South Korea and the United States plan to hold the second round of talks to amend their free trade pact in Seoul next week, Seoul's trade ministry said Friday, amid mounting US trade pressure. The two-day talks -- set to begin Wednesday -- come days after US President Donald Trump again denounced the free trade deal as "a disaster" for the US, claiming the deal cost 200,000 American jobs. Trump...

The top Israeli envoy to Seoul hopes South Korean companies will actively participate in his country's infrastructure projects, such as gas field development, the finance ministry said Friday. Ambassador Chaim Choshen met with Ko Hyoung-kwon, vice minister of strategy and finance, and discussed economic cooperation, according to the ministry. During the talks, the envoy also suggested cooperatio...

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Friday the government is "cautiously" considering raising property taxes in yet another attempt to tame rising home prices. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said there are speculative demands in some areas such as the wealthy Gangnam Ward and adjacent districts. "We have been reviewing many options in regard to a hike in property ownership tax," Kim s...

A majority of South Koreans favor banning the import of Japanese fishery products, a survey showed Friday, underscoring lingering safety concerns about possible radioactive contamination. Radioactive water leaked following the meltdown at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011. The Consumers Union of Korea polled 1,023 adults across the country last year, and the results showed 55.3 perc...

In a country where apartments are generally and mostly the preferred form of residence, the prices of detached, single houses have been showing a rapid surge, data by the Land Ministry showed. Of the 25 districts in Seoul, Mapo and Yongsan displayed significant increase in prices, as the two areas have diverse large-scale development plans in store. ( khnews@heraldcorp.com )

South Korea's state-run power exchange said Thursday it has ordered local companies to cut their power use to maintain a stable electricity reserve rate for the second consecutive day as the bitter cold gripping most of the nation was driving up heating demand. The Korea Power Exchange said it issued a demand response order to companies to cut electricity use between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. as the...

A ruling party lawmaker said Thursday he has submitted a bill requiring high-level government officials and lawmakers to disclose their cryptocurrency holdings when they report their assets every year under an anti-corruption law. The revision to the Public Service Ethics Act, submitted by Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party, calls for officials subject to annual wealth disclosure to repo...

South Korea's economic growth accelerated last year on the back of robust exports amid a global economic recovery, the Bank of Korea said Thursday. The nation's economy expanded 3.1 percent in 2017 from a year ago, when it grew 2.8 percent, the BOK said. It was the first time since 2014 that the economy grew above the 3 percent level. For the final quarter of last year, however, the economy co...

South Korean people suffer from rising ratios of household debt to income, as more people are aging, due mainly to early retirement and the lack of an effective pension system, a report said Wednesday. "People face rising household-debt-to-income ratios as they are getting older in South Korea, unlike other advanced countries," the Bank of Korea report said. South Korea, Spain and the Netherlan...

Korea remains increasingly vulnerable to possible disruptions in overseas supplies of critical minerals used in everything from batteries to semiconductors and smartphones. Global demand for critical minerals continues to rise in keeping with the advancement of the “fourth industrial revolution,” resulting in a sharp increase in their prices. According to data from Korea Resources Corp., the pr...

The EU has removed South Korea from a blacklist of tax havens, lifting the concerns of punitive economic measures and reputational damage, the finance ministry said Tuesday. EU finance ministers agreed to remove South Korea and seven other countries from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement. The seven countries are ...

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Monday issued safeguard measures on imports of large residential washing machines and solar cells, in a potential blow to South Korean manufacturers. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced the measures were approved by President Donald Trump. "The (US) ITC (International Trade Commission) found that US producers had been seriously injured by impor...

Measures taken by President Moon Jae-in’s administration to curb home prices have resulted in deepening the polarization of the local housing market. Betraying policymakers’ expectations, the prices of expensive apartments in Seoul, which were mainly targeted by tighter mortgage rules and other restrictive steps, have continued to rise, while house prices in most provincial areas are on a downwa...

The local business community on Monday continued to strongly dispute the government's argument that the raised minimum wage will eventually help the economy, dismissing such reasoning as outdated. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon on Jan. 11 cited results of the minimum wage increases that took place in 2000 and 2007, when the job market was affected by higher hiring costs in the short run but stab...

The World Bank Group has launched a special recruitment drive on selected global and regional functions, offering priority to Korean nationals, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Sunday. “A total of 11 jobs are available as of today, and other positions may be added to the list later,” the ministry said in a press release, encouraging Korean nationals to bid for the jobs. The ...