South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Sunday that it has fined three major local builders a combined 25 billion won ($23.9 million) for colluding to fix bidding prices in a public project to build tidal outlets. Samsung C&T, GS Engineering and Construction and Hyundai Engineering and Construction fixed their bidding prices for the project initiated in July 2009 by the state-run Korea Water Resources Corp., according to the Fair Trade Commission. The 221.7 billion won project is for building tida

Despite lower profits than their overseas peers, South Korea’s leading banking groups are paying their CEOs a much better salary, data showed Sunday. The average annual pay last year for the country’s top three banking groups reached an estimated 2.7 billion won ($2.6 million), according to data compiled from multiple financial institutions at home and abroad. By comparison, three top Japanese banking groups paid their CEOs an average 1.25 billion won, based on a won-yen exchange rate at the end

SK Telecom, the nation’s No. 1 mobile carrier, will take over U.S.-based shopping app Shopkick for $200 million, the company said Sunday.Industry watchers said the acquisition deal is likely to help SK Telecom to make inroads into the U.S. market. In an effort to expand its business overseas, SK Telecom announced last year that it would spend between $500 million and $1 billion through its Internet Services arm SK Planet on investing in or buying U.S. companies over three to five years. Shopkick

South Korean companies and individuals invested nearly $23 billion in 50 tax havens over the past seven years, data showed Sunday.According to the data by the National Tax Service and the Export-Import Bank of Korea, South Korean individuals and companies invested $22.77 billion in the tax havens from 2007 through 2013. The amount represents about 12 percent of overall overseas investments ― worth 197.88 trillion won ($189.4 billion) ― made by South Korea during the period. Of the tax haven inve

Korean manufacturers present products to Canadian retailers at an export consultation session hosted by the Korea International Trade Association, in Toronto on Thursday. (KITA)Local small and mid-sized enterprises are busy trying to enter Canada, the nation’s eight-largest export market, which just became more attractive following the latest signing of a free trade pact with South Korea. Once the deal goes into effect, tariffs on almost all products traded between the two countries will be elim

South Korea’s No. 3 smartphone-maker Pantech, which is in court receivership, is to be put up for sale in the near future, industry sources said Wednesday. The latest development came as the Seoul Central District Court gave the nod to Pantech’s plan to put itself up for sale, a month after it commenced the troubled firm’s court receivership program.Pantech’s creditors, led by the Korea Development Bank, will accept bids from potential buyers soon, the sources said. The plan came as the creditor

Philip Morris Korea’s corporate affairs director Kim Byung-chul (right) poses with Yi Gyu-seon, a representative from the Asan branch of the Korea Disabled Veterans Organization. (Philip Morris Korea)Philip Morris Korea said on Monday that it donated vehicles to the Asan branch of the Korea Disabled Veterans Organization, as part of its social responsibility activities. The ceremony for the donation was held at the Veterans Hall in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.The company said the donated ve

OCI, a leading solar power builder in Korea, said Tuesday that the company has completed a solar cell and module production line in San Antonio, Texas, as part of its efforts to enter the fast-growing U.S. solar power market. It marks the first time for a South Korean company to build such a plant in the U.S. “The plant, with an annual production capacity of 100 megawatts, is aimed at supplying highly efficient ‘N-type’ solar cells and modules to OCI’s ongoing mega solar power project in San Ant

Financial authorities on Monday said they have been investigating some 20 business leaders, including Lotte Group chairman Shin Kyuk-ho, on allegations of breaching the foreign exchange transaction act. “We launched the investigation two months ago, and the estimated amount of transacted money is around 52.2 billion won ($50 million),” said a spokesman from the Financial Supervisory Service. Other wealthy people on the list of the investigation include Lee Soo-young, chairman of OCI, a leading l

POSCO Energy, a unit of POSCO, said Monday that it has entered the coal-fired power generation business by launching Pospower. The nation’s largest independent power company had previously focused on gas-fired thermal power. Pospower, formerly Tong Yang Power, which POSCO Energy acquired last June for 431.1 billion won ($421.8 million), has a business license to build and operate two 1-million-kilowatt capacity coal-fired thermal power plants in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, by 2021. Under the ren

