By Cynthia J. KimKorea’s rating in the World Competitiveness Yearbook by a Switzerland business school rose by one place to No. 22 this year, the highest level the country has reached since joining the list in 1997.The annual report of the world’s 59 most competitive countries by the International Institution for Management Development ranked Korea higher on government and business efficiency, rai

Neowiz Games Corp., a Korean online game publisher, said Wednesday it reached 147.7 billion won ($136 million) in sales and 33.8 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter, breaking its quarterly record due to sharply rising overseas sales.The company, well-known for its game portal Pmang, expanded overseas sales by 141 percent ― taking up 48 percent of its overall sales ― compared to th

Korea Electric Power Corp., the state-run energy company, said Wednesday that it has won a $46 million order from the Dominican Republic to install power transmission lines in the Caribbean island nation.KEPCO said it signed the deal with the Dominican government on Tuesday in Santo Domingo, the country’s capital, to replace 400 kilometers of old power cables in three major cities there by May 201

The number of people traveling the Seoul-Ulsan air route fell 39.4 percent since the last section of the Seoul-Busan high-speed railway was opened, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Wednesday.The Seoul-Busan line connected the East Daegu-Busan line to the Seoul-East Daegu line that was completed earlier, and KTX high-speed trains began operating on the route on Nov. 1.Accor

The two-day High-Level Forum on Korea-LAC Partnership began in Seoul on Wednesday. Held for the third time, high-level officials from 11 Latin American countries including First Vice President of Costa Rica Alfio Piva Mesen are attending the event.The main topic of this year’s discussions are ways to increase cooperation between Korea and Latin American nations in the field of trade, investment, e

Korean bourse says it will tighten supervision of stock trades made on mobile devicesStock trading through smartphones, tablet computers and other wireless devices is expected to exceed 150 trillion won ($138 billion) this year amid growing concerns about network security, market watchers said on Wednesday.The Korea Exchange said the amount of stock trading done using wireless mobile devices toppe

KDB said to be leading potential bidder for September sale of bankThe financial authorities announced Tuesday that the state-controlled Woori Financial Group would be handed over to an investor through a bidding competition by September.The Public Fund Oversight Committee said that it would sell the nation’s largest financial group by assets in a “package deal.” The official announcement came amid

The country’s second largest refiner GS Caltex Co. announced Tuesday that it will raise the retirement age by two years and apply peak salary system from next year.Under the agreement GS Caltex reached with its labor union last month, the retirement age will be raised from 58 to 60 years of age from Jan. 1, 2012. With the peak salary system taking effect on the same date, the base pay for workers