Top mobile gamer to boost publishing, reenter EuropeCom2us may not be as big as NCsoft, Neowiz or Nexon, Korea’s best-known gamers. But Com2us had a head start in the mobile gaming market, and being first is everything in today’s fast-changing mobile technology landscape.Com2us chief financial officer Choi Baek-yong said that acquisition is part of plans to maintain its edge in the market that is bound to become more competitive as big online gamers enter the mobile scene.“We are interested in

Samsung Electronics said on Friday that it has taken all necessary legal steps for the launch of its Facebook app, named the U.S. Olympic Genome Project.“As an Olympic sponsor, the company has followed the necessary protocol with the Olympic Committee and with the sports athletes before launching the app,” its spokesperson said.In a separate statement released to the media, Samsung Electronics said, it was “disappointed by the lawsuit,” and that “Samsung will continue to support Team USA and the

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has sent words of encouragement to the group’s subsidiaries ― SK Telecom, SK Planet and SK Hynix.In a letter posted on SK Telecom’s bulletin this week Chey told his executives and employees that he is proud of the No. 1 mobile operator’s successes, such as the spin-off of the telecom’s mobile platform unit ― SK Planet ― and the takeover of Hynix Semiconductor, Korea’s second-largest chip maker.He then urged SK Planet not to be afraid of challenging itself and creat

Korea Elevator Safety Institute has launched the Korea Lift Safety Expo Committee to ensure a successful opening of its event in October, its press release said.Under the theme of “Green City Week,” the expo will be held for four days from Oct. 23 at Coex in southern Seoul.The event will feature not only exhibitions of elevators and escalators from companies around the world, but also construction and green building materials, the institute noted.The institute’s president Kong Chang-seok has bee

ING Life Korea is aiming to get close and personal with its existing and potential customers by further “opening its ears” to hear their needs in financial planning.The Korean subsidiary of the global life insurer is boosting in-house training not only for financial consultants but also for executives, in an effort to boost customer relations, its press release said.In addition to the 180-day consulting training, the company has sent its managers and executives to its nationwide centers to meet

Korean companies  fined over 2 trillion won  for global cartelismKorea’s Fair Trade Commission said on Tuesday that cartelism among industry peers will bring nothing but harsh penalties for executives found guilty of price-fixing in global markets.An FTC official said that cartelism is illegal in any country, adding that even the temptation of price collusion to reap short-term profit is not worth it, as anybody participating in such activity will end up either with large fines or in prison in t

Charity to assist children suffering from rare diseasesThe Chung Mong-koo Foundation, funded by Hyundai Motor Group chairman, plans to boost its support of children from low-income families or with rare diseases as part of its social contribution efforts, a press release said on Tuesday. Chairman Chung created the charity organization last year to help poor students.The foundation said some 500 children are expected to benefit from the program under which each will receive financial support of u

Regulators, analysts caution investors against politically-driven stocksManufacturing, materials and rail shares linked to Kim Moon-soo rallied across the board on Monday, following the incumbent Gyeonggi governor’s official announcement that he will run for the presidency at the end of the year.The jump has led the Financial Supervisory Service to strengthen its oversight over political-themed stocks, including ones related to other presidential hopefuls such as Seoul National University profes

Agency reaches out to SoftBank, POSCO for infrastructure in MongoliaSONGDO, Incheon ― Two years have passed since the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Northeast Asia subregional office was established in Songdo.After making connections and contacts with regional think tanks, academics and the private sector, the real challenge is still ahead for Dr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna, the head of the UNESCAP for East and Northeast Asia, which aims to promote unity and g

Korean food has been graded “C” among international cuisine, despite the government’s efforts to promote its cuisine worldwide, according to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Sunday.Citing a survey of 593 people in five countries on 12 national foods, Korean food got only 73.2 points out of 100 in terms of taste, look, price and service. It ranked seventh in the ministry’s global food index, followed by Turkey, Malaysia and Vietnam.Italian and Japanese dishes were the

More than 100 supermarkets closed on Sunday in accordance with a new law aimed at protecting small retailers, according to media reports.E-Mart, Korea’s biggest supermarket chain and part of Shinsegae Group, closed 44 of its 137 retail stores nationwide, while Homeplus, part of British retailer Tesco, shut 44 stores. Lotte Group’s Lotte Mart, meanwhile, closed 30 of its chains.The number of stores closed on Sunday accounts for 32 percent of the total owned by the big three conglomerates.Some sma

Hankook Tire is looking to spin off into a holding company and a tire business-focused entity, according to a regulatory filing and media reports.The holding company is likely to be a non-tire entity that will focus on venturing into new business areas, market watchers speculated.The listed Korean tire giant filed a disclosure on the Korea Exchange on Friday, saying that it was considering a spin-off, but that nothing had been decided. Its statement continued that the company will re-file a disc

Samsung, LG-invested tech company eyes IPO, joint venturesGoing global may not be an easy task for a small company, but EN Technologies, a Korean electric power equipment and parts developer, wants to prove that nothing is impossible for a venture tech firm like itself.“My goal, at a personal level, is to show that even a venture firm in Korea can truly become a global enterprise like U.S. companies that started out as start-ups in Silicon Valley,” CEO and founder Tay Lee said in an interview wi

Hyundai Steel will boost its exports to Indonesia to 340,000 metric tons of hot-rolled steel annually, its press release said.This comes as Hyundai Steel signed a memorandum of understanding to supply its steel to PT Essar Indonesia in the region where the Korean steel-maker also has two other customers, its spokesperson said. Essar is the largest cold-rolled steel producer in Indonesia, according to media reports. Hot-rolled steel is produced through traditional blast furnaces that can later be