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

Interns get inside track in job market

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter Korea's job market has in the past been peculiar with big firms recruiting new employees en masse from fresh college graduates. Now, that hiring practice is changing. Big firms are tending to give more consideration to work experience, increasing their quota of new recruits from interns who have proven their ability during temporary employment. In other cases, capable interns are given preferential treatment, when they apply for permanent positions. Major corporations have begun announcing hiring specifications of late, and distinctly beefed up the number of internships. SK Group will pick half of its expected 700 new employees via internships. The conglomerate, which encompasses telecommunications to oil refineries in its business scope, will compile reports on new personnel needs from its subsidiaries and hire interns in accordance with the demand. Because of an emphasis on hiring from interns, their selection process has been tightened. The aptitude of an applicant for skills required for a given subsidiary will be eva

May 4, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Foreign reserves hit all-time high in April

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter Korea's foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high in April on the back of a rise in capital gains from investment in stocks and bonds. The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday that the nation's reserves reached $278.87 billion, up $6.54 billion from a month earlier. It was the second consecutive month of increases. The figure surpassed the previous record high of $273.69 billion posted in January. It was the second-biggest monthly gain only behind a $6.7 billion jump in November last year. Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies along with International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold bullion. Among them, Korea suffered a $5.15 billion decrease in securities after the central bank sold bonds through a repurchase agreement (RP), but the loss was cancelled out by an $11.73 billion deposit. "Gains from our investment in securities and interests incurring from bond holdings brought the foreign reserves to a record high," Moon Han-geun, an official at

May 4, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
People & Events

Lee Hee-beom to head Korea Employers Federation

Lee Hee-beom, chairman of STX Energy, has been named the president of the Korea Employers Federation (KEF). KEF held a meeting Sunday and selected the 61-year-old to replace the outgoing Lee Soo-young, chairman of OCI, and he will take office around the middle of this month. The term of the presidency is two years. Lee, a native of Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, is an electronic engineering major from Seoul National University and received an MBA summa cum laude from George Washington University in Washington D.C. He served as Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister and headed the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) and Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

May 3, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Banks are losing interest in green products

By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter In line with the government's "green initiative," financial companies ― banks, insurers and securities firms ― came up with a variety of green products. On being launched, the environment-conscience merchandise got off to a fast start, drawing attention from many consumers, but their popularity proves to be waning. According to the financial industry, all but a few products have failed to surpass the psychologically-important 100 billion won ($89.58 million) in terms of sales. Woori Bank, which was the most active in introducing green products, launched seven programs, but, except for two, all of them are posting below 80 billion won in sales. Shinhan Bank launched a "green" loan service last October, only to see 44.8 billion won in sales, and another product, which hit the market in February for investment in the solar power tower, managed to mark 88.3 billion won in sales. Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) is selling a lending product for "green growth companies," but its sales have reached 26.9 billion won thus far, and the state-run

May 3, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Can IB Sports survive without Yu-nas star power?

Outcome will likely tell future of Korea’s rapidly-growing sports marketing business By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter Under Kim Yu-na's three-year contract with IB Sports, South Korea's fledging sports management company may have had little room to envy worldwide sports mogul International Management Group (IMG), studded with high-profile players, such as Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Peyton Manning. While the then-promising prospect was evolving into the megastar in and outside Korea, the six-year firm came out of nowhere to become a self-proclaimed ``world top-10 sports marketing company.'' However, Kim's move to a self-established agency late last month is casting dark shadows on the enterprise in years to come. The business is confidently bracing for a ``murky future.'' ``There will be changes to some extent, but we expect that it (losing Kim) will not be a hard blow to the company,'' IB Sports Senior Vice President Yoon Seog-hwan told The Korea Times. ``We admit that the company has improved its image thanks to Kim, but the percentage of profits earned fr

May 3, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Food prices soar on bad weather

