Sorted by date Results 1 - 20 of 20
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Xiaomi, a Chinese cellphone maker that helped pioneer the trend toward ultra-low-priced smartphones, is preparing for what would possibly be the biggest tech initial public offering since e-commerce giant Alibaba's in 2014. The 8-year-old is a star among Chinese unicorns, a term that refers to startup companies that are valued at more than $1 billion. It has a dedicated Chinese fan base and its media-savvy leader is an Asian celebrity. But it is untested outside the region. Can a Chinese company be cool outside A...
As a Kansas town bordering Oklahoma, Kiowa was one of the starting points of the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893. Like other border towns, Kiowa had days of celebrations for the centennial in 1993. It’s hard to fathom that another 25 years has passed and 2018 marks the 125th anniversary of the land run. On Sept. 16, 1893, some 100,000 people raced to claim six million acres of land in former Indian Territory in Oklahoma. On that very first day historians report that 40,000 homesteads were claimed. The New York Times had billed the Land Run o...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has agreed to further open its auto market to the United States as the two countries reached an agreement in principle on amending their six-year-old free trade agreement, its top trade negotiator said Monday. South Korea's Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said the United States will lift tariffs on South Korean-made pick-up trucks in 2041 instead of 2021. It will also be able to export 25,000 additional American vehicles to South Korea without having to comply with domestic regulations. South Korea will e...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — General Motors says it will close an underutilized factory in Gunsan, South Korea, by the end of May as part of a restructuring of its operations. The move is a blow to the administration of President Moon Jae-in, who has made jobs and wages a priority since taking office in May 2017. A GM statement said Monday that it has proposed to its labor union and other stakeholders a plan involving further investments in South Korea that would help save jobs. "As we are at a critical juncture of needing to make product a...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas agreed Saturday that their talks next week will address a North Korean art troupe's visit to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the South, rather than the participation of the nation's athletes. Pyongyang wanted talks on sending its athletes and other officials to the February Olympics to be held at a later date so that Monday's talks can focus primarily on its art troupe's participation in the Games, Seoul's Unification Ministry said. The South agreed to the North's proposal, the ministry said. O...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets edged higher on Monday after Wall Street's strong finish last week. The U.S. dollar weakened against most major currencies, including the Japanese yen. KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.2 percent to 23,708.63 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.3 percent to 2,503.77. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 0.8 percent to 31,660.70 and China's Shanghai Composite Index added was flat at 3,429.08. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.1 percent to 6,075.20. Stocks in Southeast Asia were moderately h...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Overturning an appeal court's decision, South Korea's Supreme Court said Tuesday the family of a Samsung worker who died of a brain tumor should be eligible for state compensation for an occupational disease. The ruling on Lee Yoon-jung, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 30 and died two years later, reflects a shift in the handling of such cases in South Korea. Workers used to have the onus of proving the cause of a disease caused by their work. But after years of campaigning by labor advocates to raise a...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Koreans recommended the government Friday continue building two stalled nuclear reactors that the new president had wanted to shutter, after months of deliberation on the issue that divided South Korea over the future of its key energy source. A state commission that surveyed a panel of 471 citizens said a little over half of them still wanted South Korea to rely less on nuclear energy, even after South Korea resumes constructing the unfinished Shin Kori-5 and Shin Kori-6 reactors. Kim Ji-hyung, head of the c...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Prosecutors cited a past ruling on a North Korean spy case as one reason why Samsung's billionaire heir deserved a lengthy prison term after being convicted of offering bribes to the country's then-president and one of her associates. The prosecutors and Lee Jae-yong's lawyers sparred Thursday during a first hearing by the appeals court on the effort by Lee, Samsung's vice chairman and de facto leader, to have his five-year prison sentence overturned. Lee was convicted in August of offering $7.9 million in bribes to P...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it will invest 75 million euro ($89 million) in TTTech, a Vienna, Austria-based company that makes autonomous driving technologies and safety controls for Audi cars and others, stepping up its push into autonomous driving technology. The new autonomous driving investment comes after the South Korean company completed its acquisition of Harman, which makes car navigation systems and technology for cars to communicate with each other and infrastructure. Samsung also announced that i...