my timesThe Korea Times
ksw

Kang Seung-woo

Korea Times Business Reporter

Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.

Go to Email

Read more

Companies

LinkedIn launches Korean service

By Yoon Ja-young LinkedIn, the biggest social networking service dedicated to professionals, launched a Korean language service. LinkedIn is wholly dedicated to forming professional ties unlike Twitter and Facebook which focus more on the private life of users. As a platform to expand a person’s network and for finding employment, users upload their resumes and profiles to make professional connections. “All professions today live their lives through three different circles of social life, life with their family and life as a professional,” said Arvind Rajan, managing director & vice president in charge of Asia Pacific and Japan at LinkedIn. He said that the service is to completely take care of the necessary aspects of maintaining professional life online. “It’s not about games or exchanging pictures of your family,” he said. He added that LinkedIn has fundamentally changed the way the world works, defining it as a truly unique network where people find their dream career opportunities as well as their customers. Unlike resume sites where only active jobseekers j

Dec 2, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Smile microcredit gains presence

By Kang Seung-woo “Smile” microcredit banks are gaining momentum this year, as their outstanding loan balance has surpassed 200 billion won, the financial regulator said Friday. The number of those who used the government-led loan program as of the end of the third quarter rose a sharp 96 percent from a year ago, while its default rate remained at around 3 percent, showing that the lending program for the underprivileged has had a soft landing. According to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), a total of 36,445 people borrowed 227.2 billion won through the program, breaking its annual target of 200 billion won. The balance is on pace to go beyond 250 billion won. The third-quarter total was up from 115.9 billion won from 2010. The microcredit outfit, established in December 2009, is a state-led program that offers unsecured loans to low-income families via partnerships with private institutions including financial players and companies. In terms of financing the loan program, the members of the Federation of Korean Industries and financial institutions plan to

Dec 2, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Overseas credit card use up

By Kang Seung-woo Koreans’ overseas card spending hit an all-time high in the third quarter of this year, as more people traveled abroad, the central bank said Wednesday. According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), overseas card use by Koreans reached $2.3 billion (2.62 trillion won) in the July-to-September period, up 6.1 percent from $2.16 billion the previous quarter. The reading marked the largest amount ever since such data was first compiled. “During the third quarter, more Koreans traveled abroad, which contributed to card spending reaching a record high,” said a BOK official. The number of Koreans who headed abroad in the third quarter stood at about 3.5 million, up 19 percent from three months earlier. This data comes as the nation’s credit card spending rose nearly 10 percent in the first six months of 2011 from a year ago, raising concerns over another possible credit card crisis. In the first half, credit card spending totaled 261.7 trillion won, up from 239.1 trillion won the previous year, which put the use of plastic on pace to break 500 trillion won by

Dec 1, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Woori aims to take lead in IB business

By Kang Seung-woo Woori Investment and Securities has played a leading role in the development of the Korean capital market over 40 years and established itself as one of the best affiliates of Woori Financial Group. And the company is looking to become the best overall investment financial company with efforts to solidify its market leadership in its core business areas. In order to achieve the vision, Woori, headed by CEO Hwang Sung-ho, is pursuing stable growth through investment banking (IB), trading, and wealth management (WM), coupled with an advanced risk management system. The investment and securities firm was established in 1969 under the name of Hanbo Securities and renamed as Woori in 2005, when it was merged with LG Investment and Securities. Woori is strengthening efforts to steadily improve IB by shoring up the competitiveness of traditional underwriting risk and nurturing advisory services on merger and acquisition (M&A) and corporate restructuring, private equity fund (PEF) and principal investment (PI). While driving for the strategic targets, Woor

Dec 1, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

54% of banks’ borrowing from Europe

By Kang Seung-woo Korean banks are heavily dependent on Europe in their overseas borrowing, as more than half of their debts stemmed from counterparts on the continent in the first half of this year, data showed Thursday. Given that the eurozone sovereign debt crisis is still raging, the heavy European reliance is raising concerns of a possible liquidity shortage of foreign currency. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Korean banks’ borrowing from European banks recorded $187.25 billion, accounting for 53.6 percent of their total debts of $349.46 billion as of the end of June. By country, Britain was the largest lender with $100.48 billion, followed by France with $32.58 billion and Germany with $19.95 billion, according to the BIS. Market watchers are worried that Asia’s fourth-largest economy may suffer a lack of foreign currency liquidity if Europe’s debt turmoil spreads to other countries and the continent’s lenders try to take back the money. “Austria recently decided to limit loan extensions to Eastern Europe. This shows that countries w

