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East Asia
Aides to draw Park’s economic policy
People are now paying keen attention to what direction President-elect Park Geun-hye will steer the Korean economy that has been suffering from sluggish growth due to multiple downside risks both at home and abroad. Policymakers and business leaders are looking to what her economic policies will be. One way to…
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East Asia
What’s best way to ease hangover?
Year-end binge drinking renews rivalry in ‘cure’ drink market For many Korean company workers, December is a month of binge drinking. They stagger and sway through a variety of year-end parties day after day and in many cases are forced to drink beyond their limits. The year-end binging has drastically…
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East Asia
President-elect’s business network
Park has links with POSCO, Hanwha, GS With Park Geun-hye elected as the next president, market players are paying attention to how close her relationships are with domestic business leaders. Park has an extensive network within the business world. Companies with ties forged with the President-in-waiting include Korea’s biggest steelmaker…
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East Asia
Markets unlikely to be swayed by election
With the presidential election over, policymakers and investors are looking to how the results will affect the future course of financial markets, particularly the stock market. Analysts predict the stock market will receive a short-term boost on the elimination of political uncertainty and the anticipation of stimulative economic policies by…
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East Asia
SK Chairman Chey steps down from top post
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has stepped down from the top post of Korea’s third largest conglomerate’s decision-making body to serve as a strategic stakeholder, the group said Tuesday. Kim Chang-geun, vice chairman of SK Chemical, was appointed to chair the group starting January, it said. “Chey, who has served…
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East Asia
‘Abenomics’ unnerves Korean exporters
Korean companies are expected to experience another hurdle in their exports as Shinzo Abe’s expected return to power in Japan is highly likely to appreciate the Korean won against the Japanese yen. Conservative ex-premier Abe has pledged to ease credit in an unlimited manner to boost the Japanese economy, which…
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East Asia
Wine tops soju in sales
Lotte Mart, the discount chain of retail giant Lotte, said Sunday that its sales of wine exceeded those of soju, the traditional Korean distilled spirit, this year for the first time, by 4.6 percent as of Dec. 9. Wine sales, which accounted for less than 30 percent of soju just…
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East Asia
Power saving drive
Firms compete to save energy to avoid blackout Companies face increasing pressure to create ideas for reducing electricity consumption as the country is bracing for an “unprecedented” shortage of power during the winter. Scores of ideas have been generated and applied to work places as part of efforts to…
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West Asia
Kuwait’s new port, now being built, will be completed by 2020
Efforts to transform Kuwait’s logistics infrastructure are gathering pace following the announcement that the first phase of the $1.2bn Mubarak Al Kabir port development is on track for completion in the second quarter of 2014. The port, which will have an initial annual cargo-handling capacity of 1.8m containers, forms a…
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Samsung axes jobs at financial units
Unlike flourishing electronics affiliates, financial units of Samsung Group have been struggling to stay afloat, hit hard by the bearish stock market, low interest rates and sluggish consumption amid the prolonged global economic slump. Now, the country’s largest family-controlled conglomerate is posed to axe hundreds of jobs at its securities,…
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