Religious leaders prefer voluntary payment to binding income taxesThe Ministry of Strategy and Finance is poised to propose a bill on the taxation of religious groups as part of the 2012 Tax Law amendment to be made on Aug. 8. Aimed at ensuring the equal application of income taxes, the bill would impose income tax on Korean religious societies that have been exempt since the nation’s foundation. According to ministry officials, the bill will be included either in this year’s revision of the Tax

The 1,900-won gas price is expected to slide even lower soon, due to the “stable international oil price,” industry sources said on Thursday.The sources said the 1,900 won-per-liter mark is expected to go down at any moment as the dip is likely to continue for a while.Thursday’s price of regular gasoline fell to its lowest since March 6, 2011, according to data.  Opinet, an online service provider of oil prices under the state-run Korea National Oil Corp., reported Thursday that the nation’s ave

The nation’s largest tobacco maker KT&G Corp. added RAISON Cafe, its new hazelnut coffee-scented cigarette, to the lineup of RAISON.RAISON Cafe, which goes on sale Friday, contains 6.0 milligrams of tar and 0.6 milligram of nicotine. The tobacco maker’s first coffee-scented product delivers the rich scent of hazelnut coffee with ground coffee beans in the filter.“We spent four years of research and development coming up with a technology that can directly insert ground coffee beans into the filt

Siemens Korea chairman and CEO Kim Jong-kap said that the company aims to double its sales to about 3.6 trillion won (about $3.26 billion) in five years, stressing that its high rate of growth will continue.“The goal is not so ambitious for Siemens,” Kim said in a press conference on Tuesday organized to review his first year as the CEO. “Achieving 15 percent of sales growth over five years will suffice to double the sales.”The automatic solution company is gearing up to increase investment in s

The nation’s first nuclear plant Kori-1 Nuclear Plant went under construction on March 19, 1971, in Gori, a small village that borders Ulsan and northern area of Busan. With the Kori-1 plant, Korea became Asia’s second and the world’s 21st country to possess a nuclear power plant. After almost seven years of construction that involved about 1.87 million labor units, the nuclear plant began operation from April 20, 1978. Since then Korea has constructed 20 more nuclear plants, and now generates e

Additional tariff cut applied from July 1, but effect may be limitedEuropean carmakers expect no drastic increase in sales here despite tariff cuts on their cars exported to Korea in the wake of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement.The automakers said that the tariff cuts will only have a “psychologically” positive effect on its sales of cars in Korea.July 1 marked the first anniversary of the Korea-EU FTA in action. The tariff imposed on imported European cars fell for the second time, from 5.6 pe

Hyundai-Kia chief Chung vows to gain confidence via vehicle quality-oriented salesKia Motors broke ground at its new third plant in an eastern coastal province of China on Friday, aiming at doubling the company’s production capacity in the world’s largest automotive market.On the extension of Kia’s localization strategy, the new factory will be in charge of manufacturing Chinese consumer-oriented sedans to fully reflect customers’ needs, company spokespeople said Friday. Korea’s second-largest a

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan promised to provide support to Hyundai Motor when he met with group chairman Chung Mong-koo on Thursday, company officials said. The Chinese leader had a meeting with chairman Chung at the Hyundai Pavilion at the Expo 2012 Yeosu. The Chinese official visited the Expo site to celebrate the Chinese national day, 48 days after the exposition opened.“As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Korea, we expect Hyundai Motor G

A top Renault Group executive unveiled a plan to launch a new lineup of small crossover compact utility vehicles in its Korean unit despite shrinking sales here.“The market in Korea is changing, and the fragmentation of the market is increasing, therefore we have set to introduce by late 2013 a brand-new model which is going to be a small crossover that will strongly enhance the competitiveness after four years,” Renault Group chief operating officer Carlos Tavares said in a news conference in S

GS Engineering & Construction, one of Korea’s leading builders, has vowed to boost its overseas sales to 70 percent of its total sales by 2020. Earlier the company announced its “Vision 2020,” including mid-and-long term growth strategies, and declared its goal of growing into a “sustainable global company.”The company said it would attain the goal by developing and investing in new growth engines.One of the nation’s top three construction firms, GS E&C said its objective for 2012 is to increase

Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo called for its affiliates on Monday to devise measures to defend against the deepening eurozone crisis.The chairman gave the instruction during a meeting of heads of overseas branches of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, which was convened to check on the global production and marketing strategy for the second half of this year. Company officials said the chairman is trying to find solutions to protect its sales growth amid the European economic crisis, wh

The Asan Nanum Foundation announced on Friday that it will launch a “Chung Ju-yung Entrepreneurship Competition for Youths,” a nationwide entrepreneurship competition in commemoration of the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung. Established in 2011, the contest aims to discover ambitious young talent interested in business ventures, the social foundation said. Twenty-two teams will make the regional competitions, among which 10 teams will survive the group-camping assessment to compete in th

Asiana Airlines welcomed its first female foreign operations chief 24 years after its foundation in 1988.The nation’s second-largest air carrier announced on Sunday that it named Jang Yoon-heui, a deputy general director in charge of airport services and contracts, head of the Hiroshima branch in Japan.“Going out to head an overseas branch involves the whole family moving out. Real-life issues have been holding back female staff from taking up posts overseas,” a company spokesman said.  A mother

Free trade agreements with the European Union and the U.S. have contributed to lowering the product prices of their consumer brands, the nation’s antitrust watchdog said in a report Thursday. The Fair Trade Commission conducted a price survey on 22 bestselling import items following the FTAs with the EU and the U.S., that took effect here from July last year and March this year, respectively. Of the surveyed products, 15 items were found to have seen a moderate price cut, the FTC said. Dutch ele

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won said he will establish “Global Action Hub,” a private, international network of social enterprises, as part of his efforts to reinvigorate those companies.The business tycoon revealed the plan during his speech at the Rio Plus 20 Corporate Sustainability Forum in Brazil on Monday.The establishment is aimed at enabling social enterprises to become self-sustainable. “Social enterprise is the most efficient model for conglomerates like SK to support social values,” Ch

Korea National Oil Corp. CEO Kang Young-won stepped down from his post on Friday prior to the expected completion of his tenure that ends on Aug. 18.It was not known why he resigned earlier than scheduled, but the move came after the Finance Ministry recently released its evaluation of public corporations’ performances last year. The outgoing CEO received a B, the third-highest rating on a scale of five while the company received a D rating. Kang had expressed his willingness to quit after news

The construction of a new international port in Saemangeum kicked off on Thursday with a groundbreaking ceremony in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, paving the way to a boost of the local economy, officials said. Planned to be built upon Saemangeum, a massive plot of reclaimed land along the southwest coast, the new port will induce the creation of 22,400 jobs, the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs said. The Land Ministry plans to pour 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion) into the p

Seo Kang-soo, former head of the Korean Overseas Information Service, took office on Tuesday as president of the Korea Database Agency, a state-run institution founded in 1993 to promote the nation’s active distribution of data. Speaking at an inauguration ceremony, Seo said he will push to raise more experts and pioneer wider territory in the global market. The state-run database agency head said that he will do his best to help Korean database companies exert their capacity with creativity and

The government opened Foreign Investment Week 2012 on Tuesday to promote foreign investment into Korea and strengthen its investment network with foreign companies. The Knowledge Economy Ministry and the state-run Korea Investment-Trade Promotion Agency organized the three-day international convention.The annual event, the largest of its kind, includes a pre-opening network dinner and a series of break-out forums on multiple sectors, including green energy, ICT market, cultural content, venture

POSCO said on Sunday that it has organized a committee to implement a series of commemorative works for its founder Park Tae-joon. The committee consists of 20 prominent figures including POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang, chairwoman Lee Bae-yong of the Presidential Council on National Branding and Pohang-born author Lee Dae-hwan.  The panel plans to convene a quarterly meeting to direct the commemoration-related works from 2013, after the organization changes its official title to “The POSCO Cheongam F