South Korea and China have agreed to provide flight services between Seoul and Beijing in a move to reduce overall travel time, the transportation ministry said Tuesday.The two nations recently signed a memorandum of understanding to allow their airlines to offer direct flights between Gimpo International Airport, west of Seoul, and Beijing International Airport starting in July, the ministry said

The number of South Korean travelers going overseas fell to a 16-month low in March, apparently due to the recent earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, the top destination for outbound tourists, data showed Tuesday.According to the data released by the Justice Ministry and the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of South Koreans going overseas came to 868,694 last month, down 8.6 percent from

The number of passengers using international air flights grew about 6 percent during the first quarter as people were bolstered to travel by the ongoing economic recovery, the transportation ministry said Tuesday.Passengers using international flights in and out of South Korea’s airports came to 10.13 million during the January-March period, up 5.8 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, the

South Korea’s consumer co nfidence rebounded for the first time in five months in April on the back of optimism about the economic recovery, the central bank said Tuesday.The consumer sentiment index (CSI) ― a gauge of consumers’ overall economic outlook, living conditions and future spending ― stood at 100 for April, up from 98 in March, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a monthly report.The April

South Korea’s largest-ever international food exposition kicked off Tuesday for a four-day run, bringing together more than 1,100 companies from 45 countries.The 2011 Seoul Food Expo will run until Friday at the Korea International Exhibition Center in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, according to its organizer, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).The 29th Seoul Food Expo comes as Seoul

South Korea’s top three life insurers posted greater losses in their overseas operations in fiscal 2010 from a year ago due mainly to increased start-up costs, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.The combined net loss of the eight overseas subsidiaries operated by the three biggest life insurance firms, including Samsung Life Insurance Co., came to $13.1 million last year, compared with $7.7 milli

About one month has passed since the government rolled out measures to boost the sluggish real estate market. The centerpiece of the policy was to offer tax benefits and ease financing limits.Despite the policy and such positive economic indexes as soaring stock prices, however, the market has no signs of rebounding. Moreover, there are growing concerns of a further contraction in housing sales, d

S-LCD Corp., a venture between Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Corp., said Monday that it will reduce capital through a share cancellation as part of efforts to improve its capital structure.In a regulatory filing, the venture said the number of its shares will be reduced to 660 million from the current 780 million, with its capital base to be cut to 3.3 trillion won ($3.05 billion) from 3.9 tril

South Korea needs to strengthen its nuclear reactor safety protocol to ensure there are no problems with its atomic power production, the commerce minister said Monday.The remarks come amid growing concern over the safety of atomic energy after the disastrous earthquake in Japan damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, prompting radiation leaks. Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-

The chief of SK Group, a South Korean conglomerate, has suffered a loss of more than 100 billion won ($92.5 million) from futures investment, sources said Saturday.The National Tax Service, the country’s tax agency, found that Chey Tae-won had invested in the futures, but lost most of his money, according to the sources. The tax agency launched tax probes into the group’s key affiliates, such as S

Builder to construct power station and desalination plantHanwha Engineering & Construction said Wednesday that it has signed a $1.05 billion deal to build a power station and desalination plant in Saudi Arabia.The builder said it is to establish the plant at Yanbu industrial complex, the biggest of its kind in Saudi Arabia and located on the western side of the country, by 2014 under the deal with

Says free trade benefits vary with levels of developmentA noted critic of free trade agreements has offered a mixed assessment of a potential FTA between South Korea and China. Chang Ha-joon, an economist at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., has written numerous publications critical of free trade agreements. In books such as “Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of

The United States is “mindful” of progress South Korea and the European Union have achieved in ratifying their free trade agreement, the top American envoy here said Wednesday, as Seoul and Washington make their last push to bring their own deal to life.“Yes, we are very mindful that our friends in Europe also have a free trade agreement,” U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens said duri

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday called for more investment in broadband lines and other infrastructure in the United States to catch up with South Korea and other countries.“Our roads, our bridges, our sewer systems are all deteriorating,” Obama told a town hall meeting at Northern Virginia Community College, in Annandale, Virginia. “We don’t even have a serious high-spee

South Korea’s credit card spending expanded 16.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier amid the country’s consumer price advance, a trade association said Wednesday. Purchases made by credit card amounted to 105.2 trillion won ($96.9 billion) during the January-March period, compared with 90.6 trillion won in the same period last year, according to the Credit Finance Association.The dat

South Korea’s LG Electronics Tuesday unveiled a refrigerator which suggests recipes as it forecast a bright future in the potentially lucrative market for “smart” household appliances.LG will roll out smart fridges, washers and other appliances in South Korea and North America by the end of this year to compete against rivals including Samsung Electronics and Whirlpool, Lee Young-ha, president of

South Korea aims to reach the top 10 in quality competitiveness in the world by 2015 as part of its ongoing effort to boost its growth potential, the government said Tuesday.The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said South Korea ranked 22nd among the 57 countries checked last year in terms of quality competitiveness in the manufacturing sector, mainly because the general corporate atmosphere was focus

The largest association of overseas-based Korean business leaders put forward an ambitious vision Monday to offer overseas internship positions for 10,000 young Korean adults as it celebrated its 30th anniversary with a pledge to expand the “business territory” of their homeland.The World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Association, or World-OKTA, also vowed to take advantage of its deep-rea

South Korea’s telecom titan KT Corp. said Monday that it has started offering cloud services in three cities in the United States and Germany, aiming to attract game developers and other content providers. The telecom company rolled out remote storage services that allow streaming and downloading data from online servers in New York, Los Angeles and Frankfurt, it said in a statement. The company a

South Korea will not raise its present foot-and-mouth disease alert level despite a fresh outbreak in the southeastern part of the country over the weekend, a government official said Monday.Deputy Farm Minister Lee Sang-kil said animals at the small farm in Yeongcheon, 344 kilometers from Seoul, were affected by the “type O” FMD virus that had devastated South Korea since November.The farm owner