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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.

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Companies

More bachelors marrying divorcees

By Kang Seung-woo A beauty pageant-runner up-turned-announcer recently wowed people, as she has remarried a bachelor, making her an object of envy among a lot of females. However, a report by the nation’s statistics office shows that this is no longer something to draw jealousy any more, as the number of couples comprised of single men and divorced females has sharply increase thanks to the rise in the latter’s social position and changing thoughts about women. According to Statistics Korea, Tuesday, marriage between bachelors and divorced woman stood at 2.3 percent in 1990, but the ratio nearly tripled to 6.1 percent in 2009. It is a huge growth in that it was rare in the past that they ended up married due to strong opposition, mainly from the men. During the same span, divorced man-single woman couples just rose from 3.6 percent to 4.5 percent. Observers say that women’s heightened social status and the diffusion of gender equality issues have influenced the trend. “Nowadays, a large number of single men do not care about their spouses’ past as much as before,

Jan 26, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Hyundai Wia eyes spot in global top 20

By Kang Seung-woo Hyundai Wia, the nation’s automotive parts, machine tools and heavy machinery manufacturer, said Wednesday that it will add more automakers to its customer list in efforts to make the global top 20 in the field by 2020. It currently ranks 65th. The company plans to expand into overseas markets, while it is undergoing the process to be listed this year. “To become one of the nation’s top 20 companies, we need to reduce our heavy dependence on Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors,” CEO Lheem Heung-soo said in a news conference. Hyundai, established in 1976, is headquartered in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province and focuses on producing transmissions, drive and steering systems, aircraft parts, machine tools and robots. “We are currently in talks with General Motors, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Renault and Mitsubishi.” According to company officials, it is seeking to reduce its dependence on its mother conglomerate to at least 60 percent from the current 75 percent. Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group holds a 78.79 percent stake in the affiliate. On the strength of

Jan 26, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

National Pension Service aims to be worlds No. 1 in assets

By Kang Seung-woo The National Pension Service (NPS) has set its sights on becoming the world’s largest public pension fund on the back of recent impressive performances. The NPS topped the 300 trillion won mark in assets much earlier than expected in July last year, and, as of December, its assets totaled 323.5 trillion won, making it the fourth-largest pension fund in the world behind Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Norway’s Government Pension Fund (GPF) and ABP, the national pension fund of the Netherlands. The fund surpassed 100 trillion won in 2003 and 200 trillion won in 2007 before reaching the current milestone, with an annualized growth rate of 30 percent. According to the fund’s estimates, the NPS is expected to see its total assets reach 500 trillion won in 2015 and 2,465 trillion won in 2043 to be the largest in the world. The impressive achievements have come as the NPS is projected to post its highest investment returns in 2010, as its profits from its investment in stocks, bonds and property chalked up 10.2 percent as of the end of No

Jan 25, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Household debt under closer tabs

By Kang Seung-woo The nation’s financial watchdog said in its 2011 policy plan Tuesday that it will fortify its monitoring on potential risks and improve financial institutions’ soundness this year. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), it sees household lending and project financing (PF) loans as the two biggest sources of uncertainty to the financial industry and will toughen supervision of them to shield the sector. “Financial institutions need to take preemptive actions against potential risks, such as household and PF loans, while developing internal stability to steady the financial market,” FSS Governor Kim Jong-chang said in its policy briefing for 2011 to finance companies executives and experts. “Based on stability, we need to try our best for the financial industry to evolve into an upper tier.” Escalating household loans have recently emerged as big threats, as the central bank‘s growing tightening mood and potential rises in the key interest rate are likely to trouble households’ repayment ability. The Bank of Korea (BOK) has raised its key

Jan 25, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Increasing cabbage prices may lead to new kimchi crisis

By Kang Seung-woo Despite the government’s all-out efforts to tame inflation, soaring fresh food prices continue to be an increasing concern. And consumers are particularly alarmed over the price of locally-produced napa cabbages ― the green, cup-shaped type of Chinese cabbage that is the main ingredient of kimchi, the staple Korean pickled side-dish. The cabbages have become dramatically more expensive in recent weeks due to the heavy cold spell killing a significant part of the crop. This has been fueling fears of a ``kimchi crisis,’’ similar to one the country experienced just months ago, when prices rose to 15,000 won per head after an abnormally rainy September had the vegetables wilting in the fields. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp. on Friday, napa cabbages were selling at 4,242 won ($3.79) per head wholesale, up from 3,412 won in mid-December. The retail price was 4,664 won, compared to 3,594 won the previous month. Market watchers believe that the prices still have much room to increase, and government officials feel stuck in their own version

