Male white-collar workers in their 30s with a college degree are the biggest users of online portals’ news services, a report showed on Sunday. According to the report issued by the Korea Press Foundation, male users make up 55.2 percent of news consumers at Korea’s top three portals. The survey, based on users who regularly browse news at Naver, Daum and Nate, showed that those aged 30-39 account for a 26.4 percent share, followed by those in their 40s (23.8 percent), 19-29-year-olds (21.4 perc

South Korean shares are expected to rebound this week, as European leaders agreed last week on a series of fiscal measures to stem the ongoing debt crisis, analysts said Saturday.At their two-day summit that ended Friday, European leaders agreed to tighten anti-deficit rules and funnel money to the International Monetary Fund, thus preventing future debt run-ups.“The outcomes were roughly in line with market expectations,” said Kang Hyun-chul, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities. “Now, i

South Korea’s gaming industry will likely see its sales reach nearly 18 trillion won ($15.6 billion) by the end of this year, mainly due to an increase in lottery sales, industry data showed Sunday.Sales of six legal gaming sectors including lottery, casino and horse-racing are expected to reach 17.8 trillion won this year, equivalent to more than 1.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the data compiled by the National Gaming Control Commission. The figure would likely

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Sunday that it has fined four South Korean and Japanese makers of cathode-ray tube glass a combined 54.5 billion won ($47.5 million) for colluding to fix prices.Samsung Corning Precision Materials Co. was slapped with the largest fine of 32.4 billion won, with Hankook Electric Glass Co., the local subsidiary of Japan’s Asahi Glass Co. receiving a fine of 18.3 billion won, according to the Fair Trade Commission.The regulator also imposed a combined penalty of

Korea, Japan and China are scheduled to wrap up their joint study on a three-way free trade agreement Friday, portending the beginning of negotiations early next year.A free trade deal binding the three nations that account for a fifth of the world’s economic output and a sixth of the global trade volume could help resolve geopolitical uncertainties in the region and advance reunification of the Korean Peninsula.A trade pact removing the tariffs among the three economies, with a combined populat

LG Electronics, the world’s third-largest flat-screen TV producer, said on Sunday it received high marks from leading product review magazines in Europe. “What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision,” a leading consumer reviews magazine, gave a five-star rating to the LG Cinema 3D Home Theater in its November issue. The company received positive reviews for its home theater and related gadgets released this year, based on their outstanding design, balanced sound and user-friendly features. Other magazines in th

Korea’s unemployment rate is expected to slightly rise next year on the back of sluggish economic growth at home and abroad, leading private think tanks said Sunday.LG Economic Research Institute forecast the country’s jobless rate will be 3.7 percent next year, while Hyundai Research Institute predicted 3.6 percent. Both figures are up from this year’s estimated 3.5 percent.Samsung Economic Research Institute predicted a 3.4 percent rate. But it indicated a possible rise, citing lackluster job

The nation’s top financial regulator on Friday urged accounting firms to commit to a rigorous audit of troubled savings banks to uproot accounting fraud.Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se pinpointed the lack of transparency in financial reports in the industry at a breakfast meeting with chiefs of the industry’s 13 biggest accounting firms.“Transparency is an essential element in a trusted relationship between banks and the public, and demand for honest reporting is growing,” Kwon

More than half of securities company chiefs in Korea are about see the end of their terms, signaling a wave of management changes in the brokerage industry.According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, 29 out of 49 securities firms will see their tenures end next year.In particular, most of the 10 major securities firms are affected. Samsung Securities replaced its CEO on Dec. 7.The current figures include Daewoo Securities CEO Im Kee-young, Woori Investment and Securities CEO Hwang S

South Korea’s producer prices grew at the slowest clip in one year in November as prices of vegetables and fruits fell sharply, the central bank said Friday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, rose 5.1 percent in November from a year earlier, cooling from a 5.6 percent on-year gain in October, according to the Bank of Korea.Last month‘s data marked the slowest gain since a 4.9 percent gain tallied in November 2010, it added.Compared with the previous month, produc

Samsung wins legal battle in Australia, but fails to ban sales of iPhone 4S in FranceSamsung Electronics will be rolling out its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia in time for the holiday season as its High Court rejected Apple’s request on Friday to extend the sales ban on Samsung’s tablet PCs.The three-judge High Court panel said that Apple failed to convince them that the firm could win on appeal and denied the company a hearing, according to news reports. Chief Justice Robert French, representing