The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il sparked immediate concern in the market, pushing the won to a two-month low against the dollar and dropping Seoul stocks to a three-week low.The benchmark KOSPI lost 3.43 percent and closed at 1,776.93 after sliding as much as to 1,750.60 at around noon w

Japanese travelers have long dominated the duty free shops for foreign tourists. However, this dominance has waned and Japanese are on course to be overtaken soon by Chinese tourists. Lotte Duty Free, the nation’s largest duty free seller operated by Hotel Lotte, said its sales to Chinese customers almost doubled from 8.9 percent to 16 percent this year amid a slight decrease in those to Japanese. When it came to its outlet on Jeju Island, Lotte said, Chinese sales made up almost 80 percent of t

Peter Kim, 42, said there were many moments when he and his wife found it hard to have a proper conversation now that they are both smartphone owners.“There are times when we, or at least one of us, is looking at the phone and can’t have a conversation,” he said. “It’s usually when a new update on the social networking site that arrives with a ‘ding-dong’ sound. For some reason, we put our priority on SNS messages rather than the conversation on the table.”The Seoulite, who became a smartphone o

Park Tae-joon, the late founder and honorary chairman of South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO, was buried at the country’s National Cemetery in Seoul on Saturday.The funeral service was attended by over 600 people, including top political and government figures such as National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae and Commerce Minister Hong Suk-woo. Park died Tuesday of lung complications. He was 84 years old.Born in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1927, the late Park was considered a pioneer for

Shipbuilding, steel and liquefied crystal display industries which have built up an oversupply thanks to aggressive investment in facilities are bracing for major restructuring next year.With the European debt crisis likely to carry on or even worsen next year, some companies are already on the verge of shutdown. Market analysts say the shipbuilding sector faces the greatest peril with competition running to extremes after companies mushroomed during the 2007-2008 market boom.Adding to the woes