The ruling Grand National Party on Monday renewed its resolve to vote on the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement with the key parliamentary plenary session scheduled for Thursday after weeks of political wrangling over the ratification bill.“The Korea-U.S. FTA is a matter of national interest and of paramount importance; we can no longer tolerate the opposition’s approach (to the FTA) out of partisan interests,” GNP spokesman Kim Ki-hyun said in a briefing after the party’s supreme council meeting M

Three South Korean businessmen who have been missing on a southern island in the Philippines since late last month have been confirmed as kidnapped by unidentified gunmen, a foreign ministry official in Seoul said Monday. The three Korean miners have been missing since Oct. 21 on the Philippine island of Mindanao and local police recently confirmed that they are held by gunmen, the official said on the condition of anonymity. The gunmen have demanded a ransom for the Korean miners, the official

On foreign players ...If I start with the conclusion, I think more foreign players should be allowed in the K-League.Competition among players would be keener, increasing their performance in the league.But, because if we allowed foreign player without a limit, the national players would lose out, I think allowing 1-2 more foreign players from the present 4 players is proper.There is one more thing to talk about concerning the K-League,Look at the English Premier League. In the Premier League, t

LG Chem signed a long-term contract with the Switzerland-based electric engineering firm ABB Group to supply parts for an energy storage system on Monday.Energy storage system or ESS is used in smart grid networks to store electricity before transmitting power to specific locations when required.Under the contract, LG Chem will supply lithium ion batteries and a battery management system to ABB. The Korean firm said that for the first collaborative project it will produce batteries for use in a

The combined market capitalization of South Korea’s 10 largest conglomerates and their affiliates has shrunk 6.88 percent this year from the end of last year, data showed Monday.The market cap of the 10 conglomerates, including Samsung and Hyundai Motor, totaled 636.23 trillion won ($571.12 billion) as of Nov. 3, down from 683.22 trillion won as of end-2010, according to the data by the Korea Exchange.Nine of the 10 conglomerates saw their market cap fall amid economic uncertainties in the euroz

South Korea’s central bank forecast Monday that oil prices are likely to stay above $100 per barrel for a considerable period of time due to tight supply and a potential pick-up in speculative investment.The Bank of Korea said in a report that prices of Dubai and Brent crude are staying at a high level despite an end of political turmoil in Libya and market jitters stemming from the eurozone debt crisis.Prices of Dubai crude, South Korea’s benchmark, have been largely trading at more than $100 p

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Orion Corp., South Korea’s second-largest confectionery company, expects that its overseas sales will grow next year, largely driven by robust sales in China, company officials said Monday.The company, best-known for its hallmark “Choco Pie,” projected that its overseas sales will grow 28.4 percent to 1.31 trillion won ($1.17 billion), likely to surpass its domestic sales for the first time. Orion officials said China accounts for more than 80 percent of its overseas sa