Korean stocks fell 0.15 percent on Tuesday as investors offloaded shares following a credit cut on six eurozone countries, but losses were limited as the downgrade was largely expected, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.After retreating as much as 0.51 percent at one point, the benchmark KOSPI ended 3.1 points lower at 2,002.64. Trading volume was heavy at 500.5 million shares worth 6.4 trillion won (US$5.7 billion), with decliners slightly outweighing gainers 411 to

Korea’s 2011 terms of trade deteriorated to the lowest level in three years as oil price hikes pulled up import costs, outpacing moderate gains in export prices, the central bank said Tuesday. The country’s net terms-of-trade index for goods stood at 78.9 last year, down 8.3 percent from 2010, marking the sharpest annual fall since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to preliminary figures released by the Bank of Korea. On a quarterly basis, Korea’s net terms-of-trade index for goods, a

The ruling party and the government agreed to abolish the joint liability system for self-employed businessmen when they apply for loans from May in a bid to lessen the burden on new businesses and boost entrepreneurship, the party’s chief policymaker said Tuesday.Rep. Lee Joo-young of the Saenuri Party held a meeting with senior officials of the Financial Services Commission at the National Assembly and reached an agreement to adopt a package of measures aimed at helping self-sufficient busines

Korea’s online stock trading hit a record high last year, helped by the widespread use of smartphones and other Internet-enabled digital devices. The value of stocks traded online reached 2,468 trillion won ($2.19 trillion) last year, up 18.3 percent from 2,086 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Korea Exchange.Of the total, the main bourse KOSPI accounted for 1,524 trillion won, while the tech-packed KOSDAQ generated 944 trillion won worth of online trades last year. Online stock trad

KB Kookmin Bank has been selected as Korea’s best onshore custodian for a consecutive year by Asian Investor, a magazine for the Asia-Pacific financial markets.The award, dubbed Asian Investor 2011 Korea, was set up in March 2011 by the magazine.The nation’s largest retail lender Kookmin Bank has emerged as one of Asia’s leading banks.Its parent KB Financial posted 2.37 trillion won ($2.07 billion) in net profit last year. Its total assets came to 361.6 trillion won, up 28.1 trillion won from a

KT Corp. resumed the Internet services for Samsung-made smart televisions Tuesday after the two companies agreed to settle their differences through negotiations, according to the nation’s telecom regulator. KT had limited the Internet access of Samsung smart TV sets since Thursday morning in protest against Samsung Electronics’ refusal to join talks for the costs of its network use. The Korea Communications Commission said that Samsung also withdrew the lawsuit the company filed against KT on F

KT Corp. said Tuesday that smartphone users now make up more than 50 percent of its mobile clientele. According to the nation’s second-largest network operator, 8.18 million of its 16.32 million customers were smartphones users as of Monday.The figure for smartphone users has surged over the past two years after it started with 2 percent of the company’s total subscribers in December 2009, KT said.The rapid infiltration of smartphones in Korea was largely driven by the arrival of Apple’s iPhone

Low-ranking judges are expected to hold a series of general meetings from Wednesday to denounce the current evaluation system that could harm their independence. Their move, ignited by the court leadership’s decisions to discipline or fire liberal judges citing low evaluation scores is expected to cause a stir over whether the judges’ expression of political ideology outside of the courtroom can result in demotion or dismissal. The meeting of judges is the first in three years since they held a

Prosecutors said they are considering nullifying the passport of Oh Deok-gyun, head of CNK International, in a bid to forcefully bring him back to Korea for questioning over a stock-rigging scandal.Despite the prosecution’s request to return home, Oh is still believed to be staying in Cameroon. Oh is suspected of intentionally leading the Foreign Ministry to publish an exaggerated press release about a diamond mine’s reserves for which CNK won the mining rights. He is suspected of raking in abou

President Lee Myung-bak plans to outline his plan for the remaining year of his five-year term during a press conference next week, during which he is also expected to make some apologetic remarks on corruption scandals involving his close associates.“The president plans to hold a news conference to mark the final year of his presidential term around next Wednesday,” Lee’s spokesperson Park Jeong-ha told reporters.“He will explain his determinations and thoughts, as he is now running through the