The Korea Herald

Toyota: Summer car shortage possible

IndustryApr 12, 2011
Fed to stick with low rates, despite oil rise

IndustryApr 12, 2011
Koreans’ overseas spending hits record high

Apr 12, 2011

Koreans’ overseas spending exceeded a record high 20 trillion won ($18.4 billion) in 2010, as more travelers and students abroad took advantage of the strong won, the Bank of Korea said Monday.The country’s nominal overseas spending reached 20.3 trillion won last year, up 15.4 percent from 2009. It is the highest level of annual spending from overseas since 1970 when officials began collecting dat
Criminal probe set for stock trading of Deutsche Bank

Apr 12, 2011

Regulator suspends parts of brokerage unit’s operationsFinancial regulators on Wednesday requested that the prosecution investigate Deutsche Bank AG and its staffers for allegedly manipulating stock prices last November.In addition, they suspended some operations of Deutsche Securities Korea, a brokerage unit of the Germany-based investment bank. The securities firm is banned from selling a certai
[Meet the CEO] Nespresso shapes Korean espresso culture

IndustryApr 12, 2011

Nespresso is confident that booming enthusiasm for coffee among Koreans and the surging popularity of homemade espressos will continue to shore up its brisk sales growth in the market, the chief of Korean operations said.Since the coffee business unit of Swiss food giant Nestle launched its single-serve “coffee capsules” in December 2007, it has led the local portion coffee market which has been e
Kakao Talk looks to overseas expansion

IndustryApr 12, 2011

Popular mobile messenger service breaks threshold of 10 million downloadsKakao, a venture firm that invented the popular mobile messenger app Kakao Talk last year, announced Monday that it will branch out to overseas markets this year with the aim of garnering 100 million downloads.In a press conference celebrating more than 10 million registered Kakao Talk users, its founder Kim Beom-su said the
BOK freezes key rate at 3 pct for April

Apr 12, 2011

BOK freezes key rate at 3 pct for AprilSouth Korea's central bank froze the key interest rate on Tuesday, a sign that it needs more time to assess the impact of a rate hike in March amid lingering economic uncertainties like the fallout from Japan's quake. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers froze the benchmark seven-day repo rate, dubbed the base rate, at 3 perce
Builders’ domestic orders tumble in Feb.

IndustryApr 12, 2011

Domestic orders of Korean builders plunged 17 percent in February from a year earlier due to a prolonged slump in the local property market and a drop in orders from the public sector, a trade association said Monday. The local builders’ domestic orders came to 5.09 trillion won ($4.69 billion) in February, compared with 6.15 trillion won tallied a year earlier, the Construction Association of Kor
Quarantine checks on farm imports increase

Apr 12, 2011

Korea’s quarantine inspections of imported farm produce rose 10 percent on-year in the first quarter mainly due to greater local demand for vegetables and fruits, the government said Tuesday.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said import inspections were carried out on 43,793 shipments in the January-March period, compared to 39,746 during the same period a year earlier.“Un
POSCO operating income forecast to fall

Apr 12, 2011

Korea’s leading steelmaker POSCO is expected to report an operating income of less than 1 trillion won ($917 million) for the January-March period due to a price freeze amid soaring raw materials costs, analysts said Tuesday.POSCO, the world’s third-largest steelmaker, is set to report its first-quarter earnings next Friday. The steelmaker has been reporting a quarterly operating profit of more th
Finance minister to attend G20 meeting

Apr 12, 2011

Korea’s Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun will leave for the United States this week to attend a Group of 20 (G20) meeting, which will focus on pending global economic and financial issues, officials said Tuesday.The G20 finance ministers’ meeting will kick off in Washington on Thursday for a two-day run, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Yoon will leave for the meeting on Wednesda
3-D industry waiting for cue on adult content

IndustryApr 11, 2011

The success of “Sex and Zen” is most likely to mark a watershed moment in the 3-D industry as the fate of adult movies seems to be hinging on the movie’s performance.“It’s a matter of time, but we are in dire need of some concrete evidence to accept that 3-D adult entertainment will take off in earnest,” said Han Dong-hoon, a spokesperson for N’tree Media, an adult-image content provider. “Sex and
Public firms’ debts surge W34tr in 2010

Apr 11, 2011

Debts owed by Korea’s public corporations surged by 34.2 trillion won ($31.6 billion) in 2010 mainly due to outlays in large development projects, the government said Monday.The finance ministry said the combined debt of 27 leading public corporations rose 14.4 percent on-year to 271.9 trillion won last year, with their debt-to-equity ratio hitting 157 percent, up from 144 percent in 2009.Their de
Hyundai Capital under full-scale probe

Apr 11, 2011

FSS sends investigators to largest auto loan firm over customers’ information leakThe Financial Supervisory Service on Monday dispatched a group of inspectors to Hyundai Capital where the personal information of about 420,000 customers and passwords of 13,000 customers have been stolen by hackers.The hacking allegedly went on for about two months without detection by staff of Hyundai Capital, whic
Korea, Indonesia to discuss economic ties

Apr 11, 2011

Korea and Indonesia will hold a working-level meeting next month on ways to further boost bilateral economic cooperation, Seoul’s finance ministry said Monday.The meeting is a follow-up on a December summit between Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in which they agreed to boost bilateral cooperation on weaponry development, energy, infrastructure and