Most Popular
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Ador CEO denies allegations, accuses Hybe of mistreating NewJeans
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Medical reform committee kicks off despite boycott from doctors
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10-man S. Korea lose to Indonesia to miss out on Paris Olympic football qualification
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DP leader says he will meet Yoon without conditions
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Over 9,000 hotline calls made by stalking victims in 2023
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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[Hello India] Hyundai Motor vows to boost 'clean mobility' in India
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Monthly users on local streaming platforms outpace Netflix, Disney+
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US will take steps for three-way engagement on nuclear deterrence with S. Korea, Japan: Campbell
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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BOK to hold key rate steady at upcoming monetary meeting: Moody's
South Korea's central bank is expected to freeze its policy rate at the current 1.5 percent at its upcoming monetary meeting due to low inflation pressure and the sluggish job market, a market watcher said Sunday.Scheduled to take place Thursday, the seven-member monetary policy panel under the Bank of Korea will decide whether to keep or adjust the key rate. The May meeting is the fourth round out of eight sessions set for this year.The BOK has maintained the present level in the previous three
May 20, 2018
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Households' overseas spending rises up
South Korean households’ overseas spending rose 18.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier on increased outbound travel to foreign countries, the central bank said Saturday.South Korean households spent 8.43 trillion won (US$7.8 billion) overseas in the October-December period, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said.The data includes expenditure by South Koreans on accommodation and food while traveling or taking business trips to foreign countries.The hike in overseas spending is attrib
May 19, 2018
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S. Korea may face continued US trade pressure: experts
South Korea is feared to continue to face US trade pressure despite the amendment of a bilateral free trade deal and the recent settlement of a row over steel imports, experts said Friday.In late March, South Korea and the US revised their free trade agreement, with Seoul agreeing to open its auto market to the US in exchange for an exemption from steel tariffs.Washington formally exempted South Korea from steep tariffs on steel imports on April 30, saying the move was in line with national secu
May 18, 2018
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Annual salaries of top 30 firms increase 2.6% in 2017
The average annual salary of employees at South Korea's top 30 listed companies grew in the mid-2 percent range in 2017, with the growth rate for women nearly twice that for men, market trackers said Friday.The per-capita annual salary of the leading companies increased at an average rate of 2.6 percent last year from a year earlier, according to the job portals Job Korea and Albamon.Female workers of the companies saw their annual salaries expand 3.4 percent last year from the previous year, mu
May 18, 2018
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S. Korean economy in good position as N. Korea tensions ease: S&P
Standard & Poor's, a global rating agency, made a positive assessment of the South Korean economy amid eased inter-Korean tensions, the country's chief economic policymaker said Thursday."S&P sees the overall conditions surrounding the Korean economy positively, and it also views progress in the geopolitical risks involving North Korea in a favorable light," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said after a meeting with a S&P delegation."But they expressed concerns over the
May 17, 2018
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Korea to launch dumping probe into imported stainless steel bars
South Korea's trade commission said Thursday it will launch an anti-dumping investigation into stainless steel bar products imported from Taiwan and Italy.The Korea Trade Commission under the trade ministry said it made the decision at the request of Korean manufacturers, including Dongil Steel Co. and SeAH Special Steel Corp., who claimed that the cheap imports hurt their businesses.The commission said it will look into whether Taiwanese and Italian companies sold their products below fair mark
May 17, 2018
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Seoul will phase in FX market intervention disclosure plan: minister
South Korea will be revealing its records on foreign exchange market intervention at an incremental pace, as part of efforts to promote the credibility of the nation’s currency policies, according to the top financial policymaker on Thursday.“The disclosure of the (government’s) measures to stabilize the foreign exchange market is the right way to go,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon in a meeting of economy-related ministers.“But consid
May 17, 2018
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Seoulites spend 96 minutes on daily commute: data
Seoul citizens spend an average of an hour and 36 minutes traveling to and from work every day, data showed Wednesday.According to a report by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transport Institute, Seoul citizens’ average commuting time as of 2016 stood at 96.4 minutes, the longest among major cities and provinces nationwide. Of this daily average, 41.8 minutes were spent going to work and 54.6 minutes on returning home.The corresponding figures for the metro
May 16, 2018
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Concerns rise ahead of reduced workweek implementation
Concerns are deepening that the planned implementation of reduced work hours unaccompanied by specific guidelines and supplementary measures will add to difficulties faced by local companies, pushing them further to move production abroad.Under the labor law revision passed by the National Assembly in February, the maximum workweek will be reduced from 68 hours to 52 hours in three stages, starting from July 1 at companies with 300 employees or more. The shortened workweek will be applied to fir
May 16, 2018
