Most Popular
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Yoon banned from leaving country
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[Exclusive] ‘Troops paused on way to Election Commission, felt something was up’
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Korean millennials, Gen Z make presence felt at protests
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Power struggle intensifies among investigative bodies over Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law case
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'Orderly retreat' struggles to win support
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‘Drag lawmakers out’: Yoon’s chilling order to commander
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Next impeachment vote against Yoon to take place Saturday
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'Squid Game 2' will leave audience reflecting on social chaos of today
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Prosecutors tighten grip on Kim
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Ruling party lawmaker to back impeachment motion
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Fast-food delivery industry logs 23% growth in H1
South Korea's food delivery industry continued to grow this year, with the most prominent increase seen in fast-food delivery services, according to a Thursday report by a local data analysis firm. The value of food delivery services came to 7.87 trillion won ($5.9 billion) in the first half of the year, according to Finda, marking a 6.55 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Fast-food delivery in particular saw a rise of 22.72 percent to come in at 1.72 trillion won for t
Sept. 19, 2024
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Container shipping costs to US east coast, Europe up for 4th month
Container shipping costs from South Korea to the US east coast and Europe increased for the fourth consecutive month in August amid prolonged geopolitical risks in the Red Sea, data showed Thursday. The average shipping cost for a 40-foot container from South Korea to the US east coast rose 11.9 percent on-month to 8.66 million won ($6,530), according to data from the Korea Customs Service. The cost to Europe increased to 8.06 million won, up 2.8 percent over the same period. On the other hand,
Sept. 19, 2024
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Finance minister says to swiftly take market stabilization measures if needed
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said Thursday the government will work closely with the Bank of Korea and swiftly take market stabilization measures if necessary, as the US Federal Reserve cut its interest rates for the first time in over four years. "Following the Fed's monetary policy pivot, the market is moving away from a complex global crisis, which was triggered by excessive liquidity supplied to cope with the pandemic, as well as shocks to the global supply chain caused by the wa
Sept. 19, 2024
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BOK likely to cut key rate in November: analysts
South Korea's central bank is likely to cut its policy rate in November, rather than in October, as it wants to be confident of a slowdown in household debt increase amid moderating inflation, analysts have said. The Bank of Korea has only two rounds of its monetary decision meetings left this year in October and November. Last month, the BOK kept interest rates unchanged at 3.5 percent, the highest level in about 16 years, for the 13th straight time. The central bank delivered seven cons
Sept. 14, 2024
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Economy shows signs of recovery on strong exports, soft inflation: finance ministry
The South Korean economy continues to show signs of recovery, driven by strong exports and manufacturing output, with consumer prices showing signs of stabilization, the finance ministry said Friday. The Ministry of Economy and Finance made the assessment in the Green Book, its monthly economic report, noting that domestic demand is also recovering, led by facility investment and the service sector. "The South Korean economy is experiencing a recovery trend amid the stabilization of consume
Sept. 13, 2024
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Finance chief vows tighter control on household debt
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok vowed Thursday to curb snowballing household debt and thoroughly control the payment crisis involving e-commerce platforms Tmon and WeMakePrice. The nation's household debt has been on fast growth, sparked by a rise of mortgage loans with the increasing number of housing transactions since around June, Choi said at a meeting of economy-related ministers held at the governmental complex in central Seoul. "The government will work to stably control the risi
Sept. 12, 2024
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Online retail continues rapid growth
South Korea's consumer market increased by 33.3 percent from 2014 to 2023, with the annual growth in non-store retailing such as online markets outstripping that of large stores by tenfold. The consumer market for the country was 509.5 trillion won ($380.4 billion) in 2023, up from 382.3 trillion won in 2014, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's analysis based on Statistic Korea data showed Wednesday. The report looked at the total growth in the time period over various secto
Sept. 11, 2024
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BIS raises alarm on Korea's surging household credit
The Bank for International Settlements has cautioned that South Korea’s expanding private sector credit is beginning to weigh on economic growth, with further increases posing additional risks. The Switzerland-based consortium of central banks recently published a report indicating that while rising private sector credit can boost economic activity in emerging markets, exceeding certain levels may lead to growth deterioration. The report described a "U-shaped" relationship betwee
Sept. 11, 2024
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Exports rise 24.6% during first 10 days of Sept. on strong chip sales
South Korea's exports rose 24.6 percent on-year in the first 10 days of May on robust global demand for semiconductors, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments reached $18.58 billion in the April 1-10 period, compared with $14.91 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Per-day exports advanced 16.3 percent on-year to $2.48 billion. Imports added 11.3 percent on-year to $18.4 billion during the period, resulting in a trade surplus of $200 milli
Sept. 11, 2024
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Job additions rise over 100,000 for 2nd straight month in Aug.
