The Korea Herald

Hong named new head of KOTRA

Jun 22, 2011

Hong Suk-woo, a former chief of the Small & Medium Business Administration, has been named new president of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the trade agency said Wednesday.Hong, 58, will supervise the agency’s overall business and shore up overseas operations, concentrating on “globalizing small-and medium-sized firms to steer the era of $1 trillion trade,” KOTRA said in a statement.
GS Caltex dips into state oil reserves

Jun 22, 2011

GS Caltex Corp., the nation’s No.2 oil refiner, on Wednesday said it has borrowed 870,000 barrels of diesel oil from reserves kept by the Korea National Oil Corp. This marks the first time in three years that the refiner has dipped into government fuel reserves.The borrowed fuel is expected to be released at local gas stations next week. GS Caltex has recently been unable to properly provide to ga
POSCO unit signs housing-compound project in Russia

Jun 22, 2011

POSCO announced Wednesday that its construction subsidiary POSCO A&C signed a contract to build a housing complex for a coalfield in Sakha Republic in eastern Russia.Under the contract, issued by Russia’s largest resource developer Mechel, POSCO A&C will build a 48,000 square meter housing compound for workers at the Elga coalfield in Sakha Republic.POSCO A&C plans to begin works on the compound i
K-sure named best Asian export creditor

Jun 22, 2011

The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, known as K-sure, said Tuesday it has been selected as the best Asian export credit agency by the U.K.-based Trade Finance Magazine.K-sure is one of the country’s two export-import insurance agencies other than the Export-Import Bank. It provides insurance products and project financing and issue bonds to exporters for their shipment, overseas construction wor
CEO pizzas charm 1,000 LGE employees

Jun 22, 2011

LG Electronics Vice Chairman and CEO Koo Bon-joon has sent out “CEO pizzas” to up to 1,000 employees to help boost morale, the Seoul-based electronics maker said on Wednesday.The latest batch of pizzas, sent out by Koo to express his affection for the LGE staff, were delivered on Tuesday to LG Electronics’ Air-conditioning and Energy Solution division’s “Chiller” team’s production and R&D units in
Conglomerates set up more units in offshore tax havens

Jun 22, 2011

The country’s top 30 conglomerates were found to have set up a spiraling number of overseas corporations in countries without tax treaties with the South Korean government. Lotte Group had the largest number of corporations in such nations overall, according to Chaebul.com, an online portal devoted to analyzing conglomerate activities on Wednesday.As of last year, the conglomerate had 33 such offi
Vertical integration key strategy for conglomerates

Jun 22, 2011

Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK, STX reap fruits from multi-layered business structureAmid robust industrialization a few decades ago, Korea’s major companies were striving to adopt a multi-layer business practice called vertical integration. They are now transforming into global industry leaders, bearing the fruit of these efforts. The unique concept of management dates back to the 19th century when A
Nokia unveils mobile phones in Asia to stem Google, Apple advance

Jun 22, 2011

Nokia Oyj unveiled mobile phones at both ends of its range to fend off competition from cheap unbranded handsets and smartphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android. The C2-03 model will target consumers in emerging markets by making it easier to switch between different phone numbers, Mary McDowell, the executive vice president who runs low-end phones, said in Singapore Tuesday. Nokia also showed th
W Hotel bartender to vie in world competition

Jun 22, 2011

Diageo Korea, the local unit of the global drinks group, announced Wednesday that Mickey Lee of W Hotel’s Woobar has won the regional final of its international bartending competition.Lee reserved a ticket as a Korean representative to the annual World Class 2011 contest scheduled for July 11-14 in New Delhi, India, the host said. “Having tried out for the contest three years in a row, I’m unbelie
Chinese imitation gives new meaning to twin town

Jun 22, 2011

China is well known for its fakes, but the economic giant has unveiled plans to take imitations to a whole new level. The latest plan is to copy an entire European town.Chinese real estate company China Minmetal Corp has started a project to recreate the Austrian city of Hallstatt in Huizhou. A total of $900 million is to be invested in the project.Included on the UNESCO World Heritage list for it
Retailers upbeat over Q3 business: poll

Jun 21, 2011

A majority of Korean retailers are optimistic about business conditions in the third quarter of the year on hopes of a rise in their sales during the summer holiday season, a poll showed Tuesday. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said its retail business index fell slightly to 119 for the July-September period from 125 for the second quarter, but it was well above the benchmark level. A r
Number of air passengers rises

Jun 21, 2011

The number of air passengers taking international flights in and out of South Korea grew about 2 percent in May from a year earlier as more holidays bolstered overseas travel, the Transportation Ministry said Tuesday.Air passengers on international flights totaled 3.32 million last month, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affa
SK Group says securities unit’s fate undecided

Jun 21, 2011

Conglomerate denies reports on selling SK Securities to SK C&CSK Group remains undecided despite the fast-approaching deadline for complying with fair trade laws dictating that the group divest itself of stakes in SK Securities Co.On Tuesday, the group denied a Yonhap News Agency report that it had decided to sell SK Securities shares to the IT services provider SK C&C if the revised bill is not p
LG rolls out world’s fastest color printer

Jun 21, 2011

LG Electronics said on Tuesday it would roll out the world’s fastest A4 color desktop printer, able to print up to 60 pages per minute, this month.In a press conference held in downtown Seoul, the global electronics giant said it joined hands with global player Memjet to release the product “Machjet LPP6010N” in the local market.The event comes as LG Electronics is putting more weight on the print
Everland named one of top 10 theme parks

Jun 21, 2011

Samsung Everland Inc. on Tuesday said its theme park “Everland” was ranked among the global top 10 of such facilities for a fifth straight year in 2010. Everland stood at 10th place, with 6.88 million visitors according to recent figures from the Themed Entertainment Association. Everland has been included in the list of top 10 theme parks since 2006, the Seoul-based company said. In the category