The head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Tuesday called for brokerages to strengthen protection for investors and internal control, in the wake of chaos over a dividend payment error at Samsung Securities Co. At a meeting with the heads of 17 brokerages, FSS Gov. Kim Ki-sik said they must conduct reviews of their internal control mechanisms to prevent such errors from happening aga...

About 16 percent of apartments bought and sold in Seoul during the first quarter of the year were expensive real estate. Out of the 24,606 Seoul apartments traded between January and March, 3,921 units were worth over 900 million won ($841,000), according to statistics released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Monday. It posted a rapid on-year increase. During the same peri...

Cheong Wa Dae turns down calls for Kim’s dismissal

Concerns are growing over the negative impact of the strengthening won on Korea’s exports, with expectations also being raised that a rise in the value of the currency will help boost investment and consumption. The value of the won gained 1.16 percent against the US dollar over the past two weeks to close at 1,069.6 won per dollar in the Seoul foreign exchange market Friday. It marked the seco...

South Korea's chief economic policy maker on Monday sought cooperation from smaller firms to create quality jobs to reduce the country's high youth unemployment rate. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon made the remark during a meeting with executives of small and medium-sized enterprises held in Seoul. "We hope the planned support for SMEs will lead to job creation beyond the current level of emplo...

The sharp rise in the country's minimum wage this year is fueling inflationary pressure and concerns of public charge hikes going forward that can increase the burden on ordinary people, market watchers said Sunday. The government marked up the minimum wage for all workers by 16.4 percent in 2018 to 7,530 won ($7.04) from 6,470 in 2017 as part of a broader move by the incumbent Moon Jae-in admin...

Korea's top 10 business groups accounted for 79.1 percent of all net profits generated by companies listed on the country's main stock exchange in 2017, the local bourse operator said Sunday. According to the Korea Exchange, of the 533 companies checked that settled their accounts in December, profits by the 62 affiliates belonging to the country's 10 largest chaebol, or family-run conglomerates...

Korea's central bank will likely hold its key rate steady at the upcoming monetary policy meeting due largely to low inflationary pressure, a leading provider of economic analysis said Sunday. The Bank of Korea is set to hold its rate review session Thursday to decide whether to keep or adjust the current 1.5 percent. The BOK has maintained the present rate since it raised it by a quarter percen...

The rise in the real value of the South Korean won compared to other major currencies in recent years has lowered import prices and fueled investments in facilities and private sector consumption, a report said Friday. According to real effective exchange rate (REER) indices compiled by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the exchange rate for the South Korean currency has steadily ris...

Consumer prices in South Korea remain stable, but the government is ready to take actions to curb spikes in some items, such as agricultural goods and services, a deputy finance minister said Friday. "Consumer prices in March gained 1.3 percent from a year earlier, slowing from the previous month's growth and logging a 1 percent gain for the sixth consecutive month," Ko Hung-kwon said in a meeti...

The United States and China will likely strike a trade deal to stave off a possible trade war that could undermine the world's two biggest economies, a state-run trade agency said Thursday. The two global powers this week have moved to slap massive tariffs on each other's goods, sparking fears of a trade war. "It is possible the two sides will engage in negotiations to produce a compromise deal...

Korea has designated Gunsan, the home to General Motors' money-losing assembly line, as an emergency response zone to provide job support and tax incentives as the southwestern city is expected to suffer high unemployment, the commerce ministry said Thursday. The designation came nearly two months after the American automaker in February announced a plan to shut down its underutilized Gunsan pla...

The government has submitted a supplementary budget worth 3.9 trillion won ($3.7 billion) in an emergency gesture to alleviate the nation’s unemployment crisis and revitalize regional economies in distress, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Thursday. Responding to opposition parties, which have criticized the extra spending plan as a tax-imposing populist move, the ministry sa...

South Korea's cosmetics makers expect a rise in sales this year as China moves to lift economic measures implemented in retaliation over the deployment of a US anti-missile defense system here, industry sources said Thursday. South Korea's makeup industry have enjoyed robust growth in recent years helped by "hallyu," or the Korean Wave, referring to the growing popularity of Korean pop culture a...

The government will advance its plan to raise contract prices for smaller companies to reflect the suppliers' increased costs from the latest minimum wage hike, officials said Thursday. The government and the ruling Democratic Party reached the agreement during a policy meeting to help small and medium-sized enterprises suffering from the effect of the increased labor costs. "We have decided to...