One day before South Korea and China are scheduled to hold the first meeting of the free trade agreement joint committee, the trade minister here said Thursday that he is considering discussing about recent trade issues with China over Seoul’s decision to deploy a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile battery. “We will raise the relation between issues raised by Korean companies and the deployment of THAAD during the meeting of the Korea-China FTA joint

Jan. 12, 2017

Woori Bank has been selected as a winner of the 2016 World Finance Best Wealth Management Awards, the bank said Thursday. (Yonhap)World Finance, a London-based finance magazine, names one financial institute from each country as the best wealth manager in the country. Woori Bank is the first Korean company to receive the award, the firm said. World Finance said it took into consideration Woori Bank’s mobile initiatives and sales performance of bancassurance and private equities. Woori has set up

Companies Jan. 12, 2017

South Korea’s number of jobless hit 1 million for the first time last year, with young job seekers suffering the most, the latest data from the national statistics bureau showed Wednesday.  The unemployment rate for last year was 3.7 percent, the highest since 2010, inching up 0.1 percentage point from the previous year, with the number of jobless reaching 1.01 million, Statistics Korea data showed. It was the first time the tally had exceeded 1 million since the statistics agency ad

Jan. 11, 2017

Just three days after questioning Samsung Group’s top brass, the independent counsel investigating the President Park Geun-hye scandal summoned the de facto leader of the country’s largest conglomerate, Lee Jae-yong, as a suspect for bribery charges, according to the special investigator’s office Wednesday. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, will appear at the investigators’ office at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and face questions regarding possible bribery charges. 

Companies Jan. 11, 2017

Foreign investors continued their buying spree for 10 consecutive trading days on Tuesday for South Korea’s main bourse, despite strong US dollars amid US interest rate hikes. 　 Foreigners bought a net of 99.7 billion won ($83 million) in shares Tuesday, marking the 10th day of net buying, although the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed down 0.18 percent, or 3.66 points, to 2,045.12 points as institutional investors dumped a net 248 billion won. 　 As of Tuesday, foreigner

Jan. 10, 2017

The independent counsel investigating the presidential scandal Monday grilled top executives of South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung, with reports suggesting the team may consider charging the group’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong with perjury. Choi Gee-sung, head of Samsung Group’s control tower Future Strategy Office, and deputy head Chang Choong-ki were summoned as witnesses by the special investigation team led by Park Young-soo in the morning. Both Chang and Choi a

Industry Jan. 9, 2017

As the monetary policy committee of the country’s central bank is set to have its first meeting of the year on Friday, eyes are fixed on their decisions on benchmark interest rates and economic growth projection. At the meeting, the committee will unveil its revised growth target and decide on the interest rate.  The meeting is likely to cut the forecast for economic growth. In the previous projection in October, the Bank of Korea had set its gross domestic product forecast at a 2.8

Jan. 8, 2017

Japan’s decision to suspend talks on a currency swap last Friday will have limited impact while caution is still advised, according to economists and experts. Song In-chang, deputy finance minister, played down a possible repercussion of the suspension of the bilateral currency swap deal, saying that “It wouldn’t have much impact as it is not like an existing program ended.” Sung Tae-yun, economics professor at Yonsei University said, “It is very unlikely that th

Jan. 8, 2017

Samsung Heavy Industries, one of South Korea’s three biggest shipbuilders, won a 1.5 trillion won ($1.27 billion) order to build an offshore facility, the company said Thursday. It is the first mega offshore facility deal in the new year for the country’s shipbuilders, which suffered a sharp decline in orders last year. The combined annual new orders clinched by the country’s big three shipbuilders -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and

Companies Jan. 5, 2017

A plan to label China a currency manipulator, a pledge by US President-elect Donald Trump, might drag South Korea onto the manipulation list, according to analysis by a government-backed research center Thursday. In order to officially designate China a currency manipulator, the US needs to relax its existing standards or make new ones, the report by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy said.  “In such a case, it is likely that South Korea will be also subject to f

Jan. 5, 2017

South Korea’s shipyards are poised to be overtaken by Japanese competitors in order backlogs for the first time in 17 years, preliminary data from a global shipping information firm showed on Wednesday. According to tentative data from UK-based Clarkson Research Service, South Korea’s backlogged orders stood at 19.91 million compensated gross tonnages, a measurement to gauge the amount of work that goes in the construction of a vessel, as of the end of December 2016. It compares with Japan’s pro

Industry Jan. 4, 2017