The National Tax Service on Thursday publicized a list of habitual tax defaulters, who failed to pay or allegedly evaded taxes worth more than 500 million won ($471,180) for at least one year. On its homepage, the tax agency revealed personal or corporate information on 1,662 delinquent individuals and 936 businesses. The list features the name, age, job, address and records of the tax infractio...

The government plans to allow local commercial banks to take over financial groups in foreign countries to boost their global competitiveness in the face of the saturated domestic market. The state-led project for encouraging the active expansion of domestic banks into foreign markets has been included in the policy agenda for development of the financial industry, unveiled by the Financial Serv...

More and more economic research institutes are raising the possibility that Korea’s economic growth will stay below 1 percent per quarter throughout 2014. Their gloomy outlook followed an earlier projection by the Finance Ministry that the GDP growth could continue to post less than 1 percent on a quarterly basis next year. The ministry’s forecast, unveiled in the first half of 2013, had been i...

Financial authorities have begun an earnest push to sell Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, with the aim of retrieving the taxpayers’ money injected into the shipbuilder by the second half of 2014. The scheduled auction plan was mapped out by the Korea Development Bank and the Financial Services Commission, the two main shareholders of DSME. In an initial step, the FSC ― through its exec...

The number of marriages of international couples in South Korea declined for the second consecutive year, while the birthrate for such families continued to rise, according to a government report. Statistics Korea said in its report released on Thursday that the number of multicultural marriages stood at 29,224 in 2012, down 4.8 percent from 30,695 from a year earlier. The figure reached 35,098 ...

A group of Korean companies filed a class action suit against eight global investment banks in the United States on Monday, claiming that the big financial firms manipulated foreign exchange rates. The IBs are Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, National Association, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. In their damages claim filed with a court in New York state, the p...

Korea’s financial indices including equity prices and foreign exchange rates gained Friday as U.S. monetary policymakers overnight hinted at a longer-than-expected stimulus package. The benchmark KOSPI, which stayed below the 2,000 mark for five consecutive trading sessions, closed at 2,005.64, up 38.08 points from a session earlier. The secondary KOSDAQ also rose by 0.99 points to close at 512....

Six credit card businesses in the consumer goods-distribution industry will be scrapped as financial regulators move to crack down on the reckless issuance of quasi-cards among department stores and other big retailers. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, they are Grand Department Store, JU Department Store, Daehyun, Shinwon, Chonan Arario and Buan Paradise Hotel. Officials said the...

Laotian President Choummaly Sayasone will visit South Korea next week for a summit with President Park Geun-hye about ways to expand economic, political and cultural cooperation and exchanges, Seoul’s presidential office said Thursday. The Nov. 21-23 trip will mark the first-ever visit to South Korea by a Laotian president since the two countries reopened diplomatic relations in 1995. Their ties...

Financial authorities plan to order Visa and MasterCard to slash some of their service charges, officials said on Wednesday. The two giant companies have allegedly made dubious contracts with Korean credit card issuers, which could put an excessive burden of membership and settlement service fees onto cardholders, according to officials at the Financial Supervisory Service. “Many local consumer...

JTI said Wednesday that it would introduce Ploom, a premium tobacco vaporizer, in the local market on Nov. 18. The product is a vaporizer that delivers real tobacco vapor from a sophisticated and easy-to-use device. Ploom is in a separate category from both e-cigarettes and ordinary cigarettes. A discreet vapor is created through the heating of tobacco, unlike e-cigarettes which create vapor by...

Customs authorities have launched an investigation into three casino operators in Seoul and Busan for allegedly engaging in illegal foreign currency trading. The three firms are Paradise Casino Walkerhill, Paradise Casino Busan and the Busan unit of Grand Korea Leisure, according to the Korea Customs Service. Paradise Casino Busan was found to have performed irregular foreign exchange trading w...

Regulatory inspectors have launched a full-fledged investigation into the nation’s four biggest financial groups over allegations of business irregularities. KB Financial, Hana Financial, Shinhan Financial and Woori Financial have been placed under a “simultaneous and extraordinary” probe, officials at the Financial Supervisory Service revealed Tuesday. Main targets of the regulators include fo...