Mirae Asset Financial Group has donated 2 billion won ($1.64 million) to the Hope Bridge Association of the National Disaster Relief to support medical personnel and provide relief goods amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The donation was made to provide items needed for medical and relief aid, such as protective outfits and masks, and daily necessities, especially for people in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the company said. Mirae Asset has been helping its cooperative firms by making paym

  SEJONG -- The tight hiring market has been a point of contention over the past two or three years, though the Moon Jae-in administration has continued to express a strong commitment to job creation as often as possible. Recent data from a government agency showed that people are still having difficulty holding jobs, which particularly has been witnessed among almost entire generations. According to Statistics Korea, the number of employed people fell for the second consecutive month --

Central bank refrains from drastic easing actions, citing uncertainties

Average work hours in South Korea decreased 0.5 percent last year as the country enforced a shorter workweek system, government data showed Thursday. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's survey, the average South Korean employee worked 1,957 hours in 2019, 10 hours less than the previous year. The figure for companies hiring at least five workers was 1,978, a 0.4 percent decrease from 2018. The reduction came despite the fact that 2019 had two more working days than 2018.

The price gap between the average jeonse -- a real estate term unique to South Korea that refers to property lease -- and average sale price of apartments in Seoul reached a record high in February in seven years, increasing the financial burden on potential home buyers, according to latest data Thursday. Jeonse refers to a two-year leasing system that requires tenants to pay a large deposit instead of monthly rent. The average jeonse price amounted to 55.6 percent of the average apartment

South Korea’s private bad bank, United Asset Management Co. (UAMCO), is betting on exiting from an investment in a distressed company here -- highlighting its growing role in corporate restructuring here. Seha, an industrial paper maker based in Daegu, is inching closer to inviting a new group of controlling shareholders led by Hankuk Paper to take the place of UAMCO, after Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers selected it as the preferred bidder for Seha’s majority stake and its bonds. Up

The Bank of Korea held a press conference on its rate decision via YouTube on Thursday, in a first for the central bank. The conference was held online as part of the central bank’s efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus and ensure the safety of its officials and reporters, a BOK official said. Following the announcement of its decision to keep its interest rates unchanged at 1.25 percent, BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol answered questions from reporters in the livestream on YouTube.

Moody's Investors Service said Thursday it expects the spreading coronavirus outbreak to have a short-term impact on South Korean companies as the virus may be contained in the coming months. The rapid spread of COVID-19 in South Korea and its countrywide efforts to contain the infection are credit negative for local companies in many sectors over the short term as it will increase disruptions of Korea-based production lines and further weaken domestic demand for months to come, Moody's said i

  Prosecutors raided Daishin Securities, KB Securities and Woori Bank on Thursday as part of a probe into the snowballing Lime Asset Management fiasco. Investigators from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office executed a search and seizure operation at the headquarters of Daishin Securities and KB Securities in central Seoul and KB Securities’ office in Yeouido in the morning. Prosecutors had raided Lime Asset Management and Shinhan Investment last week, after the f

SEJONG -- The number of discouraged workers in South Korea touched an all-time high in 2019, data showed Thursday, pointing to a tough employment situation amid an economic slowdown. Asia's fourth-largest economy registered a monthly average of 533,000 discouraged workers last year, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea and the office of Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition United Future Party. The figure was the largest since 2014, when data com

South Korea's central bank lowered its growth estimate for the year by 0.2 percentage point to 2.1 percent on Thursday as the fast-spreading coronavirus may have a far-reaching impact on Asia's fourth-largest economy. The downward revision came as the COVID-19 outbreak is feared to badly hurt the economy, which was earlier expected to grow 2.3 percent this year. The BOK singled out the virus outbreak as a main reason for the downward revision of its growth outlook but said the economy will re

South Korea's central bank on Thursday held its key policy rate steady, while slashing its growth outlook amid growing worries over the spreading coronavirus outbreak. The Bank of Korea left the base rate frozen at the current 1.25 percent. The central bank has been keeping the policy rate at the record low level since October when its seven-member board made its second rate cut in three months as the economy showed signs of a recovery. The decision to stand pat came despite a downward revis