South Korea added more than 100,000 jobs for the second consecutive month in August, but jobs in the construction sector fell by the most ever amid an industry slowdown and extreme heat wave, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 28.80 million last month, up 123,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. In July, the monthly job additions bounced back to over 100,000 for the first time in three months to come to 172,000. In June, 96,000 jo
Sept. 11, 2024
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Minister pushes for inheritance tax overhaul
The South Korean government is stepping up efforts to overhaul its inheritance tax system next year, with the Finance Ministry preparing a bill to tax the inheritors instead of the estate that is being inherited. "To enhance fairness and ensure consistency in taxation, as well as align with global trends, the government plans to shift to an inheritance acquisition tax system," Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok said Monday in a meeting with journalists at the gove
Sept. 10, 2024
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Finance minister calls for scrapping financial investment income tax
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok has said the government needs to scrap a financial investment income tax and review various tax schemes regarding stock trading in an effort to ease market uncertainty and help boost the stock market. Under the investment income tax scheme, set to take effect next year, capital gains of over 50 million won ($38,000) from stock investments will be subject to a 20 percent tax, while earnings exceeding 300 million won will be subject to a 25 percent tax. "The sch
Sept. 10, 2024
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Young Koreans with bad credit surge
The number of young South Koreans with delinquent loans has rapidly increased in the past three years, data by the state-run financial watchdog showed Monday. As of July, 65,887 people in their 20s have been registered at the Korea Credit Information Services as "delinquent borrowers," referring to people who are disadvantaged in financial transactions due to long-standing credit card or bank debt. This figure marked a 25.3 percent increase from the 52,580 delinquent borrowers in the s
Sept. 9, 2024
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FSC chief calls on mutual savings banks to swiftly address risks on PF loans
The chief of the financial regulator urged mutual savings banks Monday to recommit themselves to their basic duty of serving their communities, also calling on them to quickly address risks on loans extended to real estate projects. Kim Byoung-hwan, chair of the Financial Services Commission, made the call in a meeting with top officials from five major mutual savings banks and credit cooperatives, including Nonghyup. "The mutual banking sector has long contributed to the balanced developme
Sept. 9, 2024
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[Hello India] India makes fresh overture to lure Korean financial firms
India’s financial regulators boasted their fast-growing economy and young workforce at a rare investment forum held in Seoul on Friday, making a fresh overture to lure Korean investments. The event, co-hosted by Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service and the Embassy of India here, featured key officials from Indian financial regulatory bodies and drew around 140 executives from Korean financial institutions. “India is emerging as a global production hub with remarkable growth i
Sept. 8, 2024
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S. Korea logs current account surplus for 3rd month in July
South Korea racked up a current account surplus for the third consecutive month in July, driven by robust exports, central bank data showed Friday. The country's current account surplus reached $9.13 billion in July, marking a surplus for the third consecutive month, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. The July surplus was smaller than the previous month's $12.56 billion, the largest since September 2017. The country's goods account racked up an $8.49 billion surplus in July followi
Sept. 6, 2024
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[HIT Forum] Honing diplomatic skill of businesses
To safeguard their interest and tackle the threat of geopolitical risk to their operations in foreign markets, Korean firms are asked to develop the skills and mindset of the diplomat, and their first job is understanding the fast-changing regulatory environment with a long-term commitment, experts said Thursday “Diplomacy is no longer just a matter of national defense and security. It is an economic issue directly related to the country's future livelihood. At the center are compan
Sept. 5, 2024
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Foreign reserves up for 2nd month in Aug. on weak dollar
South Korea's foreign reserves increased for the second straight month in August on the back of the increased value of non-US dollar assets and investment gains, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's foreign reserves had come to $415.92 billion as of end-August, up $2.41 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The central bank attributed the increase to a rise in the converted value of non-dollar assets amid the weak greenback an
Sept. 4, 2024
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BOK chief says time to consider rate cut as inflation cools
Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong said Tuesday the time has come to "sufficiently consider" a rate cut as the nation's consumer inflation cooled. "In terms of stability of consumer prices, it is time to sufficiently consider lowering a benchmark interest rate," Rhee told reporters at a forum in Seoul. Rhee said the central bank would review an "appropriate timing" for a rate cut, in his strongest signal yet about a policy pivot. In a meeting of the parliamen
Sept. 3, 2024
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AmCham partners with Tools for Humanity for privacy protection
The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea joined hands with Tools for Humanity, the developer of Worldcoin, to stress the importance of personal data protection in the era of artificial intelligence. On Tuesday, the two entities signed a memorandum of understanding at a ceremony held in Seoul, agreeing to launch the “#IAmHuman” campaign here, highlighting the importance of safeguarding personal identity within an AI-driven economy. “The partnership is focused on promoting the p
Sept. 3, 2024