S. Korea to open temporary settlement lines for trade financing with Russia

South Korea said Friday it plans to open temporary settlement lines between local banks and their units in Russia in a bid to help local firms facing difficulties in trade financing due to global sanctions against Russia. The government plans to support swift trade financing-related payments for local companies as Woori Bank and Hana Bank are set to open ad hoc settlement accounts with their affiliates in Russia, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The move is aimed at minimizi

March 18, 2022

US Fed begins inflation fight with rate hike, more to come

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve launched a high-risk effort Wednesday to tame the worst inflation since the early 1980s, raising its benchmark short-term interest rate and signaling up to six additional rate hikes this year. The Fed's quarter-point hike in its key rate, which it had pinned near zero since the pandemic recession struck two years ago, marks the start of its effort to curb the high inflation that followed the recovery from the recession. The rate hikes will eventually mean h

March 17, 2022

Theatre bombed in Ukraine, Biden slams 'war criminal' Putin

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine accused Russia Thursday of bombing a theatre that was sheltering more than 1,000 civilians in the city of Mariupol, after US President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a "war criminal." The latest assaults on civilians across Ukraine came as President Volodymyr Zelensky made a searing appeal for help to the US, which responded by pledging $1 billion in new weapons to fight Russia's invading army. Officials across Ukraine are struggling to count the civilian dea

March 17, 2022

Korea-US FTA helps boost trade, investment, but more should be done: USTR

BAY CITY, Michigan -- The South Korea-US free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) has greatly increased bilateral trade and investment but more can and should be done to further advance the countries' economic ties, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Wednesday. Her remarks come as the allies marked the 10th anniversary of the implementation of their bilateral trade pact this week. "In the 10 years since KORUS (FTA) was signed and took effect, the trade relationship between the United States

March 17, 2022

S. Korea already in better place than many others for steel exports to US: USTR

BAY CITY, Michigan -- The United States will continue to discuss with South Korea about concerns over the US import quota on South Korean steel products, but Seoul is already in a better position than many other countries, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Wednesday. The remarks come after repeated calls from South Korean officials, including Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo, for the start of negotiations to remove or change the import quota placed by the former US administration. "I'll

March 17, 2022

USTR, S. Korean minister highlight semiconductor cooperation with visit to SK Siltron CSS

AUBURN -- US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo made a joint visit to the factory of a South Korean semiconductor material producer on Wednesday, highlighting their emphasis on cooperation for supply chain resiliency. The rare trip to the SK Siltron CSS factory in Auburn, Michigan, a city with a population of only about 2,100, came on the day after the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the South Korea-US free trade agreement (KORUS FTA).

March 17, 2022

President-elect Yoon has phone conversation with Australian PM

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday spoke with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the phone, Yoon's spokesperson said. The talks last for about 25 minutes from 6 p.m., according to his spokesperson Kim Eun-hye. It was Yoon's fourth call with a foreign leader. He spoke with United States President Joe Biden on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday.During the campaign, Yoon expressed his support fo

March 16, 2022

[Newsmaker] Biden to visit Europe for Ukraine talks as refugees surpass 3m

US President Joe Biden will make his first visit to Europe since the invasion of Ukraine to discuss the crisis with NATO allies next week, the White House said on Tuesday as the refugee tally hit 3 million amid more Russian air strikes. Moscow has not captured any of the 10 biggest cities in the country following its incursion that began on Feb. 24, the largest assault on a European state since 1945. Local authorities said Tuesday's bombardments on Kyiv killed at least five people as buildings w

March 16, 2022

[Hwang’s China and the World] Is a new monetary world emerging?

The US dollar has been at the center of the global monetary system for more than seven decades since the end of World War II. The dollar-dominated international monetary system has shaped the postwar world political economy by significantly contributing to US power, both economically and politically, as well as lubricating the wheels of the global economy. However, in recent years there have been some notable growing developments that might shake the dollar’s global supremacy. China has

March 16, 2022

PM to visit Turkey, Qatar this week

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum will visit Turkey and Qatar later this week to discuss ways to strengthen diplomatic ties and expand economic cooperation, his office said Wednesday. Kim will be in Turkey from Thursday to Saturday during which he will attend the opening ceremony of the 1915 Canakkale Bridge following an invitation from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The 1915 Canakkale Bridge in northwestern Turkey is the world's longest suspension bridge with a 2,023-meter span between its towers

