Banks, brokerages, insurance firms carry out early retirement plans to cut costsKorea’s financial sector is headed for a fresh round of restructuring, with major banks pushing employees to opt for early retirement plans amid growing worries over the lackluster earnings outlook.Domestic banks, brokerages and insurance firms are taking steps to reduce their workforces as they brace for lower earnings due to the stronger regulatory supervision including a cut in commission fees and the uncertaintie

Creditors demanded Kumho Petrochemical sell off its stake in Asiana Airlines to facilitate the petrochemical company’s separation from Kumho Asiana Group.“We urged Kumho Petrochemical to dispose of some 14 million shares it holds in Asiana Airlines to meet the requirements for its separation from Kumho Asiana Group,” an official at one of the creditors said Monday. For this, the creditors decided to remove the collateral on the 7.72 percent of the airliner’s common stocks, or some 14.13 million

Korean stocks finished 0.56 percent lower on Monday as uncertainties about Europe overshadowed upbeat U.S. data, prompting institutional sell-offs, analysts said.The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar. After opening briefly higher, the benchmark KOSPI dropped 10.52 points to 1,856.70. Trading volume was moderate at 424 million shares worth 2.97 trillion won ($2.58 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 448 to 357. “Investors are not paying much attention to past economic data as they ar

South Korean stocks finished 0.56 percent lower on Monday as uncertainties about Europe overshadowed upbeat U.S. data, prompting institutional sell-offs, analysts said.The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.After opening briefly higher, the benchmark KOSPI dropped 10.52 points to 1,856.70. Trading volume was moderate at 424 million shares worth 2.97 trillion won ($2.58 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 448 to 357.“Investors are not paying much attention to past economic data as the

By Lee Ji-yoonKT Corp, the nation’s second-largest telecom operator, plans to start its long-awaited Long Term Evolution service from next week after a Seoul court gave it the green light on Monday to ditch its feature phone service.According to KT, it will shut down the second-generation network service in phases, first in Seoul at 10 a.m. on Jan. 3, starting faster LTE service straight away on that day. The Seoul High Court on Monday overturned a lower court ruling in favor of some 900 users w

Creditors of Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co. are pressing the company to sell its stake in Asiana Airlines Inc., a major affiliate of Kumho Asiana Group, in order to separate the petrochemical firm from the group, industry sources said Monday.Park Chan-koo, chairman of Kumho Petrochemical, has been se

 

LONDON (AP) _ The loose-knit hacking movement ``Anonymous'' claimed to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor. One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals' accounts to give away as

Sales of information technology-based applications in Korea have almost doubled on average over the past three years, driven by soaring demand for high-tech solutions to upgrade products, a poll showed Sunday. Five-hundred companies, chiefly non-IT, raked in more than 160 billion won ($139 million) collectively from the business-to-business transactions last year, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. Total output has surged more than 28 percent to almost 50 trillion won between 2007 a