Most Popular
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Medical profs at top hospitals suspend surgeries, clinics
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Samsung chip business back on track, logs W1.9tr operating profit in Q1
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Shinsegae faces showdown with investors over SSG.com's delayed IPO
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Hopes rise for possible Gaza truce deal
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Ex-pro baseball player who killed debtor appeals sentence
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S. Korea discussed possible participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 with Australia: defense minister
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S. Korea to issue travel ban on Haiti amid intensifying gang violence
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Leaders of S. Korea, Angola agree to boost economic, trade cooperation
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Jeonse loans rise due to government regulations, low interest rate
South Koreans’ demand for jeonse loans -- designed for investors looking for two-year leases instead of purchases -- increased in July, due to government efforts to cool down the heated real estate market with loan restrictions, data showed Sunday. According to the data compiled by five major banks -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup -- the outstanding amount of such loans increased by 2.2 percent, or 2.02 trillion won ($1.8 billion), on-month to 94.55 trillion won as of e
Aug. 9, 2020
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[News Focus] South Korea, No. 1 in tax revenue growth in OECD
SEJONG -- South Korea’s tax revenue was found to have increased fastest among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Korean government’s tax revenue -- the state’s income from taxation -- was equivalent to 28.42 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2018 (the latest available), according to OECD comparison data. The figure posted an increase of 2.18 percentage points in only two years, compared to 26.24 percent of GDP
Aug. 9, 2020
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Next year's budget forecast to rise 8% to W550tr
The government is drawing up a budget for next year, with its size likely to top 550 trillion won ($463 billion), up 8 percent from this year's, as the country is drumming up efforts to boost the pandemic-hit economy, sources said Sunday. According to the sources, the finance ministry is set to report next year's budget draft to President Moon Jae-in this week. This year's budget was set at 512.3 trillion won, but the government has drawn up three rounds of supplementary budgets to shield Asi
Aug. 9, 2020
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S. Korea to face mounting public debt next year: IMF
South Korea’s public debt is expected to surge until next year due to aggressive government spending to revive the sluggish local economy, according to the International Monetary Fund on Friday. The IMF said the country’s general government debt-to-gross domestic product ratio -- an indicator of economic health and sustainability of government borrowing -- will surpass 46 percent this year, up 5.5 percentage points from 40.7 percent estimated last year. The pace of the ri
Aug. 7, 2020
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S. Korea’s H1 current account surplus narrows to 8-year low
South Korea saw its current account surplus narrow to an eight-year low in the first half of the year, with the coronavirus pandemic dealing a blow to the global trading system, data from the central bank showed Thursday. The current account surplus for the January-June period came to $19.17 billion, marking the smallest figure since the same period in 2012, the Bank of Korea said. The surplus came to $9.65 billion at the time. The current account surplus measures an economy’s imports
Aug. 6, 2020
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S. Korean economy forecast to shrink 1% in 2020
South Korea's economy is expected to contract 1 percent in 2020 from a year earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic, a private think tank said Thursday. The latest growth projection by the LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) is much lower than its previous estimate of 1.8 percent expansion made in September last year. The think tank, affiliated with South Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate LG Group, predicted Asia's fourth-largest economy will recover and grow 2.5 percent on-year in 2021
Aug. 6, 2020
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Ruling party seeks higher tax on foreign property speculators
In a bid to calm real estate prices, South Korea’s ruling party said Monday it would seek legislation to levy a heavier tax on property speculation by foreign nationals. The Democratic Party of Korea and the government said the bill would impose a 20 percent acquisition tax on home purchases by foreign nationals if the buyers do not reside there for more than six months out of the year without an acceptable reason. The current law states that taxes for foreign nationals buying real est
Aug. 5, 2020
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S. Korea to push ahead with housing deregulations, despite Seoul’s disapproval
South Korea vowed Wednesday to strengthen surveillance over the transactions of expensive apartments, in a move to curb rampant speculative buying practices and to steady snowballing housing prices here. It also said that it will push ahead with its latest housing supply plan in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, regardless of the apparent discord with the municipal government over eased redevelopment rules. “(The government) will tighten control on (irregular practices in the housing mark
Aug. 5, 2020
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S. Korea eyeing heavy taxes on 'speculative' foreign apartment owners
South Korea's ruling party is pushing to impose heavy taxes on "speculative" foreigner buyers of apartments here amid their rising home ownership, officials said Wednesday. The move comes as the Democratic Party (DP) has vowed to create countermeasures if necessary amid rising concerns over foreigners' apartment purchases for speculative purposes. According to the officials, a DP lawmaker has recently proposed a bill aimed at helping prevent foreign investors from speculating
Aug. 5, 2020