March 16, 2022

US warns China against helping Russia as sanctions mount

LVIV, Ukraine -- The United States warned China against providing military or financial help to Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, as sanctions on Russian political and business leaders mounted and civilians sought to flee intense fighting on the ground. Further talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators to ease the crisis were expected on Tuesday after discussions on Monday via video ended with no new progress announced. Two powerful explosions rocked the capital Kyiv before dawn, and a

March 15, 2022

S. Korea lowers travel alert level for some of Ethiopia

South Korea said Tuesday it has eased a travel alert for its nationals on some regions of Ethiopia on Tuesday, as the civil war in the African nation has subsided in recent weeks. The Level 3 alert, which was placed on all parts of Ethiopia, was lowered to the special advisory against overseas travels on the capital city of Addis Ababa and other provinces in the southwestern region, with the rest of the African nation still under Level 3, the second highest under the four-tier system, in accorda

March 15, 2022

Top security advisers of US, China meet over N. Korea, Russia

WASHINGTON -- US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met Monday with China's Yang Jiechi to discuss various current issues, including North Korea, a senior US official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting was "intense" and seven-hours long. "Obviously, we have serious concerns about the recent escalatory actions that we have seen from the DPRK," the official said in a telephonic press briefing, referring to North Korea by its official

March 15, 2022

Nuclear envoys of S. Korea, US, Japan hold talks over N. Korean missile tests

WASHINGTON -- The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, Japan and the United States held trilateral talks Monday to discuss North Korea's recent missile launches that tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile system, the US Department of State said. US Special Representative for the DPRK Sung Kim talked on the phone with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, and Japan's Takehiro Funakoshi, according to department spokesperson Ned Price. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of

March 15, 2022

S. Korea, US will continue to deepen relations with KORUS FTA, economic framework: trade minister

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States will continue to develop and expand their economic cooperation rooted in their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) enacted 10 years ago and the new US strategy for economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said Monday. He also insisted the Korea-US FTA (KORUS FTA) will help the countries "weather any storm." "It is a fact that KORUS FTA expanded the size of the trade pipe between our two count

March 15, 2022

USTR Tai to visit S. Korean-run factory to mark 10th anniversary of KORUS FTA

US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo will visit a factory run by a South Korean company in Michigan this week to mark the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the Korea-US free trade agreement, her office said Sunday. "On Wednesday March 16, 2022, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai will travel to the Detroit area, Auburn, and Bay City, Michigan," the office of the USTR said in a press release. "Ambassador Tai, Congr

March 14, 2022

Russia strikes near Ukrainian capital; port city under siege

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian forces pounded the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, shelling its downtown as residents hid in an iconic mosque and elsewhere to avoid the explosions. Fighting also raged in the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, as Russia kept up its bombardment of other cities throughout the country. Mariupol has endured some of Ukraine's worst punishment since Russia invaded. Unceasing barrages have thwarted repeated attempts to bring food, water and medicine into the

March 13, 2022

[Newsmaker] Companies Leaving Russia Don’t Know If and When They’ll Return

(Bloomberg) -- When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, companies rushed behind the Iron Curtain to plant their flag in Russian soil. Icons of capitalism, from Apple Inc. to McDonald’s Corp. to Adidas AG, went on to build profitable businesses in the ensuing years as consumers clamored for a slice of Western lifestyle. In just a few short days, those longstanding ties have unraveled. After Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, a mass corporate exodus set in, starting wi

March 13, 2022

Trade chief, lawmakers to visit US this week for 10th anniv. of KORUS FTA

South Korea's trade minister and some lawmakers will visit the United States this week to mark the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the two nations' free trade agreement, the trade ministry said Sunday. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and a parliamentary delegation led by Rep. Lee Hack-young, chief of the parliamentary committee on trade and industry, will visit the US between Monday and Friday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. They plan to attend an event to celebrat

March 13, 2022

NK reports on Yoon’s election win

North Korean state media on Friday reported on conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s win as South Korea’s new president, marking the regime’s first coverage of the election result.  In a brief report, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said, “Yoon Suk-yeol, a candidate of the conservative opposition ‘People Power Party,’ won by a narrow margin in the 20th ‘presidential election’ held in South Korea on March 9.” The Rodong Sin

March 11, 2022