Half of poverty-stricken Koreans live alone or belong to two-member families, a report showed Wednesday. In a report on household patterns issued by the Korea Development Institute, the proportion of families with just one or two members accounted for 54.9 percent of the population whose income falls below the poverty line as of 2010 ― up from 46.9 percent in 2006.Senior citizens made up 72 percent of the poor, one-member family group, as a growing number of the elderly are forced to live alone

LGE overtakes HTC to become No. 2 LTE phone makerKorean tech firms dominated the global sales of smartphones running on the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network in the final quarter of 2011, an industry report found Wednesday. Samsung Electronics sold 1.7 million units of LTE phones in the fourth quarter last year, maintaining its global No. 1 position with a market share of 41 percent, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. LG Electronics, previously the third-place player glob

Financial regulators filed a complaint against Green Non-Life Insurance and its chairman Lee Young-doo with the prosecution for manipulating stocks.The Securities and Futures Commission said Wednesday that the insurance firm has been suspected of frequently rigging stocks between July 2010 and September 2011.During the period, the insurance firm engaged in more than 3,000 cases of fraudulent trading, according to the regulator.The SFC alleged that the practices were aimed at raising the “risk-ba

Korean stocks closed 1.13 percent higher on Wednesday as shares of blue-chip technology companies rose on the back of foreign buying and market rumors, analysts said. The local currency gathered ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI climbed 22.68 points to 2,025.32. Trading volume was moderate at 675.6 million shares worth 7.6 trillion won ($6.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 445 to 374.“The market performed as usual, but steep rises in shares of Samsung Electronics a

The state-run policy lender Export-Import Bank of Korea said Wednesday it signed an agreement with five Chinese banks as part of efforts to help local companies win big overseas projects.Under the deal, Eximbank will hold quarterly meetings with the five lenders to discuss co-financing plans for South Korean companies’ major projects in areas such as shipbuilding, plant construction, and corporate mergers and acquisitions, the policy lender said.The five banks are the Bank of China, the Industri

Labor union claims Kim’s plan compromises central bank’s independenceBank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo has come under fire from the bank’s labor union on Wednesday, offering a painful glimpse into the internal division and distrust that could generate more public doubt about its policy decisions. The BOK labor union issued a statement in the afternoon, attacking its own governor over his alleged decision to recommend a non-BOK figure to the No. 2 position at the central bank.“According to a rece

After more than a decade of trying to find a buyer, Hynix Semiconductor finally found a new owner in SK Telecom on Tuesday.With the board naming SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won the co-chief executive and SK Telecom president Ha Sung-min as the head of the board for Hynix, the buyout was completed.Chey, 52, chairman of the country’s No. 3 conglomerate, will officially direct the new Hynix, which could potentially be named SK Hynix, together with its current chief executive Kwon Oh-chul.“Chairman C

Daily output expected to reach 3,200 tons of natural gas off East AfricaThe Korea Gas Corp. has found an additional reserve of natural gas in waters off Mozambique with a potential quantity enough to supply Koreans for six months, the government said Wednesday. The state-run energy firm, together with co-developers, detected another pool with up to 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from the East African offshore block, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. The latest discovery thus raised

LS Cable & System Ltd., Korea’s leading maker of electrical wiring, said Wednesday it has set up 17 electric car-charging stations across the country for state-run agencies and municipalities.The facilities feature high-speed direct current chargers that can charge Hyundai Motor’s BlueOn for 140 km in 30 minutes. The BlueOn is Korea’s first midsize electric vehicle, the company said in a statement. The 17 locations include the Seoul Central Post Office, the Ministry of Defense, city governments

South Korean tech firm Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it is considering spinning off its liquid-crystal display business, a move seen as aiming to beef up its competitiveness.“The company is mulling spinning off the LCD business, but details have not been decided,” Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing.Analysts said that the move seemed to come as its LCD business suffered from losses for the fourth consecutive quarter in the final quarter of last year amid industry-wide s

Korea posted a trade deficit for the first time in two years in January as its exports shrank, affected by toughening external market conditions, the customs office said Wednesday.The country’s trade deficit came to about $2 billion last month, a turnaround from a surplus of $2.3 billion tallied in the previous month, the Korea Customs Service said in a report.The trade balance swung into the red for the first time since January 2010.Exports fell 7 percent on-year to $41.3 billion, while imports

The government plans to soon announce a set of measures to support the country’s mid-sized companies as part of an ongoing effort to boost South Korean exports, the Commerce Ministry said Wednesday.A mid-sized enterprise is defined as a company with more than 300 employees and 100 million won ($89 million) in annual sales.Such businesses have long been recognized but were legally identified for the first time in March 2011 in a revision to the industry development law. The law previously only re