The Korea Herald

Kia Motors posts record monthly sales in China

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Kia Motors Corp., Korea’s second-largest automaker, posted record-high monthly sales in China last month, backed by strong demand for its sport utility vehicle, company officials said on Sunday.In January, Kia Motors sold 38,858 units of vehicles in the world’s most populous country, up 22.7 percent from a month earlier and also 13.7 percent from the same period last year
LGD eyes Poland joint venture

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

LG Display Co., the world’s second-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, said it’s in talks with TPV Technology Ltd. to form a venture in Poland to manufacture LCD modules and televisions.The venture will help reduce production costs by making TV parts and sets in one factory, Claire Ohm, a Seoul-based spokeswoman for LG Display, said in a telephone interview Monday. LG has similar operations
BAT Korea launches Kent Boost

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

British American Tobacco Korea said Monday it has launched Kent Boost, which offers two levels of menthol in one cigarette.The product is first of this kind in the country, according to the tobacco producer. It gives consumers an extra burst of menthol when they press the capsule in the filter, the firm said. “Kent is the second-largest premium brand globally (outside of U.S. and China) sold in ov
Heated competition may cause new credit card crisis

Feb 7, 2011

Worrisome signs are resurfacing from the issue of red-hot credit card competition, reminiscent of the 2003 bad debt fiasco, prompting regulators to consider fresh restrictions.Major card issuers have been fighting a marketing war since last year, vying for a bigger slice of consumer spending as it gets on track to recovery.The competition led to sharp increases in card issuances and service loans,
Forensic experts to fight tax evasion

Feb 7, 2011

The National Tax Service will launch a forensic investigation center Tuesday to fight increasingly sophisticated tax evasion.The Forensic & Anti Tax Evasion Center will be headquartered in Seoul with regional teams working in the agency’s Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu and Busan offices. Each team will have about 30 officials. “There are limits to the probe with our traditional enforcement tools as tax o
Entry barriers hurt Korean beer industry

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

Brewers say trade barriers must go to add color to Korean beer marketThink Korean beer. Now think of a Korean beer that’s not Hite or OB.That blank right there shows the space smaller breweries have been trying to fill in a market where the share between the big two is split nearly fifty-fifty. Many beer lovers crave diversity, finding local products “watery” and of lower quality when compared to
Korea pressured on currency

Feb 7, 2011

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
Korea Ginseng Corp. to open 11 overseas branches

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

Korea Ginseng Corp. said Monday it will establish 11 new branches outside Korea this year as it aims to more than double its overseas sales.The firm is well-known for its 6-year-old red ginseng brand Cheong Kwan Jang, which has been increasing in popularity overseas, particularly in China, over the past few years.The firm said it will establish new branches in China, Japan, North America, Singapor
Hyundai’s U.S. executives flock to GM

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

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
Bio firm finds structure...of superbug enzyme

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

A Korean firm said Monday it has identified the structure of a key protein that makes bacteria resistant to nearly all known antibiotics, paving the way for a treatment of the so-called superbug.Researchers at Crystalgenomics Inc., a Seoul based bio-venture, have succeeded for the first time to find the shape of the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NMD-1 enzyme that deactivates antibiotics. Si
Firms to showcase new devices in Barcelona

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

Tablet PCs, smartphones to dominate Mobile World Congress next weekLocal electronics giants are lining up their cutting-edge mobile products for a global industry show in Barcelona, Spain next week.New tablet PCs and smartphones are expected to dominate the Feb. 14-17 Mobile World Congress, which is expected to draw more than 1,300 firms from all over the world.LG Electronics, which has been geari
‘Facebook may not be dominant in Japan’

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

Facebook Inc. may never overtake Mixi Inc. in Japan as the lure of connecting with friends overseas isn’t enough for users to switch services, according to the U.S. social-networking site’s biggest games developer.Japan “is one place where Facebook may not end up being dominant,” Robert Goldberg, head of Zynga Game Network Inc.’s operations in the country, said in an interview in Tokyo last week.
BHP, Rio help mine record $52b profit

IndustryFeb 7, 2011

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
Russia follows China in using reserve ratios to curb inflation

Feb 7, 2011

Russia, the only one of the so-called BRIC countries without capital controls, is following China and Turkey in relying on reserve requirements to drain cash from the economy and avoid luring more speculative investment.“We stand ready to continue increasing mandatory requirements, if needed,” Bank Rossii Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said in Frankfurt on Feb. 4. Policy makers will “act decisively to m
Indonesia economy expands 6.9%

BusinessFeb 7, 2011

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