Most Popular
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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K-pop singer lost consciousness after being hit by foul ball, cancels show
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[Today’s K-pop] BTS pop-up event to come to Seoul
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State audit agency asks for probe over duty-free licensing
South Korea's state audit agency on Tuesday requested that the prosecution probe the customs service over a suspected illicit selection of duty-free operators in 2015. The Board of Audit and Inspection raised suspicions that the Korea Customs Service arbitrarily applied rules to eliminate Hotel Lotte from receiving a license to run a duty-free store in Seoul in its July and November biddings. It also accused the KCS of later creating additional slots in breach of regulations to help the du
July 11, 2017
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Korea's exports shot up 38.5% in first 10 days of July
South Korea's exports shot up nearly 40 percent in the first 10 days of this month from a year earlier on robust overseas demand for semiconductors and ships, customs data showed Tuesday.Total outbound shipments reached $14.3 billion from July 1-10, up 38.5 percent from $10.3 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to numbers compiled by the Korea Customs Service.The sharp increase was led by a 574.4 percent on-year surge in exports of vessels and a 50.4 percent gain in chips,
July 11, 2017
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Korea's exports, investment up, consumption down
The South Korean economy is experiencing a feeble recovery as brisk exports and investment were offset by flaccid private consumption and weak service sector growth, a government report said Tuesday."On the back of an upturn in global trade, upbeat exports and investment pushed up the South Korean economy to a large extent, while domestic demand remained weak due to sluggish private consumption and service sector output," the finance ministry said in its monthly economy assessment repo
July 11, 2017
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Egg prices still flying high despite imports
Local egg prices still are high despite the arrival of eggs imported from Thailand following the latest outbreak of bird flu, data showed Tuesday.The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade said a carton of 30 eggs was priced at an average 7,969 won ($6.94) as of Monday, up slightly from last month. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 970,000 eggs imported from the Southeast Asian country arrived in South Korea via ship last week. The government has been dealing with
July 11, 2017
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Korea sees widening investment imbalance
Korea has seen foreign direct investment slump and investments by local companies abroad balloon over the past few years.According to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korean firms’ investments overseas amounted to $276.1 billion for a decade through 2016, nearly tripling $94.7 billion invested by foreign businesses in the nation over the same period.Last year alone, Korean companies invested $35.2 billion abroad, up 14.2 percent from the year before, strengthening effo
July 10, 2017
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Car insurance premiums to be adjusted differently depending on fault
Drivers who are less at fault for a car accident, will pay lower auto insurance premiums in a change from the current system, the financial regulator said Monday. The change, which will go into effect from September, is aimed at adjusting the degree of balance between at-fault drivers and those who are much less responsible for an accident after reporting the case to an insurance firm to get compensation. Currently, if a driver is 80 percent responsible for an accident with the other driver bein
July 10, 2017
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Korea's ETN market sees rapid growth
South Korea's market for a type of unsecured debt security, or exchange traded note, posted rapid growth, thanks to robust demand for risk-hedging investments, the nation's bourse operator said Monday.The market's total value has grown to 3.9 trillion won ($3.3 billion) as of the end of June this year from 466.1 billion won in November 2014.In terms of market value, South Korea's ETN market came second after the United States, which had a value of 16.5 trillion won in its ETN market, the K
July 10, 2017
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House prices becoming increasingly exorbitant in Korea
Home purchases are becoming increasingly unaffordable and prices and loan interest rates have reached their highest level in four year and three months, the Korea Housing-Finance Corp. announced Monday. In the first quarter of this year, the Korea-Housing Affordability Index rose to 59.3, a 0.4 percentage point increase compared to the previous quarter, according to data. The figure marks the highest average rate in more than four years since reaching 59.9 in the fourth quarter of 2012. The K-
July 10, 2017
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CEOs growing less confident about future of global economy
More corporate CEOs are becoming less optimistic about the immediate future of the global economy compared with last year, an international survey said Monday. The poll carried out by consulting firm KPMG International said that out of 1,261 CEOs from 10 countries who were canvassed between Feb. 21 and April 11 this year, 65 percent were confident about global economic growth for the next three years. Although still a majority, the number lags behind the 80 percent tallied last year.