Dec 1, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Consumer prices rise 4.2% in November

By Kang Seung-woo The inflation rate returned to the 4 percent level in November amid rising prices for manufactured goods, processed foods and public utilities, a government report said Thursday. However, the annualized inflation rate is expected to be within the government’s target range of between 2 percent and 4 percent. According to the latest figures from Statistics Korea, the nation’s consumer price index (CPI) climbed 4.2 percent last month from a year ago, up from a revised 3.6 percent year-on-year gain tallied in the previous month. The November reading snapped the country’s streak of staying below 4 percent after it basked in the 3 percent mark for two straight months. Asia’s fourth-largest economy, whose consumer prices rose from 3.4 percent in January to 4.7 percent in August, registered 3.8 percent and 3.6 percent year-on-year increases in September and October, respectively. The data came as the statistics office had revised its calculating method that added or deleted items checked in a basket of consumer goods to better reflect actual prices. The ne

Dec 1, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Hyundai Steel exports roller to India

By Kang Seung-woo Hyundai Steel has cemented its billing as a top-tier global manufacturer of rolling mills, becoming the first local player to make one to produce 5-meter wide ship plates, the company announced Thursday. According to Korea’s second-largest steelmaker, the company held a ceremony at its Pohang steel plant to celebrate the shipment of the machine to India’s Essar Steel, an affiliate of the Essar Group. The rolling mill for 5-meter wide ship plate entails a complicated product development and manufacturing process, and thus far only four companies in Germany, Japan, Sweden and China have dominated the market. Hyundai used its independent technology to manufacture the mill. Annual demand worldwide for 5-meter wide plates is approximately 25,000 tons and about 3,000 tons, or 12 percent of the total, are used in Korea by POSCO, Dongkuk Steel and Hyundai. The Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province-based steelmaker, headed by CEO Park Seung-ha, expects that the introduction of the mill will stabilize the price of the large ship plates, which have been importe

Dec 1, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Overseas stock investment falls

By Kang Seung-woo Amid the worsening European debt crisis, Korean investment in overseas securities plunged the most for a third quarter since the global financial crisis, the central bank said Tuesday. According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), institutional investments in foreign stocks, bonds and Korean paper recorded an outstanding $57.8 billion as of the end of September this year, down $11.14 billion from the end of June. Korean paper refers to foreign-currency denominated securities issued abroad by the Korean government, financial institutions or companies. The third-quarter reading hit the lowest point since the first quarter of 2009, when investment fell to $51.86 billion and the fall in the July-to-September period posted the largest decline since a $18.06 billion slide in the fourth quarter of 2008, when Asia’s fourth-largest economy was plagued by the global financial crisis. The central bank analyzed that the ongoing European sovereign debt fiasco shattered stock prices in invested countries, bringing down the value of shareholding held by local institutional

Nov 29, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

KB aims to be good corporate citizen

By Kang Seung-woo Banking goliath KB Financial Group has exhibited a solid display in 2011, as the company registered 1.57 trillion won in net profit during the first six months of the year. In addition, thanks to its improved corporate governance structure, KB has cemented its status as a leading financial services group by sweeping a variety of awards which have to do with transparent management and customer trust. And now, on the back of impressive achievements, the financial holding firm, headed by Chairman Euh Yoon-dae, is stepping up efforts to demonstrate philanthropy and accountability to the communities in which it operates. As part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, KB Financial has come up with various projects including a job-matching program for young jobseekers, a public interest foundation and more generous home equity loans for the middle-class and low-income earners. KB Good Job was launched in January this year and uses Kookmin Bank’s around 1,200 branches across the nation to help job hunters and connect them with the bank’s clients

Nov 29, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

S-Oil sets CSR example

By Kang Seung-woo S-Oil has gained recognition not just for high-quality oil but for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as well, noticeable in its Sunshine Sharing Campaign on full display. The company’s charity program, which aims at making our society better through sharing, has three themes: heroes, communities and environment. In order to recognize unsung heroes in society, S-Oil, headed by CEO Ahmed Subaey, has implemented the Hero Firefighters Support Program to boost the morale of firefighters and help the families of fallen or injured firefighters since 2006. Under the program, the refiner has presented consolation money and school expenses to the families of fallen or injured firefighters and has actively carried out other diverse CSR activities, thereby contributing to strengthening the social safety net. In addition, S-Oil has selected civilians who have been injured or given their lives to help others as Heroic Civilians of the Year and award them at the end of each year since 2008. S-Oil, founded in 1976, is busy contributing to local co

Nov 28, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
previous page
235236237238239
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.