South Korea will likely set its tariffs on rice imports at more than 500 percent, a senior government official said Tuesday.“The government plans to set the import tariff rate at the highest possible level to protect the country’s rice industry,” the official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs told reporters.The move comes as South Korea is scheduled to liberalize its rice market through tarification starting next year. The government is expected to notify the World Trade O

South Korea, China and Japan have planned to conclude their drawn-out negotiations on a trilateral free-trade deal in 2015, but an agreement may not be achievable unless it is a “high-level and comprehensive pact,” China’s top negotiator to the talks said Tuesday. The three nations began their fifth round of talks in Beijing on Monday aimed at slashing tariffs and other barriers among the three leading economies in Asia. Since launching the talks in late 2012, they have reported little progress

GM Korea on Tuesday said it would launch its 2015 Malibu diesel sedan in its home market to follow up on the success of the previous model.The updated midsize sedan, which has the same 2-liter “Ecotec” turbo diesel mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission, also features the same external sheet metal and overall dimensions as the outgoing model, which has sold 2,990 units since sales began in March.This powertrain has been rated at 156 horsepower and 35.8 kilogram-meters of torque with an offici

South Korea’s state-run power provider Korea Electric Power Corp. said Friday that it has opened bids to sell the land that currently holds its headquarters in Seoul, a highly coveted property that it estimated to be worth 3.33 trillion won ($3.3 billion).KEPCO said it will pick the buyer who offers the highest price through the bidding that will close on Sept. 17. KEPCO’s stated value of the plot is much higher than the state-appraised price of 1.48 trillion won as of end of last year, as well

Investors are taking on record levels of debts to buy stocks as the South Korean equity market is nearing this year’s high on the back of continued foreign buying and market-friendly policies, data showed Friday.The so-called margin debt, or the amount borrowed to purchase securities, stood at 5.18 trillion won ($5.09 billion) Wednesday, the highest in 2014, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association.The Wednesday figure is up 24 percent from the end of last yea

Uber Korea, the local affiliate of U.S.-based transportation network company Uber, said Friday it would start a trial operation of an expanded ride-sharing service in Seoul, a move that the South Korean government immediately ruled as illegal.Uber’s latest business move follows a run-in with the Seoul city government, which said last month that the company’s existing cab-booking service was illegal and that it may ban the service.Uber said it would launch an UberX app, which can be downloaded by

South Korea’s industrial output grew for the second straight month in July, raising expectations that the economic recovery might be gaining some momentum, a government report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries expanded 1.1 percent last month from June. The growth rate, however, slowed down from a revised 2.6 percent gain a month earlier.Production in the service sector inched down 0.4 percent on-mont

A map service that provides views of North Korea’s streets and buildings will be launched by a South Korean Internet portal for the first time in the country on Friday as part of efforts to disclose what has been secretly guarded information to the private sector, a state-run geographic institute said.The National Geographic Information Institute said the map, which covers North Korea’s entire territory, will begin operation through Daum Communications, the South’s second-largest online portal,

South Korea’s trade commission said Friday that it has decided to impose antidumping duties on Chinese plate glass for another three years to help protect local manufacturers from price-cutting practices.The Korea Trade Commission said it will keep anti-dumping duties of 15.22-36.01 percent on the Chinese products over the next three years.“The decision will help local plate glass makers suffering from low-priced imports improve their competitiveness and production,” the commission said.The loca

LG Innotek said Thursday that it had developed an electric motor for automotive dual-clutch transmission systems that does not need rare earth minerals.This was part of LG’s efforts to reduce its reliance on rare earths from China such as neodymium and dysprosium, magnetic elements used in DCT motors, to reduce the impact from the large fluctuations in their prices.A number of auto parts makers have been seeking to develop rare earth-free motors as China controls over 90 percent of the world’s r