South Korean household wealth jumped 8 percent on-year, with net worth per household estimated at 544.7 million won ($415,593) thanks to a surge in house prices, a Bank of Korea report showed Thursday. Real estate made up 75 percent of household wealth. The net worth of households, nonprofit organizations, financial and nonfinancial companies and the government came to 19,000 trillion won, up 2,...

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration on Thursday unveiled a new batch of measures aimed at revamping the taxation system, including expanding corporate tax breaks and relieving the tax burden on individuals. It is the first time in 15 years for the government to push to cut income taxes to support middle- and low-income people. To encourage companies to invest and create more jobs, the gov...

South Koreans in their 40s and 50s now face higher chances of loan default and delinquency, with those who took out loans from more than one financial institution increasing by nearly 100,000 from last year, data showed Thursday. This has spurred concerns that a significant number of borrowers in those age groups could be taking out additional money to repay existing debts, with aggressive rate ...

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged to South Korea's free economic zones (FEZs) more than doubled in the first half of this year to hit a three-year high amid post-pandemic economic recovery, data showed Thursday. The country's nine FEZs received $560 million worth of FDI commitment during the January-June period, up 164 percent from a year earlier, according to th...

Cargo processed at South Korean seaports fell 5.1 percent on-year in the second quarter of this year amid global supply disruptions due to the prolonged crisis in Ukraine and China's lockdown of major cities over the COVID-19 pandemic, the oceans ministry said Thursday. Cargo handled at the country's ports came to 373.98 million tons in the April-June period, compared with 394.17 million tons a ...

South Korea's exports rose 14.5 percent in the first 20 days of July from a year earlier, but the country suffered a trade deficit on higher global energy costs, customs data showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $37.25 billion in the July 1-20 period, compared with $32.52 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports jumped 25.4 perc...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday slashed its 2022 growth outlook for the South Korean economy to 2.6 percent amid the ongoing Ukraine crisis and aggressive monetary tightening by major countries. The latest estimate by the Manila-based bank is lower than the 3 percent growth forecast made in April. The ADB, however, maintained its earlier forecast of the country's 2.6 percent growth ...

South Korea's state-run National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with Moderna Inc., a US biotech company, to cooperate in the development of a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine candidate for severe fever and thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS). The institute said the deal, signed Monday, was its first joint project agreement with an overseas pharmaceuti...

The amount of stock settlements here plunged 27 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier, largely due to a slump in the global stock market, data showed Wednesday. In the January-June period, a total of 203.9 trillion won ($156 billion) worth of stock settlements were made through the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), down 27.3 percent from a year ago, according to the data. T...

The South Korean economy is feared to slow down, as inflationary pressure has mounted and export growth could lose steam amid deteriorating external economic conditions, the finance ministry said Wednesday. Market volatility and global economic downside risks further increased, led by the Federal Reserve's fast rate hikes, China's economic slowdown, and the protracted war between Russia and Ukra...

Major companies in South Korea have seen their total economic contribution soar 20 percent over the past nine years thanks to their robust growth, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. The value of economic contribution created by the country's top 100 firms by sales came to 1,238 trillion won ($950 billion) last year, up 206.5 trillion won from 2012, according to CEO Score. Economic contribution...

South Korea's dependence on Japanese materials and parts fell to an all-time low in the first half of this year, three years after Tokyo's control of exports of key materials bound for Seoul, data showed Wednesday. Imports of Japanese materials, parts and equipment came to US$20.07 billion during the January-June period, accounting for 15.4 percent of South Korea's overall purchase of those good...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said work-life balance plays a key role in shaping a work environment that is appealing to women, who she described as still underrepresented in workplaces, at a meeting with the Bank of Korea’s female workers held Tuesday in Seoul. “Work-life balance is a tremendous problem. I guess it’s a huge problem here, too,” Yellen said, describing having a family while ...

South Korea's youth employment rose sharply in May from a year earlier despite the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday. The number of employed young people aged 15-29 reached 4.1 million in May, up 196,000 from a year earlier, according to the data released by Statistics Korea. Their employment rate came to 47.8 percent, up 3.4 percentage points from a year earlier. Of the cou...

South Korea's top financial regulator said Tuesday it is necessary to ease a rule that restricts industrial businesses from owning banks, saying that such deregulation could generate mega players like BTS in the financial sector. The government restricts industrial capital from being used to purchase stakes in banks and financial institutions in a bid to make it hard for business owners to take ...