Most Popular
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Number of paid employee jobs rises 3.2% in Q4 last year
The number of jobs for wage and salary workers in South Korea gained 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year thanks to increased social welfare and public administration jobs, government data showed Thursday. South Korea's economy had 19.08 million paid worker jobs in the October-December period, up 592,000 from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Jobs in the social welfare sector came to 2.02 million, up 8.6 percent from a year ago, with public administration
May 28, 2020
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S. Korea launches W40tr fund for backbone industries
South Korea on Thursday launched a fund worth 40 trillion won ($32.2 billion) to provide timely financial assistance to the country's backbone industries amid the economic fallout of the new coronavirus. The government has said airlines, shippers and others hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible for the fund's financial support if they have more than 500 billion won in debt and more than 300 employees per company. Among others, South Korea's two full-service carriers -- Korean Air Lin
May 28, 2020
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Full text of BOK statement on monetary policy decision in May
The following is the full text of the Bank of Korea's statement on its monetary policy decision. The central bank's monetary policy board decided Thursday to cut the base rate by a quarter percentage point to a fresh record low of 0.50 percent. Monetary Policy Decision The Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea decided today to lower the Base Rate by 25 basis points, from 0.75% to 0.50%. Currently available information suggests that the global economy has contracted significantly due to co
May 28, 2020
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Govt. urged to brace for virus-caused weaker growth, job losses
South Korea should map out measures to help cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its economic growth and employment, a private think tank said Thursday. The novel coronavirus outbreak, which started in China in December, has led to lockdowns across the globe, crippling economic activity and touching off concerns over mass job cuts. "The outbreak of COVID-19 is feared to eat into South Korea's production base and lead to job losses," said the Korea Economic Research Inst
May 28, 2020
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BOK trims key rate to record low amid grim growth outlook
South Korea's central bank slashed its policy rate by a quarter percentage point to a record low of 0.50 percent Thursday as the country's economy is expected to grow at the slowest pace in over two decades amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The move came a little over two months after the Bank of Korea (BOK) cut the base rate to 0.75 percent from 1.25 percent in its first emergency rate cut since October 2008. "Economic growth in Korea has slowed considerably," the BOK said in its stateme
May 28, 2020
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Corporate direct financing down 29% in April
South Korean companies' stock and bond sales fell 28.8 percent in April from a month earlier, due mainly to a decline in sales of corporate debt, data showed Thursday. Local companies raised a combined 11.47 trillion won ($9.3 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in April, down 4.6 trillion won from March, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The decline is attributable to the 27 percent on-month fall in debt offerings to 11.42 trillion won, the FSS said. Last
May 28, 2020
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S. Korea to set up W500b fund for auto parts firms
SEJONG -- South Korea will set up a guarantee fund of 500 billion won ($405 million) to provide more loans to auto parts companies that have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday. The fund, which will be financed by the government and carmakers, will provide guarantees for loans for auto parts firms, Hong said. The public sector will buy 9,500 cars by the end of September to prop up auto parts firms, Hong said. To boost private consumption, the gove
May 28, 2020
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Manufacturers’ sentiment marks record-low since 2009
Weighed down by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, South Korean manufacturers saw their business confidence sink to the lowest level in over 12 years for the upcoming month, central bank data showed Wednesday. The business sentiment index -- BSI -- for the domestic manufacturing sector came to 49 for June, down from 50 for this month, according to the Bank of Korea. While a reading below 100 indicates a pessimist market sentiment, the latest figure marked the lowest since February 2009, in the
May 27, 2020
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S. Korea to keep aggressive spending to address coronavirus pandemic
SEJONG -- South Korea will maintain its aggressive fiscal spending as it is set to unveil the third extra budget early next month to minimize the economic pain from the coronavirus pandemic, Vice Finance Minister An Il-whan said Wednesday. The third extra budget is aimed at focusing on reviving economic growth and creating jobs, An told a meeting with fiscal experts earlier in the day. The budget is also designed to provide financial support to small- and medium-sized enterprises hit by the
May 27, 2020
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S. Korea’s global GDP ranking slips to 10th place: data
South Korea’s global GDP ranking slipped to 10th place last year, the first drop since the 2008 global financial crisis, data showed Wednesday. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the country’s nominal GDP stood at $1.64 trillion in 2019 ranking No. 10 out of 38 OECD member countries, two rungs down from 2018. Asia’s fourth-largest economy was outpaced by Canada and Russia last year, which ranked eighth and ninth, respectively.
