A package of government measures unveiled Thursday to curb rising consumer prices includes a policy to stabilize the property market amid soaring housing rent prices.The government has focused on active supply of small-sized houses and funding for the mid- and lower-income households which generally resort to “jeonse,” the Korean rent system under which tenants pay a lump-sum deposit to rent a hou

Renault-Nissan Alliance held its annual purchasing conference in Seoul this week, opening new opportunities for local parts makers, Renault Samsung Motors Co. said Thursday.The conference, held Monday and Tuesday by Renault-Nissan Purchasing Organization that oversees purchasing and quality control of parts for Renault and Nissan operations, is customarily held at the headquarters of Renault or Ni

Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai speed up expansion of Internet, mobile businessesKorea’s large retailers are gearing up for intensifying competition online as virtual marketplaces grow on the back of popular mobile computing and social media.Lotte Shopping, Shinsegae Group and Hyundai Department Store are strengthening their Internet and mobile business operations with plans to open new shops, broaden p

Ha focuses on speed, openness and collaborationSK Telecom Co., the nation’s top mobile carrier, will speed up its transition to the next-generation network and boost cooperation with application developers and suppliers, its new chief executive said on Wednesday.In his first news conference since taking office on Jan. 1, Ha Sung-min, 54, unveiled a new management strategy focused on speed, opennes

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's central bank unexpectedly raised the key interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Thursday in an apparent bid to contain growing inflationary pressure.Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers hiked the benchmark seven-day repo rate, dubbed the base rate, to 2.75 percent. It marked the third rate increase since the onset of t

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's smallest mobile carrier, said Thursday that it has made inroads into the fast-growing mobile social networking market in South Korea in an effort to find new revenue sources.   The wireless and fixed-line operator introduced beta versions of two mobile-based social networking services last month that are available to all mobile phone users, it said in a statement.   

Shin Eun-hee has a unique duty in her role as a top executive. She not only supervises Korean operations of the Nielsen Company, a global information and media firm, but also Japanese operations, assuming the role of managing director for the two crucial markets in East Asia simultaneously. What’s more unusual is that Shin does most of her business here in Seoul. The convention is that regional CE

Expectations are rising that the domestic real estate market hit bottom last year and began to recover in the last quarter.The Land & Housing Institute said Wednesday home transaction volume and prices rose for the sixth consecutive week during the fourth quarter of last year after seeing minus 0.1 percent growth in July.“In particular, it is noteworthy that the pace of growth has been accelerated

Workers entrust wage decision to management in return for job securityThe trade union of Hyundai Oilbank Co., the nation’s smallest oil refiner, pledged to refrain from labor strife this year to concentrate on boosting the firm’s competitiveness, the firm said Wednesday. In a ceremony held in Seoul, the refiner’s union members voluntarily entrusted the management with a full right to decide on the

Korea’s economy added jobs in December at the fastest rate for seven months as manufacturers boosted hiring amid strong exports, official figures showed Wednesday.The number of employed people stood at 23.68 million last month, up 455,000 from a year earlier. It was the largest year-on-year increase in jobs since 586,000 in May.The unemployment rate of 3.5 percent last month was unchanged from Dec

DETROIT (AFP) ― Hyundai is ramping up production in the face of growing U.S. demand but will likely not be able to build enough vehicles to satisfy all prospective buyers, the head of U.S. operations told AFP.“Our challenge is going to be can our plants supply what we think will be a remarkable consumer demand,” John Krafcik, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor America, said Mon