KT Corp. said Friday that it will spin off its satellite business division into a separate firm.Company officials said the plan was endorsed at a shareholders’ meeting in Seoul on Friday. The new satellite firm, tentatively named “kt sat,” will start out on Dec. 1 with 50 billion won in capital, the company said. KT will wholly own kt sat, and the present KT Corp. Center chief Kim Il-yung will head the new firm. Focusing on satellite service business, kt sat reflects KT’s strategy to expand its

The Shilla Seoul said Friday that it would close in January for about six months for a major refurbishment. The hotel said that it would cease all hotel services during the six-month revamp, except the Shilla Duty Free Shop, which will be open throughout the refurbishment period. Having been built more than three decades ago, the hotel building needs to renovate the guestrooms and bathrooms, hotel officials said. They said that the project will only involve the interior of the hotel and not the

The government decided to extend the term of National Pension Service chief Jun Kwang-woo by a year, officials said on Friday.The NPS chief’s three-year tenure was due to expire early next month.Health and welfare officials said the government made the decision in consideration of the performance the pension service achieved under Jun.According to officials, the number of subscribers of the national pension surpassed 20 million people and the NPS’ combined operating profits it collected by fund

FILA Korea Ltd. and FILA Global chairman and CEO Gene Yoon won the sixth Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, or EOY, organizers said on Friday. The award is created to pioneer outstanding leaders of business whose strength and leadership inspire world. Out of six EOY awardees, Yoon won this year’s EOY Master’s Award in recognition of his excellence in mergers and acquisitions he showed in merging the global sports brand FILA, Ernst & Young Hanyoung said. In 2011, Yoon also succeeded in

China’s No. 1 smartphone maker ZTE Corp. said it will target the Korean niche-market of smartphones, calling its Korean operation a screen-test for the global war against Korean tech titans such as Samsung and LG.Currently the Chinese handset firm targets the low-cost, third-generation device sector of the Korean smartphone market. In contrast to public opinion that Korea has completely switched over to Long Term Evolution devices, about 10 percent of customers in Korea are still willing to purc

Mobile communication venture firm Kakao launched three new mobile service platforms on Tuesday, aiming to secure at least 1 million individual and group partners in three years. Before the launch, Kakao had 31 mobile game partners and 260-some “plus friend” partner companies. In unveiling the new applications ― Kakao Page, Story Plus and Chatting Plus ― the mobile venture tech firm is poised to convert itself from customer-centered social servant to a powerful marketing-booster to its business p

Dongbu Insurance Co. pays the highest annual salaries to first-year employees, beating the former best-paying company Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co., according to news reports. Unlike the public conception that Samsung affiliate companies offer the highest annual starting salaries, Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance Co. ranked No. 3 despite its No. 1 performance in business Yonhap News said. Before tax reduction, the annual salaries for first-year employees with bachelor’s degrees was the

The nation’s best-selling tobacco manufacturer KT&G Corp. will export 300,000 packs of its premium tobacco brand “Tonino Lamborghini” to Hong Kong by the end of November. KT&G has already sold “Tonino Lamborghini” in Chinese duty-free shops since September, with its first import order at 488,000 packs. China and Hong Kong together form the largest, most competitive tobacco market in the world, the company said. “From the beginning, Tonino Lamborghini was meant to be launched worldwide,” a KT&G o

KONEPS, or Korea Online E-procurement System, is drawing more attention from abroad than ever, the Public Procurement Service said. The Korean e-procurement system provides a convenient one-stop service, enabling users to process all necessary operations for procurement ― registration, bidding, contract, and payment ― together, PPS said. Korea has signed multiple memorandums of understanding with 19 countries worldwide on e-procurement. PPS Administrator Kang Ho-in said, “Exporting KONEPS is an

Samsung Electronics held the biggest share of the global television market in the third quarter this year, U.S. marketing research firm NPD DisplaySearch said Sunday. The affiliate firm of American market research company NPD Group Inc. said that Samsung Electronics rated No. 1 in the July-September quarter by taking a 25.2 percent share in the global flat-screen TV market. According to the same analysis, four types of Samsung TVs ― liquid crystal display, light-emitting diode, plasma display pa