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S. Koreans’ demand for personal credit loans surge 2.3% in July
Korean lenders’ personal credit loans extended to borrowers gained 2.3 percent on-month in July, following the largest-ever increase in June, data showed Tuesday, fueling concerns on the nation’s heated housing market and the dire job market amid the coronavirus pandemic. Outstanding personal loans extended to individual borrowers by five major lenders here rose a combined 2.28 percent, or 2.7 trillion won ($2.26 billion), from the previous month to 120.2 trillion won last month, in
Aug. 4, 2020
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Vietnam-EU FTA to benefit S. Korean fashion firms: KITA
South Korean fashion firms based in Vietnam are expected to benefit from the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Southeast Asian country and the European Union, which went into effect this month, a report showed Tuesday. "Under the agreement, clothes producers based in Vietnam can enjoy the benefit of the latest FTA for goods made with South Korean materials," the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in its report. Clothes produced with Chinese materials, on the oth
Aug. 4, 2020
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S. Korea's inflation rises 0.3% in July
SEJONG -- South Korea's annual inflation rose 0.3 percent in July, marking the first upturn in three months, as signs of a recovery in consumer sentiment have appeared amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The July tally compares with zero growth in June, according to the data released by Statistics Korea. The nation's inflation was unchanged on-month, the data showed. Core inflation, which excludes agricultural and petroleum products, rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier. Ut
Aug. 4, 2020
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Concerns of liquidity trap rise as cash deposits grow
Despite the nation’s monetary and fiscal policymakers’ measures to funnel liquidity into the market to offset risks from the coronavirus, cash flows into unexpected areas, such as bank deposits, have been fueling concerns of a liquidity trap, officials and experts recently noted. South Korea’s M2 money supply came to 3.065 quadrillion won ($2.56 trillion) in May, up 10.6 percent on-year, data from the Bank of Korea released in July showed. The figure marked the largest amou
Aug. 3, 2020
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Tax authorities zero in on foreigners with multiple homes
SEJONG -- The nation’s tax agency has launched a probe targeting 42 foreigners who own multiple apartments here and are alleged to have evaded taxes, as part of the government’s drive to curb surging housing prices and discourage speculative investment, officials said Monday. The probe involves a 40-something US citizen who has purchased 42 homes in South Korea since 2018 for 6.7 billion won ($5.6 million) in total. The American underreported their rental income to evade income t
Aug. 3, 2020
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Apartment 'jeonse' deals in Seoul hit 9-year low in July
Apartment lease contracts in the South Korean capital of Seoul sank to a nine-year low in July amid tighter rules, municipal data showed Monday. The number of apartment lease contracts, called "jeonse" here, stood at 6,304 in July, the lowest monthly level since data tracking began in 2011, according to the data from the Seoul city government. The July reading amounted to 46 percent of this year's monthly high of 13,661 recorded in February. Jeonse is a home rental arrangement uniq
Aug. 3, 2020
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S. Korea ranks 2nd in GDP growth rate after China: OECD
South Korea’s economy declined 3.3 percent on-year during the second quarter, but it ranks second in terms of gross domestic product growth rate among major economies, data showed Sunday. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the nation’s second-quarter GDP growth rate was the second-highest among 14 major economies. China clinched the first place as its economy grew 11.5 percent during the same period. The OECD -- a forum of 37 mostly
Aug. 2, 2020
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S. Koreans' nonessential spending plummets amid coronavirus
South Korean consumers purchased far fewer nonessential items in the first quarter than normal due to economic uncertainty sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Sunday. The combined essential spending came to 84.81 trillion won ($71 billion) in the January-March period, accounting for 40.56 percent of total household expenditures, according to the data released by the Bank of Korea. It is the first time that the proportion of essential spending in total household expenditures surpa
Aug. 2, 2020
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S. Korea's growth rate second highest among 14 major countries
South Korea's economy contracted 3.3 percent in the second quarter from a quarter earlier, but it fared well compared with other major economies, data showed Sunday. South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was the second highest among the 14 countries that included the United States, China, Germany and France, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group of 36 mostly rich and advanced nations. The OECD has released GDP growth rates for
Aug. 2, 2020
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Export slump eases due to reopenings, chips on recovery track
South Korea's exports extended their slump to a fifth consecutive month in July amid the fallout of the new coronavirus, but the pace of decline slowed sharply due to reopenings, data showed Saturday. Outbound shipments came to $42.8 billion last month, down 7 percent from $46 billion posted a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The latest figures were better than what the market had expected. According to a poll by Yonhap Infomax, the f
Aug. 1, 2020
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S. Korea’s industrial output recovers in June
South Korea’s industrial output gained 4.2 percent on-month in June, showing signs of recovery from the contractions prompted by the coronavirus pandemic in recent months, data from Statistics Korea showed Friday. Along with industrial output -- which had rebounded from a 1.2 percent on-month drop in May and a consistent five-month slide -- retail sales and facility investment inched up 2.4 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, in the same period. This put the key indicators of the nati
July 31, 2020