Low profitability -- mainly caused by the protracted slump in the nation’s exports -- is undermining the credit standings of more companies this year, according to the three major local ratings agencies.Korea Investors Service revised down the ratings of 45 firms -- mostly affilites of conglomerates -- over the past 10 months.The 2015 figure has already surpassed the 33 posted in 2008 and 34 in 2009, when the global financial crisis hit the nation. The 45 in downgrading recorded as the highest n

Korea’s financial market showed a tolerance to U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s remarks signaling a rate hike in December on Thursday, though its stocks and currency lost compared to the previous trading session, analysts said.The U.S. dollar rose by 0.57 percent to finish at 1,138.5 won on growing projections in the global futures trading market that the Fed was moving to raise its key interest rate on the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, slated for Dec. 15-16.Like th

The Korean currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as the market regarded the Federal Reserve’s stance, publicized overnight via written statements, as a relatively hawkish monetary policy.The dollar rose by 0.99 percent, or 11.3 won, from the previous trading session to close at 1,142.3 won. Over the past two weeks, the greenback traded between the 1,120 and 1,135 mark.Despite the possibly further depreciation of the Korean won in the coming weeks, analysts say that the uncert

A sharp drop in the composite stock price index could deal a harder blow to the Korean economy than other major countries, a report from a U.K.-based think tank said Wednesday.Oxford Economics compared 34 countries in its analysis of the impact of equity price shocks on the gross domestic product. The U.S. topped the list in terms of its vulnerability, and Korea was ranked second, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong and the U.K.The research report noted that the combined market capitalization of Ko

An Israeli NGO said Tuesday it was suing Facebook for failing to remove pages that encourage the killing of Jews, after a wave of attacks by Palestinians left nine Israelis dead.Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin organisation that filed the lawsuit in the New York State Court on Monday, said the claim holds the Internet giant responsible for the presence of posts that incite violence.It calls on the company to remove over 1,000 inflammatory pages and improve its monitoring mec

Britain's anti-fraud organization is probing potential money-laundering offences related to the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, its director told British lawmakers on Tuesday."There are outstanding matters which touch upon money-laundering," David Green from the Serious Fraud Office told the British government's Culture, Media and Sport select committee."There are a number of matters we are still looking at and digging into."The SFO cannot pursue scandal-plagued world governing body FI

South Korea has approved its labor workers' visit to North Korea for an inter-Korean friendly footballcompetition in Pyongyang this month, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.The labor unions of the two Koreas have agreed to hold the football event starting Wednesday to run until Saturday in the North Korean capital city, according to the South's Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.It will be the first friendly football match between labor workers fro

BEIJING (AP) - A U.S. Navy warship sailed past one of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday, in a challenge to Chinese sovereignty claims that drew an angry protest from Beijing, which said the move damaged U.S.-China relations and regional peace.China's Foreign Ministry said authorities monitored and warned the USS Lassen as it entered what China claims as a 12-mile (21-kilometer) territorial limit around Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands archipelago, a group of reefs, isl

For the third time in eight years, General Motors is recalling cars that can leak oil and catch fire, sometimes damaging garages and houses.The recall, which covers 1.4 million vehicles dating to the 1997 model year, is needed because repairs from the first two didn't work. More than 1,300 cars caught fire after they were fixed by dealers, the company said.In the previous recalls in 2008 and 2009, GM told owners to park the cars outside until repairs can be made since most of the fires happened

President Park Geun-hye called on the embattled defense procurement agency to ensure that the project to develop South Korea's own fighter jets will succeed within the planned period, the top agency official said Tuesday.Chang Myoung-jin, the head of Defense Acquisition Program Administration, said Park gave the instruction after receiving his briefing on the 18 trillion-won ($15.9 billion) project to produce the fighter jets by 2025.Chang made the comment in a defense subcommittee session, acco

Major conglomerates, including Samsung, LG and Lotte, have reached a consensus with their respective unions on adopting the wake peak system for all their business units next year, according to a survey by a major business lobby on Tuesday.According to the Federation of Korean Industries, 11 of the 21 major business groups responded that they have reached a deal with unionized workers to introduce the wage peak system, while the remaining -- including Hyundai Motor and SK -- are still negotiatin

Hyundai Group’s failure to sell its brokerage unit is expected to deal a blow to its efforts to improve finances and secure cash flows, analysts said Tuesday.On Monday, Orix Corp. made it clear that it has no intention of taking over Hyundai Securities.The Japanese private equity fund firm has reportedly sought to acquire a 22.43 percent stake in the securities house from Hyundai Merchant Marine, the flagship company of the conglomerate, for 647.5 billion won.HMM has to repay debts of 1.5 trilli

(123RF)Bank industry workers voiced criticism over Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan’s remark that Korea’s bank operating hours are too short.　The controversy has showed no signs of abating since Oct. 11 when Choi, who doubles as deputy prime minister, told reporters during his Peru visit for the G20 meeting that the country’s financial industry gets overpaid despite its short operating hours, undermining the global ratings on competitiveness of Korea’s financial sector. 　Typical Korean bank bran

 The Korean currency has been extremely volatile against the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen over the past few months, confusing local exporters and investors, according to analysts.They note that the won-dollar exchange rate appears to have lost direction at the current stage amid the ambiguous stance of the U.S. Federal Reserve on hiking the key base rate.The dollar, which rose from 1,120 won in early July to about 1,200 won in early September, or 6.6 percent, has returned to the 1,120 level agai

BMW Group Korea is bolstering its efforts to secure its position as a pioneer in green technologies by faithfully keeping pace with globally strict eco-related regulations and growing demands for alternative automobile fuel sources.The local unit is closely communicating with its German headquarters over their global strategy to expand the environmentally friendly vehicles, which would have competitive automobile performance in addition to high fuel efficiency.One case in point is the i8 plug-in

South Korea has faced a critical barrier in exports to China over the past decade as the Asian superpower has enhanced its policy to curb imports of intermediate goods, a Bank of Korea research report claimed Wednesday.Korea had enjoyed huge shipments of intermediate products, including knockdowns, before completion of assembly in China, which actively utilized its labor workforce at dirt-cheap rates from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, said the central bank report.It said the giant importer,

A Tunisian democracy group won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its contributions to the first and most successful Arab Spring movement.The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy” in the North African country following its 2011 revolution.“It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war,” the committee said in its citation

Syrian activists say the Islamic State group has launched a surprise attack in the northern province of Aleppo, seizing a string of villages from rebels.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the advance by the extremists is the most significant in months.It comes amid a wave of Russian airstrikes and a ground offensive by the Syrian army in the country's central region.The Observatory said IS seized the villages of Tal Qrah, Kfar Qares and at least four other small villages in the norther

Islamic State group jihadists have killed a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards in Syria, the elite branch of the Iranian military said Friday.General Hossein Hamedani was killed on Thursday by IS "during an advisory mission" in the northern region of Aleppo, a Guards statement said.Iran is a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad, sending Revolutionary Guard forces and military advisers to aid him against rebels seeking his overthrow. (AFP) 

German police swooped on Volkswagen's headquarters on Thursday, carrying away files and hard disks as the investigation into a massive pollution cheating scandal expanded on both sides of the Atlantic.Private apartments were also raided in Volkswagen's hometown of Wolfsburg and other cities, prosecutors told AFP, as police sought to secure documents and digital data that could point to those responsible for the deception of global proportions.             Volkswagen cars in a glass parking tower