Most Popular
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Yoon, Lee end first talks with differences, agree to meet more
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What is Hybe’s next move?
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China outpaces Korea in smaller OLED shipments for 1st time
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[Herald Interview] Mom’s Touch seeks to replicate success in Japan
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Police to open alleged stalking probe over pastor over Dior bag scandal
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'Queen of Tears' finale sets record viewership ratings as tvN's most-watched series ending
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Medical profs at top hospitals suspend surgeries, clinics
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[News Focus] Lee tells Yoon that he has governed without political dialogue
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Seoul to deploy more military doctors to fill med prof void
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Samsung chip business back on track, logs W1.9tr operating profit in Q1
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[Monitor] Daily traffic surges 17.4% in decade
South Korea‘s daily traffic volume increased 17.4 percent from 10 years ago as of last year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Tuesday.The data was collected by counting vehicles passing through select sections on highways and major roads. The number of registered vehicles reached 21.80 million in 2016, from 20.99 million in 2015.Price of gasoline, meanwhile, declined from 1,405 won ($1.23) per liter in 2015 to 1,293 won the following year.Passenger cars accounte
April 18, 2017
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[News Analysis] Review of trade deal with US likely to cover only some industries: experts
US Vice President Mike Pence’s official remarks that Washington would review the 5-year-old bilateral trade deal between South Korea and the US may be only confined to a partial review of trade terms in certain industries, experts said Tuesday.Earlier in the day, Pence said the US trade deficit with Korea has more than doubled in the five years since the Korea-US free trade agreement began in 2012.“That’s the hard truth,” the visiting vice president said during a speech a
April 18, 2017
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KDI raises 2017 economic growth estimate to 2.6%
A state-run think tank on Tuesday revised up its 2017 growth forecast for the South Korean economy by 0.2 percentage point to 2.6 percent thanks to a recovery in the world economy and an upturn in exports."We raised the forecast for the 2017 economy to 2.6 percent as exports improved at a faster-than-expected clip on the back of recovered global demand, and with investments likely to maintain its upbeat pace," Kim Seong-tae, a senior researcher at the Korea Development Institute (KDI),
April 18, 2017
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Koreans' health care costs up 10.7% last year
Health care spending of South Korean families jumped 10.7 percent last year from a year earlier, the central bank said Tuesday, due apparently to a rise in senior citizens.Health care expenses of households came to 41.03 trillion won ($36.1 billion) last year, up 3.9 trillion won from 2015, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. It marked the first time that total spending surpassed the 40 trillion-won mark.The ratio of health care costs to expenses of households accounted for 5.5. per
April 18, 2017
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BOK says global trade likely to grow by 3.1% this year
South Korea's central bank said Tuesday that global trade is expected to expand by 3.1 percent this year on an economic recovery in the United States and other major economies.The Bank of Korea said the US economy is forecast to grow by 2.2 percent, while the Chinese and Japanese economies are expected to expand by 6.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. The economic recovery in the US and other major countries could give a boost to world trade.As global raw material transactions start to ris
April 18, 2017
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Workforce at big companies shrinks in 2016: analysis
Most big name companies reduced the size of their workforce last year, affecting contracted workers the most, corporate analysis showed Tuesday.Eighty-seven listed firms affiliated with the top 10 business groups were surveyed by conglomerate tracker FnGuide, with additional information provided by the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer system (DART) service under the Financial Supervisory Service. The results showed the companies had 629,517 employees as of the end of last year, 2.29 percent
April 18, 2017
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Exports by 'new growth' biz rise 5% annually since 2012: report
South Korean exports by "new growth" businesses rose an average of 5 percent annually in the past four years, a local trade report said Monday.Exports by companies whose businesses range from robotics, semiconductors, next-generation displays and bio health to aerospace jumped to $76.7 billion in 2016 from $63.2 billion in 2012, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in a recent report. This is in contrast to the average 2.5 percent decline in the country's overall
April 17, 2017
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Potential US-China trade row bodes ill for Korean economy: report
A potential trade tussle between the US and China will have the South Korean economy suffer a decline in its growth rate due to its higher trade dependency on the neighbor, a report said Monday."Having subsided after the global financial crisis, trade protectionism is once again gaining momentum, raising concerns over the negative impact on the highly trade-dependent Korean economy," the report said released by the state-run Korea Development Institution. The report cited that the numb
April 17, 2017
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Improved growth outlook carries downside risks
Cautious optimism on a rebound in the Korean economy seems still shrouded by lingering downside risks at home and abroad.The Bank of Korea’s recent revision of its growth outlook for this year to 2.6 percent from the previous forecast of 2.5 percent bolstered the view that Asia’s fourth-largest economy may be bottoming out to enter the recovery stage. The central bank’s revised growth projection is on par with forecasts by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the International
April 17, 2017
