Korean firms strive to tackle shortages of trained workers due to demographic changeA rapidly aging population poses a grave challenge to Korean manufacturers, which have seen a large number of skilled workers retire. Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipyard, is suffering most from the trend. A record number of 950 reached retirement age last year. The numbers are estimated to be 800

Top U.S. financial regulator issues recommendations to implement controls on banksRegulators should carry out a “robust implementation” of the Volcker rule by forcing banks to wind down or sell trading desks that don’t comply with the law, the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council said.Government agencies should require banks to perform “quantitative analysis to detect potentially impermissib

LG Uplus, the country’s smallest mobile carrier, said Tuesday that it will officially begin providing mobile office support for small and mid-sized firms.In a joint effort with Microsoft, the company will use the global firm’s software platforms and cloud services like Software as a Service in a bid to jump into the local mobile office market.This comes after LG Uplus and Microsoft formed a strate

Consumption soars to record amid deep chill, fueling power shortage concernsThe government is introducing a series of contingency measures to cut power consumption as the cold spell drives up electricity demand to record levels.With the cold snap gripping the nation, even in the warmer southern regions, electricity demand has shot up, setting new records three times already this month.On Monday, t

LONDON (AFP) ― WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed to publish secret details of offshore accounts after a Swiss banking whistleblower handed over data Monday on 2,000 purportedly tax-dodging individuals and firms.Former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer, who worked for eight years in the Cayman Islands, a renowned offshore tax haven in the Caribbean, personally gave Assange two CDs of data at a London

Service robotics emerges as the next technology frontier with advancing skills, surging demandThese days, visitors to the presidential office in Seoul are getting a taste of the future. At Sarangchae, a museum affiliated with Cheong Wa Dae, a kiosk-shaped robot greets guests with a heartwarming smile. Named Tiro, the machine introduces Korea’s culture and gives directions and answers in four diffe

Gangwon Province is hosting a team of Vietnamese government officials on a week-long trip here to study Korea’s housing policies for low-income earners.The program, requested by Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction, is co-organized by the International Urban Training Center, a state-run training center for policymakers in Gangwon Province and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in Vietnam

U.N. secretary-general also addresses climate, poverty and healthABU DHABI ― Global innovation in clean energy is essential to fight climate change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday at the 2011 World Future Energy Summit. “The prevailing fossil fuel-economy is contributing to climate change and global energy needs are growing rapidly,” he said during his keynote speech at t

Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the global financial crisis, said a key risk to the world economy in 2011 is the likely spread of Europe’s debt crisis. “One of the most important risks is financial contagion in Europe if the euro zone’s problems spread, as seems likely, to Portugal, Spain and Belgium,” Roubini wrote in an article in the Australian Financial Review