South Korea's exports fell 8.7 percent in the first 10 days of this month from a year earlier due to decreased business days, the latest customs data showed Monday. Total outbound shipments reached $12.3 billion from Sept. 1-10, down from $13.5 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to numbers compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The drop came as there were seven business d...

South Korea's wage increase rate has been halved after the 2008 global financial crisis that rocked the country, a market report showed Sunday. The findings released in the Bank of Korea's latest foreign economic focus report showed that average wage gains dropped to 3.4 percent in the 2014-2016 period from 7.3 percent tallied in 2001-2007. It cited a drop in overall labor productivity and gene...

INCHEON -- Trade ministers of 16 regional countries, including India and China, will meet in South Korea next month to discuss a regional mega free trade agreement, the Incheon Metropolitan City said Sunday. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a proposed open trade pact between 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and six other countries with which ASEAN ...

Exports of South Korea's agricultural goods to China fell this year as diplomatic rows with its biggest trading partner deepen, a local agricultural agency said Sunday. The value of agricultural exports fell to $860 million in the January-August period from $920 million a year earlier. Exports to China accounted for 14.4 percent of all outbound shipments from 16.6 percent during the same period,...

South Korea's super rich, who make up the top 1 percent of the population, own on average 6.5 homes, while half of the people don't own their own houses, government data showed Sunday. The findings submitted by the tax office and ministry of interior to ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Park Kwang-on showed the number of homes the rich owned jumped twofold in the past nine years. "The richest 13...

South Korea's central bank chief has left for Switzerland to attend a meeting of the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Friday. BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol also plans to discuss with his counterparts from major and emerging economies, global economic and financial market conditions, according to the bank. Lee is set to return home Tuesday. The BIS is an international fin...

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde expected Friday South Korea's economy will continue to grow stably despite security risks stemming from North Korea, the foreign minister here said after their meeting in Seoul. Top diplomat Kang Kyung-wha met Lagarde to discuss the economy of South Korea and the world as well as the country's cooperation with the IMF. "Lagarde shared the poin...

A number of German investors in Korea have voiced skepticism regarding the new Moon Jae-in administration’s income-led growth economic policies, and to what extent it will lead to increased labor productivity while adding fiscal burdens for businesses. More than 100 representatives of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry member companies gathered together in Seoul last week for t...

A bipartisan group of American lawmakers Thursday urged President Donald Trump to keep the US free trade agreement with South Korea amid a deepening security crisis on the Korean Peninsula. In a letter addressed to the president, four co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Korea underscored the importance of a tight alliance in the wake of North Korean provocations, including its sixth nuclear...

‘Closing gender gap in labor market could become economic game-changer in Asia’

Washington appears to be retracting US President Donald Trump’s claims that the US is looking to terminate the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, said a report by Inside US Trade on Thursday. According to the publication, White House officials have assured key lawmakers that the US government will not be pursuing talks of withdrawing from the 5-year-old trade deal amid opposition by lawmakers and g...

The number of salaried people paying the maximum amount of national health insurance premiums has risen gradually over the past few years amid a steady increase in high income earners, government data showed Thursday. The figure for those paying 2.39 million won ($2,117) per month in premiums from a monthly income of at least 78.1 million won jumped to 3,471 as of the end of June from 2,508 in 2...

The 10-day holiday starting late September will likely have mixed effects on South Korea's economy struggling to cope with trade sanctions imposed by China over a missile row, growing protectionism from the United States and geopolitical risks caused by North Korea. The Moon Jae-in government earlier designated Oct. 2 as a one-off holiday to bridge the Sept. 30 weekend with the Chuseok holiday, ...

The United States does not plan to withdraw from its free trade agreement with South Korea for now, a report quoted sources as saying Wednesday. According to Inside US Trade, the White House assured key lawmakers that it would not push forward on its earlier plan to weigh termination of the five-year-old pact known as KORUS. Last week, there were reports that President Donald Trump had instruct...

Doubts are rising over the government’s assertion that the country’s fiscal soundness can be maintained even if public spending increases at a faster pace than economic growth during President Moon Jae-in’s five-year presidency, which began in May. Such an optimistic view is based on expectations that tax revenues will continue to rise as the Korean economy is put on a path toward recovery. A dr...