South Korea’s tech giant LG Electronics Inc. said Monday its net loss narrowed in the fourth quarter of 2013 from a year earlier on improved smartphone sales.Its net loss came to 63.4 billion won ($58.76 million) in the October-December period, improving from the 478.1 billion won posted a year earlier, LG Electronics reported in a regulatory filing.Revenue, or sales, edged up 0.8 percent on-year to 14.9 trillion won, and operating profit surged 103.8 percent to 238.1 billion won, it said.For al

South Korean athletes on Thursday reaffirmed their drive to put in a strong showing at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Russia.Dozens of athletes and officials assembled at the National Training Center in Seoul for their team inauguration ceremony ahead of the Feb. 7-23 Sochi Winter Olympics.Earlier in the day, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) announced the final list of 64 athletes and 49 officials for Sochi.It will be the country's largest-ever delegation for a Winter Games.At the Vancouver W

South Korea blasted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday for defending his much-denounced visit to a controversial war shrine last month.Indicating that he may continue visiting the Yaskuni Shrine, Abe said during the World Economic Forum in Davos Wednesday that Japan is determined not to wage another war and that the war shrine is designed to honor regular Japanese war dead, not Class-A war criminals."Paying respects at the Yasukuni Shrine equates to not repenting for Japan's imperialist

Two Chinese activists who agitated for officials to disclose assets argued their innocence on Thursday, the second day in a series of prosecutions of anti-corruption campaigners highlighting the government's resolve to crush any challenges. The trial of Zhao Changqing, a veteran Chinese dissident, was adjourned after he dismissed his two lawyers in a move that would help delay his case, one of his lawyers, Zhang Xuezhong, told Reuters by telephone. China's government has waged a 10-month drive a

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns has called for China to boost bilateral cooperation so North Korea can take "meaningful and early steps" to give up its nuclear ambitions, according to a U.S. statement released on Thursday. Burns was in Beijing as part of his three-nation Asia trip that already took him to Seoul. He is set to leave for Tokyo later Thursday. In Beijing, Burns held talks with Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao and Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui."The Deputy Secretary

Chinese computer giant Lenovo will buy IBM's low-end server business for $2.3 billion, it Thursday, giving it a platform to compete in that sector with US giants Dell and Hewlett-Packard.IBM will receive $2.07 billion in cash and the rest in shares for the x86 business, Lenovo said, in a deal seen as helping the Chinese firm diversify away from the slumping PC-sales sector.IBM will still provide maintenance on behalf of Lenovo, while some 7,500 members of staff worldwide will be offered employme

Toyota sold a record 9.98 million vehicles last year, it said Thursday, outpacing rivals General Motors and Volkswagen to maintain its title of world's biggest automaker.The Japanese auto giant's highest-ever annual sales volume came thanks to a weaker yen as well as strong US and China sales, signaling it had recovered from a series of damaging safety recalls and Japan's 2011 quake-tsunami disaster.The figures beat US-based GM, which said it sold 9.71 million cars last year, while Germany's Vol

Korea will enhance bilateral partnership with India not only in information technology but also in the aerospace sector, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said in a press release on Sunday. Science, ICT and Future Planning Minister Choi Mun-kee, who accompanied President Park Geun-hye to India, visited Bangalore on Saturday to seek a partnership with India’s space and software industry. ‘‘During his visit to the city nicknamed the Silicon Valley of India, the minister visited the

KT, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier, said on Sunday the company is now able to provide international Long Term Evolution roaming service in Russia. The company now offers this type of service in a total of 12 countries, including Canada and Malaysia. “The LTE roaming service was expanded as a number of customers are expected to visit Russia for the winter event this year,” said Kim Seok-joon, a head of KT’s Roaming & Data business division. “KT will continue to provide services for us

Samsung Group, the nation’s largest conglomerate, said Wednesday that it would revamp its recruitment process in a bid to reduce unnecessary social costs related to exams and private education. Young job seekers in Korea have generally spent considerable time and money on developing their qualifications and on entrance exams by attending expensive private academic institutions to get hired at large companies such as Samsung. Samsung said it plans to lower its dependence on the Samsung Aptitude T