The Korean branch of U.S.-based global social commerce powerhouse Groupon is facing growing criticism after it posted wrong information about displayed items and even sold products that it had not secured. Groupon Korea on May 2 canceled a “secret megadeal” two hours before the event launch, during which the company was expected to hand out 500,000 giftcons ― mobile gift coupons ― which would gi...

Shinsegae Co., South Korea’s second-largest retailer by sales, said Friday that it has finalized a deal to acquire Kim’s Club Mart Co., the supermarket chain operator of leading local fashion retailer E-Land Group. Kim’s Club Mart will be purchased by Shinsegae’s discount unit E-Mart Co., Shinsegae said. The purchase price is reported to be less than 200 billion won (US$184.5 million). On May...

South Korea logged a trade surplus in April for the 15th straight month, fueled by exports of petroleum products, ships and vehicles, the nation’s customs office said Sunday. The trade surplus reached $5.14 billion last month, according to data released by the Korea Customs Service. The figure marks the 15th consecutive month of surplus since February 2010. Exports stood at $49.15 billion in Ap...

Samsung Electronics, despite its current legal squabble with Apple Inc., will out roll out so-called “Retina Displays” to secure demand from the California-based company and win a bigger share in the rapidly-growing tablet PC market. Samsung is expected to start mass-producing the displays by the end of this year, industry sources said. The new displays, based on the PenTile RGBW technology, wi...

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. applied for 1,099 patents last year, industry sources said Friday. The company is the first in the industry to have applied for more than 1,000 patents in one year. During the same period, the world’s largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. applied for 844 patents, while Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. made 665 patent applications. According...

Korean Air announced Friday that it received the top prize for in-flight meals in the 2011 World Traveller Awards. Organized by China’s largest travel magazine World Traveller, the annual event awards carriers that operate routes to China in 10 categories including in-flight meals. Korean Air said that it was selected for the award for its efforts in raising the quality and diversity of in-flig...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) ― Global consumption of natural resources could almost triple to 140 billion tons a year by 2050 unless nations take drastic steps, the United Nations warned Thursday. A U.N. environment panel said the world cannot sustain the tearaway rate of use of minerals, ores and fossil and plant fuels. It called on governments to “decouple” economic growth from natural resource consum...

South Korea plans to considerably decelerate the growth in greenhouse gases emitted by the country’s farming sector as part of its broader efforts to help stem global warming, the government said Thursday. The plan also calls for increasing the country’s overall greenhouse gas absorption capabilities by around 6 percent over the next decade, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishe...

Korean Air, the country’s No. 1 air carrier, said Thursday that it will recruit an additional 500 flight attendants this month. The recruitment, which is on the largest scale ever, comes shortly after the company hired a total of 500 employees in February and March, company officials said. The air carrier also said that it will hire another group of 500 in the latter half of this year, which me...

Recent research has found that more than three in 10 wireless gadget users own an electronic device that runs on Google’s Android mobile operating system, putting strong emphasis on its openness. According to a market research firm Strategy Analytics’ data, the Android OS garnered a 35.9 percent share in the global OS market, followed by Nokia’s Symbian and Apple’s iOS with 26.3 percent and 18.1...