Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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[Herald Interview] Son Suk-ku chooses to be swayed by others in navigating life
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Prosecutors drop case against KEB Hana Bank on allegedly favoring Chung Yoo-ra: report
Prosecutors in South Korea have decided not to indict commercial bank KEB Hana Bank for offering preferential loans to Chung Yoo-ra, according to a news report Monday.Chung, 22, is a daughter of Choi Soon-sil, ex-president Park Geun-hye’s longtime confidante who was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in February for a corruption scandal which led to the impeachment of Park last March. KEB Hana Bank issued a standby letter of credit worth 386,600 euro ($476,200) to Chung in 2014, when she wa
March 5, 2018
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Finance minister, BOK chief vow to cooperate to manage risk factors
Korea's top economic and monetary policymakers agreed on Monday to cooperate to reduce any fallout from a much expected rate hike in the United States and from growing trade protectionism, Seoul's finance ministry said.In a meeting held earlier in the day, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon and Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol shared the view that current economic recovery trends can be maintained but that there are a slew of external risk factors as well. "(The two) shared the view that the US F
March 5, 2018
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Finance ministry to deal swiftly with low birthrate
Ranking officials of the finance ministry held a meeting Sunday to come up with measures on tackling the country's chronic low birthrate in order to bolster growth potential.Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, vice ministers and ranking officials gathered to discuss measures to deal with the impending issue after the number of newborns in South Korea dropped to a new record low last year.The number of babies born in 2017 reached 357,700, down 11.9 percent, or 48,500, from a year earlier, according t
March 4, 2018
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Samsung’s stock split pushes bourse to minimize trading suspension
South Korea’s bourse operator is expected to ease regulations on stock split processes in the wake of market top cap Samsung Electronics’ latest decision to implement a first-ever stock split.Korea Exchange is expected to announce a revised set of plans later this week to shorten the trading suspension period caused by stock splits, according to the benchmark Kospi operating headquarters Sunday. Under current regulations, stock trading is to be banned for 10-15 days after the gi
March 4, 2018
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[Kosdaq Star] Netflix behind Studio Dragon’s upbeat Q1 forecast
This is the 51st in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed.An upbeat forecast for the first quarter of this year appears to have catalyzed the bull run of Studio Dragon, the creator of South Korean megahit series such as “Misaeng,” “Guardian,” “Signal,” and most recently, “A Korean Odyssey.”Behind the forecast is the projected income from rights sales of latest hit series to global internet ente
March 4, 2018
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Foreigners receive record high dividends from top 10 conglomerates in 2017
Foreigners received an all-time high of dividend payouts from South Korea's 10 largest business groups last year, with the amount surpassing 7 trillion won ($6.46 billion) for the first time, industry data showed Sunday. Among the 15.3 trillion won of dividends paid by companies affiliated with the top 10 conglomerates last year, foreigners received 7.11 trillion won, according to the Seoul-based corporate tracker Chaebul.com. The ratio of foreign dividend payouts rose from 43.7 percent of the t
March 4, 2018
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Seoul shares expected to move in tight range next week
South Korean shares are expected to move up and down in a tight range as investors remain cautious on lingering uncertainty over US monetary policy, analysts here said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,402.16 on Friday, down 2.01 percent from a week ago. Investors are likely to adopt a wait-and-see attitude over US monetary policy. Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell offered an optimistic assessment of
March 3, 2018
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S. Korea's stock loans flirt with record high
Local investors are borrowing a large amount in loans to buy local stocks as the country's bourse has maintained a generally upward trajectory, despite a slump in the pace of growth, market data showed Saturday. The amount of money borrowed to buy stocks, the so-called margin debt, reached 11.24 trillion won ($10.4 billion) as of Tuesday, slightly down from an all-time high of 11.42 trillion won tallied on Feb. 2, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Assoc
March 3, 2018
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[Newsmaker] Moon Jae-in retains central bank head
President Moon Jae-in retained on Friday Lee Ju-yeol, the incumbent Bank of Korea Gov. and the head of Monetary Policy Committee, to serve another four-years for the nation‘s central bank, sending the market a sign that it will not pursue a drastic change in its monetary policy.Cheong Wa Dae said the decision to reinstate Lee as the BOK chief signifies Moon’s willingness to “ensure neutrality and independence” of the central bank.The reappointment came amid the South Kore
March 2, 2018
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Kospi tumbles on renewed US protectionism threats
South Korea‘s top-tier stock market Kospi retreated 1 percent on Friday, while the local currency strengthened, in part on fears over heightening tariff threats by US President Donald Trump triggering a possible trade war.On Friday, the Kospi came close to breaching 2,400 mark by closed at 2,402.16, down 1 percent compared to the previous trading day. The market maintained a losing streak for three consecutive trading days since Tuesday. Korean stock markets closed on Thursday for a nation
