Bibimbap, essentially rice mixed with meat and vegetables, often tops surveys on Korea’s signature dishes. It has been popular as a health food both domestically and overseas for quite some time.But the basic recipe of cooked rice with vegetables, beef, garnishes and red pepper paste is not all there is to it. In fact, bibimbap can be a whole lot more, according to “World’s Choice for Well-Being, Bibimbap,” a book that introduces 75 takes on the dish, written by Jhun Ji-young and published by Le

For signs of how the U.S. shale boom is transforming the global flow of oil, look halfway across the world at South Korea.The Asian nation, which relies on the Middle East for about 86 percent of its oil imports, is benefiting as new output from Texas to North Dakota displaces the crudes that fed U.S. refineries for decades. South Korea received this month a shipment of Alaskan oil for the first time in at least eight years and may buy more, the importing company said. The country was one of the

POSCO, South Korea’s largest steelmaker, opened its fourth hot strip rolling mill at its Gwangyang plant that will supply sheet metal to carmakers round the world.The steelmaking conglomerate said the new mill in South Jeolla Province, will churn out 3.3 million tons of steel products annually.It said the sheet metal from the mill can be made to order to meet specific needs of customers. POSCO said the sheets can be made as thin as 1.2 millimeter or as thick as 22 mm, with the width ranging from

The South Korean won sank to a three-week low against the U.S. dollar Friday, falling for the second consecutive day as Japan’s central bank announced a further monetary easing and sound growth data from the U.S. raised the possibility that the Federal Reserve may advance its timetable for a much-awaited rate hike.Following the Bank of Japan’s move, the local currency advanced sharply against the Japanese yen.The Korean won closed at 1,068.50 to the greenback, sharply down 13 won from the previo

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world‘s largest shipbuilder, said Thursday it posted a record operating loss in the third quarter and second quarterly net loss in as many quarters. The net loss came to 1.46 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in the July-September period, compared with a net loss of 12.5 billion won a year ago, the shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing. Sales fell 5.6 percent to 12.4 trillion won in the period. The company logged a 1.93 trillion won operating loss in the third quarter.

Coex, once considered a venue for exhibitions and conventions, is pushing for a project to build a creative cluster for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions ― the so-called MICE industry ― in Samseong-dong, an affluent business district in southern Seoul.The reason? To prepare for the future, says Byun Bo-kyung, chief executive of Coex.“I believe the district, where Coex and other service firms, including hotels, shopping malls and performance halls, are located, makes it the perfec

The shareholders of shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries and onshore plant builder Samsung Engineering Monday approved the merger of the two Samsung units for creating a global plant construction giant. The merged shipbuilding entity will be launched Dec. 1, Samsung Heavy officials said.The two firms announced their plans to merge on Sept. 1 as part of the Samsung Group’s business portfolio reorganization, which was apparently linked to the ownership succession. The Samsung corporate flag flies

South Korea’s cosmetics and beverage maker LG Household & Health Care said Wednesday that it has signed a 54.2 billion won ($51.5 million) deal to buy an 86 percent stake in CNP Cosmetics, a local cosmeceuticals firm.The acquisition is aimed at stepping up its business by expanding into the cosmeceutical market that is fast becoming a new growth engine, LG Household said in a statement.Cosmeceuticals, a newly coined word combining cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, refers to products that have medic

Hyundai Heavy Industries will create an integrated shipbuilding sales unit in its Seoul office by merging the sales functions of its two shipbuilding-related affiliates ― Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, the world’s largest shipbuilder said Wednesday. “The firm’s executive vice president Ka Sam-hyun will lead the control tower and oversee the bidding for shipbuilding orders,’’ a company official said. The 57-year-old executive, who has spent most of his career in Hyundai

The Korea National Arboretum of the state-run Korea Forest Service appears to be taking a leadership role in plant studies in East Asia based on its commitment to enhancing the region’s biological diversity. Among such efforts is the memorandum of understanding that KNA signed last week with its counterparts in the region to create the East Asia Biodiversity Convention Network. The agreement was reached during the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Dive

