Mando Corp., one of South Korea’s leading auto parts manufacturers, said Friday that it completed construction of a plant in Brazil that will allow it to make inroads into the South American market.It said the plant located in Limeira, in the eastern part of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, has been built on 55,000 square-meters of land and has a factory floor space of 13,000 square meters.The company said it invested $50 million into the plant, which will hire around 100 local employees and ma

South Korea’s growth target for 2012 remains achievable despite mounting downside risks triggered by persistent eurozone woes, the country’s top economic policymaker said Friday.In a press conference, Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said the developments taking place in the European Union pose greater challenges, but data indicates there may not be any need to change Seoul’s 3.7 percent growth forecast for this year.He stressed that the government is not considering artificial measures to bolster

The United States government said Friday it will keep pressing South Korea to refrain from interventions in the foreign exchange market.“The Korean authorities continue to intervene in the foreign exchange market, and the won remains weak compared to its pre-crisis levels,” the Department of the Treasury said in a semiannual report to Congress on international economic and exchange rate policies.“We will continue to press the Korean authorities to limit their foreign exchange interventions to th

South Korean stocks will try to pull off a technical rebound this week, in the face of persistent eurozone uncertainties that have weighed down global economic recovery efforts, local analysts said Saturday.The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 1,824.17 points on Friday, up 2.34 percent from a week earlier after China expressed its resolve to stimulate its economy, and U.S. housing market figures showed signs of improvement.The announcement and positive data helped calm market jitt

The conglomerate sector has been a key investigation target of the National Tax Service and the Fair Trade Commission as the political power of the incumbent administration has weakened.The prosecution is also investigating some conglomerates’ business units for irregular practices.Over the past few months, the investigative authorities have been widening the scope of inquiries into several units of major business groups for alleged practices like tax evasion, embezzlement and price-fixing.Congl

Korean oil refiners are striving to either diversify crude oil import sources or expand the scope of trade contracts in advance of a possible ban on oil imports from Iran.Among the alternative sources of crude oil are countries in Africa and Europe, according to the Korean National Oil Corp.KNOC data showed Wednesday that the nation recently imported about 1.7 million barrels from Gabon. This was the first time in more than two years since Korea imported Gabonese oil in December 2009.Imports fro

Hyundai Motor Group dismissed the rumors that Hyundai Steel and Hyundai Hysco, two of the conglomerate’s seven subsidiaries, will merge.In their regulatory filing on the Korea Exchange, the two Hyundai units also denied the merger rumors, respectively. They said the news was “groundless.”Stock prices of the two companies fluctuated during the trading session on Tuesday, hit by the speculation that steel producer Hyundai Steel and steel sheet products manufacturer Hyundai Hysco were pushing for b

The Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday that it had fined Samsung Electronics 1.6 billion won ($1.4 million) for irregular practices in its transactions with subcontractors.This is the second time that Samsung Electronics has been fined for unfair subcontracting, as the company was fined 11.5 billion won by the antitrust regulator four years ago.According to the FTC, the memory chipmaker engaged in 28,574 cases of irregular subcontracting, equivalent to 76.3 billion won between 2008 and 2010.A to

South Korea may have to suspend Iran oil imports at the end of this monthGasoline prices in the local market are likely to climb by about 300 won ($0.26) per liter for several weeks in the wake of the European Union’s tightened sanctions on Iran, analysts said Monday.Considering the 50-liter fuel tank of an ordinary car, the situation means a surge by 15,000 won in consumer prices when a driver fills up his gasoline-empty car at a gas station.The European Union legislated rules in March to stop

Europe-based M+W continues to express desire to acquire builderTransparency has emerged as a point of contention surrounding the sale of Ssangyong Engineering and Construction, as the company could be handed over to an investor via a “private contract.”The possible sale of Ssangyong E&C via this sort of behind-the-scenes contract would be legitimate under the law as the state-run Korea Asset Management Corp., the builder’s biggest shareholder, has already failed to select a preferred bidder twic

SK Group said it will participate in a large-scale environmental cleanup business in China in coordination with a group of Korean subcontractors.The group’s coming advancement into the Chinese government-led environment sector comes after the country unveiled its project to invest about $530 billion in environmental protection over the next four years.SK Group’ inroads into the overseas business feature group chairman Chey Tae-won’s commitment to “shared growth” with subcontractors.For the overs

Korean carmakers plan to roll out new K5, Sonata hybridsHyundai Motor and Kia Motors have yet to clarify their stance on whether to develop Genesis or K9 hybrid vehicles, though global carmakers are in heated competition to launch eco-friendly models of large-sized sedans.The players manufacturing hybrids for the luxury and premium-luxury segments include BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lexus.Spokespeople for Hyundai Motor Group declined to comment on the possibility that Hyundai-Kia would follow s