WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor America announced all-time record April sales on Tuesday as the world's biggest economy continues to stabilize after the worst recession in decades.   HMA sold 61,754 units, up 40 percent from a year earlier. The figure for the first four months of this year is 204,374 vehicles, up 31 percent from 155,532 during the same period last year.   Hyundai's sister co

Foreign ownership of South Korean stocks exceeded the 400 trillion won ($374 billion) mark for the first time ever in April on their brisk buying spurred by strong corporate earnings, the financial regulator said Wednesday.   Foreign investors' holdings of local shares amounted to 412.51 trillion won as of the end of April, or 30.8 percent of the total market cap, according to the monthly report b

An official of South Korea's financial regulator apparently jumped to his death on Tuesday, but the incident does not appear to be related to a scandal involving a local savings bank, police and the Financial Supervisory Service said, according to Yonhap News.  The official, identified only by his surname Kim, was bleeding when he was found by a security guard at the entrance of an apartment on Tu

South Korea’s smallest mobile carrier, LG Uplus Corp., said Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings tumbled 90 percent from a year ago, hit by higher costs and lower revenues from subscribers. Net income reached 57 billion won ($54 million) in the January-March period, compared with 543 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.Sales fell 13 percent from one year ago to 2

South Korean banks saw their earnings inch up 1.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier thanks to increased interest income, the financial regulator said Tuesday.The combined net income of 18 local banks, including top player Kookmin Bank and state-run Korea Development Bank, came to 4.4 trillion won ($4.1 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 4.3 trillion won a year earli

Korea Exchange Bank will convene a board meeting next week to determine whether to pay quarterly interim dividends, the bank said Tuesday, raising the chances of its biggest shareholder Lone Star Funds raking in profits.Board members are scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss the issue, and the potential dividend payout will be based on the bank’s first-quarter earnings due out on the same day, Ko

New orders won by South Korean major builders dropped 10 percent in the first quarter from a year ago mainly due to a slump in the domestic market, a trade association said Tuesday. According to the Korea Federation of Construction Contractors, 31 builders won new orders worth 18.8 trillion won ($17.6 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 20.9 trillion won a year ago. The builders’ d

The use of Internet banking in South Korea rose 6.3 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier as more people conducted financial transactions online, the central bank said Tuesday.Online banking transactions reached an average of 38.7 million per day in the January-March period, compared with 36.4 million the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The data is based on

Korea needs to create opportunities for growth by reinforcing link between research and FTAsThis is the 44th in a series of articles introducing the Korean government’s R&D policies. Researchers at the Science & Technology Policy Institute will explain Korea’s R&D initiatives aimed at addressing major socioeconomic problems facing the nation. ― Ed.The science and technology community is filled wit

The South Korea government is considering lowering its projection of economic growth in 2011 to around the upper range of 4 percent while upping its inflation projection to the upper range of 3 percent due to the rising oil prices, sources said Sunday.The Korean government has been targeting around 5 percent economic growth this year while containing inflation at 3 percent, but mounting inflationa

In just a month, Sempio Foods has raised its target for the sales of “A Hundred Years” to 60 billion won ($55.9 million) by 50 percent after watching the bottles of citron vinegar fly off the shelves. Behind the smash hit is Suh Dong-soon. The 46-year-old director of marketing is the first female executive at the condiment maker in its 65 years in business.  Sempio director of marketing Suh Dong-s

Financial regulators on Thursday issued sanctions against a Korean asset management firm and a brokerage house for incurring huge losses after allegedly making reckless investments in stocks last November.The Financial Supervisory Service held a committee meeting where they fine-tuned the level of penalties they would levy against Wise Asset and Hana Daetoo Securities for their alleged negligence

South Korea’s current account surplus rose to the highest level in three months in March as exports of ships and other key products remained robust, the central bank said Thursday.The current account surplus reached $1.43 billion in March, up from a revised $1.13 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade.The March

Despite their long presence in Korea, global giant life insurers still don’t come close to their major local rivals in terms of size, according to industry sources Friday.Nine foreign life insurers operating in the country hold 68.9 trillion won ($63.7 billion) in assets, or 16.9 percent of the industry’s total. The figure does not even meet half of that held by industry leader Samsung Life Insura

South Korea’s business sentiment for May rose from a month ago on expectations about solid economic growth at home and abroad, a poll showed Wednesday.The monthly Business Survey Index (BSI) for the upcoming month came in at 104.3, compared with 98.4 a month earlier, according to the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the country’s leading business lobby.A reading below 100 means pessimists ou

Prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices rose marginally in the second half of this month but stayed below the $1 level, an industry report showed Wednesday, casting doubts on the prospect for their quick recovery.The contract price of the benchmark DDR3 1-gigabit 128Mx8 1066-megahertz device rose 1.03 percent from the first half of this month to $0.98 in the second half, according to

Foreign life insurance companies operating in South Korea claimed 16.9 percent of the local market in terms of assets last year, industry data showed Wednesday.The combined assets of the nine foreign life insurers reached 68.9 trillion won ($63.8 billion) as of the end of 2010, according to the data. However, the figure is dwarfed by the 408.4 trillion won in total assets held by the three leading

South Korea’s automobile exports to Eastern Europe rose sharply in the first three months of this year thanks to an economic recovery in the region, a local automobile association said Wednesday. During the January-March period, South Korean car makers’ auto exports to Eastern Europe, including Russia, reached 72,393 units, compared with 37,670 units a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobi

South Korean manufacturers’ business confidence for May rose to the highest level in eight months due to optimism about the economic recovery, the central bank said Wednesday.The index of manufacturers’ outlook on business conditions reached 100 for May, up from 95 for April, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index measures manufacturers’ outlook on business conditions for the coming month

South Korean engineers successfully tested the world’s first operational automatic docking system between two large ships off the country’s southeastern coast, a state-run science and technology university said Tuesday.The test carried out in Busan, 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, is an integral part of the larger “mobile harbor” project that aims to make it possible to speed up the loading and