March 2, 2018
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Korean steel exports to take hit on proposed US tariffs
Korea avoided the worst case scenario of being slapped with duties of up to 53 percent on steel exports to the United States, but it will invariably take a hit if fresh duties are put in place, industry experts said Friday.US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would impose uniform 25 percent duties on imported steel to protect US producers, with a formal decision due next week.The announcement could not have come at a worse time for Korean steel mills already struggling with rising
March 2, 2018
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Brokerages' net profit hits 10-year high
´South Korean brokerages’ combined yearly net profit in 2017 hit a 10-year high, mainly on the back of a stock market boom that led to an upshot in revenue from brokerage fees and trades of shares and derivatives, data showed Tuesday.The total net profit for the 55 securities firms came to 3.83 trillion won ($3.57 billion) in 2017, up 79.6 percent from a year prior, according to a preliminary set of data by the Financial Supervisory Service. The figure was the highest since 2007, whe
Feb. 27, 2018
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Global anti-money laundering body briefed on Korea's obligations on cryptocurrency
Korea's financial regulator has briefed a global anti-money laundering body on its obligations related to cryptocurrency transactions to tackle money laundering, officials said Monday.Korea's anti-money laundering guidelines for cryptocurrency trading were the first to be drawn up among members of the Financial Action Task Force, the Financial Services Commission said in a statement.At its regular meeting of 37 members in Paris last week, member states also urged the global body to improve the u
Feb. 26, 2018
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Assets under management in Korea hit record high in 2017
South Korean financial firms’ assets under management hit a record high of 950 trillion won ($880.9 billion) in 2017, up 4.7 percent from the previous year, data showed Sunday.The hike in the volume of professionally managed assets was driven by a surge in private funds’ increase in property investment, as well as increased capital for discretionary investment in domestic shares and overseas bonds, according to preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service.Despite the recor
Feb. 25, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Corda eyes private, inclusive global banking network: R3 chief engineer
Distributed ledgers like the blockchain system are increasingly setting a new standard for paperwork-free global banking in various financial areas, such as the management of a cash pool for currency exchanges or payments, as well as trade finance. Spearheading the trend to minimize and possibly eliminate the manual business process in interbank transactions is a technology called “smart contract,” through which records of direct transactions between parties can be protected on a dec
Feb. 25, 2018
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Hana Financial seeks further momentum from non-banking biz
After enjoying a prosperous 2017, South Korea’s financial players are now facing a challenging year ahead, amid escalating competition in the digital financing sector, government pressure on household debt control and incoming financial consumer law.Hana Financial Group, the nation’s third-largest banking group in assets, is determined to hold ground and prolong its uptrend by maximizing the synergy between its banking and non-banking businesses.It is also planning to expand financia
Feb. 21, 2018
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Korea-Japan political gridlock haunts currency swap renewal: BOK Gov.
Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Tuesday that while lingering political deadlock has held back talks to renew a currency swap deal with Japan, Korea would not be rushing it, during his visit to Zurich to sign a swap agreement with Swiss National Bank.“The talks of extending a deal (with the Japanese central bank) are being suspended since the deal expired, in the wake of a diplomatic and political row (between Korea and Japan),” Lee told Korean correspondents in Zurich on Tuesday.
Feb. 21, 2018
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Hana extends patronage to national luge team
South Korea’s national luge team -- made up of nine sliders and six coaches – improved their performance in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games overall.In the team relay, Korea climbed up three notches and came in about 26 seconds faster compared to Sochi Winter Games in 2014. In the women’s individual event, Sung Eun-ryung jumped 11 notches to finish in 18th with an improvement of about 20 seconds.On the back of such performance stood Hana Financial Group, which has extended sup
Feb. 21, 2018
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Currency swap with Switzerland proves outside trust of Korean economy
ZURICH -- The bilateral currency swap deal with Switzerland proves that South Korea's economic fundamentals remain strong and there's trust in fiscal policy, the head of South Korea's central bank has said. Lee Ju-yeol, governor of the Bank of Korea, made the remarks Tuesday after signing the currency swap deal with the chairman of the Swiss National Bank's governing board, Thomas Jordan. The three-year swap agreement enables Korean won and Swiss francs to be purchased and repurchased between th
Feb. 21, 2018
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NH NongHyup acquires patent for call assessment system
South Korea’s agriculture cooperative-based NH NongHyup Bank developed a system to assess the quality of its customer calls in November and recently had a patent registered for the technology, officials said Tuesday.Built and operated on artificial intelligence and big data, the system gathers customer phone call records, sorts them out according to demands and designates an optimized level of customer service.“The new system will help us keep a more detailed watch on our financial c
Feb. 20, 2018