Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Korea’s job creation slows in August
South Korea’s jobless rate edged down in August from a month earlier but job creation slowed markedly amid worries the overall economic conditions are toughening at home and abroad, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3 percent last month, down from 3.1 percent tallied in the previous month. This is the lowest level for this year. The number of jobs added to payrolls, however, slumped. About 364,000 more jobs were created la
Sept. 12, 2012
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BOK likely to cut key rate to 2.75% in September: poll
South Korea’s central bank is tipped to make another rate cut in September following its July rate reduction in a bid to prop up the local economy hit by the eurozone debt crisis, a poll showed Wednesday.Eighteen out of 21 analysts forecast that the Bank of Korea will lower the benchmark seven-day repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.75 percent on Thursday, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.The BOK froze the rate at 3 percent last mon
Sept. 12, 2012
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NTS recoups W863.3b from rich tax evaders
Korea’s tax agency said Wednesday that it has secured 863.3 billion won ($765.7 million) in unpaid taxes from high-income tax evaders during the first seven months of this year. The National Tax Service said it cracked down on tax evaders among wealthy citizens in the January-July period, finding that 1,420 high-income earners have engaged in dodging taxes through diverse tactics.As a result, the NTS said that it has ordered them to pay 510.3 billion won in cash for unpaid taxes and seized 224.4
Sept. 12, 2012
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BOK head to chair BIS’ Asian Consultative Council
South Korea’s top central banker was appointed on Tuesday by the Bank for International Settlementsto chair the Asian Consultative Council starting in October for two years, the central bank said.Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo will head the BIS regional consultative council in Asia, replacing the incumbent chair, Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, the BOK said in a statement.The ACC, comprising 12 central banks in the Asia-Pacific region, was established in March 2001 to promote cooperatio
Sept. 11, 2012
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Seoul-Tokyo tension hits one of 10 Korean firms: poll
Slightly more then one in 10 South Korean companies that trade with Japanese businesses has suffered damage due to the recent diplomatic flare-up between the two countries, a poll showed Tuesday. According to the survey of 500 businesses trading with Japan, 12 percent said they have suffered setbacks in their commerce with Japanese firms due to deteriorated relations between the two countries, while 88 percent said they have not seen any damage. If the tension is prolonged, 64.7 percent of the c
Sept. 11, 2012
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Costco Wholesale Korea under fire for doing business on Sunday
The South Korean unit of U.S. retail giant Costco Wholesale Corp. has resumed operations on Sunday at its outlets across the country, a move that local industry officials claim violates Seoul’s policy of restricting the business of large retailers.Local authorities in South Korea have prohibited large retailers from doing business on the second and fourth Sunday of every month to help protect mom-and-pop stores. South Korea’s largest retailer E-Mart and other retail chains later won injunctions
Sept. 11, 2012
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KFS at vanguard of low-carbon green growth
Forest agency expands scope of cooperation to Latin AmericaThe Korea Forest Service leads the vanguard of the nation’s push for lowering carbon emissions and developing green industries.The KFS, in charge of forest policies, has promoted the policy of low carbon emission and green growth on the basis of its “Fifth National Forest Plan.”The 10-year plan, which was implemented in 2008, is designed to further expand the implementation of sustainable forest management in pursuit of maximizing fores
Sept. 11, 2012
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Big firms still favor former officials as outside directors
Affiliates of Korea’s top 10 conglomerates still prefer former government officials and ex-policymakers as outside directors, data showed Monday, amid escalating criticism of their practice.A total of 330 people served as outside directors at the 93 affiliates of the leading conglomerates as of end-June this year, down from 337 a year earlier, according to the data compiled by local research firm Chaebul.com. Of the 77 outside directors newly hired, 29, or 37.7 percent, were former government of
Sept. 10, 2012
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POSCO, Hyundai Group begin work on logistics park in China
HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s leading steelmaker POSCO and Hyundai Group, known for its business ties with North Korea, broke ground Monday on a logistics park in northeastern China, company officials said. The two South Korean firms started construction of the 1.5-square-kilometer distribution center in the city of Hunchun, located in China’s northeastern Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. The distribution center, expected to have a capacity of 13 million tons by 2020, will handle
Sept. 10, 2012
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Boost from foreign investment comes with risks
Renault Samsung accepts voluntary retirement from 14% of workersRestructuring and downsizing are sweeping the foreign business community in Korea following lackluster sales amid the global economic slowdown stemming from the financial crisis in Europe.Korean equities continue to receive increasing attention from foreigners whose large investment, could lead to further volatility in the stock market when the global economy faces another tumble.These market trends show an overall picture of the li
Sept. 10, 2012
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S. Korea's producer prices rebound in Aug.