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Bank of Korea to move headquarters next month for renovations
The Bank of Korea will move its headquarters to a building in central Seoul and its office in the Gangnam district of Seoul late next month as its headquarters will undergo a three-year renovation project, bank officials said Monday. The renovation project, which will be completed by the first half of 2020 and include the reconstruction of the main annex building, aims to bolster the headquarters' security and safety, BOK officials said. It will mark the first time the central bank, as wel
April 17, 2017
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Unpaid family business workers rise amid economic slump: data
The number of unpaid male workers employed at their family businesses rose sharply in recent months, government data showed Monday, as more people are trying to cope with the protracted economic slump."The surge in the number appears to be linked to a growing number of self-employed people," a Statistics Korea official said. The number jumped 11.7 percent, or 16,000, to 150,000 in the first three months this year from a year earlier, according to the official tally.The rise is the shar
April 17, 2017
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Korea lags behind OECD states in sustainable growth index: report
South Korea ranked 24th among 28 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries in terms of the state growth sustainability index, a local think tank said Sunday.The Hyundai Research Institute has developed its own index to measure each state's sustainable growth levels. South Korea scored 0.443, or 81.7 percent of the average of 0.542 for the 28 OECD member states, the institute said in its weekly report released Friday. "For sustainable growth, South Korea b
April 16, 2017
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Transactions of expensive houses surge sevenfold
The transaction volume of houses valued at 3 billion ($2.63 million) or more surged by seven times in just three years, data showed Sunday.Last year, 229 deals involving high-end real estate were posted on Onnara, a state-run web portal devoted to the real estate market, according to data compiled by the private market watcher Budongsan Info. The figure stood at 30 in 2013 and 123 in 2015. Out of the 229 deals, which all took place in Seoul, more than half of them, or 117, were in Yongsan-g
April 16, 2017
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Tax revenue grew faster than GDP in Korea last year
The South Korean government’s tax revenue grew faster than the gross domestic product’s annual increase in the country last year, data showed Sunday.The annual tax revenue amounted to 318.1 trillion won ($278.5 billion) last year, of which 242.6 trillion won was collected by the central government and the remaining 75.5 trillion won by the local governments, according to data from the Finance Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Bank of Korea.Tax income at the central government s
April 16, 2017
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Mini gold bar trade quadruples amid security threats
The average daily sales volume of mini gold bars, which weigh between 10 to 100 grams, skyrocketed fourfold in April, amid escalating geopolitical uncertainties that turned investors’ attention to safe haven assets.Some 400 mini bars were traded a day, 300 more than usual, data by Korea Gold Exchange showed Sunday.“Starting early last week, we have been seeing a growing demand for mini gold bars, especially among investors in their 50s and 60s.” Song Jong-gil of Korea Gold Exch
April 16, 2017
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Korea's export prices fall 1.4% last month on strong won
South Korea's export prices fell 1.4 percent in March from a month earlier due mainly to the strengthening won, central bank data showed Friday.The dollar came to an average of 1,134.77 won in March, down 0.9 percent from a month earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.For exporters, the won's gain means decreased income as dollar-denominated earnings from their overseas businesses fall in value when repatriated into the local currency.Import prices also declined 2 percent last month from
April 14, 2017
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Central bank slightly raises Korea’s growth forecast
South Korea’s central bank on Thursday revised up the nation’s economic growth forecast to 2.6 percent from the previous January projection of 2.5 percent, citing improved exports and a turnaround in facility investment.It is the first time that the Bank of Korea has raised the nation’s growth forecast in three years since April 2014, when it revised it up to 4 percent from 3.8 percent.In an updated quarterly economic outlook report, the BOK said a recovery in the global econom
April 13, 2017
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[Election 2017] How will presidential candidates reform chaebol?
The following is the first in a series of articles breaking down the presidential candidates’ major economic pledges in a simulated question-and-answer format by gathering their answers from official websites, media interviews, public speeches, books and more. The first installment delves into proposals on chaebol reform. -- Ed.The upcoming May 9 presidential election is unusual in the sense that it has been brought forward seven months due to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-
April 13, 2017
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Korea's jobless rate falls to 4.2% in March
South Korea's jobless rate fell slightly last month on the back of increased employment in the construction and retail sectors, government data showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 4.2 percent last month, edging down 0.1 percentage point from the same month last year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.From a month earlier, the rate fell 0.8 percentage point from a seven-year high of 5 percent.The number of employed people reached 25.27
April 12, 2017
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Korea vows to rein in household debt
The South Korean government said Wednesday that it will deal with mounting household debt in a stable way through strengthening risk management capabilities, as the debt delivers a blow to Asia's fourth-largest economy amid higher interest rates."The issue of household debt is closely linked with the finance sector and the real economy," said Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn in a meeting in Seoul with the heads of government agencies including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the
April 12, 2017