The state-run Korea Development Bank, the main creditor of the cash-strapped Hanjin Shipping Co., is considering loaning some 50 billion won ($45.4 million) to help the ailing shipper unload its cargo, industry sources said Thursday.According to the sources, the KDB will finalize the loan extension this week to the country's No. 1 shipping line, which will be used to resolve unpaid cargo unloading fees.The move came one day after Korean Air Lines Co., the largest shareholder of Hanjin Shipping,

The transportation ministry has concluded that a previously identified fuel leak in BMW vehicles may be the cause of mysterious fires that have broken out in some of the luxury cars, the ministry said Thursday.The decision may help end a months-long debate between the German carmaker and its South Korean customers over the cause in some BMW vehicles.Both the German carmaker and the transportation ministry here had identified a possible fuel leak in certain model years BMW vehicles, which led to

A group of banks, led by KEB-Hana Bank, have offered a refund guarantee for a new order won by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., ending their monthlong tussle over the issue, industry sources said Thursday.Early last month, Hyundai Heavy, a major shipyard, won a deal from a Greek customer to build two oil tankers. But KEB-Hana Bank and other creditors, increasingly concerned about their credit exposure to the ailing shipbuilders in the country, were reluctant to offer refund guarantees for the order

The Federal Reserve is keeping its key interest rate unchanged but signaling that it will likely raise rates before year’s end.The Fed said in a statement ending its latest policy meeting Wednesday that the US job market has continued to strengthen and economic activity has picked up. But it noted that business investment remains soft and inflation too low and that it wants to see further improvement in the job market.The central bank characterized the near-term risks to its economic outlook as

Overseas orders won by South Korean construction companies this year may drop to the lowest level in a decade, a trade association said Thursday, in the latest sign that local builders are reeling from the impact of low oil prices and a protracted global economic slump.This year's combined overseas orders came to US$18.47 billion by Wednesday, according to data compiled by the International Contractors Association of Korea.The figure represents 53.7 percent of the $34.59 billion posted during th

The head of Britain-based Reckitt Benckiser formally apologized over its toxic humidifier sterilizers that claimed many lives in South Korea, a parliamentary special committee probing the scandal said Thursday.The so-called Oxy humidifier disinfectant case came to light after four pregnant women died of unknown lung problems in 2011. A government-led investigation confirmed a connection between more than a hundred people who died of lung problems and the chemicals used to clean household humidif

South Korean automotive giant Hyundai Motor Group will soon have its global production capacity at near 9 million cars per year with the construction of its latest production facility in China expected to be completed before the year's end, company officials said Thursday.The automaker's overall capacity currently stands at 8.48 million units after a new plant in Mexico, which began producing cars earlier in the year, added 400,000 cars to Kia Motors Corp., the smaller of the two carmakers under

Dozens of UN member states on Wednesday condemned North Korea's fifth nuclear test and urged the communist nation to conduct no more testing, abide by its international obligations and scrap all of its nuclear weapons and programs.The foreign ministers of about 40 countries supportive of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty made the appeal in a joint statement adopted when they held a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to call for the treaty's ratification."The

Neither South Korea's own nuclear armament nor redeployment of US nuclear weapons in the country would enhance the country's security against North Korea, a senior White House official said Wednesday."I don't believe that North Korea will be any more deterred from taking military action against the South if we have nuclear weapons on the peninsula because North Korea, China, the rest of the world know that we have military capabilities, conventional and otherwise, that can be launched from the U

Korean Air Lines Co., the largest shareholder of Hanjin Shipping Co., decided Wednesday to provide 60 billion won ($58.9 million) to the cash-strapped shipper, company officials said.The decision came at a meeting of the Korean Air board of directors, which earlier refused to help out the troubled affiliate, citing fears of misappropriation charges as the container shipping line had little to offer in collateral.The 60 billion won will be injected based on accounts receivable, according to Korea