South Korean export growth helped create a record 4.47 million jobs in 2017, a report by a local think tank showed Sunday. Asia's fourth-largest economy shipped out $573.7 billion worth of goods last year, the highest amount tallied in a one-year period, with such gains contributing to a large number of new jobs in the country, the findings by the Institute for International Trade showed. The i...

A report by the International Monetary Fund showed Sunday that South Korea's potential growth rate will hover at low 2 percent levels in the 2020s and dip to the 1 percent range in the 2030s due to various factors. The Washington-based global monetary organization said in its assessment of annual talks with South Korean policymakers, Asia's fourth-largest economy will face tough challenges in pr...

South Korea's domestic coffee market surpassed 10 trillion won in 2017 for the first time ever as demand for the brew continues to rise, market data showed Sunday. According to the Korea Customs Service, the country's coffee market stood at 11.7 trillion won ($10.8 billion), up more than threefold from around the middle 3 trillion-won level a decade earlier. This translates into 26.5 billion cu...

US President Donald Trump has received recommendations on tariffs for steel imports, including those from South Korea, the US Department of Commerce said Friday. The recommendations followed investigations into the impact on national security from imports of steel mill products and wrought and unwrought aluminum, the department said in a statement. The tariffs, if adopted, would be another trad...

Despite its repeated pledges to push for drastic deregulation, President Moon Jae-in’s government has been facing criticism for dragging its feet on regulatory reform. Presiding over a debate last month, Moon emphasized the need to take a “revolutionary approach” to lifting regulations, calling for “bold ways that have never been tried until now.” Critics say, however, his administration’s effo...

Korea's jobless rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent in January, government data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 26.21 million in January, up 334,000 from a year earlier and accelerating from the previous month's on-year rise of 257,000, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. The unemployment rate for young people -- those aged between 15 and 29 -- was 8...

South Korea will take proactive measures to boost exports to keep the growth momentum going despite rising protectionist policies by major trading partners and fewer working days in February, the trade ministry said Tuesday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy expected the export growth will slow this month due to fewer working days from the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls later in th...

Concerns are growing among economists and businesses here over the fallout from a reversal of corporate tax rates and interest rates in Korea and the US. Last year, Korea raised the tax rate on companies with annual taxable profits of more than 200 billion won ($184.5 million) to 25 percent from 22 percent, whereas a tax overhaul passed by the US Congress last month lowered the maximum corporate...

The United States exported record-high $48.28 billion worth of goods to South Korea in 2017, while Korea exported $71.16 billion of products to the US, data by the US Department of Commerce showed. Korea’s trade surplus consequently dropped 17 percent on-year, contrary to Washington’s current claim that the free trade pact was disadvantaging the US. The US trade deficit stood at $22.88 billion,...

SK Chemical Co. and two other firms were fined for providing insufficient and misleading information on its humidifier sterilizer products, the country's corporate watchdog said Monday. The Fair Trade Commission said it has decided to levy a total of 134 million won ($124,000) in fines on SK Chemical, Aekyung Industrial Co. and E-Mart Co. for manufacturing and selling humidifier sterilizer witho...

South Korea's trade ministry said Monday it will seek ways to better protect investor rights from arbitrary regulations when holding talks with China to expand the scope of the two countries' free trade agreement to the service and investment sector. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it will push for the FTA talks in a way that creates new business opportunities for local companies...

South Korea's per capita national debt hit 13 million won ($11,900), more than double that of 2008 when the country was reeling from the aftermath of the global financial crisis, official data showed Sunday. The National Assembly Budget Office said that as of Saturday, the national debt stood at 671.5 trillion won, up 4.6 trillion won from late last year and 2.2 times greater than the 309 trilli...

South Korea’s economy has entered a recovery track, steered by global economic improvement and strong exports, but its private consumption sector remains slow due to a record-high amount of household debt, the nation’s central bank said Thursday. According to the Bank of Korea‘s monetary policy report to the National Assembly, private consumption climbed by 2.3 percent from the fourth quarter of...

Different views have been raised over whether a sharp increase in the minimum wage will result in a significant loss of jobs down the road. Korea’s minimum wage, which is applied across all regions and sectors, is set at 7,530 won per hour ($6.95) for 2018, up 16.4 percent from last year. It marks the first double-digit increase in more than a decade. The Minimum Wage Commission, comprising mem...

South Korea's finance ministry said Tuesday it would delay the implementation of a revised tax scheme designed to widen the taxation base among foreign investors in the face of strong calls from related industries to scrap such a move. Under the revised tax schemes, the Seoul government was planning to collect capital gain taxes from foreign investors who own more than 5 percent stakes in locall...