By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter Food prices in the nation soared in April due to a sharp fall in supply caused by the lingering winter and unseasonal cold weather, raising concerns that inflation will continue to rise down the road. Statistics Korea said Monday that the so-called fresh food price index, a composite index of fresh food, rose 12.1 percent in April year-on-year, the largest monthly increase since last May, when it grew 15.7 percent. "Food prices surged last month due to abnormal weather conditions, such as low temperatures and lack of sunshine," a statistics agency official said. Fresh vegetables rose 28.9 percent from a year earlier and notched the highest increase since November 2007 (45.2), and fresh fish and shellfish were up 8.4 percent from this time last year. Among vegetables, green onion led agricultural produce in growth rates, rising 83.4 percent, compared to the same period last year, followed by spinach (78.1), young radish (76.9), cabbage (67.3), radish (50.2) and leek (49.9). Seafoods, such as hairtail and squid, notched 26.6 and 26.1

May 3, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

KB ranks top in size, Shinhan excels in profitability

By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter South Korea's financial groups and banks are enjoying surprise earnings in the first quarter on the back of a fast economic rebound, nearly recovering to the pre-crisis level both in growth and profitability. However, analysts are hesitant and say that it is too early to conclude that the banking sector is back on track as their profits were due to one-off factors and there is still the uncertainty that loans extended to troubled builders still run high risks of going sour. Uphill Competition KB Financial Group's total assets surged to 325.6 trillion won ($294.13 billion) in the first three months of 2010 to regain its position as the nation's largest group among the four major financial holding companies. It was up 3 percent from the end of last year, when it recorded 316 trillion won. Woori Financial Group saw its assets rise by 2.7 percent to 325.4 trillion won in March and follows KB.. Shinhan Financial Group ranked third in total assets after reporting 311.7 trillion won and Hana Financial Group ranked last among the four, stan

May 2, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Toyota FAQ in Job Interview

By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter All Toyota wants to do these days is put its recent recall fiasco behind it. But for those who are preparing for job interviews, it is important to have an answer regarding the Toyota failure ready because is one of the most frequently asked about topics. Saramin, a local online job recruiter, conducted a survey on the top issues among 248 people in charge of personnel matters and they selected the Japanese auto manufacturer's collapse as the most relevant matter, standing at 39.1 percent, it announced Tuesday. The sinking of the naval ship Cheonan placed second with 31.5 percent, followed by the smartphone boom (29.4), the popularity of micro-blogging sites (23.4), the dispute over the four-river restoration project (22.2), Lee Kun-hee's return to the helm of Samsung (16.9), the trial of former Prime Minister Han Myung-sook (12.5), the June 2 local elections (10.1) and the eruption of the Iceland volcano (10.1). The auto manufacturing giant Toyota concealed defects in its vehicles, which led to many fatalities and only later, acknowled

Apr 29, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

More Self-Control Applied on Bankers’ Incentives

By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter Commercial banks will look to a three-year installment system regarding the payment of performance-based incentives to employees. This measure is aimed at preventing them from taking excessive risks for immediate, large-scale compensation. The banks also are expected to abolish stock options being given out, adopting a variety of reward systems that are closer tied with long-term performances. KB Bank is leading the way. Pertinent regulations have been revised so, starting this year, its executives and dealers will receive 50 to 60 percent of their performance incentives by installments over three years. More than half of the incentives that remain outstanding will be given in form of stock grants with the aim of tying their incentives with the bottom line. Woori Bank has gone one step further. Under the new rule, a CEO will get 40 percent of his performance incentives a year later, with the remaining 60 percent to be given over three years starting in the fourth year. Other executives and dealers will be given 60 per

Apr 29, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Korea Ranks 6th in Fiscal Health in G-20

By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter South Korea is expected to rank sixth among G-20 countries both in fiscal health and economic performance this year on the back of a fast economic rebound, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a recent report on the financial soundness and economic growth potential of the G-20 countries, the organization said that Korea's debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is expected to reach 33.3 percent in 2010, the sixth lowest among G-20 nations and well below the IMF's forecast average of 76.8 percent. The country's fiscal soundness is predicted to improve further as the IMF reports that the ratio will decrease to 32.8 percent in 2011 and 26.2 percent in 2015, which compares to the ratio of 29.6 percent in 2007 before the global financial crisis hit the country. Russia is forecast to have the healthiest fiscal condition, with the debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.1 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia (12.8), Australia (19.8), China (20) and Indonesia (27.5) to round out the top five. As for this year's economic performance, China is

Apr 29, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
previous page
296297298299300
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.