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Women make up 3% of execs at Korea's top conglomerates
The number of female executives at South Korea's top 30 conglomerates came to 3.1 percent of the total last year, a market tracker said Wednesday, in a sign that the glass ceiling is still intact in the male-dominated Asian country.Among 8,835 executives of 268 affiliates belonging to the business groups, known as chaebol here, that submitted business reports last year, only 274 were female, according to CEO Score.Yet, it was the first time for the tally to surpass the 3 percent mark, it said. T
May 16, 2018
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Jobless rate falls to 4.1% in April, job creation remains sluggish
South Korea's jobless rate fell slightly in April due to a rise in employment in the health care, financial service and public service sectors, but job creation still remained weak, government data showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent last month, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 26.86 million in April, up 123,000 from a year earlier, according to the data.The unemployme
May 16, 2018
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Korea not immune from emerging market instability
Korea is unlikely to be significantly affected by the spreading financial instability in emerging market countries but it must not let its guard down, analysts say.There are growing concerns that capital outflow from emerging economies with weak fundamentals will accelerate in the coming months, as they are being hit by the strengthening of the dollar amid the rise in US interest rates and oil prices. Prompted by the prospect that low unemployment and high oil prices will push inflation above it
May 14, 2018
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Service exports fall some 8% in 2017
South Korea's service exports shrank nearly 8 percent in 2017 from a year earlier due to a strong local currency amid the service industry's weakening competitiveness, data showed Monday.The service sector in Asia's fourth-largest economy saw its exports reach $87.72 billion last year, down 7.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Among the 35 OECD members, South Korea was the sole country that suffered a fall in ser
May 14, 2018
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Seoul’s luxury residence prices grow at fastest rate: Knight Frank
Despite government-led regulations to rein in the real estate market, luxury residence prices in Seoul shot up nearly 25 percent on-year in the first quarter, marking the fastest rate of growth worldwide. According to a report on the Prime Global Cities Index by UK-based real estate data provider Knight Frank, which analyzed houses that ranged in the upper 5 percent in terms of prices in 43 global cities, house prices in Seoul showed the fastest growth rate, five times the average growth rate of
May 13, 2018
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Korea's leading economic indicator drops below break-even line: OECD
A leading index that gauges the direction of South Korea's economy fell below the break-even 100 mark in the first two months of this year, which could bode ill for Asia's fourth-largest economy going forward, official data showed Sunday.According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's composite leading indicator, Seoul's reading stood at 99.8 in both January and February.The last time South Korea's CLI had dipped below 100 was in September 2014, when it stood at 99.8. Th
May 13, 2018
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[Weekender] Carb phobia: healthy diet or excessive frenzy?
“Have you eaten rice?”It’s one of the most frequently used greetings in Korea, where the staple has long been considered a synonym for a meal. Even amid the rise of western food and snacks, rice continued to be appreciated as the prime source of sustenance and a symbol of the country’s traditional food legacy.But recent health trends increasingly consider rice -- and carbohydrates in general -- to be the main culprit of obesity and all sorts of other modern lifestyle dise
May 11, 2018
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Economic recovery being maintained, but output, capital spending facing correction
South Korea‘s economy is on a recovery path, although industrial output and investment are facing adjustments, a government report said Friday.A weaker job market and rate hikes in the United States pose downside risks to Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the finance ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report.“The overall recovery pace is being maintained,” the ministry said. “Industrial output and investment faced correction in the first two months of the
May 11, 2018
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Controversy over minimum wage hike shows no sign of easing in Korea
Guaranteeing a living wage for everyone is important, and Hyun Sang-won (an alias), the owner of a convenience store in downtown Seoul, agrees in principle that people deserve fair pay for work rendered.But the harsh reality facing the 50-something retiree is that he is currently tinkering with the possibility of reducing part-time workers at his store amid a saturated market and increased costs, which he says partly stems from the recent hike in the country's legal minimum wage. Preaching an in
May 11, 2018
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More than half of all wages based on seniority
More than half of all salaries in 170 major South Korean companies are based on employee seniority, a new poll showed Thursday.The poll released by the Korea Economic Research Institute found that 51.2 percent of employees receive seniority-based salaries while 36.2 percent receive their salaries based on performance.Under the decades-old seniority-based wage system, employee pay rises every year regardless of productivity. This kind of hierarchical pay system has been cited for placing a financ
May 10, 2018
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Korean economy losing growth momentum
Recent economic data have pointed to the weakening vitality of the Korean economy, raising questions about the possibility it will grow more than 3 percent this year as predicted by policymakers.The country saw all economic indicators except for retail sales take a negative turn in March, the latest month for which official data are available.Economists here caution that the supply side of the Korean economy is falling apart as its key traditional manufacturing industries are losing competitiven
May 9, 2018