POSCO, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker, has been named the company with the best corporate governance structure in Korea.According to the steelmaker, it was so named by the Corporate Governance Service and the Korea Exchange on Friday.The company added that its filling of the audit committee with outside directors and other activities giving enhanced independence to auditors also contributed

The government will release almost 3.5 million barrels from its oil reserves in an effort to control international and domestic oil prices, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced Friday.According to the ministry, the government will release 3.467 million barrels in compliance with the International Energy Agency’s Initial Contingency Response Plan.Korea’s oil reserves, held by the government

The Korea Communications Commission turned down Friday KT Corp.’s proposal to end services for feature phone users by the end of this month.The state telecom regulator said it would defer giving the green light to KT’s scheme which would force what KCC cited as its remaining 810,000 2G mobile phone users to adopt 3G smartphones by the first half of this year.“Let’s put it off the discussion agenda

Subsidiary firms of Korea’s mobile carriers are expected to meet resistance in joining the market for mobile virtual network operators as the state watchdog appears wary of letting them do so.In its general meeting on Friday, the Korea Communications Commission agreed to recommend that SK telink, a subsidiary of market leader SK Telecom, hold back from entering the MVNO market.SK telink, a firm in

Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said Friday that the private sector needs to take a bigger role in the economy, vowing to create a business-friendly environment. In his first meeting with heads of the nation’s five major business lobby groups, Bahk attributed the economy’s fast recovery from the financial crisis to “jobs created, overseas investments made and taxes paid” by the private sector busine

SEOUL, (Yonhap) -- South Korea's consumer confidence declined in June from the previous month on concerns that rising inflation and growing household debt could crimp consumer spending, the central bank said Friday.The consumer sentiment index (CSI) -- a gauge of consumers' overall economic outlook, living conditions and future spending -- stood at 102 for June, down from 104 for May, the Bank of

The government said Thursday it plans to boost support for growth industries in the country’s provincial metropolitan areas by injecting 285 billion won ($265 million) this year.The program is the latest in a string of projects that the Ministry of Knowledge Economy has pushed since 2009 to develop regional technology hubs.Under the plan, the ministry will fund nearly 20 billion won this year for

The government is seeking to alleviate the fallout of local oil refiners’ move to raise product prices that were temporarily lowered to help stem inflationary pressure, sources said Thursday.The Ministry of Knowledge Economy recently held talks with local oil companies and called for a “soft landing” approach when they move to mark up gasoline and diesel fuel after July 6, they said.In April, SK I

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs unveiled a draft package of traffic safety measures at a public hearing in Seoul on Thursday, which consists of increased speeding fines, brighter crosswalks and tougher penalties for drunk driving. Though the number of deaths from road accidents in Korea has declined by nearly half over the last decade to about 5,500 in 2010, the figure per 10,

Local chambers of commerce join to press government to stick to tax policyRepresentatives of one of the nation’s top private economic organizations on Thursday called for the government and politicians to stay committed to tax reduction to help the corporate sector. “Tax reduction is necessary to enhance corporate competitiveness and attract foreign capital,” the heads of the country’s 71 regional