July 10, 2017
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FTC chairman vows to strengthen enforcement of fair trade law
The head of South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Monday that he will strengthen the enforcement of fair trade laws by expanding civil actions against rule-breaking companies."I will introduce a system that will allow multiple economic players to enforce trade rules at the same time," Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo said in a conference held in Seoul. "I will make efforts to get trade law violations be resolved through civil suits." Under the current Fair Trade Act
July 10, 2017
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Foreign cruise tourists fall sharply amid China sanctions: data
The number of foreign cruise tourists visiting South Korea has declined sharply in recent months, government data showed Monday, amid a diplomatic row with China over the deployment of a US anti-missile system.China has been banning package tours to South Korea since March as part of its economic retaliation against South Korea over the THAAD deployment, which Beijing considers a security threat.Chinese accounted for 91 percent of about 1.95 million foreign tourists who came to South Korea
July 10, 2017
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Homes becoming less affordable as prices, interest rates rise
Rising home prices and loan interest rates have made houses the least affordable in over four years, the latest data showed Monday.According to the Korea Housing-Finance, the Korea-housing affordability index rose to 58.9 in the first three months of the year, up 0.4 percentage point from the previous quarter. This is the highest since the fourth quarter of 2012, when the index stood at 59.9. K-HAI reflects the burden of loan repayment for homebuyers with median income who purchase average-price
July 10, 2017
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State pension fund buys up stakes in Hyundai Heavy spinoff companies
Korea's state-run pension fund has increased its holdings in three spinoff companies of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., data provided by a local market research showed Sunday. According to FnGuide Inc., the National Pension Service held a stake of more than 5 percent in 277 companies as of late last week. Of companies that the pension fund has large stakes in, 17 were added in the second quarter of this year, with an emphasis placed on Hyundai Heavy affiliates.
July 9, 2017
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Korean companies vexed as THAAD issue unresolved
South Korean companies’ high hopes were struck down following President Moon Jae-in’s Thursday meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the two countries failed to strike an accord to cease China’s unofficial economic retaliation against South Korean companies regarding the controversial deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. Korea’s relationship with China has hit its lowest point in years due to political and economic tension over the install
July 7, 2017
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[Monitor] Aging population threatens to undermine growth
South Korea’s rapidly aging population could become a hurdle to economic growth in the near future, according to economists at the Bank of Korea.According to central bank’s data, the number of South Koreans over 65 accounted for 12.8 percent of the population in 2015 and that figure is projected to grow to 28.7 percent by 2035 and 42.5 percent by 2065.As the economically active population falls, the growth rate could reach zero percent after 2035, Ahn Byung-kwun, a BOK economist, sai
July 7, 2017
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Korea's 2017 growth outlook raised by Nomura to 2.7%
Japanese bank Nomura Holdings joined several global investment banks on Friday in raising South Korea's economic growth forecast for this year. Kwon Young-sun, a chief economist at Nomura, upgraded South Korea's economic growth rate for this year to 2.7 percent from its previous forecast of 2.4 percent, citing improving exports and construction investment. However, South Korea's economy is likely to show signs of mild growth in the second half of this year. Kwon noted that South Korea's ec
July 7, 2017
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BOK expected to hold policy rate steady in July: Moody's Analytics
South Korea's central bank is expected to hold its key rates steady this month as it could move to "normalize" interest in early 2018, Moody's Analytics said Friday.The Bank of Korea is set to hold its rate-review session next Thursday to decide whether to keep or adjust the all-time low rate of 1.25 percent. "The central bank is in no hurry to raise rates with core inflation only gradually creeping higher amid expectations of improving domestic demand," Moody's Analytics sai
July 7, 2017
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Citibank starts shutting down branches in Korea
Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup, began shutting down five physical branches in the country Friday, as part of its plan to reorganize its operations, according to an industry source. Citibank has said it will drastically cut the number of its physical branches to 25 from 126 but claimed that it will not lay off employees. Five branches of Citibank in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province were being shut down Friday and 30 more branches will be closed by the end of this month.An uns
July 7, 2017
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Bananas become top-selling fruit
Bananas were the most sold fruit in the first half of the year, according to leading retail giant E-mart on Friday, replacing the longtime favorite apples.E-Mart said it sold 37.6 billion won ($32.48 million) worth of bananas in the January-June period, up 8.7 percent from the same period last year. The amount tops numbers for apples that stood at 33.1 billion won, down 16.2 percent from last year. The retail company said the latest tally marks the first time that bananas were the top-selling fr
July 7, 2017
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Korea's rapidly aging population feared to sap economic growth
South Korea's rapidly aging population could undermine the country's growth in the coming years, local economists said Thursday, in the latest warning to the Asian country mired with a low birthrate.Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 2.8 percent in 2016 from a year earlier on increased private and government spending. In 2015, the economy grew 2.8 percent.Still, the country's economy is forecast to grow 1.9 percent on average between 2016 and 2025 before falling to 0.4 percent on average between
July 6, 2017