Korea aims to become the fourth-largest fisheries exporter in the world by 2020 through better marine resources management and creation of large, globally competitive fishing companies, the government said Tuesday.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said that the country will move to push up exports to $5.5 billion in the target year from around $1.8 billion shipped out in 2

Daum Communications Corp., the operator of Korea’s second-most visited search engine, said Tuesday that its earnings almost quadrupled last year from a year earlier on increased ad-based revenue.Net profit reached 112 billion won ($99.7 million) last year, compared with 31 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.Sales soared 44 percent on-year to a record 346 billion wo

Korea retained its status as the world’s fifth-largest automaking nation last year with over 4.2 million vehicles produced, a local industry body said Tuesday.The country’s five automakers produced some 4,272,000 cars in 2010, up 21.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA).China, the world’s largest market for automobiles, became the world’s

Woori Finance Holdings Co., Korea’s No. 2 financial services company, on Tuesday nominated its incumbent chairman to remain at the helm, which analysts say will help accelerate the stalled privatization of the state-run banking group.The group’s ad hoc chairman selection committee chose incumbent Woori Finance Chairman Lee Pal-seung, 67, as the new chairman nominee, allowing him to serve another t

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Shares of Korean telecom giant KT Corp. are seen as undervalued among foreign investors, as Korea’s telecom industry is expected to further expand, boosted by smartphones, financial sources here said Monday.“Institutional investors in Hong Kong as well as in Singapore are looking into opportunities to buy KT shares, as they consider those shares are substantially underval

Korea posted a trade surplus for 12 straight months in January, driven by robust exports of ships and vehicles, the nation’s customs office said Tuesday.The trade surplus amounted to $2.92 billion last month, according to data provided by the Korea Customs Service. This marked the 12th consecutive month of surplus since February 2010.Exports totaled $44.68 billion, up 45.4 percent from a year earl

Korea’s imports of crude and refined oil products surged in 2010 from a year earlier, fueled by greater local and export demand, a government report showed Tuesday.According to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the country brought in $89.6 billion worth of crude and refined oil products last year, compared with $65.5 billion the previous year.Crude imports jumped 35.4 percent on-yea

Korea’s economy could face a “burden” from growing inflationary pressure, the nation’s top economic policymaker said Tuesday, stressing that the government will push to head off price instability.“If raw material prices continue to rise, it could pose a burden on our economic recovery,” Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun was quoted as saying during a meeting with other key policymakers.“In the short

LONDON (AP) ― For two decades, Eric Selby had been completely blind and dependent on a guide dog to get around. But after having an artificial retina put into his right eye, he can detect ordinary things like the curb and pavement when he’s walking outside.“It’s basically flashes of light that you have to translate in your brain, but it’s amazing I can see anything at all,” said Selby, a retired e

BARCELONA, Spain (Yonhap News) ― LG Electronics Inc., the world’s besieged No. 3 cell phone maker, aims to more than quadruple its smartphone sales from last year to 30 million units in 2011 in a bid to revive its money-losing mobile business, a company executive said Tuesday.LG will also lift its overall mobile phone sales by 30 percent to 150 million units, aiming to outnumber the industry’s sta

Device will be priced below $150; company aims to sell 300m cell phones, 7.5m tablet PCs and 6m samrtphones this yearBARCELONA, Spain (Yonhap News) ― Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s No. 2 cell phone supplier, plans to release a cheaper smartphone in an effort to sharply boost its smartphone sales by meeting rising demand for lower-end phones, its mobile chief said Monday. “This year, we will

Daewoo International Corp., the trading company controlled by Posco, and Korea Resources Corp. made an initial bid for Whitehaven Coal Ltd., an Australian producer with a market value of A$3.6 billion ($3.6 billion).State-run Korea Resources is leading the bid, Kim Beom-suk, a spokesman for Daewoo International said Monday by phone. The offer was confirmed by Kang Shin Young, a spokesman for Seoul

Shares in Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction tumbled on Monday after the Korean shipbuilder said it decided to shut down three operations in Korea due to labor strife. Hanjin said in a statement that it had submitted reports to local governments that it would close one shipyard and two plants, saying ongoing strike activity since 2009 had hampered its production.Hanjin, the only unprofitable s

Kolon Industries Co., a Korean textile maker, plans to buy the shares in subsidiary Cambridge Kolon Co. on the market that it doesn’t own.Cambridge Kolon owners will get 782,580 shares of the merged company, or 0.16 share for every one of the existing securities, on May 16, Kolon said in a regulatory filing on Monday. (Bloomberg)

Hyundai Motor Co., drawing on ties to Hyundai Steel Co., plans to more than double the proportion of high-strength steel used in its vehicles by 2015 as the carmaker seeks higher fuel efficiency and lower weight across its lineup. By using advanced forms of the metal that match or exceed other Korean and Japanese steelmakers’ alloys in cost and performance, Hyundai Motor will raise the ratio of hi

Korea’s exports of IT-related products jumped 16.3 percent in January from a year earlier on strong global demand for semiconductors, displays and mobile phones, the government said Tuesday.The country shipped $12.83 billion worth of IT products abroad, marking the 15th month in a row that exports grew at a double-digit rate, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a monthly report.Exports of se

Toyota Motor Corp., a Japanese carmaking giant, will recall 2,459 vehicles sold in Korea due to manufacturing defects that could lead to oil leakage, Seoul’s transportation ministry said Tuesday.Subject to the recall are the Lexus IS250 model produced and sold between Sept. 3, 2007 and Dec. 3, 2008, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. The luxury passenger cars were f

The number of passengers using international ferry services in and out of Korea rose to a record high last year, bolstered by rebounding economic conditions, the government said Tuesday.International ferry passengers totaled 2.77 million last year, up 32.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. The figure was the highest ever, exceeding the

The Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed a supplementary agreement to the free trade deal concluded between Korea and the United States, a government spokesman said.In December, the two countries came to a final consensus on the bilateral free trade agreement after revising terms on issues such as auto tariffs and pork, paving the way for the parliamentary ratification of a pact that was originally signed

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― A key European parliament committee endorsed Monday a major free trade deal with Korea after securing safeguards to protect Europe’s auto makers.The International Trade Committee voted overwhelmingly, 21-4, to send the deal, hailed as the most ambitious free trade pact ever negotiated by the European Union, to the full parliament for a final vote.Doubling EU trade with Korea, the