State-run power firm strives to reduce deficit during CEO Kim’s first year via exportsKorea Electric Power Co. has vowed to achieve financial soundness by making greater profits from the global power market while keeping power rates affordable. To meet its vision for 2025, the state-run power company is pushing to increase sales to 150 trillion won ($134 billion) and its overseas business to up to 50 percent of total operations. Currently KEPCO’s overseas sales make up only 3 percent of the tota

Experts and government officials hailed the Seoul meeting of forestry ministers from Asia as a milestone in cooperating on forestry in the region. Forestry ministers from Korea and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation, or ASEAN, congregated in Seoul to participate in the Special Korea-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Forestry, where the Seoul Declaration was adopted last week. The two-day international conference voiced each nation’s cooperative support for forestry maintena

Family-friendly foreign companies help employees ‘connect the dots’ in child careKoreans have associated foreign companies with a public image of workplaces with a democratic decision-making process and advanced welfare policies. Different foreign companies offer different degrees of financial support for children’s education. But they have similar parent-friendly welfare policies, particularly on paid maternity leave, paternity leave ― often shorter than maternity leave ― and half-day policies

Adidas Korea announced Tuesday it will hire Korean girl group 2NE1 as new models for its “All Originals Represent” advertisement campaign in Asia. In addition to the four-member K-pop group, hip-hop artists Nicki Minaj and Big Sean, NBA player Derrick Rose and Adidas fashion designer Jeremy Scott will show up in the advertisement. Scheduled to be first aired on YouTube, the advertisement clip shows an interesting episode which takes place on crosswalks of multiple nations in Asia, the Americas a

CJ Cheil Jedang Corp. said Sunday that its newly built Chinese plant in Shenyang that processes amino acid, an essential ingredient for animal feed, will start work this month.Costing about $400 million, the Korean company’s Chinese plant is capable of processing about 100,000 tons of lysine, 50,000 tons of threonine and 3,000 tons of nucleic acid per year, the company said.CJ Cheil Jedang claims that once the Shenyang plant is on track, it will obtain a production capacity of 600,000 tons of ly

The Korea Electric Power Corp, a state-run power distributor, said Sunday that the company is currently reconsidering its decision to file a suit against the Korea Power Exchange and the assessment committee of market price for electric power. While keeping the lawsuit as a possible but not probable option, the company is looking for different alternatives, a KEPCO official said.The power firm had announced on Aug. 29 that it would sue the two state organizations over an unreasonable power charg

Following is the fifth in a series of articles about major companies’ social contribution activities at home and abroad. ― Ed.For Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co., its corporate social responsibility activities in Africa are all about sharing with humanity beyond race and nationality.Having proceeded with construction deals in local communities of multiple continents for decades, the construction company has employed a variety of community service projects and aid programs to enhance the

The Land Ministry estimated the asset value of Dokdo at 7.4 billion won and the refurbished four rivers at 51 trillion won, according to a report the ministry submitted to the National Assembly.Land Ministry officials said that the government reevaluated all state-owned land assets including Dokdo and the nation’s major four rivers. The report calculates the total properties under the supervision of the ministry as worth around 542.7 trillion won, which takes up about 35.6 percent of state asset

The Korea Forest Service met with its Vietnamese counterparts on Monday for the seventh Korea-Vietnam forest partnership conference held at the Korea Forest Research Institute in Seoul. Officially titled “Seventh Meeting of Korea-Vietnam Forestry Cooperative Committee,” the conference invited both nations to discuss ways to attract Korean investment in Vietnamese forestry. Beyong strengthening government promotion for active investment, the 20 participants agreed to give greater authority to the

Senior official expects exports of products of high-quality teak to Korea will increaseBorn and raised in attachment to forest by culture and history, Koreans have remained in active partnership with multiple Asian countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam to acquire beautiful wooden products.Myanmar has emerged as Korea’s next overseas investment partner, Korean government officials said, and economic experts crowded the seventh conference for the Korea-Myanmar forestry partnership held in Naypyi

