Most Popular
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Medical profs at top hospitals suspend surgeries, clinics
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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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Samsung chip business back on track, logs W1.9tr operating profit in Q1
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Shinsegae faces showdown with investors over SSG.com's delayed IPO
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Hopes rise for possible Gaza truce deal
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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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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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Korea's economy capable of responding to crises: regulator
South Korea's economic fundamentals are sound and it is capable of "fully" responding to potential crises at home and abroad, the nation's top financial regulator said Wednesday. Zhin Woong-seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said, however, global uncertainties, including US interest rate hikes and a wave of protectionism, make it "increasingly difficult to predict the future we're headed towards.""Looking outward, we can also see the global environment
April 19, 2017
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Korea central bank chief leaves for US G-20 meeting
South Korea's central bank chief left for Washington on Wednesday to discuss pending economic issues with his counterparts from the world's major economies, the Bank of Korea said.BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol is scheduled to attend the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting on Thursday and Friday, the central bank said.It said Lee plans to hold talks with his counterparts and finance ministers on such issues as how to establish a cooperative system for sustainable and balanced de
April 19, 2017
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Producer prices fall in March on price decline in manufactured goods
South Korea's producer prices fell slightly in March from a month earlier due mainly to a decline in the prices of manufactured goods, the central bank said Wednesday.The producer price index -- a barometer of future consumer inflation -- slid 0.1 percent in March from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The BOK attributed the fall to weaker oil prices and the won's strengthening against the US dollar.Prices of Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, fell 5.9 percent in March from a m
April 19, 2017
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Companies plan to hire less this year due to economic slump: survey
South Korean businesses are likely to hire fewer people this year than in 2016 amid the ongoing economic slump, a survey showed Tuesday.The survey of 258 companies with more than 100 employees conducted by the Korean Employers Federation said those polled planned to employ 6.6 percent less this year than last year.The companies plan to recruit 7.3 percent fewer college graduates and reduce the number of hirees with high school diplomas by 7.9 percent compared to the year before.Of those surveyed
April 18, 2017
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Unmarried workers in 20s 30s spend more than married
Workers in their 20s and 30s spend an average of 14,800 won ($12.9) daily, with unmarried workers spending more than those who are married, according to a survey conducted by JobKorea Tuesday. The job search portal recently surveyed 2,427 workers, who are in their 20s and 30s, and asked nine questions regarding their daily expenses during work hours. Of the total 2,427 workers, 1,320 people were married and 1,107 were unmarried. The survey found that the average daily spending of unmarried
April 18, 2017
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[Monitor] Daily traffic surges 17.4% in decade
South Korea‘s daily traffic volume increased 17.4 percent from 10 years ago as of last year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Tuesday.The data was collected by counting vehicles passing through select sections on highways and major roads. The number of registered vehicles reached 21.80 million in 2016, from 20.99 million in 2015.Price of gasoline, meanwhile, declined from 1,405 won ($1.23) per liter in 2015 to 1,293 won the following year.Passenger cars accounte
April 18, 2017
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[News Analysis] Review of trade deal with US likely to cover only some industries: experts
US Vice President Mike Pence’s official remarks that Washington would review the 5-year-old bilateral trade deal between South Korea and the US may be only confined to a partial review of trade terms in certain industries, experts said Tuesday.Earlier in the day, Pence said the US trade deficit with Korea has more than doubled in the five years since the Korea-US free trade agreement began in 2012.“That’s the hard truth,” the visiting vice president said during a speech a
April 18, 2017
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KDI raises 2017 economic growth estimate to 2.6%
A state-run think tank on Tuesday revised up its 2017 growth forecast for the South Korean economy by 0.2 percentage point to 2.6 percent thanks to a recovery in the world economy and an upturn in exports."We raised the forecast for the 2017 economy to 2.6 percent as exports improved at a faster-than-expected clip on the back of recovered global demand, and with investments likely to maintain its upbeat pace," Kim Seong-tae, a senior researcher at the Korea Development Institute (KDI),
April 18, 2017
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Koreans' health care costs up 10.7% last year
Health care spending of South Korean families jumped 10.7 percent last year from a year earlier, the central bank said Tuesday, due apparently to a rise in senior citizens.Health care expenses of households came to 41.03 trillion won ($36.1 billion) last year, up 3.9 trillion won from 2015, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. It marked the first time that total spending surpassed the 40 trillion-won mark.The ratio of health care costs to expenses of households accounted for 5.5. per
April 18, 2017
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BOK says global trade likely to grow by 3.1% this year
