Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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S. Korea discussed possible participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 with Australia: defense minister
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[KH Explains] Will alternative trading platform shake up Korean stock market?
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S. Korea to prepare internally for inter-Korean economic projects: minister
South Korea's finance minister said Friday that Seoul will make internal preparations to carry out economic projects with North Korea when the conditions are right.Hong Nam-ki, the minister of economy and finance, was in the U.S. capital to attend a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors.Speaking to reporters on the margins, Hong said he believes Thursday's summit in Washington between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump created mom
April 13, 2019
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[Monitor] S. Korea likely to allocate supplementary budget below W7tr in 2019
South Korea’s Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday that he expects to draw up a supplementary budget worth less than 7 trillion won ($6.1 billion) to resolve domestic issues. The size of the budget “would not exceed 7 trillion won,” he explained, though the exact figure has yet to be confirmed. The government is expected to submit an extra budget bill to the National Assembly this month.On top of the stagnant global economy, the domestic issues include coping with fine d
April 11, 2019
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[News Focus] Korea’s benchmark rate stays under 2% for 4 years
SEJONG -- South Korea’s key interest rate slid below 2 percent for the first time in history in March 2015, when the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Korea lowered it to 1.75 percent.After further dipping to an all-time low of 1.25 percent in June 2016, the benchmark rate has hovered under 2 percent for the 49th consecutive month. It was set at 1.75 percent in November 2018 and has not changed since then. Compared to 3.25 percent in June 2011 and 5.25 percent in August 2008, t
April 11, 2019
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Korea’s employment rate reaches record 60.4 percent in March
South Korea’s employment rate reached a record 60.4 percent in March, with the number of newly added hires rising by around 250,000 from the previous month, data from the state-run statistics agency showed Wednesday. Statistics Korea said the number of employed people stood at 26.8 million in March, increasing by 250,000 from the same month last year. This builds on the improvement seen in February, when the employed population grew by 200,000 on-month. This brings the employment rate --
April 10, 2019
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S. Korea's jobless rate drops to 4.3% in March
South Korea's jobless rate slightly fell to 4.3 percent in March, government data showed Wednesday, amid the government's efforts to create more jobs in Asia's fourth-largest economy, with newly added jobs surpassing the 200,000 mark for the second straight month.The March unemployment rate declined 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 26.8 million in March, an increase of 250,000 from the same month in
April 10, 2019
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US auto tariffs to hurt S. Korea's economic growth: Moody's
Potential tariffs by the United States on imported cars will drag down South Korea's economic growth this year by 0.3 percentage point, a global ratings agency said Tuesday.In a report released on the day, Moody's Investors Service said that the direct impact of the US tariffs is estimated "to account for around 0.2 percentage point deceleration in 2019 growth for Germany and around 0.3 percentage point for Japan and (South) Korea." The world's largest economy is moving to levy du
April 9, 2019
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S. Korea pays 2nd highest dismissal costs among OECD nations
South Korea ranked second among 36 OECD member countries in terms of the cost of dismissing workers last year, a local think tank said Tuesday.In 2018, Korean companies shouldered the second-highest burden in dismissing employees, or the equivalent of 27.4 weeks of salary, behind Turkey's 29.8 weeks of wages, the Korea Economic Research Institute said in a statement. The 36 OECD members paid an average of 14.2 weeks of salary to fire a worker last year, KERI said, citing data from the Worl
April 9, 2019
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S. Korea’s firms see exports drop, banks enjoy earnings boost in 2018
South Korea’s major companies saw their exports drop last year, amid sluggish global growth and US-China trade tension, but banks enjoyed record-high revenue on the back of interest earnings, data showed Sunday.The contrast was all the more conspicuous during the fourth quarter, when banks -- commercial, provincial and internet-only -- marked a record-high figure in net profit, while key exporters turned into the red. According to data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service and the
April 7, 2019
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Govt to submit extra budget bill to curb fine dust, sluggish market
The South Korean government will submit a supplementary budget bill to the parliament by April in an effort to respond to fine dust, a slowing economy and a sluggish job market, the chief fiscal policymaker said Wednesday.It also pledged to reform the preliminary feasibility study for construction projects so as to reduce regional differences between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas and to curtail the average investigation period. “In order to maximize the impact of the extra budget,
April 3, 2019
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Global tensions to force trade slowdown in 2019: WTO
GENEVA -- Global trade growth is expected to be lower in 2019 than it was last year, the World Trade Organization forecast on Tuesday, citing widespread “tensions” and economic uncertainty. The WTO had in its preliminary estimates predicted a 3.7 percent expansion of trade for this year, but has revised that down to 2.6 percent, marking a decline on the three-percent growth recorded in 2018. “The fact that we don‘t have great news today should surprise no one who has
