Hyundai Motor Co.’s net annual profits broke the 5 trillion won mark for the first time in 2010 buoyed by improving performances from overseas operations, the company announced Thursday.The company’s net profits for 2010 jumped 77.8 percent from the previous year to come in at 5.27 trillion won ($4.73 billion), while operating profits came in at 3.23 trillion won, up 44.4 percent from 2009.The com

South Korea posted a $28.21 billion current account surplus last year, the fourth largest in its history, due to robust exports of electronics, chips and automobiles despite the won’s gain and high oil prices, the central bank said Thursday.The figure was lower than the $32.8 billion recorded in 2009 and fell short of the Bank of Korea’s earlier forecast of $29 billion. The country posted a surplu

Cho to focus on forging stable growth, boosting customer baseCho Joon-hee, new head of the Industrial Bank of Korea, said Thursday he will focus primarily on forging stable growth and boosting the customer base while pushing for a long-term goal of reorganizing the lender under a holding company structure.Cho took office last month as chief executive officer of the state-run lender which specializ

S-Oil Corp., Korea’s third- biggest oil refiner, posted a fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as a global economic recovery helped increase earnings from processing crude into gasoline and diesel. Net income was 322.7 billion won ($290 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of 87.4 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said in a regulatory fi

After a year of record revenues, Korean retailers are aggressively expanding at home and abroad, pinning hopes on booming luxury goods sales and the rise of deep-pocketed Asian consumers.Top department store chains, Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai, are sizing up their existing downtown branches and opening new stores in suburban centers, setting their sights on consumers of high-end products.Large di

The Korean economy grew rate at an eight-year high of 6.1 percent last year, rounding out a strong year buoyed by public stimulus and resilient exports under record low borrowing costs, the central bank said on Wednesday.Growth was slower in the final three months of 2010 at 0.5 percent, down from the third quarter when the economy grew 0.7 percent. On an annual basis, Asia’s fourth-largest econom

Korea Electric Power Corp. has established the country’s first meteorological tower at sea as part of its offshore wind power generation. The 115-meter Herald of Meteorological and Oceanographic Special Unit-1 was built on the South Sea near the Busan-Yeonggwang area, the company said Wednesday.Its primary purpose is to obtain meteorological and oceanographic data for an offshore wind farm planned

Next-generation networks to be set up from this yearThe government said Wednesday that it will speed up the establishment of next-generation mobile communication systems, aiming to lead the global wireless market by 2015.The Korea Communications Commission and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said they will secure key technologies, such as fourth-generation telecommunication technologies, and bui