South Korea’s financial authorities on Thursday were mulling a delay on the adoption of the law to levy a capital gains tax on stock investment slated to start next year. In a morning meeting, the regulator Financial Services Commission met with market analysts from 10 local brokerages to address the effects of the new tax system on the market, according to industry sources. The move was widely ...

SINGAPORE -- Germany and Singapore bolstered their partnership for supply chain diversification, stressing pipeline expansion instead of decoupling with China. The move comes as the European Union member nation, among many other key economies, has been burdened with the task of cutting back their reliance on China. “Reducing risky, one-sided dependencies when it comes to certain raw materials o...

FTX’s plan to buy South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb appears to have gone up in smoke, with billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire being rocked by a liquidity crisis, industry watchers said Thursday. Crypto exchange giant Binance’s announcement on Wednesday to back out of its plans to acquire FTX is likely to halt the ongoing deal between the Bahamian crypto exchange platform and Bithumb, acco...

Chiefs of South Korea’s top banks are fast approaching the end of their current terms amid concerns of a looming debt crisis in the financial sector, sources said Wednesday. Starting with NH Financial Group Chairman Son Byung-hwan’s term ending next month, Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung and Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung are inching towards the end of their curren...

South Korea’s state pension fund, the country’s main retirement plan, is in need of a major reform centered on cutting off excessive government intervention, an insider said Monday. Jeong Woo-yong, a member of the National Pension Service’s Fiduciary Liability Committee, pointed out that the fund’s key decision-making bodies consist of “too many” government officials and lack economic experts. T...

The Itaewon Special Tourism Zone Association, an organization of business owners in the area, had reportedly sent out emergency messages asking its members to temporarily halt their businesses to pay respect for the victims. As of Sunday morning, several restaurants, cafes and clothing stores were shuttered with signs reading “may they rest in peace” on their windows. The closures were voluntar...

Bowed heads, a mumbled apology and camera flashlights. The public apology issued last week by the head of South Korean food and beverage giant SPC was any businessperson's worst nightmare. Chairman Hur Young-in of the food and bakery giant apologized for the death of a 23-year-old worker who was crushed by a sauce mixing machine at a factory affiliated with SPC during an overnight shift. The c...

The area around Itaewon in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, full of excited Halloween partygoers on Saturday night, turned into a catastrophic scene in an instant. At least 153 people died and dozens were injured in a crowd crush that took place in a narrow alley near the neighborhood’s famous Hamilton Hotel. There were 3,580 cases of missing people as of 2 p.m. on Sunday, according to the center.

South Korean authorities are trying to contain a possible liquidity crunch from an overheated real estate project financing market, with Legoland Korea’s debt payment default rising adding to perceived risk levels. The total value of loans extended for the purpose of real estate project financing has rapidly grown, but the central bank’s aggressive rate hikes have increased borrowers’ debt repay...

South Korea's exchange-traded funds combined market cap amounted to 75.5 trillion won ($52.6 billion) as of September, some 220 times larger than 344.4 billion won in October 2002, the latest data from the Korea Exchange showed. ETFs -- a type of pooled investment security that tracks a particular index, sector, commodity, or other assets, which can be traded on a stock exchange -- have managed ...

Humanity is entering a second era of the digital age, with the rise of new technologies such as blockchain and the virtual world. In its transition, new leaders will emerge, which could include South Korea, renowned tech visionary Don Tapscott said. “There’s no reason why one of the global centers can’t be Korea,” Tapscott, the executive chairman of Toronto-based Blockchain Research Institute, s...

South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchange Upbit is set to replace its fast login service via KakaoTalk next month, while in damage control mode from the recent Kakao data center fire fiasco. Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s No.1 crypto exchange by trading volume, will end its login service via KakaoTalk, fully replacing it with its own login system from Nov. 21, the firm’s spokesperson said Tuesday. ...

South Korea’s financial watchdog launched a probe into the overall contingency plan of Kakao’s financial arms and how they dealt with a service disruption over the weekend caused by a fire at a data center, officials said Monday. The Financial Supervisory Service requested Kakao Bank, Kakao Pay and Kakao Pay Securities to file a report on their hourly countermeasures against the server disruptio...

South Korea’s retail investors on Sunday were grappling with the fear that the much-favored tech shares of Kakao and Naver might suffer another round of massive falls after their service malfunctions shocked the nation over the weekend. A fire broke out on Saturday at an SK C&C building housing data centers of the two internet giants and disrupted operations of their popular services, including ...

Scandal-ridden biotechnology firm SillaJen’s shares surged by nearly 30 percent on Thursday a day after South Korea’s sole bourse operator decided to resume its trading on the secondary index. The firm's shares jumped nearly 30 percent from the previous closing to 10,850 won ($7.58), effectively ending its 29 months of suspension and quickly picking up speed from its opening price of 8,380 won. ...