Samsung Electronics Co. is aiming to set new records in annual operating profit and revenue this year though business conditions are expected to be unfavorable, its chief executive said Friday. Samsung, the world’s top memory chipmaker, posted an all-time high operating profit of 17 trillion won ($15 billion) in 2010. Its revenue also stood at a record high of 155 trillion won.“Market conditions i

Korea is serving as a temporary base for Japan-based employees of some multinational companies who are fleeing the quake-stricken country.Foreign governments are advising their citizens to get out of the country and mobilizing airplanes to evacuate them as health risk fears are growing from radiation leaks at the nuclear plant in Fukushima. A growing number of foreigners are arriving in Korea, air

Standard Chartered First Bank Korea, the local unit of Britain-based Standard Chartered Group, said Friday it plans to close 27 branches in the nation by June to improve efficiency.Employees at the closed branches will be relocated to other operations, said the lender which operates 418 branches in the nation.“SC First Bank plans to cut 27 small branches in a bid to boost efficiency and diversify

Hanwha Group said Friday that it has established a research center in Silicon Valley in the United States to develop next-generation solar energy technologies including solar cells.The establishment of Hanwha Solar America marks the group’s latest efforts to enhance its solar energy business. Its affiliate Hanwha Chemical Co. acquired 49.9 percent of Shanghai-based solar-products maker Solarfun Po

Korea is seeking to tighten its construction code for smaller buildings in order to better protect them from massive earthquakes, the land and transportation ministry said Friday.The move comes as concerns are growing that Korea might not be immune from massive earthquakes like the one that hit Japan last week. Experts are also calling for the government to step up its efforts to better brace for

Korea’s imports from Japan have been plunging since the recent massive earthquake amid concerns that disruptions in supply of parts and materials from the neighboring country could hurt the economy here, customs data showed Thursday.Before the 9.0-magnitude quake struck Japan last Friday, Korea’s daily weekday imports from the country averaged $303.33 million for this month, according to the data

Foreign investment banks (IBs) see little short-term impact from last week’s earthquake in Japan on the Korean economy but they are concerned over its longer-term impact as the disaster could eventually hurt the nation’s exports by disrupting the parts supply from the neighboring country, a report showed Thursday.Recent reports on economic conditions at home and abroad by foreign banks including M

The number of people who used Korea’s budget carriers jumped over 30 percent on-year in the first two months of the year as more people chose cheap fares for domestic flights, the transportation ministry said Thursday.According to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, passengers who used budget carriers totaled 1.45 million in the January-February period, up 31 percent from a year

Seoul shares end flat, investor sentiment remains fragileThe Korean currency slumped to its weakest level this year as a worsening crisis at a nuclear power plant in Japan prompted investors to favor safer bets than emerging-market assets.The won closed local trade at 1,135.3 per dollar, around a 38 percent retracement support line drawn between December 2010 and February 2011.It briefly weakened

Korea is to send some of its reserves of a material used for regulating nuclear chain reactions to Japan to limit damage to its quake-damaged nuclear reactors. The Korean government said Wednesday that it will send an emergency shipment of boron following Tokyo’s request for the metalloid, which is being mixed with seawater to limit damage at crippled nuclear facilities in Fukushima. Tokyo has ask

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Yonhap) ― Against pressure from Congress, the Obama administration Tuesday vowed to submit a pending free trade deal with Korea soon and take time to address outstanding issues with similar deals with Panama and Colombia.“I think as the president has said, he, too, would like to get all three agreements passed once we’ve addressed the outstanding issues associated with them,”

Korea and Peru will sign a free trade deal next week, the latest trade pact that could pave the way for Asia’s fourth-largest economy to tap deeper into the South American region, Seoul’s trade ministry said Wednesday.The trade ministers from both sides will sign the free trade agreement (FTA) in Seoul on Monday, the ministry said. Both countries struck the deal in August last year.Peru marks the

Defense R&D should come under National Science and Technology Council to expand scope of developmentThis is the 43rd 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. Hong Sung-bumIn 1990, the Clinton adminis

The massive earthquake that hit Japan last week could slow down Korea’s exports as demand from the nation’s second-largest trade partner might contract significantly due to a protracted economic slowdown, experts said Tuesday.Korea’s exports to Japan have been improving since the start of this year. During the first two months, Korea’s exports to Japan jumped 47.7 percent from a year earlier to $5

Korea is drawing up measures to induce price cuts by oil refineries, the nation’s top economic policymaker said Tuesday, expressing suspicion that they are not setting prices for domestic consumers in a transparent manner.The remarks by Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun are the latest in his series of strong words against the nation’s oil refinery industry. He has been accusing the industry of keep

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― At five years old, Twitter is just starting to change the world.Jack Dorsey fired off the first tweets on March 21, 2006, an automated “just setting up my twttr” message which he followed with the first “human” tweet ― “inviting coworkers.”It was Dorsey who proposed the idea for Twitter while working with Biz Stone and Evan Williams at podcasting company Odeo.Since then, Twit

Australia may reconsider rejection of mine projectAn Australian state government will reconsider a rejected Korean consortium-led coal mine project, Seoul’s state-run resource explorer said Monday.Early this month, Australia’s New South Wales state government refused the proposal submitted by Korea Resources Corp. (KORES), citing concerns over water, ecological and heritage impacts.KORES said it w

Yoon regrets Samsung chief’scriticism of economic policyFrom news reportsFinance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun expressed regret Monday about Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee’s recent criticism of the government’s economic policy. “It is truly embarrassing and disappointing,” Yoon told lawmakers about Lee’s disparaging remarks on the Lee Myung-bak administration’s policy performance.Last Thursda

South Korean stocks closed 0.8 percent higher on Monday as big gains by electronics and steelmakers helped offset jitters over Japan’s massive earthquake, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI advanced 15.69 points to 1,971.23 after falling as much as 1.2 percent at one point. Trading volume was moderate at 384.1 million shares, worth 9.4 trillion won (

Korea is likely to suffer faster price gains in the second half of 2011 as China’s growing inflation is feared to spill over into the country, experts said Monday.China’s consumer price index jumped 4.9 percent in January and February from a year earlier, respectively, after gaining 5.1 percent in November and 4.6 percent in December amid the country’s strong economic growth. The quickening price