Prosecutors plan to call in around 30 employees of the country's financial watchdog this week to determine whether they intentionally relaxed their inspections of savings banks in return for bribes, sources said Sunday.   South Korea's top prosecutor has been widening its probe after the chief and other major shareholders at a suspended savings bank were found to have taken out illegal loans to lo

A global smartphone boom is proving to be a significant boon for business for CrucialTec, a Korean maker of optical trackpads widely used in handsets for navigating menus. Optical trackpads detect the movement of the finger, helping mobile users more easily scroll through the information they need on their phones. CrucialTec is known as the pioneer in the technology, as its feats include developin

Yet another industrial giant has decided to join the growing number of companies to create a smoke-free working environment.On Wednesday, SK Group, a local energy and telecom giant, said it informed workers that it is to completely ban smoking from its headquarters starting next week. The ban will be effective from Monday in all 35 stories of the SK building in downtown Seoul, which serves as home

A semi-government committee on mutual growth said it will select in August the industries conglomerates would be discouraged from entering or expanding in to give their smaller counterparts more opportunities.At their meeting in Seoul, the members, led by former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, said for now, they have confirmed the selection guidelines and will be choosing the industries based on how

World’s top memory chipmaker sees tough conditions in coming quarterSamsung Electronics Co. said Friday it logged 2.95 trillion won ($2.7 billion) in net profits for the first quarter of this year amid globally weak demand for flat panels and TVs sets. It is a 33 percent decline from the same period last year and it is the lowest operating profit in seven quarters.Its sales stood at 36.99 trillion

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee on Thursday supported a presidential aide’s call for public funds to more actively exercise their rights as shareholders.The business tycoon said he was not only unperturbed by the remarks, but he “welcomes the idea of having shareholders publicly exercise their rights.”Lee was remarking on a speech given Tuesday by Kwak Seung-jun, head of the presidential

The country’s corporate giants appeared to be inwardly seething over the latest remarks from a presidential aide who said public funds should play a bigger role in promoting corporate governance by more proactively exercising their shareholder rights.Samsung Electronics, which Kwak Seung-jun mentioned as one company that needs to see more of its shareholders taking control, refused to comment, say

Samsung Group, South Korea’s top conglomerate, will build green-energy industrial facilities from 2021 in a new town to be created on west coastal tidal flats, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said Wednesday.Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to construct green-energy production facilities, a research institute and houses on a 11.5-square-kilometer plot in the Saeman

A presidential aide Tuesday urged the national pension and other public funds to avidly exercise their shareholder rights in order to keep larger companies in check.“Public funds exercising their shareholder rights (in large companies) are the most effective way to keep the large companies and their power in check,” said Kwak Seung-jun, head of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision at a p