Seoul officials expected to turn more cautious in wake of U.S. criticismKorean officials are expected to take a more cautious approach in dealing with the foreign exchange market following the U.S. criticism of their active intervention to keep the won low, analysts said Monday.The Bank of Korea declined to make any official comment on the U.S. Treasury Department’s recent report to Congress on th

Hyundai Motor America’s senior designer Phillip Zak has returned to GM, joining the recent migration of Hyundai’s top-level executives to the U.S. giant.Zak, who had worked as GM’s chief designer for Europe before moving to Hyundai Motor America in April 2009, returned to the U.S. carmaker earlier this month.While at Hyundai Motor America, Zak is said to have played a key role in introducing Hyund

BHP Billiton Ltd., Vale SA and Rio Tinto Group, the world’s three largest mining companies, are set for record profit totaling $52 billion as they accelerate earnings growth at the expense of their biggest customers.The companies, also the largest iron-ore exporters, may post an average 66 percent jump in the annual earnings they report this year compared with 2007, according to analyst estimates

Indonesia’s economy grew at the fastest pace in six years last quarter, extending an expansion that may prompt the central bank to raise interest rates further after its first increase since 2008 to curb price pressures.Gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier, compared with 5.82 percent previously reported for the third quarter, the Central

Chinese women took up the largest portion of foreign wives married to Korean men in 2009, government data said Sunday.According to Statistics Korea, a total of 11,364 Chinese women married Korean men in 2009, while 7,249 Vietnamese and 1,643 Filipina women walked down the aisle with Korean men in the same year.They were followed by Japanese, Cambodian, Thai, American and Mongolian wives, numbering

Foreign firms operating in Korea spent an average of three times more on client entertainment than local firms in 2009, while their donations to good causes were just 30 percent of the latter, a report by the national tax watchdog showed on Sunday.According to the National Tax Service report, 1,406 foreign companies in Korea spent a total of over 62 billion won ($51 million) on entertainment expen