A foreign investment support center for an inter-Korean industrial park will be opened this week as part of efforts to help internationalize the joint project, Seoul officials said Wednesday.The center, to be opened on Friday and put under the administrative support agency for the Gaesong Industrial Complex, will be tasked with publicizing the industrial zone overseas and providing consultative services to prospective foreign investors, the unification ministry said.“The support center will prov

With less than 40 days until the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan next month, South Korea’s preparatory committee under the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning is making all-out efforts to promote the landmark meeting.Through social networks, online games, outdoor advertising banners and Web cartoons, it seeks to introduce the ITU and increase public participation.Korea’s ICT Ministry is partnering with other government agencies to run its public relations campaign with hopes of

South Korea said Wednesday that it will strengthen vehicle emissions control by 2020 in order to meet global standards for greenhouse gas reduction targets. The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will lower the carbon dioxide emissions target to 97 grams per kilometer for the 2016-2020 period, from the 140 grams per kilometer target for the 2012-2015 span.In terms of fuel consumption, the 2020 target is equivalent to 24.3 kilometers per liter, compared with th

The hotly anticipated video game “Destiny” soared at its launch, setting a trajectory intended to eclipse the blockbuster hit its makers had with “Halo.” “Destiny,” from Bungie studio, was the most preordered new video game franchise in history, according to publisher Activision. “Destiny is the game we’ve always wanted to make,” Bungie president Harold Ryan said in a launch release.“We’ve dreamed of this universe for years, so we couldn’t be more thrilled to swing open the doors and let fans sh

The Galaxy Note 4, Samsung Electronics’ all-new smartphone-tablet hybrid unveiled at the 2014 IFA in Berlin, has better display with a faster processing speed than its predecessor.It is thin and light. It has an S-pen. What else?The phablet looks much like the Note 3, except that it has a metal frame without the stitches on the back cover. The Note 3’s stitch design received poor reviews last year when it hit the market.The Note 4 seemingly turned out to be much ado about nothing.Lee Don-joo, Sa

Huh Young-hoHuh Young-ho, a former LG executive, has been named chief executive of Chang Sung, a metal materials manufacturer for the chip, shipbuilding and automotive industries, LG Innotek said Thursday.Huh had been with LG since 1977, beginning his career at LG Electronics, where he worked for 20 years in the company’s television manufacturing unit. He then became the CEO of LG Innotek in 2002, and spurred the development of indigenous IT materials of displays and optics.Huh’s major contribut

Samsung Electronics announced on Wednesday that it has acquired PrintOn, a Canada-based mobile printing solutions company, the latest on the tech giant’s growing list of acquisition deals.Samsung, which had been inactive in making deals compared with its competitors in Silicon Valley, has recently been aggressively buying a number of tech companies to fit with its mobile business.Samsung has bought about 10 companies since last year, including SmartThings, an open platform developer for connecte

LG G Watch R. (LG Electronics)With the novelty for owning smartphones slowly waning, global tech heavyweights are scrambling to get a grip on the next big thing in wearable technology converged with health care services.Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are set for a fresh battle over smart watches, and will soon be joined by U.S. tech giant Apple later this year.LG and Samsung will officially unveil their new smart watches with innovative designs at IFA, the world’s leading trade show for

South Korea’s consumer prices grew at the slowest pace in four months in August due in part to the stabilization of farming goods prices, a government report showed Tuesday. The country’s consumer price index rose 1.4 percent last month from a year earlier, decelerating from July’s 1.6 percent gain. This marked the slowest growth pace since April, when consumer prices rose 1.5 percent. The price increase has remained in the 1 percent range since November, when it gained 1.2 percent from a year e

South Korea’s institutional investments in foreign securities surged to $90.3 billion as of end-June as asset managers and insurers increased their net buying, central bank data showed Tuesday.The outstanding value of foreign securities held by institutional investors rose by $10 billion in the April-June period, logging the biggest quarterly growth since the global financial crisis, according to the preliminary data by the Bank of Korea.Foreign securities include stocks, bonds and so-called Kor