KT Corp. chairman Lee Suk-chae won the 11th CNBC Asia Business Leaders Award in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, the mobile operator said on Sunday.The award acknowledges Asian business visionaries with strength, innovation, ingenuity, knowledge and foresight that are especially required for the leaders of today’s global economy. One of the six awardees this year, Lee won the accolade in recognition of his personal involvement in supporting and fostering the next generation of leaders. Lee has beco

Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh-hyun was ranked fifth out of 50 CEOs in “2012 Businessperson of the Year” selected by global business magazine Fortune, followed by Google CEO Larry Page who ranked sixth. Fortune evaluated Kwon as a CEO who has successfully run the $149 billion Samsung Electronics empire since June 2012 as the head of component business. “Under Kwon, the Korean company became the second-largest chipmaker in the world. Now the new CEO has to contend with its top customer and compe

The Middle East and Eastern Europe are the next strategic long-term markets for Korean cultural content, the Korea Communications Commission said Wednesday. Through its sub-organization Korea Internet Security Agency, the KCC spends about 800 million won ($730,000) every year to showcase Korean TV content, which has been one most popular types of Korean cultural product overseas. Sponsored by the KCC, a group of KISA officials held four one-day showcases each in Turkey, Bulgaria and Jordan betwe

“Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm,” the first expansion pack of “Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty,” will be released in March next year, game developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment said Tuesday. “Heart of the Swarm” features new units, including Terran Hellbats, Zerg Swarm Hosts and Protoss Tempests, along with new maps. The expansion set has about 20 campaign missions, and provides an enhanced battle net service, Blizzard said at a “Starcraft” community party held in Seoul.“With ‘Heart of

Microsoft Korea Inc. launched its latest suite of programs for word processing and emails for corporate use on Tuesday.New Office for home use will most likely be launched in the first quarter of 2013, two Microsoft officials told The Korea Herald.“I think nearly all the functions in New Office are new in the market,” Microsoft Korea marketing director Kang Hee-sun said, claiming that now is a significant transition period for software and devices. The Korean operation of U.S. software titan Mic

LG Electronics said Monday that it will expand the sales target for its premium 84-inch ultra-high-definition television from four countries to 40 countries by the end of 2012.Currently the nation’s first and only ultra-HD TV, LG 84LM9600 was first launched at home in August and had its premiere in the U.S., China, Vietnam and Malaysia. “The premium market is not so much affected by the recession. There are always people with money who want them (premium large TVs),” an LG spokesperson said, exp

Lee Jung-woong, founder of mobile game developer Sundaytoz and creator of “Anipang the Quiz,” plans to plant itself firmly in the global mobile game industry. Originally, “Anipang” was a game on social network platform Cyworld. As Sundaytoz formed a partnership with mobile SNS developer Kakaotalk, it launched the mobile version of “Anipang” on July 30. “When I went to the United States lately to check out how people play games there, I found out that only half of the American players would play

Online shopping mall 11 Street opened its English domain to attract a larger number of foreign shoppers, the nation’s third largest e-shopping portal said Friday.The new domain displays product information, the payment process and other services in English. Expats can sign up for 11 Street using their email addresses. “We look forward to introducing excellent Korean products to our customers at home and abroad,” said an 11 Street official. “The English domain will help Korean small and medium-si

BUSAN ― G-Star, the nation’s largest international game exhibition, kicked off in Busan on Thursday, drawing in many spectators with the newest and most popular games.Reflecting the high popularity of online and mobile games, visitors packed the main hall at BEXCO for the eighth run of the annual game festival. Some of them formed a 100-meter line to watch the opening of the show.Held under the theme “Game, Touching the World,” the global game convention drew traditional game lovers as well as f

An increasing number of Korean customers are ordering LG Nexus 4 smartphones and Samsung Nexus 10 tablets from the U.S., since they cost only about half of other up-to-date smartphones sold in Korea, according to news reports.Korean customers are willing to buy the newest smartphone and tablet from overseas despite the possible difficulties in customer services, local reports said Monday. With the increase in demand, many Koreans studying in the U.S. and Canada have posted offers online to rese