The Korea Herald

Moon’s policies carry high costs for economy

Jul 19, 2017

Concerns have been raised that a set of policies being shaped by the Moon Jae-in administration will result in cutting deep into the competitiveness and efficiency of the Korean economy by aggravatin...
Estimate puts public servants in top 7 percentile in annual income

Jul 19, 2017

A public servant paid an average of 88.53 million won ($78,868) a year, an amount equal to the top 7 percentile of the nation's average income, according to the Korea Taxpayers' Association. Based o...
Tough job market makes it harder for young people find work: govt. data

Jul 19, 2017

A tough market is making it harder for young people to find work with new jobseekers taking up to a year to land a position, government data showed Wednesday. According to Statistics Korea, the numb...
BOK says over 290m dormant coins back in circulation

Jul 19, 2017

South Korea's central bank said Wednesday that it has put more than 290 million dormant coins back into general circulation. People brought out some 296 million coins worth 40.8 billion won ($36.3 m...
Dollar-won volatility eases in Q2

Jul 19, 2017

The volatility in the dollar-won exchange rates slightly eased in the April-June period from a quarter earlier as global financial markets stabilized, the central bank said Wednesday. The average da...
[News Focus] Will hike in minimum wage hurt labor market?

Jul 18, 2017

The sharp increase in the hourly minimum wage for next year, part of President Moon Jae-in’s vow to raise it to 10,000 won by 2020, was seen by many as an advancement in workers’ rights. The drastic...
[Monitor] More mothers opt to work

Jul 18, 2017

The number of South Koreans who are economically inactive due to reasons related to child care has dropped to a record low this year amid the country‘s chronic low birthrate, data by Statistics Korea...
Korea moves to strengthen rights of franchisees

Jul 18, 2017

South Korea's antitrust regulator announced a set of measures meant to strengthen rights of franchisees Tuesday, a sign that underscores the government's commitment to ending unfair business practice...
Ex-Daewoo shipyard CEO gets reduced sentence in appeal over accounting fraud

Jul 18, 2017

A Seoul appellate court on Tuesday commuted the sentence on a former head of a now debt-ridden shipyard convicted of massive accounting fraud that culminated in state-led fund injections. The Seoul ...
Sluggish economy means no summer holiday for 1 in 5 Koreans

Jul 18, 2017

One in five workers said that they will not be able to take time off work this summer, citing a sluggish economy and excessive workload as the main reasons, according to a survey by workers education...
US Congress asks USTR for consultation in amending FTA with Korea

Jul 18, 2017

The US Congress has called on the United States Trade Representative to arrange for a consultation meeting in regards to any amendments to the free trade pact with South Korea, Seoul's trade promotio...
Minimum wage increase to raise pay for foreign workers by W1.75tr

Jul 18, 2017

The approved minimum wage increase next year will incur 1.75 trillion won ($1.55 billion) in additional pay for small and medium-sized enterprises that hire foreign workers, a local business associat...
Number of child rearing-related economically inactive people hit record low levels

Jul 18, 2017

The number of child rearing-related economically inactive South Koreans fell to a record low level this year amid the country's chronic low birthrate, government data showed Tuesday. Economically in...
Korea could file suit with WTO against US protectionist measures: minister nominee

Jul 17, 2017

South Korea's trade minister nominee said Monday that he does not rule out the possibility of filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over US protectionist measures. Paik Un-gyu s...
Korea’s growth potential plummeting

Jul 17, 2017

Bank of Korea’s upward revision last week of its 2017 growth forecast for the Korean economy was overshadowed by its gloomier estimate of the growth potential of Asia’s fourth-largest economy. The c...