Most Popular
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Samsung under pressure after Intel's foundry spin-off: analysts
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Yoon leaves for Prague to cement nuclear energy push
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Heavy rain to fall nationwide over weekend, but warmer fall expected
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Seoul chastises predatory pricing claims over Czech nuclear export deal
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YouTuber under fire for consoling former singer accused of bullying
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NK newspaper 'unusually' silent on new missile tests: Seoul
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Samsung CEO introduces ‘bold growth’ as new target
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Bank of Korea eyes rate cut after US Fed's historic pivot
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3 suspects apprehended for selling celebrity deepfake porn: police
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Hyundai Motor officially becomes KT’s largest shareholder
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Brokerages to set up emergency response system to market volatility
Major South Korean financial firms vowed Monday to establish an emergency monitoring system to better respond to market instability, their association said.The pledge came after chiefs of 12 local securities firms and nine asset management companies held an emergency meeting earlier in the day to assess the current market situation and discuss ways forward to stabilize the market. In the face of a mixture of unfavorable factors both at home and abroad, the benchmark KOSPI has tumbled more than 1
Oct. 29, 2018
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Govt. to set up W500b fund to stabilize bourse
The government will actively work to stabilize the equity market by setting up a 500 billion-won ($438.4 million) fund that can be injected into local stocks, the country's financial regulator said Monday.Kim Yong-beom, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, made the remarks at a meeting with senior executives from brokerages, as he sought to reassure investors amid a sharp decline in stock prices. South Korea's benchmark stock index sank nearly 6 percent last week as foreign invest
Oct. 29, 2018
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[Newsmaker] Anxiety heightens on stock market depreciation
Market observers remained tense throughout the weekend amid burgeoning skepticism that the stock benchmark Kospi might dip below the psychologically significant threshold of 2,000 this week, reeling under the prolonged US-China trade tension and visible losses in recent corporate earnings.Foreseeing further depreciation, especially in the market top cap companies, officials responsible for the securities sector are to put their heads together to devise countermeasures this week in response to th
Oct. 28, 2018
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Korea's economic growth being hurt by weak employment, falling investment
The South Korean economy is expected to post a weak annual growth for this year due to the country's high unemployment rate coupled with the falling corporate investment, industry watchers said Sunday. The Bank of Korea recently revised down the growth target for 2018 to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent. In the third quarter of 2018, South Korea's economy grew 0.6 percent, the same as the 0.6 percent gain tallied in the second quarter and down from a 1 percent expansion in the first.Overseas financi
Oct. 28, 2018
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[Video] Rise of startups in world’s most reclusive regime
The idea of nurturing budding enterprises in North Korea at first glance draws skepticism.People from free market economies may question how it will be even possible in a country that prohibits the ownership of personal assets, not to mention incentives for ventures.It might sound paradoxical. However, the more North Korea has faced tougher economic sanctions from the international community in the last 10 years, the more passion for business success among people there has built up, said Geoffre
Oct. 25, 2018
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Korean economy grows 0.6% on-quarter in Q3: BOK
The South Korean economy slowed down in the July-September period, central bank data showed Thursday, fueling concerns of an economic downturn.In the three months, Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 0.6 percent on-quarter, the same as the 0.6 percent gain tallied in the second quarter and down from a 1 percent expansion in the first, according to the advance estimate by the Bank of Korea.The central bank lowered the earlier preliminary growth rate for the second quarter from 0.7 percent. From a
Oct. 25, 2018
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[Kim Kyung-ho] Moon’s employment policy goes awry
Kim Kyung-ho is the Sejong-based business editor of The Korea Herald. He can be reached at khkim@heraldcorp.com -- Ed.Shortly after taking office in May last year, in an initiative that was widely perceived as pro-labor, President Moon Jae-in vowed to turn all temporary jobs in the public sector into permanent positions.He made the pledge surrounded by workers at Incheon International Airport, saying he would “wipe away the tears from the eyes of non-regular employees.”That seemingly
Oct. 24, 2018
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Govt underlines innovation, dithers over deregulation
The South Korean government on Wednesday announced a set of innovative growth actions plans, centering on ways to create new jobs and revitalize private investment.Addressing the automobile, auto parts and shipbuilding industries -- all having undergone extensive restructuring earlier this year -- the government pledged to extend guarantees for corresponding companies and create some 60,000 new jobs for various age clusters within the year. It also revealed a financial program for small-sized bu
Oct. 24, 2018
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KAI donates $100,000 to Indonesia
Korea Aerospace Industries said Wednesday the company will make a donation of $100,000 for the restoration of damages in Indonesia, which suffered enormously from a heavy earthquake that occurred in the area of Sulawesi Island and the resultant tsunami.The donation will be delivered to Indonesia via the Korea Red Cross and will be used for the fastest restoration of damages in the affected region and for support of relief supplies to help damaged residents maintain their existence.“We will
Oct. 24, 2018
