SK Holdings Co., the holding firm for Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, said Friday it plans to spin off its life science business unit in April in a bid to nurture new growth engines.The new entity, tentatively named SK Biopharm, will be launched on April 1 with a paid-in capital of 20 billion won ($18 million), SK said in a regulatory filing.Since launching a drug development busines

Only 9 percent of Koreans believe they are financially prepared to retire, a survey showed.The figure is significantly lower than the world average of 30 percent ― 34 percent for Europeans and 32.5 percent for North Americans ― research firm Nielsen Company said.The poll also showed that nearly 40 percent of Koreans are expected to retire before turning 60 years old. The company surveyed 26,000 pe

The planned merger of Deutsche Boerse AG and NYSE Euronext is to likely to deprive the Korea Exchange of the status as the world’s most actively traded derivative market. The KRX, the world’s No. 1 derivative market, took up 15.9 percent of the trade volume worldwide with about 1.78 billion transactions in the first half of 2010, the Futures Industry Association said. The German-U.S. bourse allian

Lotte Group, a retail-focused Korean conglomerate, promoted Vice Chairman Shin Dong-bin to chairman in a reshuffling carried out Thursday.The group, which operates chains of Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart and Lotte Super and retail giant GS Group, promoted a total of 172 executives including seven new presidents for its subsidiaries, it said in a statement. Shin Dong-binLotte’s founder and for

Korea National Oil Corp., a state-run energy resources developer, plans to invest as much as $4 billion in overseas oilfields this year as it aims to increase crude production by 33 percent.“We’re interested in assets in Africa, Europe, Asia, the U.S. and Canada,” Kim Seong Hoon, senior executive vice president, said in an interview. “We plan to raise daily output by 60,000 barrels to 240,000 barr

The Financial Services Commission unveiled a comprehensive package to curb excessive competition among credit card companies on Wednesday, a precautionary measure to prevent another liquidity crunch amid growing risks of reckless card and loan issuance. The financial regulator said it plans to induce issuers to offer reasonable supplementary services that would not harm their profitability and con

The Netherlands are providing 1 million doses of foot-and-mouth vaccine to help Korea fight its worst outbreak, its embassy said Friday.At the request of the Korean government, the European country has sent 500,000 vaccines. The remainder is due to arrive on Feb. 3. “The Netherlands expects it will contribute positively to the welfare of the animals and to disease control,” it said in an e-mailed

Korean electronics companies compete in rolling out higher-performance, slicker smart TVsKorean electronics giants of Samsung and LG are engaging in a heated competition to seize the next stage of home entertainment with new smart TVs and application marketplaces.The world’s two largest TV manufacturers have recently released bigger, thinner and slicker products that allow users to access the Inte

LG Electronics, Korea’s second-largest electronics maker, is to showcase its key air conditioning products at a trade fair in Las Vegas this week.Its highly efficient and environment-friendly commercial air conditioners will be displayed at a 200 square-meter booth at the AHR Expo, the world’s largest international tradeshow for heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration industries,

POSCO has forged agreements with African partners to spur its move to develop natural resources in the region, the world’s No. 4 steel producer said Sunday.During a week-long visit that ended Saturday, chief executive Chung Joon-yang agreed to jointly develop an iron ore mine in Cameroon, a company statement said. The Mbalam mine is expected to annually produce about 35 million tons of high-qualit

Robots will be deployed for education, fire-fighting, sewage repairs and manufacturing this year in a series of pilot projects aimed at nurturing robotics as the country’s key growth industry.Next year will see robots patrol danger zones, remove mines in the DMZ and do farm work, according to government-led plans unveiled Thursday.Seven ministries involving industry, education and the environment

After a year of record revenues, Korean retailers are aggressively expanding at home and abroad, pinning hopes on booming luxury goods sales and the rise of deep-pocketed Asian consumers.Top department store chains, Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai, are sizing up their existing downtown branches and opening new stores in suburban centers, setting their sights on consumers of high-end products.Large di

SK Telecom, the nation’s No. 1 telecom operator, launched on Monday a “numerous screen” (n-Screen) platform that allows users to access the same content from multiple devices based on cloud computing technology. The “hoppin” service allows subscribers to use media content in its server on smartphones, computers, tablet PCs and televisions through a Wi-Fi network with a one-time payment. For instan

Service robotics emerges as the next technology frontier with advancing skills, surging demandThese days, visitors to the presidential office in Seoul are getting a taste of the future. At Sarangchae, a museum affiliated with Cheong Wa Dae, a kiosk-shaped robot greets guests with a heartwarming smile. Named Tiro, the machine introduces Korea’s culture and gives directions and answers in four diffe

Ssangyong Engineering & Construction has won a 35 billion won ($31 million) deal to build a premium shopping center in Singapore, the latest boost to its growing presence in one of Asia’s hottest construction markets.The builder signed the contract with City Development Ltd., the largest property developer of Singapore, on Thursday. Ssangyong will design and construct a two-story luxury mall with

Local carriers look to take share of global market expected to reach $44.2b in 2013Korea’s telecom carriers are jumping on the cloud computing market to meet growing demand for software, platform and data storage in service. SK Telecom Co., Korea’s top wireless carrier, said Monday it will open a cloud service center that will allow small and mid-sized firms to use high-capacity computing resource

Hyundai Motor Co. aims to boost its domestic market share to 47 percent this year with its upgraded vehicles lineup, the company said Sunday. The country’s top automaker took 45.2 percent of the Korean market in 2010, falling short of its 52 percent target for the year and the 50.7 percent it secured in 2009. In contrast to a strong overseas performance, Hyundai’s domestic sales in 2010 fell 6.1 p

Hyundai Oilbank Co. has recently completed the construction of its second heavy oil upgrading plant as local refineries are racing to get an edge in the high value-added market.The country’s smallest refiner said on Sunday the new facility located in Daesan, South Chungcheong Province, will enter full operation in mid-May after a four-month test run. The company has invested 2.6 trillion won ($2.3

Financial authorities are quickening their moves to restructure savings banks struggling with growing bad debts to prevent their troubles from destabilizing the broader financial system.The state-run Korea Asset Management Corp. said on Saturday it will conduct a sweeping investigation into all construction-related project financing schemes involving domestic savings banks. Sources said the Financ

The Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into the nation’s three major sugar manufacturers to see if they are implicated in irregular practices in pricing products, sources said Friday. The antitrust probe is aimed at examining their profit margins, distribution costs and other related factors to determine whether companies mark up prices too much, according to industry sources. Giv