• NH takes over Woori Securities

    A mega-size brokerage house will come into existence following the merger of the brokerage units of Woori Financial and NH NongHyup Financial groups. Both the size of assets and the number of staff will be the country’s largest. The boards of directors of the two groups approved NH NongHyup Financial’s…

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  • Samsung restructures financial units

    Financial affiliates of Samsung Group are undergoing restructuring as their performances have been poor in recent years amid the economic slump. While they earlier decided to freeze workers’ salaries this year, the life insurance and brokerage units have launched reorganization plans and are accepting voluntary retirement applications. The restructuring follows…

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  • Afghan election unlikely to be decisive in first round

    Amidst the biggest security operation in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, the country held a landmark presidential election on Saturday. There was high overall turnout of an estimated 7 of 12 million eligible voters, a third of them women, well in excess of the approximately 4.5 million people…

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  • Siding with big tobacco

    Korea’s first tobacco litigation ended up in smokers’ defeat Thursday, running counter to the global trends of punishing the rogue industry. Wrapping up the 15-year-long damage suit, the Supreme Court ruled ― quite regrettably ― the link between tobacco and “non-specific cancers” was difficult to prove. It also said the…

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  • Parties to fight under same rules

    Rival camps still face criticism over breaking campaign promises The two rival parties have managed to avoid competing in the June 4 local elections with two conflicting sets of nomination standards, following a decision by the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) to maintain the practice of the party…

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  • `Drones belonged to N. Korea’

    The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Friday it was certain that three recently crashed spy drones belonged to North Korea. The ministry plans to create a team composed of international experts to confirm this. “We have a lot of evidence, which makes us quite sure that the unmanned aerial…

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  • Foreign companies hunting Korean talent

    AMCHAM president says Korean employees are No. 1 in the world Global technology majors such as Microsoft, Intel and International Business Machine (IBM) are pitching up to hire Korean graduates. “Korean employees are No. 1 in the world,” Microsoft Korea Country Manager James Kim said at a student session held…

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  • BOK raises growth outlook to 4%

    New governor indicates rate hike in offing The country’s top central banker Thursday hinted at raising the key interest rate to rein in growing inflationary pressure resulting from economic recovery. “We will consider price stability, economic growth and other factors in shaping our monetary policy,” Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor…

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  • Enjoying traditional and modern Incheon

    A friend who has been to Incheon told me that it was a fascinating city. She said we could travel through time along the Gwandong modern architecture street or experience “Little China” in China Town. She talked about Shinpo Dakgangjeong, a restaurant that serves “dakgangjeong,” a sweet and spicy fried…

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  • Silence is not necessarily golden: a message to Korean reporters

    U.S. President Barack Obama offered a chance for Korean reporters to comment or to ask questions at the G20 Seoul conference in 2010. The Seoul conference was an opportunity to boost the morale of the Korean people and burnish the image of Korea to the world. I don’t know the…

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