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., announced Tuesday that three of its employees were honored with the nation’s most prestigious award presented to artisans and technicians. The company said that it has had 26 award recipients since the Korea Master Artisan’s Award was created in 1986. Kim Choon-jin, technical assistant manager in utilities administration; Kim Geum-man, technical manager in engine assembly and test engineering; and Heu Tae-young, technical assistant in material research, were present

The IFC Seoul Office Tower buildings in Yeouido will open this week amid attention from the real estate industry over whether it will serve as a landmark in the financial district in Seoul.The IFC compex is composed of four buildings. They are the 32-story One IFC Seoul Office Tower, the 29-story Two IFC Seoul Office Tower, the 55-story Three IFC Seoul Office Tower and the 38-story hotel Conrad Seoul with 434 guest rooms. There will be an underground 3-story IFC Mall in the complex. GS Engineeri

Higher salaries, less male-dominant corporate culture lure career womenMore women jobseekers prefer to look for employment at foreign-invested companies, hoping to avoid some of the barriers at Korean firms and seek a larger pool of opportunities.More women candidates are emerging in the high-end human resources market, according to one executive recruitment firm.“Now Korean conglomerates are looking at ideal business leaders from different angles,” said Kim Kuk-gil, chairman of Stanton Chase Ko

Officials at the nation’s nuclear power plant Uljin-1 have yet to find out what caused the plant to shut down suddenly on Thursday.The Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corp. reported on Thursday evening that the nuclear unit’s reactor and power-generating turbine suddenly ceased operation at around 6:41 p.m. for unknown reasons. Capable of providing 950,000 kilowatts of electric power, the nuclear unit is currently undergoing an inspection by experts dispatched from the International Atomic Energy

S-Oil Corp. held its annual ceremony on Friday to deliver scholarships to the children of Korean firefighters killed in the line of duty.With its “Guardians for Brave Firefighter” program, the company has supported injured or deceased firefighters and their families since 2006. This year, the oil refinery and distributor company gave 3 million won ($2,650) each to 102 children to help them study in a stable academic environment. S-Oil said that the scholarships apply to each individual and not h

Korea Electric Power Corp. has adopted a series of cost-cutting measures to offset its deficit caused by the nation’s below-cost electricity rates.Officials at the state-run company said they have saved about 1.4 trillion won ($1.2 billion) on average annually from in-house measures over the past four years. The cost-saving measures included a voluntary return of salaries of executives in 2008 and a wage freeze of employees and executives in 2009 and 2010.  KEPCO has also downsized its organizat

The construction of 10 nuclear power plants and one tidal power plant scheduled to be completed between 2013 and 2027 has been either put off or canceled, plant operators said, fanning concerns about power shortages.The 11 plants, if completed, altogether could have produced about 12.7 million kilowatts of electricity, which accounts for about 6.4 percent of the nation’s power supply.“We have postponed or canceled some plant construction deals because the government has become more careful about

About 40 percent of Chinese companies in Korea believe that Chinese technology has enhanced enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Korean technology, according to a survey released on Tuesday.The survey was conducted by the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, which interviewed 502 Chinese companies doing business in Korea and 320 Korean companies doing business in China from July 19 to July 31.The majority, or about 66.6 percent, of Korean firms in China responded that Korean t

STX Group, a Korean shipbuilding and trading conglomerate, raked in $3.8 billion in the first half of this year from overseas deals for constructing 70 liquefied natural gas carriers and container carriers alone. With a 30 percent on-year growth in sales, the group has steadily won bids from the world’s major three shipbuilding markets ― Korea, China and Europe ― amid the unfavorable business climate in the wake of the European debt crisis.The group’s Chinese operation, STX Dalian, kicked off th

Korea’s real estate market has been weak for some time. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, property prices have grown at only half their long-term rate. Momentum remains skewed toward the downside, with national prices recording their sharpest monthly decline in more than three years. Lower property prices decrease homeowners’ assets. Through the wealth effect, these households will respond by reducing their consumption. This is important because consumption in Korea has the highest sensiti