May 27, 2020
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Listed firms' dividends dip 1.9% in 2019
South Korean listed companies' dividend payouts slipped nearly 2 percent in 2019 from a year earlier amid a business slump, data showed Wednesday. Cash dividends paid out by 1,094 firms listed on the country's main and secondary stock markets totaled 22.6 trillion won ($18.3 billion) last year, down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. The number of dividend-paying corporations was down 12 from the previous year. The tally covers compan
May 27, 2020
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Coronavirus dents major business sectors' Q1 output
More than half of South Korea's 29 major business sectors suffered setbacks in output in the first quarter due to the new coronavirus outbreak, boding ill for their second-quarter earnings, a market tracker said Wednesday. CEO Score said aviation, smartphone, display and 14 other industrial sectors saw their production shrink in the January-March period from a year earlier. The aviation sector was hit hardest with a 35.9 percent tumble as travel demand tanked following lockdowns and business
May 27, 2020
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Korea's May exports tipped to dip 22.5% on pandemic: poll
South Korea's exports are expected to dip nearly 23 percent in May from a year earlier and post a trade deficit for the second consecutive month, a poll showed Wednesday, as the new coronavirus continued to disrupt global supply chains. The country's outbound shipments are estimated at $35.4 billion this month, falling sharply from $45.9 billion posted a year earlier, according to the poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The survey was carried out on eight loca
May 27, 2020
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[News Focus] Market tenses up on BOK’s imminent policy rate review
South Korea is set to slash its yearly growth forecast this week amid the persisting COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic downturn, but market predictions continue to remain divided over the likeliness of policy rate adjustment. While some view the additional rate cut as an inevitable move to shore up the virus-hit economy, others argue that the country should take prudence and first let its fiscal measures take effect in the market. Also, the recently reshuffled composition of t
May 26, 2020
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Buoyed by cash handout, S. Korea’s consumer sentiment improves in May
A month after hitting an all-time low in nearly a decade, South Korea’s consumer sentiment improved in May, with the government’s cash relief handout contributing to the rebound, data from the central bank showed Tuesday. The nation’s composite consumer sentiment index -- a leading indicator that reflects households’ consumption and saving -- increased 6.8 points on-month to 77.6, recovering from the previous month, but was still well-below the pre-COVID-19 sentiment.
May 26, 2020
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Financial crimes in S. Korea fall 3.4% in 2019
Financial crimes in South Korea fell 3.4 percent in 2019 from a year earlier, the authorities said Tuesday as they vowed to boost efforts to prevent crimes at banks and other financial institutions. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said a total of 141 cases of financial crimes, such as loan scams and embezzlement, occurred in 2019, down from 146 in 2018. Financial crimes were liable for damages worth 310.8 billion won ($252 million) last year, a sharp hike from 129.6 billion won in 201
May 26, 2020
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[News Focus] Korea falls behind Japan, US in Q1 GDP growth
SEJONG -- Of 25 major economies around the world, only two posted positive growth during the first quarter of 2020, according to a recent analysis from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In terms of gross domestic product growth, South Korea ranked ninth among the 25 countries -- all OECD members -- posting minus 1.4 percent. Japan stood at No. 7 with minus 0.85 percent and the US at No. 8 with minus 1.22 percent. As of Tuesday, the France-based organization had compil
May 26, 2020
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Online, health care industries to give new chance for S. Korean exports: KITA
South Korean companies need to find new growth engines in the online and health care industries as the new coronavirus pandemic has boosted demand in such sectors, a local trade association said Tuesday. "As different countries are moving to bolster their public health infrastructure, South Korean exporters should also seek new opportunities," the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in a report, suggesting they should especially set their sights on the online and smart
May 26, 2020
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S. Korea to test-run online sales platform for agricultural wholesalers
South Korea said Tuesday it will kick off a new online sales platform for agricultural wholesalers to help them trade fresh produce around the clock without face-to-face interaction amid rising concerns over the new coronavirus pandemic. "Previously, the trade of fresh produce mostly centered on offline sales due to quality issues. But changes in the sales structure and the development of telecom and video technologies have paved the way for reform," the Ministry of Agriculture, Food
May 26, 2020
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S. Korea's exports of chicken soup jump amid lockdowns
South Korea's exports of packaged traditional chicken soup, or "samgyetang," have posted sharp growth in the first four months of 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, amid the growing demand for ready-to-eat products around the globe due to the pandemic-led lockdowns. Outbound shipments of ready-to-eat samgyetang products reached $4.82 million over the January-April period, up 82.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Agro-Fisheries &
May 26, 2020