In an effort to create a sense of urgency for change, Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, is moving toward a generational shift in its ownership. Last Thursday, the shipbuilder promoted Chung Ki-sun, the eldest son of its largest shareholder Chung Mong-joon, as a vice president, while drastically cutting back its number of executives by 31 percent, or 81 out of 262.  Hyundai Heavy Industries owner Chung Mong-joonHyundai Heavy Industries vice president Chung Ki-sunThe reshu

South Korean cable-maker LSIS said it had secured a global safety-related certification for its newly developed system for controlling unmanned trains, dubbed the Korean radio-based train control system. The cable-maker said the KRTCS had been awarded the international safety and reliability certification Safety Integrity Level 4, the highest safety grade in the railroad sector, from Lloyds Register Rail of the U.K. for the first time in Korea. The SIL certification confirms the electronic, elec

Korea has successfully attracted the 2021 World Gas Conference to Daegu through a vote at the International Gas Union, state-run Korea Gas Corp. said in a press release on Friday. Norway, China and Russia had competed against the country to win the bid for the triennial gas industry gathering, at which members discuss pending issues and challenges. ‘‘Korea will become the third nation in Asia to host the WGC after Japan in 2003 and Malaysia in 2012,” KOGAS said. Jang Seok-hyo, the chief of KOGAS

GS Group, one of the top 10 conglomerates in Korea focusing on energy, construction and retail businesses, said Thursday it has finished hosting its fourth overseas CEO meeting in Indonesia on Wednesday and Thursday.“During the CEO meeting, attendants visited business sites of the group’s affiliates in the emerging Indonesian market to better understand the market and to search for new business opportunities,” the group said in a press release. High-ranking officials of the group who joined the

Asiana Airlines agreed to pay $55 million to purchasers of freight shipping services to resolve claims of price-fixing, according to a court filing. The South Korean airline is one of more than two dozen worldwide that faced allegations of conspiring to inflate shipping prices in the case in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Settlements have been reached with 22 airlines so far totaling $903 million, lawyers for the plaintiffs said today. Plaintiffs filed a request today seeking court approva

South Korean retail giant Lotte Group will be opening Lotte World Mall, the nation’s largest shopping mall, in the Jamsil area of southern Seoul on Oct. 14 in a move that it hopes will put an end to disputes over the safety of the structure. “We are pleased to see the group taking the first step toward its two-decade-long dream to build a global landmark in Korea,” said So Jin-sei, a Lotte Group president, who is responsible for the group’s external relations division, at a press conference held

South Korea’s central bank said Saturday it has agreed with its Chinese counterpart to extend their maturing currency swap deal by three years to 2017.In a meeting in Washington, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol and People’s Bank of China Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan signed an agreement to extend the bilateral deal to Oct. 10, 2017, the central bank said in a statement. The accord was to expire this year.In October 2011, the two central banks agreed to double their won-yuan swap to 64 trillion won ($60 bil

NEW YORK ― A global expert in urban planning called for cities to seek to reform their outdated infrastructure for sustainable growth. Urbanization around the world has been accelerating and cities, which already account for some two-thirds of global energy consumption, drive the world’s growth. “Cities around the world, however, are facing challenges their original planners could have never imagined,” Roland Busch, a managing board member of German industrial giant Siemens, told The Korea Heral

South Korea’s top two automakers ― Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors ― are facing uphill battles with foreign rivals in the local auto market with their combined local market share staying below the 70 percent mark, industry data showed Sunday.Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors held a combined 67.3 percent in the home auto market in September, the lowest since December last year when the comparable figure was 66.7 percent, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association. T

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest computer memory chipmaker, increased its share in the global NAND flash memory market in the second quarter on its technical prowess, industry data showed Sunday. According to research firm IHS iSuppli, Samsung sold some $2.31 billion worth of NAND flash memory used for smartphones and other mobile devices in the April-June period, accounting for 40.6 percent of the $5.66 billion in sales worldwide.The second-quarter stake represents a 3.2 percentage poin