South Korean stocks rose on the seventh-straight day to set a new record of 2,121.01 points on Friday, buoyed mainly by foreign buying. The benchmark KOSPI jumped 14.31 points or 0.68 percent from the previous day to break the previous record it set in January when the KOSPI closed at 2,115.69. Trading volume was moderate at 328.2 million shares worth 7.12 trillion won ($6.5 billion), with gainers

Korean game-lovers will have a chance to experience Kinect on 3-D television at experience zones and Kinect tournaments operated as a joint effort between Microsoft Korea and LG Electronics, Microsoft said this week. Kinect is new game device launched by Microsoft last year that requires no controllers, as an embedded sensor picks up the movements of the players. Customers also can buy special Kin

Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 1 television-maker, is expected to be among the global TV manufacturers forced to sell more cell-type LCD panels due to increasing demands from set-makers who are worried about hostile TV market conditions. “Cell-type panels are soon going to be a substantial trend as more and more set-makers want to reduce costs in the face of the far-from-friendly market cond

World’s No. 2 computer memory-chip supplier sanguine on global marketICHEON, Gyeonggi ― Hynix Semiconductor on Wednesday said it will be doling out cash dividends for the first time this year and expected more to come on the back of rosier forecasts for the memory chip market.“We expect the demand for memory chips to continue rising and as long as we continue to see profit exceeding our objectives

Chairman Koo urges affiliates to help achieve ‘shared growth’ with smaller partnersLG Group is leading the corporate sector’s campaign to buttress the competitiveness of smaller vendors and firms to help achieve a level playing field for all parties. The group’s chairman Koo Bon-moo this year proclaimed that LG would stand at the forefront of supporting mutually beneficial growth with its partner

Telecom industry giant and world’s No. 2 phonemaker struggling to shirk blame for high call feesSK Telecom and Samsung Electronics, known for their airtight alliance on phone marketing and sales, are showing signs of a major rift with both parties attempting to shift blame for spiking call fees, according to industry watchers. On the government’s mounting demands on telecom companies to slash the

Samsung LED Co. on Monday said that it has agreed with Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Co. to form a joint venture to produce sapphire wafers that are necessary components of light-emitting diode, a semiconductor light source.The LED manufacturer said the 50-50 venture will be capitalized at 80 billion won ($72 million), with production of sapphire ingots and wafers scheduled to begin early next year.Th

Sony Ericsson on Monday said it will be releasing its new smartphone, “Xperia Arc” in South Korea next month through SK Telecom. South Korea will be the second nation to see the launch of Xperia Arc, following the firm’s home turf of Japan.“We want Xperia Arc to be known not only for its design, but as a phone defining new smartphone standards,” said Han Youn-hee, head of the firm’s South Korean m

Citizens are praying for South Korean sailors who were killed in the sinking of the Cheonan on March 26 of last year. (Yonhap News)South Koreans marked the first anniversary of the deadly sinking of a navy ship on Saturday with a memorial ceremony in Daejeon, south of Seoul, attended by thousands of government and military leaders and citizens.Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the sink

  Another South Korean national has been confirmed dead from the massive Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the South Korean foreign ministry said on Saturday.   The recent finding brought to four the number of South Korean citizens killed in the disaster.   "Police headquarters of Japan's Miyagi Prefecture notified the South Korean Consulate General in Sendai that an 86-year-old South Korean woman

 Won Sei-hoon, chief of the National Intelligence Service faced allegations that he may have violated related ethics codes by holding more than 400 million ($358,000) worth of stocks. According to Friday's data on the assets of government officials, Won and his wife had 2,430 shares of Hanatour shares and over 4,000 shares of Daewoo Securities issues. They also had 13 shares in G&ST, a manufacturi

South Korean stocks are forecast to trend higher next week, shrugging off concerns of Japan's March 11 earthquake, but other external uncertainties such as the Libyan unrest and Europe's debt risks may trim gains, analysts said Saturday.   Despite the ongoing aftermath of Japan's earthquake, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,054.04 on Friday, up 72.91 points, or 3

Sharp of Japan latest foreign firm LG is seeking new technology partnership withLG Electronics is bit by bit winning partners from its biggest rival Samsung in a bid to gently, but firmly, nudge the entire television industry to go the “LG Way.”The “LG Way,” in terms of 3-D TVs, happens to be LG’s new technology that involves, to put it simply, placing a sheet of special film on TV panels to reali

One out of every seven in the Korean online community experienced hacking last year, while one out of six said their personal information was exposed online without their consent, according to government figures on Thursday.In the corporate sector, one out of eight companies said their websites were disturbed or hacked, the Korea Communication Commission said, citing a survey it conducted on indiv

New technology and teamwork expected to revive LGEIt was with a sense of grim determination that Koo Bon-joon took the helm of LG Electronics last year, tasked with the daunting mission of reviving the former glory days of the floundering electronics-maker.Koo, as a member of LG’s owner family, was under close scrutiny from market watchers who were naturally suspicious of just how much of a better

By Kim Ji-hyunLG Uplus on Thursday said it has developed an exclusive application, which allows users to read magazines in their original paper format on tablet PCs, to signal its entry into the digital magazine advertisement market. The application is accessible from both Android and Apple operating systems running on tablets such as Galaxy Tabs and iPads so that publishers won’t have to create s

Samsung on Wednesday rushed to once again water down Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s recent remarks that appeared to be critical of government policies, saying that his comments did not reflect his true intentions. Kim Soon-taek, chief of Samsung’s strategic planning unit, told a weekly CEO meeting that the chairman was “disturbed because what he said was not what he meant.” Kim also sa

Companies vow not to abandon Japan, but families question decisionKorean companies with offices in Japan on Wednesday said they would not withdraw their employees despite the massive earthquake and tsunami that has reportedly left more than 10,000 people dead or missing. The firms, which mostly have offices and operations in Tokyo, said their decision to stay was based on the belief that they shou

Kwon Hyuk-se, 55, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, has been nominated as the new chief of the Financial Supervisory Service, the country’s top financial watchdog.  President Lee Myung-bak will be formally appointing Kwon as governor of the organization following a vote today by the members of the Financial Services Commission.Kwon would afterward be inaugurated on March 28, a co

Developing content will be key to success of new television setsWhat’s the use of having a high-fangled 3D TV or a smart TV if there is nothing to watch? This is a question that 30-year-old bride-to-be Kim Eun-jung keeps asking herself as she shops for appliances ahead of her wedding. Her concerns seem universal, as netizens are busily asking similar questions in online communities about whether t