South Korea's producer prices rebounded in August from the previous month as oil costs and agricultural product prices increased, the central bank said Monday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, rose 0.3 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with a 0.1 percent on-year fall in July, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). July marked the first month in nearl
Sept. 10, 2012
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Korea has one of lowest debt-to-GDP ratios in OECD
The ratio of South Korea’s national debt to gross domestic product last year ranked 30th among 34 OECD member countries, according to CIA’s World Factbook on Sunday. The nation’s national debt ratio last year marked 33.6 percent, which was down by 1 percent compared to the previous year. Global credit ratings agency Fitch upgraded Korea’s credibility rating a notch on Thursday from “A+” to “AA-” commenting on its financial health. Japan was the OECD country with the highest national-debt-to-GDP
Sept. 9, 2012
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S. Korea's national debt falls to one of lowest among OECD countries
South Korea's national debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio fell to one of the lowest numbers among major economies in 2011, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Sunday.As of the end of 2011, the country's debt to GDP ratio came to 33.6 percent, down 1 percentage point from a year earlier.The figure is the fourth lowest among the 34 member countries of the OE
Sept. 9, 2012
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Workers in combat training
Companies have employees train like Marines to bolster morale, teamwork and competitivenessTAEAN, South Chungcheong Province ― About two dozen men and women shout military chants at the top of their lungs as they jump off from an 11-meter tower with ropes tied around their legs and hips.Wearing a Marine uniform, no one dares to back out.“I was really scared before jumping. But it gets much easier after the first jump,” said Jie Tae-hwan, a sales employee of Narae Nanotech Corporation which makes
Sept. 7, 2012
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Shares up 2.57% on ECB bond plan
South Korean stocks closed 2.57 percent higher on Friday as investors cheered the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program amid a recent lack of upward momentum, analysts said. The local currency climbed against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index soared 48.34 points to 1,929.58. Trading volume was heavy at 581.4 million shares worth 5.8 trillion won ($5.1 billion), with gainers far outnumbering decliners 607 to 197.“There had been wide-spread anxiety over uncertai
Sept. 7, 2012
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Major TV networks allowed to offer 24-hour service
The government on Friday announced its decision to lift a decades-long ban on late-night broadcasting of terrestrial television broadcasters to put them on an equal footing with cable TV channels.The decision was made during a plenary session of the Korea Communications Commission, which oversees the government’s broadcasting policies, according to the commission.Currently, the nation’s three terrestrial TV broadcasters ― KBS, MBC and SBS ― can air programs for 19 hours a day (from 6 a.m. to 1 a
Sept. 7, 2012
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AmorePacific opens shop in Singapore
AmorePacific Corp., South Korea’s leading cosmetics manufacturer, has opened its first “Sulhwasoo”brand outlet in Singapore as it steps up efforts to make inroads into the Southeast Asian market, company officials said Thursday. The outlet in a department store in Singapore’s popular Orchard Road shopping district sells the company’s top-of-the-line brand, which uses traditional herbal treatments. It is Amore Pacific’s 18th overseas outlet. The company also has Sulhwasoo brand stores in such cit
Sept. 6, 2012
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SC Bank Korea halves dividend payout after public criticism
Standard Chartered Bank Korea bowed to public criticism and decided to pay out a total of 100 billion won ($88.2 million) in interim dividends, half of the originally planned amount.The Korean unit of the British banking group, which had been under fire for its planned payments of a high dividend, made the decision at a board meeting on Thursday.“The dividend amount was determined with consideration to our responsibility to the shareholders to remit a regular dividend flow, but also the local ec
Sept. 6, 2012
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Public firms’ assets largest in OECD, but debts alarming
When it comes to public firms’ net asset value, Korea is No. 1 in the OECD with a total of $177.7 billion, according to data from the organization. Korea was followed by France ($157.7 billion), Norway ($131 billion) and Italy ($105.4 billion).Despite their growing, crucial roles in the nation’s economy, however, there are also concerns that their bigger size may undermine the nation’s fiscal stability because their debts are growing at an alarming level.The combined debts of 286 state-run firms
Sept. 6, 2012
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Seoul eyes overseas shale gas
South Korea will seek to develop shale gas as a new major source of energy and expand the country’s imports of the new fossil fuel to 20 percent of all natural gas imports by 2020, the government said Thursday.The country will also take part in overseas development projects to further improve its energy self-sufficiency with shale gas accounting for 20 percent of its self-developed energy supplies in 2020, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.The move comes as shale gas is opening up what the
Sept. 6, 2012