Jan 23, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

KEPCO may face blame for Yeosu fiasco

By Kang Seung-woo A power failure at a major industrial complex in the southern part of Korea has put a question mark over the Korea Electricity Power Corp. (KEPCO)’s plan. A 20-minute blackout on Monday afternoon forced GS Caltex to close most of its plants at the complex, which is believed to have cost at least 30 billion won ($27 million), according to the nation’s No. 2 oil refinery. “The same kind of problem has occurred periodically at the nation’s industrial complex and it does not make sense,” an official of a local oil refinery industry said on condition of anonymity. The complex also suffered power failures in 2006 and 2008. As soon as the blackout happened in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, KEPCO, the nation’s lone power supplier, released a statement defending itself, claiming that the blackout was unrelated to the system of power supply and demand at the complex, and went on to blame GS Caltex for the disruption. GS countered, calling KEPCO’s claim nonsense, which has turned into a blame game over the cause of the power failure. The nation has another la

Jan 20, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

POSCO sets up joint venture in India

By Kang Seung-woo POSCO has signed a contract with Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA) to build a ferrochrome-producing joint venture, the company said Thursday. POSCO, the world’s No. 3 steelmaker, and IMFA, India’s biggest ferrochrome producers, built an electric furnace in India which produced 35,000 tons of ferrochrome in November 2010. Ferrochrome is an alloy of chromium and iron and used mainly in the production of stainless steel. Most of the world’s ferrochrome is produced in South Africa, Kazakhstan and India. IMFA is the steel goliath’s second joint venture dealing with ferrochrome following one in South Africa, which was set up in 1996 and produces 60,000 tons a year. POSCO expects the joint venture agreement to help it to secure a stable supply of ferrochrome because it has annually imported 480,000 tons of the mixed metal and demand for it from China has been surging of late. The company said that it owns 24 percent of the joint venture, with IMFA holding 76 percent, but it did not specify how much it will spend on its Indian joint venture. In addi

Jan 20, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

GS Caltex, KEPCO in blame game over power outage

By Kang Seung-woo Fighting words are flying left and right between GS Caltex, the country’s second-largest refiner, and the state-run power company, Korea Electricity Power Corp. (KEPCO), over the cause of a power failure at a major industrial complex in the southern part of the country Monday. GS was forced to shut down all of its plants at the complex in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, including crude distillation units (CDUs) and a residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC), due to the 20-minute power outage, which is believed to have cost tens of billions of won in damage. The Yeosu complex also endured power failures in 2006 and 2008. Immediately after the incident, KEPCO released a statement defending itself, claiming that the blackout was unrelated to the system of power supply and demand at the complex, and went on to blame GS Caltex for the disruption. ``The power failure happened because GS Caltex had its automatic switch off at their facilities, which cut off electricity despite a normal supply,’’ KEPCO said. KEPCO in Yeosu supplies electric power to GS Cal

Jan 18, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Some big firms expand like octopus tentacles

By Kang Seung-woo The number of 30 conglomerates' affiliates broke the 1,000 mark for the first time last year, an online portal reported Monday. There are escalating concerns over the conglomerates’ wayward expansion in areas that have nothing to do with their core businesses. According to Chaebul.com, an online portal that specializes in information concerning large businesses and family-owned conglomerates, the number of affiliates owned by the nation’s top 30 companies by assets reached 1,069 as of the end of last year, up 78 from the previous year. The number of their units stood at 702in 2005, followed by 764 in 2006, 847 in 2007 and 969 in 2008 before recording 991 in 2009, meaning that the number gained 150 percent in the five-year period. The nation’s top 10 conglomerates, to no surprise, led the increase, as they accounted for 51.2 percent of the surge after their affiliates grew from 350 to 538 in the cited period. Observers attribute the sharp jump to a flurry of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on the back of President Lee Myung-bak’s business-friendly

Jan 17, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

HMC inks Chinese partnership

HMC Investment Securities has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s Southwest Securities to promote business alliances, the Seoul-based brokerage house announced Friday. “We will continue to strengthen the bilateral partnership in order to expand businesses in both nations. The first plan from the MOU is to co-hold a merger and acquisition (M&A) forum in China,” an HMC official said. “Taking advantage of Hyundai Motor’s status and network in China, HMC will try to emerge as a powerhouse in China.” HMC is the brokerage arm of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Korea’s largest automaker and No. 2 conglomerate trailing Samsung Group. Southwest Securities, established in 1999, is headquartered in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality and operates in 37 locations nationwide. The company, which was listed on the Shanghai Exchange in 2009, has a wealth of expertise in investment banking including initial public offerings and M&As to make the top 10 in the category for several years.

Jan 14, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
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