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's Supreme Court said a former worker in a Samsung LCD factory who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis should be recognized as having an occupationally caused disease, overturning lower court verdicts that held a lack of evidence against the worker. In a milestone decision that could aid other sickened tech workers struggling to prove the origin of their diseases, the Supreme Court ruled there was a significant link between Lee Hee-jin's disease and workplace hazards and her working conditions. Lower c...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced the billionaire chief of Samsung to five years in prison for crimes that helped topple the country's president, a stunning downfall that could freeze up decision making at a global electronics powerhouse long run like a monarchy. The Seoul Central District Court said Friday that Lee Jae-yong, 49, was guilty of offering bribes to Park Geun-hye when she was South Korea's president, and to Park's close friend, to get government support for efforts to cement his control over the Samsung e...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea's most successful business group, was sentenced Friday to five years prison for offering bribes and other crimes. Lee, 49, was groomed to lead the conglomerate that was founded by his grandfather and became such a dominating force in South Korea that it's mockingly called "Republic of Samsung" by the public. He took a higher profile role at the world's largest maker of smartphones, television sets and microchips that power consumer electronics after his f...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets slumped on Friday following overnight losses on Wall Street as U.S. President Donald Trump's bellicose remarks prompted investors to unload shares in companies that have been on the rise in recent months. KEEPING SCORE: South Korea's Kospi sank 1.8 percent to 2,316.88 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.5 percent to 27,041.83. Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7 percent to 3,238.53. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.1 percent to 5,696.80. Stocks in Taiwan, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries w...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics is on a roll thanks to booming sales of memory chips required by the increasingly data-based economy. The company, the world's largest supplier of memory chips, said Friday that its operating profit soared 72 percent in the April-June quarter over a year earlier to a record high. Samsung has the most advanced memory chip production technology. Robust semiconductor sales amid a massive expansion of data use yielded a record profit in the last quarter even as smartphone market growth slowed, a...
INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — Robots will start roaming South Korea's largest airport this summer, helping travelers find their boarding gates and keep its floors clean as the country prepares for its first Winter Olympics game. Starting this month, Troika, a self-driving robot made by LG Electronics, will rove the Incheon International Airport, telling travelers how long it takes to get to boarding gates and escorting them to their flights. A jumbo cleaning robot will help cleaning staff swab the wide expanses of floors in the airport west of S...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea, one of the world's largest nuclear electricity producers, will scrap plans to add nuclear power plants, its president said Monday, signaling a shift in decades of reliance on nuclear energy. President Moon Jae-in said South Korea will move away from nuclear energy and will not seek to extend the life of existing plants. He also vowed to cut South Korea's reliance on coal. South Korea will shut 10 old coal power plants and stop building more coal power plants. "So far South Korea's energy policy pursued c...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — When the judge who oversaw the ouster of South Korea's president went to work Friday with two pink plastic hair rollers still attached to the back of her bobbed hair, the image, as is common in this hyper-connected society, went viral. Many South Koreans chose to see Acting Chief Justice Lee Jung-mi's rushed arrival at the Constitutional Court ahead of one of the most highly watched rulings in recent South Korean history as a symbol of a hardworking woman who is dedicated to a demanding job. The hair rollers, which t...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's government closed its website that drew fury for showing the number of women in childbearing age by each city district and region. The Ministry of the Interior's website featuring the pink birth map remained closed on Friday, a day after its launch, showing instead a notice that the site is undergoing corrections to reflect public opinion. The website had gone offline after just a few hours following criticism the government is trying to shame women for not having babies. Some said the government t...
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — For many South Korean business owners, President Park Geun-hye's impeachment Friday was a moment to celebrate — with a sale. A hotel in the harbor city of Busan put a banner outside saying that all of its rooms were free Friday to mark Park's suspension as president, pending a court ruling on whether to remove her permanently from office. Mom-and-pop restaurants, coffee shops, a music shop and a clothing store were among businesses offering discounts. Hong Young Tack, who runs a coffee shop in western Seoul, off...
