The Korea Times

Korean Oil Tanker Hijacked by Pirates

By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter A South Korean oil tanker, with five Koreans and 19 Filipinos onboard, has been hijacked by pirates in waters off Somalia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Sunday. The 300,000-ton tanker, the Samho Dream, was on its way to the U.S. state of Louisiana after departing from Iraq when it was seized in the Indian Ocean at about 4:10 p.m. (KST). The hijacking took place about 1,500 km southeast of the Gulf of Aden, off the Somali coast where the Korean Navy's anti-piracy Cheonghae unit operates. The tanker owned by Samho Shipping, one of the nation's mid-sized shipping firms, is registered on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Following the news, the foreign ministry set up a taskforce to deal with the incident and held an emergency meeting with officials from related-ministries at 7:30 p.m. It decided not to reveal the identities of the abducted Korean crewmembers over concerns for their safety, ministry spokesman Cheo Jong-hyun said. ``We are placing top priority on confirming the safety of the crew and the condition of

Apr 4, 2010By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

Retail Investors Losing Out on Rallies

By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter Individual investors have taken money out of equity funds over the past year as the stock markets at home and abroad have recovered to some extent from the global financial crisis. After years of agony and sleepless nights over money-losing funds, many retail investors decided to take matters into their own hands, investing directly into stocks to realize better returns. But things have not turned out as they had hoped. Individuals have unfortunately been losing on the ongoing market rallies, lagging behind institutional and foreign investors in performance, according to the Korea Exchange (KRX) Thursday. In March, the average return of the top 30 stocks sold by individuals last month came to 11.05 percent, beating the benchmark KOSPI's 5.26-percent return. They sold these 30 shares worth 4.4 trillion won, but all of them posted positive returns. In particular, shares of LG Innotek rose 25.9 percent, followed by Hynix at 23.1 percent and Woori Financial Group at 22.2 percent. A KRX official said retail investors did not take full advanta

Apr 4, 2010By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

Savings Banks Exposed to Rising Credit Risks

By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter Local savings banks have been exposed to rising credit risks as they have expanded at the expense of their asset soundness, which many believe will become a major stumbling block to a full economic recovery once an exit plan is in place. Savings banks here have been rushing to grow over the years by offering higher deposit interest rates than commercial lenders, attracting large amounts of money from mostly individuals. To cover the higher costs and realize larger net interest margins, they have been extending loans to construction firms and other businesses that are highly vulnerable to economic changes. In particular, many provided loans to builders in the form of real estate project financing (PF), but the bulk of these have gone sour due to the sluggish property market here, with several savings banks in provincial areas going bankrupt under snowballing bad loans. Despite these rising credit risks, savings banks continue to engage in a tug of war for industry leadership by attracting more funds from depositors and offering larger credits

Apr 4, 2010By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

Foreign Net Purchase Hits 6-Year High

By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter Foreign net buying of Korean stocks has increased to the highest level in six years, with international investors snapping up local shares on the back of the recovery from the global financial crisis and ample liquidity. Additionally, the better-than-expected performance by listed firms and the won's strength against the dollar have also attracted larger portfolio investments from abroad. According to the securities industry Sunday, foreign investors had net purchased shares listed on the main KOSPI market worth 6 trillion won in the first quarter of the year. Together with the 135.2 billion won worth of net buying of stocks listed on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market, non-Koreans' equity investments here have increased to 6.14 trillion won for the first three months of 2010, marking the largest since the first quarter of 2004 when it stood at 9.2 trillion won. On the first two days of trading in April, international investors net bought 1.11 trillion won, pushing up this year's figure to 7.25 trillion won. In 2009, they net purchased local stoc

Apr 4, 2010By Lee Hyo-sik

Lee Hyo-sik

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Korean Oil Tanker Hijacked by Pirates

Retail Investors Losing Out on Rallies

Savings Banks Exposed to Rising Credit Risks

Foreign Net Purchase Hits 6-Year High

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