Experts negative about inter-Korean ties; N.K. focuses on rallying people behind successorNorth Korea is unlikely to make any positive change in its policy toward the South for the time being and will focus on rallying its people behind its late leader Kim Jong-il’s successor Jong-un, experts said Sunday.Based on their analysis of the North Korean media’s New Year’s joint editorial, they painted a negative outlook for inter-Korean ties this year, which deteriorated after the two deadly attacks i

12,000 detectives to patrol schools, seek heavier punishmentsPolice will mobilize some 12,000 detectives to combat school violence, a measure that comes after a suicide note left by a Daegu 14-year-old increased media attention toward bullying.The National Police Agency warned it would detain young suspects in serious criminal cases, signaling a change from its customary restraint in doing so.Such moves come as recent student suicides have prompted public calls for tougher measures to deal with

Nineteen entrepreneurs joined the nation’s list of 100 most stock-rich people aged under 45 last year, a conglomerate research firm said Sunday.The record figure, up from 10 a year earlier, included business people who started venture companies in their 20s in the 1990s, according to Chaebul.com, a portal following the activities of large companies. Kim Jung-ju, NXC chairman, who founded Korea’s largest online game company Nexon, ranked second with stock assets worth 2.94 trillion won ($2.53 bil

POSCO has developed a bismuth-added free-cutting steel as it seeks a high-efficient, better-performing and eco-friendly substitute for leaded steel, the steel mill said Sunday.Free-cutting steel is used for heavily machined components, such as car engine parts and electronics devices.Bismuth steel has emerged as a potential alternative to leaded steel, which is used to make free-cutting steel easier to cut at a high level of precision and speed. The toxicity of lead has elevated health and envir

South Korea’s textile exports continued to drop in 2010 with its global market share also stepping down four notches since 2000, a local industry group said Sunday.According to a report from the Korea Federation of Textile Industries, the country shipped $12.6 billion worth of textile products, including clothes, in 2010, compared with $17.7 billion worth of products exported in 2000.The country’s global market share in the industry also dropped to 2.1 percent, the world’s eighth-largest, in 201

Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee will attend the annual consumer electronics show in Las Vegas next week to examine the global trend in consumer electronics for this year, an industry source said Sunday.Lee will be accompanied by his son Jae-yong, president of Samsung Electronics Co., and several other executives of the world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips and flat-screen TVs, the source said.Lee Kun-hee last visited the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2010 while Jae-yo

KT Corp., which plans to start the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network service from Tuesday, may offer unlimited data use for 4G faster smartphone service. Industry sources said Sunday that KT would allow 3G phone users to embed the user services identity module, or USIM, chip into their LTE phones, which is banned by SK Telecom. SK Telecom, which started LTE services in July, doesn’t offer limitless data plans for LTE subscribers. Despite little difference in standard charges, heavy d

South Korean stocks are projected to trend lower in the first week of the new year, weighed down by nagging concerns over the eurozone debt crisis, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark KOSPI fell 2.2 percent last week to close at 1,825.74 on Friday as continued worries over Europe’s problem outweighed positive economic data from the United States.Reports showed that U.S. consumer confidence and orders for U.S. durable goods and home sales increased, but they were not strong enough to convince in

South Korea’s trade surplus grew from a year earlier to $4 billion last month, remaining in the black for the 23rd consecutive month, the government said Sunday.The country’s exports reached $49.7 billion in December, up 12.5 percent from the same period last year with imports growing 14 percent to $45.7 billion, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.For the whole of 2011, the country’s exports gained 19.6 percent on-year to $557.8 billion with imports growing 23.3 percent to $524.5 bil

South Korea’s meat imports in 2011 are expected to reach $3 billion, up nearly 55 percent from a year earlier, with imports of pork more than doubling, the country’s customs office said Sunday.In the first 11 months of the year, the country imported 850,000 tons of meat, including beef and chicken, worth over $2.95 billion, according to the Korea Customs Service. The 11-month total represents a 52.9 percent hike from $1.93 billion in the same period in 2010.The increase was largely led by pork i