Hana Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s fourth-largest banking group, said Tuesday that it plans to relocate its headquarters as early as 2014 to Incheon city, west of Seoul. The scheduled move to the city, located 40 kilometers west of the Korean capital, is part of Hana’s push to raise its profile in the global market, following its acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank. “For the first time in ...

Michael Whan, commissioner of the LPGA Tour, is a well-traveled man. As the chief of the world’s longest-running women’s professional sports body, he said he’s been to 17 countries in the past 12 months. South Korea, where he made a brief stop earlier this week to meet with a new tour sponsor, was also on his itinerary. He had flown in from Thailand, the LPGA Tour’s previous stop. When he sat do...

Seo Man-sul, chairman of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, known as Chongryon in Korea, died of a chronic illness at his home in Tokyo on Monday. He was 84. Seo joined the association, one of the two main organizations of Korean residents in Japan, in 1955. He moved from Korea to Japan in 1941. In the association, he had held major posts in the group from director to the seco...

Lee Jung-myung, chairman of Emerson Pacific Group, a golf course and resort company, has been appointed as president of Korea Juvenile Protection Association, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday. The 69-year-old Lee has been active in the field of teenager safety and well-being. He has held a variety of positions including president of the Daejeon council of the crime prevention committee under th...

Park Yong-hyun, chairman of Doosan Group, was appointed on Tuesday as the 8th president of Korean Business Council for the Arts. Park will lead the council for three years. Park has been expanding Doosan’s mecenat programs since becoming chairman in 2009. The surgeon-turned-CEO graduated from Seoul National University Medical School in 1968 and worked as a surgeon until 2007. He served as the he...

The global aviation industry is still scratching its head while digesting the contents of the latest bid by Brussels to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Starting from Jan. 1, the EU included the aviation industry in its CO2 Emission Trading System and started imposing extra taxes on airliners. Actual payments will not take place until 2013, but the system is now up and running. A very laudable eff...

Twenty-eight years ago when I was at the L.A. airport waiting for a plane to Seoul, I watched on television clashes between riot police and the tear-gassed students of South Korea, who were protesting against the military dictatorship. I was embarrassed and reluctant to go back to Korea, even though I was returning home after six years in the States. Upon arriving at Gimpo Airport, I was taken a...

For those who have missed the chance to experience Seoul’s royal palaces at night or see a gugak concert in the court garden last year, the year 2012 will come as an exciting one. More cultural events and educational programs will take place in the four royal palaces in Seoul ―Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, and Deoksugung ― as well as Jongmyo shrine this year, including court cui...

Chung Hyung-Min announces NMOCA will go through overall renovations through 2013 Chung Hyung-Min, newly appointed director of National Museum of Contemporary Art, said that she is happy to see that women are taking powerful positions in the art scene and thus generating public interest in it. Now she said she will take this opportunity to prove something “I feel a heavy responsibility for taki...