South Korea's central bank said Tuesday that global trade is expected to expand by 3.1 percent this year on an economic recovery in the United States and other major economies.The Bank of Korea said the US economy is forecast to grow by 2.2 percent, while the Chinese and Japanese economies are expected to expand by 6.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. The economic recovery in the US and other major countries could give a boost to world trade.As global raw material transactions start to ris
April 18, 2017
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Workforce at big companies shrinks in 2016: analysis
Most big name companies reduced the size of their workforce last year, affecting contracted workers the most, corporate analysis showed Tuesday.Eighty-seven listed firms affiliated with the top 10 business groups were surveyed by conglomerate tracker FnGuide, with additional information provided by the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer system (DART) service under the Financial Supervisory Service. The results showed the companies had 629,517 employees as of the end of last year, 2.29 percent
April 18, 2017
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Exports by 'new growth' biz rise 5% annually since 2012: report
South Korean exports by "new growth" businesses rose an average of 5 percent annually in the past four years, a local trade report said Monday.Exports by companies whose businesses range from robotics, semiconductors, next-generation displays and bio health to aerospace jumped to $76.7 billion in 2016 from $63.2 billion in 2012, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in a recent report. This is in contrast to the average 2.5 percent decline in the country's overall
April 17, 2017
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Potential US-China trade row bodes ill for Korean economy: report
A potential trade tussle between the US and China will have the South Korean economy suffer a decline in its growth rate due to its higher trade dependency on the neighbor, a report said Monday."Having subsided after the global financial crisis, trade protectionism is once again gaining momentum, raising concerns over the negative impact on the highly trade-dependent Korean economy," the report said released by the state-run Korea Development Institution. The report cited that the numb
April 17, 2017
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Improved growth outlook carries downside risks
Cautious optimism on a rebound in the Korean economy seems still shrouded by lingering downside risks at home and abroad.The Bank of Korea’s recent revision of its growth outlook for this year to 2.6 percent from the previous forecast of 2.5 percent bolstered the view that Asia’s fourth-largest economy may be bottoming out to enter the recovery stage. The central bank’s revised growth projection is on par with forecasts by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the International
April 17, 2017
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Bank of Korea to move headquarters next month for renovations
The Bank of Korea will move its headquarters to a building in central Seoul and its office in the Gangnam district of Seoul late next month as its headquarters will undergo a three-year renovation project, bank officials said Monday. The renovation project, which will be completed by the first half of 2020 and include the reconstruction of the main annex building, aims to bolster the headquarters' security and safety, BOK officials said. It will mark the first time the central bank, as wel
April 17, 2017
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Unpaid family business workers rise amid economic slump: data
The number of unpaid male workers employed at their family businesses rose sharply in recent months, government data showed Monday, as more people are trying to cope with the protracted economic slump."The surge in the number appears to be linked to a growing number of self-employed people," a Statistics Korea official said. The number jumped 11.7 percent, or 16,000, to 150,000 in the first three months this year from a year earlier, according to the official tally.The rise is the shar
April 17, 2017
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Korea lags behind OECD states in sustainable growth index: report
South Korea ranked 24th among 28 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries in terms of the state growth sustainability index, a local think tank said Sunday.The Hyundai Research Institute has developed its own index to measure each state's sustainable growth levels. South Korea scored 0.443, or 81.7 percent of the average of 0.542 for the 28 OECD member states, the institute said in its weekly report released Friday. "For sustainable growth, South Korea b
April 16, 2017
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Transactions of expensive houses surge sevenfold
The transaction volume of houses valued at 3 billion ($2.63 million) or more surged by seven times in just three years, data showed Sunday.Last year, 229 deals involving high-end real estate were posted on Onnara, a state-run web portal devoted to the real estate market, according to data compiled by the private market watcher Budongsan Info. The figure stood at 30 in 2013 and 123 in 2015. Out of the 229 deals, which all took place in Seoul, more than half of them, or 117, were in Yongsan-g
April 16, 2017
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Tax revenue grew faster than GDP in Korea last year
The South Korean government’s tax revenue grew faster than the gross domestic product’s annual increase in the country last year, data showed Sunday.The annual tax revenue amounted to 318.1 trillion won ($278.5 billion) last year, of which 242.6 trillion won was collected by the central government and the remaining 75.5 trillion won by the local governments, according to data from the Finance Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Bank of Korea.Tax income at the central government s
April 16, 2017
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Mini gold bar trade quadruples amid security threats
The average daily sales volume of mini gold bars, which weigh between 10 to 100 grams, skyrocketed fourfold in April, amid escalating geopolitical uncertainties that turned investors’ attention to safe haven assets.Some 400 mini bars were traded a day, 300 more than usual, data by Korea Gold Exchange showed Sunday.“Starting early last week, we have been seeing a growing demand for mini gold bars, especially among investors in their 50s and 60s.” Song Jong-gil of Korea Gold Exch
April 16, 2017