Export Figures Indicate Bullish Second Quarter 2011/04/18
Korea’s ten major industries were anticipated to continue a positive growth of export with US98.73 billion in the 2nd quarter, following US97.94 billion in the previous quarter. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy issued an export forecast for the 2nd quarter that, while the overall export keeping its trend similar to the one of the 1st quarter, exports of the steel, handset, and automobile industries were expected to grow 25.6%, 20.3%, and 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year, respectively. Conversely, the exports of the shipbuilding and display businesses were forecast to drop 8.0% and 6.3%, respectively, due to oversupply. rest
S. Korea’s IT exports gain 6.2 pct in March
SEOUL, April 5 — South Korea’s exports of information technology (IT) products gained 6.2 percent on-year in March on steady global demand for semiconductors, mobile phones and TVs, the government said Tuesday. The country shipped US$13.50 billion worth of IT products abroad last month, despite economic uncertainties triggered by unrest in some North African countries and the devastating earthquake that hit Japan, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a monthly report. rest
First-Quarter Foreign Direct Investment Rises 30% 2011-04-04
Foreign direct investment into South Korea increased 30 percent in the first quarter because of the recovery of the global economy and expectations that the Asia’s fourth-largest economy will steadily grow. Investment totaled $2.01 billion in the three months to March 31, up from $1.54 billion a year earlier, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in an e-mailed statement today. The preliminary data don’t include short-term capital inflows. rest
More Koreans Embrace e-Learning 2011-04-13
A recent survey by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency showed that the government’s efforts to promote e-learning are already beginning to bear fruit. Since 2004, when the government first established a legal framework to nurture the e-learning sector, the field has grown at an average rate of nearly 10 percent. In 2010 it was worth 2.25 trillion won, a 7.4 percent year-on-year increase. rest
Direction of Solar Cell R&D to Be Set in April 2011/04/05
This month, the Korean government is going to set where the nation’s mid- to long-term solar cell R&D efforts will be heading. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy will choose a consortium to carry out a 140 billion won thin film solar cell research project promoted by its strategic R&D planning group at the end of the month. The project was designed to begin commercialization as soon as the research is done, covering silicon and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film solar cells and dye sensitized solar cells. rest