The global ranking of South Korea's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) stayed flat at 15th for the fifth straight year in 2012, data compiled by the World Bank showed Wednesday.Korea's nominal GDP was valued at $1.13 trillion in 2012, up from $1.11 trillion in the previous year, according to the international organization.GDP, the broadest measure of an economy's performance, is the total value of goods and services produced within the economy in a given period.Korea's GDP ranking reached 13th

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. will together recall over 660,000 vehicles sold here in the country for faulty brake light switches that may cause the ignition to fail, the transportation ministry said Wednesday.The faulty light switch could also cause the cruise control system to malfunction, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The recall affects a total of 662,519 vehicles of 15 different types, including 185,176 unit

South Korean stocks traded 0.57 percent lower late Wednesday morning due to losses in techs and financial shares, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 11.45 points to 1,995.65 as of 11:20 a.m.Tech shares continued to traded lower, with top player Samsung Electronics falling 0.87 percent and leading chipmaker SK hynix losing 2.3 percent. LG Electronics, a local handset maker, shed 0.82 percent.Financial firms also lost ground, with Samsung Life Insurance decr

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday as wariness over U.S. budget plans and debt-ceiling issues continued to weigh on investor sentiment, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.76 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,002.34 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Tech shares traded lower, with top player Samsung Electronics falling 0.29 percent and leading chipmaker SK hynix losing 1.64 percent. LG Electronics, a local handset maker, shed 0.41 percent.Carmkers als

Thousands of Pakistanis ran into the streets praying for their lives Tuesday as a powerful earthquake rocked a remote area in the southwest, killing at least 39 people and possibly creating a small island off the coast.The Pakistani military said it was rushing troops and helicopters to Baluchistan province's Awaran district, where the quake was centered, and the nearby area of Khuzdar. Local officials said they were sending doctors, food and 1,000 tents for people who had nowhere to sleep as st

Two suspected gunmen and two others have been charged in last week's shooting of 13 people including a 3-year-old boy in a crowded Chicago park, police said Tuesday.Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the gunmen opened fire on the group in retaliation for an earlier shooting in which one of them was slightly wounded. He said there was no specific target, but that the shooters went to the park because it was rival gang territory.Police said all four suspects were charged with attempted murd

U.S. and Russian negotiators remain at odds on a U.N. Security Council resolution that would hold Syria accountable if it fails to live up to pledges to dismantle its chemical weapons stockpiles, American officials said Tuesday, as President Barack Obama warned the world body that it risks its credibility and reputation if it does not act.Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met for nearly 90 minutes at the United Nations and though progress was made in some a

South Korea's tax agency said Wednesday that its tax collection through audits into companies increased last year amid the government's intensifying crackdown on tax evasion attempts.According to data provided by the National Tax Service (NTS), it collected 7 trillion won ($6.5 billion) in additional taxes through audits, which is higher than 6.1 trillion won tallied a year earlier.The amount represented 3.6 percent of the total tax revenue of the NTS, which stood at 192.1 trillion won.This is u

The U.S. Federal Reserve's possible monetary stimulus tapering is just a matter of time, South Korea's top central banker said Wednesday, amid increased uncertainty following the bank's recent decision to postpone it.The remarks by Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo came as the Fed surprised the market last week by announcing its decision to delay tapering of the US$85 billion monthly bond-buying program.Most market players expected the Fed to start dialing back the monetary stimulus starti

Chinese manufacturing index rose to a six-month high in September, signaling that a rebound in the world’s second-largest economy is gaining steam. The preliminary reading of 51.2 for a Purchasing Managers’ Index released Monday by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics compared with a 50.9 median estimate from 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The gauge was at 50.1 in August. Asian stocks and the Australian dollar rose on optimism that China’s growth is picking up, boosting Premier Li K

Woori Finance Holdings Co. is set to end Monday the preliminary bidding for its regional bank units, its officials said, as part of the privatization process to sell the No. 1 state-funded banking group. The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC), the state-run debt clearer that holds the controlling stake in Woori Finance, will close the preliminary bidding for Kyongnam Bank and Kwangju Bank later Monday as planned, according to KDIC officials. The bidding is the first part of the government's th

An ongoing prosecution probe into the disappearance of a 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript will be completed in one month, a state prosecutor close to the investigation said Monday.State prosecutors have been probing to determine whether the late South Korean liberal President Roh Moo-hyun seriously undermined the country's sovereignty during his 2007 summit with then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il by offering to surrender the western maritime border with the North. "We are doing our best to