Korea’s biggest conglomerate issues public pledge aiming to prop up partner firmsSamsung Group on Wednesday pledged a number of measures including a 610 billion won ($558.7 million) fund, patent rights and improved payment systems to help promote growth in its smaller vendors and suppliers. Samsung signed an agreement at its Seocho headquarters outlining these and other efforts to become the secon

 

Korea is likely to see its economic growth rate fall more than 2 percentage points if international oil prices top the $200 level, a report showed Tuesday.The report comes amid worries that the shortfall of oil production in Libya and continued unrest in the region may send crude prices even higher and dent the growth of economies around the world. According to the report by Britain-based Standard

Nespresso is confident that booming enthusiasm for coffee among Koreans and the surging popularity of homemade espressos will continue to shore up its brisk sales growth in the market, the chief of Korean operations said.Since the coffee business unit of Swiss food giant Nestle launched its single-serve “coffee capsules” in December 2007, it has led the local portion coffee market which has been e

Domestic orders of Korean builders plunged 17 percent in February from a year earlier due to a prolonged slump in the local property market and a drop in orders from the public sector, a trade association said Monday. The local builders’ domestic orders came to 5.09 trillion won ($4.69 billion) in February, compared with 6.15 trillion won tallied a year earlier, the Construction Association of Kor

Korea’s quarantine inspections of imported farm produce rose 10 percent on-year in the first quarter mainly due to greater local demand for vegetables and fruits, the government said Tuesday.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said import inspections were carried out on 43,793 shipments in the January-March period, compared to 39,746 during the same period a year earlier.“Un

Korea’s leading steelmaker POSCO is expected to report an operating income of less than 1 trillion won ($917 million) for the January-March period due to a price freeze amid soaring raw materials costs, analysts said Tuesday.POSCO, the world’s third-largest steelmaker, is set to report its first-quarter earnings next Friday. The steelmaker has been reporting a quarterly operating profit of more th

Korea’s Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun will leave for the United States this week to attend a Group of 20 (G20) meeting, which will focus on pending global economic and financial issues, officials said Tuesday.The G20 finance ministers’ meeting will kick off in Washington on Thursday for a two-day run, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Yoon will leave for the meeting on Wednesda

Debts owed by Korea’s public corporations surged by 34.2 trillion won ($31.6 billion) in 2010 mainly due to outlays in large development projects, the government said Monday.The finance ministry said the combined debt of 27 leading public corporations rose 14.4 percent on-year to 271.9 trillion won last year, with their debt-to-equity ratio hitting 157 percent, up from 144 percent in 2009.Their de

Korea and Indonesia will hold a working-level meeting next month on ways to further boost bilateral economic cooperation, Seoul’s finance ministry said Monday.The meeting is a follow-up on a December summit between Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in which they agreed to boost bilateral cooperation on weaponry development, energy, infrastructure and

When Shim Yeo-lynn was replaced by her colleague with better English-speaking skills for a meeting with foreign clients, she did not just set out to hone her English skills. She founded a start-up herself.After hopping from one English prep school to another and taking a series of one-on-one lessons from native speakers, she realized that there was no service that teaches how to communicate in the

SK Telecom joined hands with China’s No. 1 wireless carrier to tap into one of the world’s fastest growing mobile game markets.ST Telecom and China Mobile’s game business unit signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday in China for cooperation in content, platform and networking technologies.China’s mobile game market has grown 100 percent annually for the past three years with the number of u

Korean stocks will continue to rise this week but the gains will likely be limited by rising oil prices and other economic woes stemming from Japan’s earthquake and continuing war in Libya, analysts said.The benchmark KOSPI ended last week at 2,127.97, up 6.96 points or 0.32 percent from a week earlier, extending its rally of weekly gains to a fourth consecutive week.The total market cap also reac

A free trade deal with China would help Korea expand its gross domestic product by nearly 3 percent, a think tank said Sunday, citing more exports to the fast-growing market through lowered trade barriers.According to a report by the Samsung Economic Research Institute, Korea’s GDP is expected to grow 2.72 percent more if Seoul and Beijing complete a free trade agreement intended to cut or remove

The Trade Ministry said Thursday it will review the Korean-language texts of all free trade agreements the nation has signed after more than 200 mistakes were found in the pact with the European Union.The ministry is currently reviewing the texts of its pacts with the United States and Peru which have yet to be approved by the parliament. “In addition to the two FTAs, we will conduct rereading of

The government said Thursday that it plans to tackle the recent spike in the price of farm and fisheries products that has contributed to rising inflationary pressure.The announcement by the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries came after soaring costs for food helped send growth in consumer prices to a 29-month on-year high of 4.7 percent in March. Of total gains, prices for far

Korean investors were crushed by the market crash that swept the world three years ago. The Seoul stock exchange’s KOSPI Index lost 41 percent during 2008, while the most popular mutual fund fell 39 percent.High-net-worth stock pickers looking for better performance have found Seo Jae-hyeong.Seo’s Korea Creative Investment advisory firm works with brokerages to sell Koreans “wrap accounts” ― packa

Korea’s three mobile service providers are being probed for illegal price fixing after a local civic group filed complaints with the state anti-trust regulator, business sources said.Sources said Fair Trade Commission inspectors carried out on-site inspections at SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus on Wednesday, with emphasis placed on checking factory prices of smartphones and the possibility that

Standard Chartered First Bank pays first dividendBritish banking giant Standard Chartered Plc will continue to invest in Korea, its head said Thursday, dismissing speculation that planned closures of some of its branches here may indicate retreats in its investment.“Our business here in Korea is the core part of growth,” Peter Sands, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered, said at a press c

The government said Wednesday that it plans to inject 54.3 billion won ($49.8 million) this year to help local companies maintain their lead in the global smart TV market.The joint plan announced by the ministries of knowledge economy and culture, and the Korea and Communications Commission calls for concerted efforts to build up smart TV-related contents and the establishment of a viable Internet