South Korea’s exports of information technology products contracted 8.2 percent on-year due to persistent eurozone woes and a slowdown in the Chinese economy, the government said Thursday.The country shipped $12.37 billion worth of IT products in March, compared with $13.48 billion a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.Despite minus growth, the country posted a trade surplus of $5.85 billion as imports fell 9.8 percent on-year to $6.52 billion.March’s surplus represents

South Korea’s economic slowdown is moderating somewhat, helped by an easing of external uncertainties and improvements in domestic demand, a state-run think tank said Thursday.“The slowdown in overall industrial production has eased on improving manufacturing and service output,” the Korea Development Institute said in its monthly report. “Private consumption and business investment are maintaining upward momentum.”Output in the manufacturing and service industries grew 14.4 percent and 5.5 perc

Korea’s development aid to poor countries grew to make the country the 17th largest donor in the world, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday.Korea is one of only seven among the 23 members of the OECD to up its aid for poorer nations in the past year. The crisis in Europe and sluggish business sentiment across the globe has seen foreign aid take a hit in many countries. The Korean government in 2011 spent $1.32 billion on official development aid, up 5.8 percen

ManpowerGroup, a provider of services in human resources, has been included on Ethisphere Institute’s World’s Most Ethical Companies list for the second straight year. The list is based on companies’ commitment to ethical leadership, compliance, corporate social responsibility and business practices at large. ManpowerGroup said the recognition reflects its continued efforts.“This recognition means a great deal to ManpowerGroup’s people because we take tremendous pride in doing good while doing w

Korea New Exchange set to offer new direct funding channel to startupsSouth Korea’s financial regulator said Thursday that a new stock market dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises would open by the end of this year, offering greater direct financing opportunities to promising startups. The Financial Services Commission said it will accelerate steps to launch the new market, temporarily named “Korea New Exchange,” by working out listing conditions and public disclosure rules. The domest

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved clinical trials of a Korean company’s artificial liver transplant on humans. The approval is expected to help H2 Holdings raise capital to finance research and development.U.S.-based bio-tech firm HepaHope, which will run the trials, is an affiliate of H2 Holdings, a Korea-based company founded by Dr. Park Sung-soo. Park is the majority shareholder of H2 Holdings, which holds a 10 percent stake in HepaHope. H2 Holdings held more than 17 bil

Imagine going to a local store, picking out a design for a robot to help with some household chores, and having the device built within a matter of hours.That is the vision of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a five-year, $10 million project to bring the power of robots to the average person is just getting started."This research envisions a whole new way of thinking

KT&G Corp., South Korea’s biggest tobacco maker, said on Wednesday it will launch a new cigarette named after the famous Italian fashion brand “Tonino Lamborghini” on April 18.The new premium brand has been in development for the past three years to target both the domestic and overseas markets, the company said. KT&G has obtained the exclusive global sales rights for the cigarette brand and plans to market it as one of its global strategic items. “The new cigarette has been made of top-of-the-n

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that the firm was given the Carbon Trust Standard certificate by a London-based organization for its carbon-reductive management.Being named the first firm in the country to receive the certificate, Samsung was recognized for its carbon-reduction efforts in eight different workplaces here, according to Samsung officials. Carbon Trust Standard is valid for two years. This comes after the company won the Carbon Footprint for the Galaxy 2 and Galaxy Note earlier i

Since launching its new display arm, Samsung is gearing up to make a generation shift in display panels at its Chinese plant in Suzhou, Jiang province, so that it can make larger display panels and possibly organic light-emitting diode displays.Chang Won-kie, president of Samsung China, told reporters Wednesday that the Chinese government has approved the firm’s request to shift its liquid-crystal display manufacturing line from 7.5-generation to 8-generation, hinting that it will soon show “out