for their urging of customers to purchase financial products such as deposits and insurance products in return for having their loan applications approved, officials at the Financial Services Se