South Korea will likely set its tariffs on rice imports at more than 500 percent, a senior government official said Tuesday.“The government plans to set the import tariff rate at the highest possible level to protect the country’s rice industry,” the official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs told reporters.The move comes as South Korea is scheduled to liberalize its rice market through tarification starting next year. The government is expected to notify the World Trade O

South Korea, China and Japan have planned to conclude their drawn-out negotiations on a trilateral free-trade deal in 2015, but an agreement may not be achievable unless it is a “high-level and comprehensive pact,” China’s top negotiator to the talks said Tuesday. The three nations began their fifth round of talks in Beijing on Monday aimed at slashing tariffs and other barriers among the three leading economies in Asia. Since launching the talks in late 2012, they have reported little progress

GM Korea on Tuesday said it would launch its 2015 Malibu diesel sedan in its home market to follow up on the success of the previous model.The updated midsize sedan, which has the same 2-liter “Ecotec” turbo diesel mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission, also features the same external sheet metal and overall dimensions as the outgoing model, which has sold 2,990 units since sales began in March.This powertrain has been rated at 156 horsepower and 35.8 kilogram-meters of torque with an offici

Las Vegas Sands, an American resort and casino operator company, has strong interest in building a world-class integrated resort with a casino that is accessible by locals with certain restrictions, its global business development official said Tuesday.The Nevada-based company that built Marina Bay Sands in Singapore has been eyeing South Korea for its next project as Asia’s fourth-largest economy has been toying with the idea of easing casino regulations to boost tourism and attract investment.

Samsung Heavy Industries will merge with Samsung Engineering in line with efforts by Korea’s biggest conglomerate to streamline its key units.The merger, in which Samsung Heavy will absorb Samsung Engineering, also falls under chairman Lee Kun-hee’s succession plan for his three children, which has been picking up speed since his hospitalization in May.Although Lee and his children do not directly own shares in Samsung Heavy and Samsung Engineering, they hold a considerable interest in the shipb

South Korea’s state-run power provider Korea Electric Power Corp. said Friday that it has opened bids to sell the land that currently holds its headquarters in Seoul, a highly coveted property that it estimated to be worth 3.33 trillion won ($3.3 billion).KEPCO said it will pick the buyer who offers the highest price through the bidding that will close on Sept. 17. KEPCO’s stated value of the plot is much higher than the state-appraised price of 1.48 trillion won as of end of last year, as well

Investors are taking on record levels of debts to buy stocks as the South Korean equity market is nearing this year’s high on the back of continued foreign buying and market-friendly policies, data showed Friday.The so-called margin debt, or the amount borrowed to purchase securities, stood at 5.18 trillion won ($5.09 billion) Wednesday, the highest in 2014, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association.The Wednesday figure is up 24 percent from the end of last yea

Uber Korea, the local affiliate of U.S.-based transportation network company Uber, said Friday it would start a trial operation of an expanded ride-sharing service in Seoul, a move that the South Korean government immediately ruled as illegal.Uber’s latest business move follows a run-in with the Seoul city government, which said last month that the company’s existing cab-booking service was illegal and that it may ban the service.Uber said it would launch an UberX app, which can be downloaded by

South Korea’s industrial output grew for the second straight month in July, raising expectations that the economic recovery might be gaining some momentum, a government report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries expanded 1.1 percent last month from June. The growth rate, however, slowed down from a revised 2.6 percent gain a month earlier.Production in the service sector inched down 0.4 percent on-mont

A map service that provides views of North Korea’s streets and buildings will be launched by a South Korean Internet portal for the first time in the country on Friday as part of efforts to disclose what has been secretly guarded information to the private sector, a state-run geographic institute said.The National Geographic Information Institute said the map, which covers North Korea’s entire territory, will begin operation through Daum Communications, the South’s second-largest online portal,