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Applicants for 'unemployment credits' on rise
South Korea saw more jobless people seek financial assistance from the state pension fund amid the country's worsening unemployment situation, data showed Wednesday.According to the data from the National Pension Service and submitted to the National Assembly, 312,616 unemployed people applied for the "unemployment credits" in the January-August period, compared with 369,272 for the whole of 2017. South Korea introduced the unemployment credit system in August 2016 to help mitigate fin
Oct. 24, 2018
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Financial support, tailored measures eyed to boost investment, create more jobs
South Korea's government said Wednesday that it will provide more financial assistance and tax incentives to boost sluggish facility investment, accelerate deregulation, stimulate innovation-led growth and create jobs.The finance ministry said the current slump in the job market and facility investment could further worsen down the road due to the deepening trade war between China and the United States, a slowing down of China's economy and rising oil prices.Also, the rate hikes in the US could
Oct. 24, 2018
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Top 1% earn W4.45b in investment income in 2016
Top 1 percent of South Korean taxpayers earned an average 4.45 billion won ($3.87 million) in investment income in 2016, data showed Wednesday. Their average investment income was 18.3 times bigger than the average income from salaries of top 1 percent earners, according to the data by the National Tax Service. In 2016, top 1 percent earned 243 million won in income from wages, the data showed.Investment income accounted for 34.1 percent of total earnings from top 1 percent earners, followe
Oct. 24, 2018
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S. Korea to diversify trade amid US-China tension: finance minister
Responding to protracted trade tension between the United States and China, South Korea should further diversify its trade channels and seek multilateral ties, the country’s top economic policymaker said Tuesday.“Seeking to actively respond to trade protectionism, (Korea) will take pre-emptive actions to diversify its investment and human interchanges,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon in a meeting of economy-related ministers.He then called for Seo
Oct. 23, 2018
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Korea to firmly deal with trade protectionism: finance minister
South Korea will firmly deal with the growing trade protectionism and actively seek to create new overseas markets via free trade pacts, the country's top economic policymaker said Tuesday.South Korea is seeking to join the fledgling Pacific trade pact, dubbed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.The agreement that aims to slash tariffs on goods to stimulate trade include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and Peru as its m
Oct. 23, 2018
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Policy change needed to cushion impact from rate hike
Measures need to be taken quickly to prevent a possible interest rate hike next month from making a deeper dent in the country’s economic growth and employment, economists say.Slowing growth and disappointing job figures led the Bank of Korea last week to decide to freeze its key rate at 1.5 percent for 11 consecutive months despite growing concerns that a rate increase may be overdue.Announcing the rate freeze, the central bank revised down its growth forecast for this year to 2.7 percent
Oct. 22, 2018
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Companies neglect to provide info for stewardship code
A majority of local companies neglected to provide public information on their corporate management and governance three months into the adoption of a mechanism that enables the national pension operator to use the data in better exercising their voting rights as stakeholders, an analysis indicated Monday. CEO Score, which tracks corporate management, canvassed 159 local firms in which the National Pension Service own a stake of 5 percent or more. The results showed that only 36, or 22.6 percent
Oct. 22, 2018
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GM Korea's R&D separation plan okayed amid union opposition
Shareholders in GM Korea Co. on Friday approved the company's plan to establish a separate R&D unit amid opposition from the union, which sees the separate unit as a move to scale down local operations over the long term, the company and the union said Friday. General Motors Co. (GM), the biggest shareholder with a stake of 77-percent stake in GM Korea, approved the plan in a GM-only shareholders meeting. The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), the second-la
Oct. 19, 2018
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Over 2,000 Koreans move abroad without paying W400b in combined debt: data
Over 2,000 people have emigrated from South Korea without paying back debt to financial organizations in the past 10 years, leaving some 438 billion won ($387 million) of unsettled debt here, data showed Friday. The total number of such indebted emigrants stood at 2,345 as of end-August this year, according to data submitted by the Korea Asset Management Corporation to Rep. Lee Tae-kyu, a lawmaker of the Bareunmirae Party and member of the parliamentary National Policy Committee. Of the 438
Oct. 19, 2018
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S. Korea avoids being labeled currency manipulator, remains on watch list
South Korea has avoided being classified as a currency manipulator by the United States, but will remain on its monitoring list over the next six months, financial officials said Thursday.“The foreign exchange market here will not receive much impact as we were not designated as a currency manipulating country,” said an official of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.“But should China be named a currency manipulator (in April next year), there will then be significant indirect
Oct. 18, 2018
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Govt. to focus on boosting jobs, innovation-led growth: finance minister
The government plans to increase spending to create more jobs, boost innovation-led growth, narrow income inequality and expand the social safety net in the face of rising uncertainties, the country's economic policy chief said Thursday.In a policy report to the National Assembly, the ministry said it would implement a set of policies as planned in the future to improve job market conditions and provide support for the underprivileged.The ministry also said it would maintain the expansionary fis
Oct. 18, 2018