Most Popular
-
1
Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
-
2
Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
-
3
Korea enters full election mode
-
4
Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
-
5
Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
-
6
Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
-
7
[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
-
8
Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
-
9
[Herald Interview] Son Suk-ku chooses to be swayed by others in navigating life
-
10
Seoul’s bus union prepares for strike
-
Regulator to ease capital rules for insurers ahead of global accounting change
South Korea's financial regulator said Tuesday it will relax some capital rules and other technical standards for insurance firms to help them better cope with changes in global accounting rules. South Korea is one of more than 100 nations that will adopt the new global bookkeeping standard or the International Financial Reporting Standards 17, starting in January 2021. When adopted, some insurers in South Korea will face capitalization pressure, analysts said. To help insurers alleviate p
May 30, 2017
-
Public agencies‘ Q1 hiring undershoots target
South Korean public agencies' employment fell just short of their target in the first quarter of the year, data showed Tuesday, but they are expected to expand hiring for the rest of the year in line with the new government's jobs push.The country's public institutions hired 5,046 new workers in the January-March period, some 100 shy of their combined goal unveiled at the start of the year, according to the government portal All Public Information in One. In January, the finance ministry said it
May 30, 2017
-
New home permits tumble 27% in April
New home permits in South Korea plunged nearly 30 percent in April from a year earlier, the government said Monday, amid its move to limit housing sales as a way of curing household debt and rising interest rates.Construction permits issued for new homes came to 43,568 last month, down 27 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. April marked the fifth consecutive month of decline. In the first four months of the year, new home p
May 29, 2017
-
Korea’s GDP to include digital sharing economy from 2019: BOK
With the rapid emergence of new platforms that enable peer-to-peer transactions, such as Airbnb and Uber, South Korea will start reflecting the digital sharing economy in its gross domestic product from March, 2019, the Bank of Korea said Monday.While existing digital transactions such as e-commerce and the trade of digital content are already included in the current GDP, unregistered Airbnb service providers have not been reflected in Korea, the BOK said. “The first (GDP) figure that refl
May 29, 2017
-
Door closed for communication with businesses
Discord over the issue of irregular workers has exposed a rift in relations between the Moon Jae-in administration and business circles.The new liberal government has not been supposed to be business-friendly as the appointment of key economic policymakers reflects Moon’s resolve to implement his campaign pledge to reform the country’s large family-run conglomerates known as chaebol. But the heavy-handed reaction by Moon and his aides to criticism by a local employers’ group of
May 29, 2017
-
More people, especially women, voluntarily subscribing to state pension
More South Koreans, especially women, are voluntarily subscribing to the state pension as a means to secure stable income for their senior years, data showed Monday.As of the end of last month, 317,800 people -- 48,843 men and 268,957 women -- were voluntary subscribers to the state pension plan, according to the National Pension Service. These people are not required to have pension subscriptions, which applies to people aged 18-60 and have an income, but are mostly housewives, military personn
May 29, 2017
-
Moon’s policy planner slams chaebol as priority to change
Slamming the conglomerates for resisting change, the Moon Jae-in administration’s de-facto transition team chief said Sunday that it was the chaebol that must first reflect on themselves to change the society.“Those that enjoy the most vested interests in our country are the chaebol. … In order to properly reform the society and achieve social harmony, chaebol’s self-reflection must come first,” said Kim Jin-pyo, chairman of the State Affairs Policy Planning Commit
May 28, 2017
-
SMEs led consumer goods exports in 2016: report
South Korea's exports of cosmetics, medicine and other major consumer goods were led by small and medium-sized enterprises last year, with the active establishment of new firms in the industry, data showed Sunday.The ratio of exports of cosmetics, medicine, clothing, agro-fishery products and household items by SMEs reached $19.8 billion, or 84.1 percent of the total $23.5 billion, last year, according to the figures by the Korea International Trade Association. Big businesses shipped $3.7 billi
May 28, 2017
-
Korea's terms of trade worsen in April
South Korea's terms of trade deteriorated slightly in April from a year earlier as a rise in export prices was offset by a hike in import prices, central bank data showed Friday.The terms of trade index for products came to 101.38 last month, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea . The index measures the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports, showing how the country's exports are doing in comparison to others.Last m
May 26, 2017
-
Consumer sentiment hits record 3-year high on improved exports
