President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged business and labor circles to join efforts to forge a grand social consensus to ensure the country's sustainable and inclusive growth. "Reaching a social consensus on economic and labor policies is not an easy task, but one we must achieve," Moon said while meeting with his top aides at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. The president noted that Asia's ...

Corporate money from South Korea amounting to 594 trillion won ($527.53 billion) has gone to tax havens over the past nine years, official data showed Monday. Figures compiled from multiple sources, including the National Tax Service and the Bank of Korea, said slightly over 594.08 trillion won was sent to tax haven countries from 2008 to 2016. The Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas...

Local banks are on alert as the government tightens the screw on mortgage loans that has contributed to their profits, financial industry insiders said Monday. The Moon Jae-in administration took a series of steps since taking office in May to tame real estate speculation. It placed nearly all major cities under heavy watch for speculative transactions and limited available loans using homes as ...

South Korea’s China-sensitive stocks are recently showing signs of rebounding, as diplomatic tensions intensified by the installment of an advanced US anti-missile system here appears to be gradually settling. Riding on the resumption of Chinese group tours and an improved bilateral relationship signaled by the extension of a currency swap are the automobile, cosmetics, duty-free shop and travel...

Nearly 57 percent of those aged between 20 and 34 remain economically dependent on their parents even after reaching adulthood, showed a report released during a conference held by the Korea Labor Institute. The report pointed out that these group tend to have a negative perception of society. Another report showed that among those aged 15-29, nearly 17 percent were not in employment, education...

South Korea's finance minister on Friday highlighted ongoing government efforts to address security risks and a set of structural problems such as economic polarization so as to spur growth. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, who doubles as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, made the remarks during a meeting with former high-ranking officials, which was arranged to listen to their advi...

Semiconductors export shares accounted for more than 16 percent of Korea‘s annual exports for the year, a record high for the industry, according to industry data on Friday. Led by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the world’s leading chipmakers, the data showed that chip exports reached $70.4 billion from January to September, an increase of 55.6 percent compared to last year. The figure accou...

Amid easing political tensions between Washington and Pyeongyang, South Korea’s consumer sentiment figures have rebounded in October, according to a survey by the Bank of Korea on Friday. The composite consumer sentiment index for October climbed to 109.2, marking a 1.5-point increase compared to September, the data shows. A reading above 100 means that more companies are expressing optimism ove...

South Korea will create an 85 billion won ($75.2 million) global infrastructure development fund to address the key constraints of private investment in overseas projects, the land ministry said Friday. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation signed an agreement with the Korea Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea to shoulder 40 billion won, 25 billion won and 20 b...

Air traffic in South Korea rose slightly in the third quarter on strong demand for outbound travel and increased routes to Southeast Asia, government data showed Friday. A total of 195,355 planes flew into and out of South Korea in the July-September period, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation said. Air traffic was the busiest on Sept. 30,...

The number of potential job seekers jumped in the third quarter of this year, data showed Friday, in an indication of a tougher employment market even though the nation's economy grew at a solid pace. Potential job seekers, who are not categorized as jobless but are looking for jobs, rose by about 194,000 people on year to some 1.6 million people during the July-September period, according to th...

Exports by South Korea's venture startups will likely hit a record $20 billion this year helped by surging shipments of instrumentation and control devices and semiconductor production equipment to China and Vietnam, industry data showed Friday. The amount reached $14.7 billion for the first nine months this year, up 14.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the statistics provided by the K...

South Korea will launch a thorough inspection of all state-funded firms to find out if any job favors were given to children of influential people in politics and business amid rising public anger over reports of illicit employment, the government said Friday. The decision was made at an emergency ministerial meeting chaired by Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, with heads of 12 government ministri...

South Korea's consumer confidence rebounded in October as tensions subsided between North Korea and the United States, a central bank poll showed Friday. The composite consumer sentiment index for October stood at 109.2, up 1.5 points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Bank of Korea. In August, the index fell 1.3 points from July. A reading above 100 means optimists outnumb...

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Thursday that the government will take steps to maintain current growth momentum through next year, following the latest data, which showed Asia's fourth-largest economy is expected to reach its growth target of 3 percent in 2017. Earlier in the morning, the Bank of Korea said the economy expanded a solid 1.4 percent in the July-September period from t...