Kia Motors grabs highest China market share in 6 yearsKicker: Kia‘s Morning named best city car in FranceKia Motors Corp. captured its highest share of the Chinese market in six years in November, gaining momentum in the world’s most populous market, company officials said Friday, Kia posted a China market share of 4.1 percent last month, the largest since October 2005 when it reached 4.7 percent.Kia achieved record China sales of 45,768 units last month with the newly launched mid-sized sedan

KMI and IST fail to pass, clouding outlook over new impetus to wireless sectorThe Korea Communications Commission said on Friday it would not issue wireless carrier licenses to Internet Space Time and its rival Korea Mobile Internet. Both IST and KMI failed to secure 70 points or higher in the screening process, dimming their hopes to become the country’s fourth mobile carrier. Currently, the domestic market is dominated by SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus. The KCC held a judging committee meeting ea

South Korean stocks closed 1.15 percent higher on Friday as stronger U.S. jobs data eased concerns about the recovery of the world’s largest economy, analysts said.The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI rose 20.85 points to 1,839.96, breaking the third straight session of falls. Trading volume was moderate at 483.5 million shares worth 4.3 trillion won ($3.7 billion) with gainers outpacing losers 492 to 342.“Better-than-expected data on U.S. job markets gave some sol

Local banks and companies were joining the government’s power-saving crusade as freezing weather gripped Korea on Friday, sparking fears of a supply shortage.Subject to a 10-percent mandatory cut in demand and heating limits, most energy-intensive companies have already written their own measures to curtail electricity consumption including power protection systems and backup generators.“We’re trying to curb unnecessary consumption as much as possible because electricity makes up a large part of

Angel-in-us sells the most caffeinated bottled coffee at convenience stores, while Starbucks coffee has the most caffeine among takeaway drinks, Korea Consumer Agency said Friday. A bottled latte from the Lotte Group owned Angel-in-us contained 63 milligrams of caffeine per 100 milliliters, the highest among 20 bottled and canned coffees sold at convenience stores. A bottled mocha from Angel-in-us contained 62 milligrams of caffeine and its caramel macchiato had 46 milligrams of caffeine per 100

LG Electronics Inc., the world’s second-largest maker of flat-screen TVs, said Thursday that it has agreed to collaborate with Intel Corp. to use the U.S. chipmaker’s wireless display technology in smart TVs. The result of their partnership will be introduced in the market during the first quarter of next year, LG Electronics said, in a form of Web-connected TVs that can play content from laptop computers and mobile devices. Intel is seeking to expand the number of hardware partners to adopt its

South Korea’s top automotive group Hyundai Motor Group is expected to post bigger earnings this year than Samsung Group, the country’s biggest family-controlled conglomerate, data showed Thursday.The combined earnings of Hyundai Motor Group’s eight listed affiliates are projected to reach 18.05 trillion won ($15.56 billion) this year, compared with 17.75 trillion won of 12 Samsung Group affiliates, according to the data by financial data provider FnGuide.It will mark the first time that the auto

Korean Air, Hyundai Heavy, Hanwha, Samsung Techwin eyeing aircraft makerThe planned privatization of Korea Aerospace Industries has hit a snag with opposition from the labor union which wants the company to be a public corporation.The labor union of the state-funded aircraft maker has decided to obstruct a visit by the president of Korea Finance Corporation, KAI’s largest shareholder, scheduled for next week. The KoFC got KAI listed last June, making it possible to sell off the major shareholder

SMBA set to spend W1tr to help youth  start new businessesThe Ministry of Knowledge Economy said it plans to create 30,000 new jobs for young people next year by hiring more for research and development, and kick-start a project to foster 3,000 small and medium-sized companies that hire 1.2 million people by 2015.The ministry will also spend 1.7 trillion won next year alone to stabilize the power supply and have the Korea Electric Power Corporation replace obsolete equipment, according to an ann

South Korean stocks closed 2.08 percent lower on Thursday as foreign investors dumped local stocks on nagging concerns about Europe’s debt crisis, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar for the sixth straight session.The benchmark KOSPI trimmed 38.64 points to 1,819.11. Trading volume was moderate at 402.3 million shares worth 5.31 trillion won ($4.57 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 658 to 178.“Contagion fears about Europe’s debt crisis gripped investor sentiment.

South Koreans’ capacity to repay debt worsened to the lowest level in more than two years in the third quarter as falling share prices cut the value of their assets amid growing debt, the central bank said Thursday.The ratio of financial assets held by households and nonprofit organizations to debt, a gauge of their capacity to redeem debt, came in at 2.07 as of the end of the third quarter, down from 2.15 in the second quarter, according to the Bank of Korea.The third-quarter data marked the lo