South Korea's overall consumer sentiment hit the highest level in more than three years helped by a rise in exports and expectations of the new government's economic policies, central bank data showed Friday.The composite consumer sentiment index for May came to 108.0, up from 101.2, a month earlier, according to data from the Bank of Korea. The May figure marked the highest since April 2014 when the index stood at 108.4. A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists.A BOK official sa
May 26, 2017
-
[Monitor] Korea's old-age dependency ratio to spike
South Korea’s old-age dependency ratio is forecast to surge to some 80 individuals aged 65 and over for every 100 persons of working age (20-64) by year 2075, which will be the highest among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Citing the OECD indices, the National Assembly Research Service said that this means 1.25 working-age people would be financially responsible for one senior citizen 60 years from now.Currently, as of 2015, the comparative ratio is
May 25, 2017
-
Employers blast zero irregular workers plan
The Korea Employers Federation on Thursday strongly criticized the new government’s policy to eliminate irregular working positions, contending it would further divide the gap between small and large firms. KEF Vice Chairman Kim Young-bae expressed his concerns regarding the Moon Jae-in administration’s pledge to regularize irregular workers at public firms, saying it has negative impacts on job creation and small businesses, during a forum in Seoul on Thursday. Less than a mon
May 25, 2017
-
BOK to lift growth forecast in July, keeps rate on hold
The Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said on Thursday that the central bank is likely to revise up the nation’s 2017 growth forecast in July from its April projection of 2.6 percent, citing robust exports and investment.“The economic recovery in April was better than expected. Although private consumption is still weak, exports, facility investment and construction are on a robust trend. Exports and investment are likely to continue to improve going forward,” Lee said at a press
May 25, 2017
-
Korea's income disparity widens in 2016
South Korea's income disparity widened significantly last year despite the government's efforts to narrow the gap between the rich and poor, government data showed Thursday.The Gini coefficient of total income of an average household stood at 0.353 in 2016, up from the previous year's 0.341, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The numbers for household's disposable income, which involves tax payments and government subsidies and pensions, was 0.304 in 2016, up from 0.295 a year e
May 25, 2017
-
BOK holds key rate steady at 1.25% in May
South Korea's central bank on Thursday held its key rate steady in May as the new government is pushing to expand fiscal spending to help revive Asia's fourth-largest economy.In a widely expected move, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea unanimously voted to keep the key rate at 1.25 percent, extending its wait-and-see approach for the 11th consecutive month. In June last year, South Korea's central bank made a surprise rate cut, citing a need to stimulate the lackluster economy amid
May 25, 2017
-
Korea's dependency ratio to rise fast: report
South Korea's dependency ratio is expected to spike over the next 60 years in line with its fast aging population, becoming the highest among major advanced economies, a report said Thursday.Asia's fourth-largest economy is forecast to have a dependency ratio of some 80 people in 2075, the highest among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the report by the National Assembly Research Service. That means that 1.25 working-age people should support the
May 25, 2017
-
[Monitor] Top conglomerates’ operating profits soar
The operating income of South Korea’s top 10 conglomerates surged by more than 80 percent on-year in the first quarter of this year, according to Chaebul.com, Wednesday.The combined operating income of the groups’ 89 nonfinancial subsidiaries increased to 17.9 trillion won ($15.9 billion) with their debt servicing capabilities significantly improved. The country’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Group was the only one that suffered a setback, with the operating profit dropping
May 24, 2017
-
[Photo News] Recruitment exhibition for mid-sized companies take held at COEX
May 24, 2017
-
[News Focus] Concern raised over ‘zero irregular jobs’ plan
President Moon Jae-in’s pledge to usher in an “era of zero irregular jobs” in the public sector within his five-year term has raised concerns about the possible negative effects of the initiative.According to a government-run information portal, irregular employees numbered 144,205, or 33.6 percent of the total workforce, at 335 public organizations as of end-March.But Moon, who took office on May 10, appears to be talking about a broader number of irregular workers.“When
May 24, 2017
-
Q1 ratio of short-term debt to foreign reserves hits highest in more than 1 year
The ratio of South Korea's short-term foreign debt to its foreign reserves hit the highest level in more than a year in the first quarter on increased foreign investment in local bonds, data showed Wednesday.The country's short-term external debt -- with a maturity of one year or less -- totaled $115.4 billion as of the end of March, up $10.2 billion from three months earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea. The end-March figure accounted for 28.4 percent of the country's total exter
May 24, 2017