The government said Wednesday it would establish small free economic zones in provincial cities this year in an effort to attract more foreign direct investment, in particular from small and mid-sized firms.Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy officials said in a press briefing that the so-called “mini” FEZs could be created for foreign-invested land exceeding 80,000 square meters, one-fourth the land required for an existing FEZ.Previously, an area was designated as an FEZ when the foreign-in

Concerns over the impact of the weakening yen on the nation’s exports are proving well founded. About 40 percent of Korean-made products that compete against Japanese goods in the global market posted reduced export figures for the first two months in 2013 compared with the same period a year ago, the Korea International Trade Association said in a press release. In a KITA survey of the nation’s 49 export items in competition with Japanese goods, including cars, ships and petroleum products, exp

The government will support local builders to diversify overseas plant orders and to win more infrastructure projects in a bid to put the faltering construction industry back on track, officials said Tuesday. “The cutthroat competition among the nation’s leading builders in pursuit of the same overseas orders has been prevalent, and the business practice is dealing a blow to the entire industry,” Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Suh Seoung-hwan said in an interview with a local cable

Hyosung Group has sought to improve people’s lives by developing products with its own technology in its core businesses ranging from fiber to industrial material and power distribution equipment. Hyosung’s best known product is Creora, the firm’s spandex brand. Spandex is a synthetic fiber used for a variety of end-user products based on its exceptional elasticity, including women’s lingerie and stockings, and baby diapers.  Few textile companies in the world have created their own spandex bran

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles titled Global Brand as part of the first installment of Power Korea. Korea’s success story is a 60-year-old tale written by not one, but many who worked to build one of the world’s most powerful nations from the ashes of war. This Global Brand series is designed to honor those who made this Korean Dream come true. This is the 15th part of the Global Brand series. ― Ed.Hyosung Group, the nation’s 26th-largest conglomerate by assets in 2012, has

Hyosung Group, a leading textile and heavy machinery maker in Korea, is looking to its carbon fiber brand Tansome for growth.Tansome is a combination of two words: “tanning,” referring to the characteristic of the carbon fiber production process, and “something special.”Hyosung developed its own technology for producing carbon fiber and invested 250 billion won ($220 million) in early 2012 to build a plant with an annual production capacity of 2,000 tons in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. The com

The nation’s leading private and public think tanks projected that Korea’s GDP growth would fall below 3 percent this year, hovering between 2.5 and 2.9 percent, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release on Monday. The economic growth projection was presented by representatives from 11 private and public think tanks at a lunch meeting with Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Yoon Sang-jick. The GDP projection is similar to that issued by the Bank of Korea last week. The

The organizing committee to prepare for the hosting of the 2015 World Water Forum in Daegu will launch Tuesday, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Monday. During its kick-off event, the organizing committee will name Lee Jung-moo, former land minister, as chairman. Lee has led the Korea Water Forum since 2012. As the first task, the organizing committee has prepared a kick-off event to be held May 14-15 in Daegu. About 500 participants from all over the world, including gove

A series of breakdowns of the nation’s nuclear power plants have rekindled the debate over whether to shut down old reactors or extend their operation.A top government official fanned the controversy when he hinted at a possible shutdown of another reactor whose design lifetime has expired.“Whether to extend operation of the 30-year-old first reactor at the Wolseong complex will be decided based on the agreement of the public,” said Lee Eun-chul, new head of the nation’s Nuclear Safely and Secur

Former Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho entered the second-round competition for the post of the World Trade Organization director-general, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.“The WTO announced on Friday that Bark passed the first-round competition for WTO’s top post with four candidates from Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and New Zealand,” the ministry said.  Four of the nine candidates from Jordan, Ghana, Kenya and Costa Rica were dropped in the first round. The WTO will select the f

SK Innovation, a key affiliate of SK Group, won the second round of its patent lawsuit against LG Chem over a key material used for electric car batteries, according to the company in a press release.On Thursday, the Patent Court of Korea dismissed the appeal that LG Chem filed at the end of 2012 to challenge the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal’s decision to uphold SK Innovation.“The successive wins of SK Innovation in a legal battle with LG Chem testifies to SK Innovation’s technological

The amount of foreign direct investment into Korea hit a record high of $3.39 billion in the first quarter of this year, a 44.7 percent increase from a year ago, despite rising security concerns on the Korean Peninsula, according to data released Thursday by the Ministry Trade, Industry and Energy. “The data showed that the impact of geopolitical risks created by North Korea on investment decisions of foreigners were limited for the first three months of the year,” a ministry official said. The

Small and mid-sized South Korean companies running factories in the sole inter-Korean industrial complex in the North’s border city of Gaeseong are being hit hardest by the stoppage of their production lines in the industrial park.About 53,000 North Korean factory workers did not come to the complex Monday following the North’s announcement that it temporarily suspended Gaeseong’s operations. The move added pressure on SMEs doing business in the Gaeseong complex, together with a weeklong ban on

The faltering Yongsan project, the nation’s single largest property project worth 31 trillion won ($29 billion), will likely be liquidated as the board of KORAIL gave consent Monday for the state-run rail operator to hand off the project. The move of KORAIL, the largest shareholder of the project with a 25 percent stake in Dream Hub, a special purpose company in charge of Yongsan project decision, was expected last Friday as the board of Dream Hub, composed of 30 shareholders including KORAIL, r

Korea will start supporting developing countries by consulting them on its own rural development policy through its official development assistance program, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said on Monday.“The ministry has completed development of 20 modules for the agriculture-related policy consulting services, titled the Korean Agricultural Policy Experiences for Food Security, or KAPEX, geared toward developing countries,” a ministry official said. The 20 modules include a

The state-run rail operator KORAIL announced on Friday that it will wash its hands of the troubled Yongsan development project as its normalization proposal failed to gain approval from the board of Dream Hub PFV. Dream Hub is a special purpose company, set up in 2007, for decision-making on the Yongsan project, the nation’s single largest development plan to build an international business district in central Seoul. It is composed of 30 shareholders, including KORAIL, the biggest shareholder wi

Institute of Global Management chairman Junn Sung-chull joined the “Honor Society” club after promising to donate 100 million won, the Community Chest of Korea said Friday. The lawyer-turn-CEO educator became the 270th member of the club, whose membership is offered those who donate more than 100 million won ($90,000). Junn hoped that his donation would be spent to help educate children from low-income families. CCK, a leading nationwide charity network, has run the Honor Society club since 2007

President Park Geun-hye stressed sustainable and balanced land development in harmony with the environment, criticizing massive funds-injected, large-scale development projects made in the previous government such as the four-river restoration project.“The government needs to review more thoroughly and systematically the large-scale development projects requiring massive public funding,’’ Park stressed during the Land Ministry’s policy briefing session. Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministe

PARIS ― Having lost much of its appeal after 2011’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, nuclear energy is coming back into favor, slowly but steadily. Emerging economies are resuming plant construction, particularly in Asia, where power demand is exploding in line with rapid economic growth. China led the trend this year, opening the first nuclear power plant since the Fukushima crisis in Dalian, Liaoning province. Industry watchers said the Chinese government will step up construction of nuclear plants

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding’s request for help to creditors indicates that STX Group may be facing another liquidity crisis, analysts said on Wednesday. They said the future of STX Group, the nation’s 13th-largest conglomerate in terms of revenue, is seemingly murky as it faces a series of credit downgrades, following the self-restructuring plan proposed by the shipbuilding unit, its core affiliate, to its creditors on Tuesday. STX Offshore, the world’s fourth-largest shipbuilder, asked creditor