April 2, 2019
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S. Korea's consumer price growth hits nearly 20-year low in March
South Korea's consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in nearly 20 years in March on a drop in petrochemical products and a stabilization of prices of vegetables, government data showed Tuesday.The consumer price index rose 0.4 last month from a year earlier, marking the third straight month that the consumer price index has hovered below 1 percent, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The March figure marks the lowest increase since July 1999, when the country's consumer prices
April 2, 2019
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[News Focus] New Trade Minister seeks breakthrough in FTA talks
SEJONG -- South Korea is in negotiations for four different free trade agreements involving 19 countries.The four are talks on a joint agreement with China and Japan (2 countries); with China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (15); with Ecuador (1); and with Israel (1).As a developed process, Korea has signed a preliminary pact with five Central American countries -- Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama -- which made
April 1, 2019
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S. Korea sells $187 million in FX to stablize market in second half of 2018
South Korea sold $187 million worth of foreign currencies during the second half of last year in an effort to stabilize the market, the central bank said Friday.The Bank of Korea posted the related information on its website, explaining that the transactions were made in response to sudden fluctuations that could negatively effect the economy.The Korean won remained in the 1,000-1,150 won range against the US dollar during the given six months, data showed. In May last year, the government annou
March 29, 2019
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S. Korea's industrial output falls 1.9% on-month in February
South Korea's industrial output edged down 1.9 percent in February from a month earlier due in part to decreased production of cars and the service sector, government data showed Friday.The figure was the biggest decline since March 2013, when industrial output fell 2.1 percent.The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed the output of cars went down 3.2 percent in February from a month earlier, while production in the service sector declined 1.1 percent on-month. Retail sales fell 0.5 percent i
March 29, 2019
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S. Korea to push for joint study with Uzbekistan on free trade deal
SEJONG -- South Korea and Uzbekistan agreed Thursday to push for a joint study on forging a free trade agreement to further boost bilateral economic ties, South Korea's finance ministry said.The agreement was reached in talks between Hong Nam-ki, the minister of economy and finance, and his Uzbek counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister Elyor Ganiev. Hong also doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs."We should ponder over what the demands of both sides are and how to produce a win-w
March 28, 2019
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[News Focus] Weak won, rising crude prices pose threat to Korean economy
SEJONG -- Three major global rating firms have been relatively pessimistic on the outlook for South Korea’s economic growth this year, compared to projections from the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Korea.The rating firms -- Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service -- have estimated that the growth of gross domestic product this year will stay under 2.6 percent, the figure projected by the central bank. The Finance Ministry has forecast that the econ
March 28, 2019
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S. Korea’s budget to surpass W500tr next year amid sluggish growth
South Korea’s state budget is certain to surpass 500 trillion won ($441.7 billion) for the first time next year as the Cabinet has approved guidelines endorsing expansionary fiscal spending.While seeking measures to revitalize the economy and to enhance social overhead capital for people’s livelihood, the government also vowed to inject more public funds to tackle social problems such as low birth rate and fine dust pollution.The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the compilation guidelines
March 26, 2019
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[News Focus] Korean currency’s par value remains untouched for 57 years
SEJONG -- It has been 17 years since former Bank of Korea Gov. Park Seung proposed slashing the face value of the nation’s currency upon taking office in April 2002.Under Park, the central bank pushed for redenomination in a low-key manner, seeking to do away with 10,000 won, 5,000 won and 1,000 won notes and replace them with notes worth 10 hwan, 5 hwan and 1 hwan. The BOK project, initiated in the fifth year of the government of former President Kim Dae-jung, came to the fore d
March 26, 2019
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Presidential office not seeking to exploit property market as means for stimulating economy
South Korea's Moon Jae-in administration won't artificially boost the property market in a bid to stimulate the economy, a senior presidential official said Sunday.The local housing market, mainly apartment transactions, has been notably sluggish since the government's tough regulations on it became effective on Sept 13, 2018.The move was aimed at curbing apartment prices that had been skyrocketing at that time. Many agree that the market overheated as a result of a set of deregulations on
March 24, 2019
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S. Korea sees sharper drop in exports than OECD peers
South Korea has seen its exports decline at a steeper rate than other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member states, reflecting the contraction in outbound shipments of semiconductors, ships and petrochemical products, data showed Sunday.According to data from the OECD, Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its exports volume dip 5.9 percent from a year earlier in January, standing 26th out of 32 member states that were subject to the latest survey.The country’s on-
March 24, 2019