Asiana Airlines CEO Kim Soo-cheon (right) poses with Rep. Takei Shunsukei of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party. (Asiana Airlines)Asiana Airlines CEO Kim Soo-cheon discussed ways to revitalize tourism between Korea and Japan with visiting Rep. Takei Shunsukei of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party at the company’s headquarters in Seoul on Monday, the company said in a press release. “As both countries are planning exchange programs a year ahead of the 50th anniversary to mark the normalization of rel

South Korean stocks closed higher Friday amid abated geopolitical uncertainties in Europe, as voters in Scotland chose to stay part of the United Kingdom, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 6.08 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,053.82. Trading volume was moderate at 391 million shares worth 5.02 trillion won ($4.81 billion), with gainers outpacing losers, 529 to 269.Analysts said Friday’s rebound came after Scotland voted against splitting from Britain in its refer

The average price gap between common and preferred stocks of major South Korean companies dipped to its lowest in a decade as investors and funds bought up equities tied to better dividends, data showed Friday. Preferred stocks are generally traded at cheaper prices than common stocks because they offer no voting rights and have low turnover rates. But after the new economic team began pressing conglomerates to pay higher dividends, investors turned to these cheaper stocks, which are given prior

Korea Ratings, a leading local credit appraiser, said Friday that it has downgraded its credit ratings for local shipbuilders like Hyundai Heavy Industries, but has retained a stable outlook. The ratings agency lowered its long-term credit rating for Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, by one notch from its second-highest investment grade of AA+ to AA, with a stable outlook.A huge net loss and a downtrend in profits and cash flow were the main reasons for the downgrade, it

The South Korean won continued to decline against the U.S. dollar Friday, extending its loss to the second consecutive session as it moves in tandem with the global trend of the strong dollar following the Federal Reserve meeting.The local currency ended at 1,044.60 won against the greenback, down 1.20 won from Thursday’s close. The dollar rose to the highest in six years earlier in the day on expectations that the Fed’s fund rates will be raised at a faster-than-expected clip, prodding investor

South Korea and Turkey initialed a free trade agreement for their investment and service sectors Thursday, which will complement a trade pact that went into effect last year.The new South Korea-Turkey FTA on service and investment will soon undergo reviews by each side, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.“The two countries have agreed to officially sign the agreement in early 2015, and they plan to work for its implementation by undertaking domestic procedures that include r

Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo raised eyebrows among stock market investors and analysts on Thursday when a Hyundai Motor-led consortium won its bid for Korean Electric Power Corp.’s office property in the lucrative Gangnam district of Seoul, offering 10.5 trillion won ($10 billion), about three times what KEPCO had initially expected. According to multiple sources, behind the big bet was the chairman’s strong will to win the deal. One of the sources said Chung orchestrated the 10.5

CILEGON, Indonesia ― The city of Cilegon, a coastal city in Banten province, Indonesia, is emerging as one of the most vibrant industrial cities in Southeast Asia, with the launch of the biggest steel mill in the region early this year. Krakatau POSCO ― a joint venture between South Korea’s POSCO and Indonesia’s state-run Krakatau Steel ― has run the integrated steel mill with a blast furnace here since it completed the plant on Dec. 23.POSCO, which holds a 70 percent stake in the venture, inves

Some 2 million people working at the nation’s roughly 1,000 industrial complexes will be in a festive mood this week as Korea celebrates the new “Week of Industrial Complexes” from Monday. “The weeklong event has been launched to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the nation’s first industrial complex (the Guro Industrial Complex in Seoul) and discuss the future of the backbone of the nation’s economic development,” said a Korea Industrial Complex Corp. official. The KICOX, an affiliate of the Mi

South Korea’s central bank is expected to keep the base rate on hold in September as it measures the policy effect of last month’s rate cut and watches out for risks of ballooning household debt, a poll showed Thursday.All 16 analysts surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, forecast the Bank of Korea to stand pat on the current policy rate of 2.25 percent at a board meeting on Friday.The latest result comes after the BOK cut the base rate in August for the first