Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, posted record sales in Latin America this year, whose growth surpassed that of the Middle East and Eastern Europe, which are grappling with the economic slowdown, its report showed Tuesday. A total of 57,495 Kia cars were sold in Central and South American countries in the first four months of this year, surging 27.8 percent from a year ago, its investor relations report said. Its average monthly sales in the region first passed 10,000 in

Loss-making Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. has mapped out self-rescue measures worth over 3 trillion won ($2.52 billion) in total which include an employee wage cut and asset sales, industry sources said Tuesday.Last year the shipyard drew up a 1.85 trillion won self-rehabilitation plan in return for 4 trillion won in financial aid. Recently, the shipyard presented an additional step estimated to save 1.5 trillion won, according to the sources.The latest measures include a cut of u

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Tuesday that the new National Assembly should focus on revitalizing the country's economy, adding the government will take steps to work closely with lawmakers."It is regrettable that the major economy-related laws were not concluded at the 19th National Assembly," Hwang said during the Cabinet meeting.The comments come as the 20th National Assembly began work on Monday with lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties placing more emphasis on cooperati

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. dominated the global solid state drive market last year on the back of the increased adoption in personal computers, data showed Tuesday.Samsung Electronics saw its share in the global SSD for personal computer market reach 54 percent in 2015, far outstripping U.S. rival Intel Corp.'s 9 percent, according to the data compiled by industry tracker IHS.An SSD is a data storage device made with a NAND flash memory chip that saves data without requiring

Unsold milk keeps piling up in storages and attempts to use it to make cheese, about the only dairy product still selling in the market, have been foiled by heavy imports, industry officials said Tuesday.Trouble for the local dairy business turned serious in November 2014, when the milk stock surpassed 200,000 tons for the first time. According to the Korea Dairy Committee, there were 244,146 tons of leftover milk as of March this year, the 16th month that the stock has exceeded 200,000 tons.Sou

South Korea's industrial output fell for the second consecutive month and widened its downward pace in April due mainly to a sharp drop in the production of the auto and electronics parts sectors, a government report showed Tuesday.Production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries fell 2.8 percent last month from a year ago, according to the report by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, industrial output also retreated 1.3 percent.The April figure represents a contracti

The amount of foreign securities held by major South Korean institutions grew at the fastest clip in over eight years in the first quarter, partly on a surge in South Korean investment in foreign bonds, central bank data showed Tuesday.As of the end of March, the value of foreign securities held by South Korea's institutional investors came to US$135.74 billion, up $14.75 billion from the revised $120.99 billion tallied three months earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.A

More than 20 South Korean companies signed deals worth more than $3.1 million with African partners, mostly Ugandan firms, by capitalizing on President Park Geun-hye’s African tour, South Korea’s presidential office said Monday.The deals were reached in a meeting between executives of 27 South Korean companies and more than 210 Ugandan firms and other African firms as well as multinational corporations in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, on Monday.South Korea said $3.1 million accounts more than 15 pe

South Korea's global competitiveness ranking fell by four notches this year due mainly to sluggish economic performance and business efficiency, an international institute said Tuesday.According to the 2016 report by the International Institute for Management Development, South Korea ranked 29th in terms of global competitiveness among 61 countries surveyed.IMD is a Swiss-based institute that releases competitiveness rankings every year based on a country's economic achievements, infrastructure,

State-run policy lender, the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank Korea), decided Monday to offer incentives and penalties to their employees based on their performance, becoming the last of nine public financial firms here to introduce the so-called performance-based wage system.The decision, however, may face strong resistance, if not a legal battle, from unionized workers as it was made solely by the bank's board of directors.The decision came one day before the deadline set by the country's

South Korean stocks closed lower on Monday as investors took to the sidelines over the growing possibility of a rate hike in the United States in the near future.The Korean won dropped against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 2.04 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 1,967.13. Trade volume was moderate at 541 million shares worth 4.53 trillion won ($3.89 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 489 to 315. The local stock market got off to a weak start after U.S