Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 17.8 percent in October from a year earlier, a trade association said Wednesday, in the latest sign of the growing popularity of foreign cars in the Asian country.A total of 14,154 units of foreign-brand cars were sold in October, compared with 12,019 vehicles sold a year ago, according to data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.In the first 10 months of 2013, a total of 130,239 foreign vehicles were sold in th

Nov. 6, 2013

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok further urged lawmakers to pass and legislate key economic bills and amendments at the National Assembly.In a meeting with lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party on Tuesday, Hyun and ruling party officials agreed to first move forward with 15 of the some 100 bills pending legislation at the National Assembly.Hyun said that the government has worked hard in devising a set of measures aimed at revitalizing the economy such as policies promotin

Nov. 5, 2013

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has launched a probe into two major bed manufacturers for their possible involvement in unfair business activities, government and industry sources said Tuesday.Last week, the Fair Trade Commission sent its workers to the offices of Ace Bed Co. and Simmons Co., the country’s No. 1 and No. 2 bed manufacturers, to secure documents and other information on sales and transactions, according to the sources.The FTC is closely looking into whether the bed makers have be

Nov. 5, 2013

South Korea's foreign-exchange reserves rose to a fresh record high in October, aided by a weak U.S. dollar and an increase in investment profit, the central bank said Tuesday.The country's foreign reserves totaled a record $343.23 billion as of end-October, up $6.3 billion from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The October gain also marked the largest monthly growth since October 2011 when the FX reserves rose by $7.59 billion.The foreign reserves rose for the fourth stra

Nov. 5, 2013

Gangwon Province will establish a huge space camp together with a NASA-affiliated education center and two Korean firms in Chuncheon by 2016, provincial officials said Monday.Representatives from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Mirinae Development Corp. and Kyobo Securities signed an MOU for the construction of Space Camp Korea, the first of its kind in Asia.The province, in cooperation with Mirinae, has pushed for a NASA-linked space education program in Chuncheon since it signed a licensing ag

Nov. 4, 2013

The State-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power has decided to file for damages against JS Cable for supplying faulty parts to two nuclear power stations.KHNP CEO Cho Seok was quoted as saying on Monday that “we cannot but bring the matter to court to prevent the recurrence of corruption in the nuclear energy industry. But we have not decided yet on the timing of filing a lawsuit and the damages amount.”Industry sources said KHNP is expected to claim more than 100 billion won $94 million in damages gi

Nov. 4, 2013

Home buyers who signed a contract from Aug. 28 will pay a less property acquisition tax, as the government and the ruling party agreed Monday on the timeline for the implementation of the tax benefit.The property tax cut measure was announced by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Aug. 28 in a bid to encourage property transactions in the sluggish real estate market, but the measure floated without a fixed timeline for its implementation due to concerns by local governments over a fall in th

Nov. 4, 2013

The government and the ruling party agreed Monday to retroactively apply a proposed tax cut on home purchases as part of efforts to encourage transactions in the sluggish property market, a ruling party lawmaker said.The proposal, announced by the government on Aug. 28, calls for lowering the acquisition tax rate on houses valued at less than 600 million won ($565,000) to 1 percent from the current 2 percent. The tax levied on homes valued at between 600 million won and 900 million won would rem

Nov. 4, 2013

South Korea's household debt problems are feared to worsen as the Federal Reserve's possible stimulus tapering is likely to spur foreign capital outflows, raising market rates, a report showed Monday.If the U.S. central bank begins to taper its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, foreign capital is likely to exit from the Korean market, raising concerns that subsequent rises in market rates would worsen household debt problems, Jeong Young-sik, an economist at the Samsung Economic Research In

Nov. 4, 2013

Korea’s current account surplus is likely to surpass that of Japan for the first time this year.Korea recorded an account surplus of $42.2 billion in January-August, compared to Japan’s $41.53 billion during the same period, according to the Bank of Korea on Sunday.By the end of the year, Korea’s surplus is expected to reach $63 billion in total, outperforming its neighbor by almost $2 billion, sources said.This is the first time that Korea has topped Japan in terms of accumulated account surplu

Nov. 3, 2013

Korea’s economic competitiveness is expected to be severely affected by an increasing number of workers moving from high value-added industries to low value-added ones, analysts at the Bank of Korea warned.Almost 53 percent of employees of high value-added sectors such as manufacturing and information technology moved into low value-added services industries over the last decade, according to a BOK report by a group of analysts.The figure, which compares 2003 and 2013 data, increased from turnov

Nov. 3, 2013

Korea’s current account surplus is likely to surpass that of Japan for the first time this year.Korea recorded an account surplus of $42.2 billion in January-August, compared to Japan’s $41.53 billion during the same period, according to the Bank of Korea on Sunday.By the end of the year, Korea’s surplus is expected to reach $63 billion in total, outperforming its neighbor by almost $2 billion, sources said.This is the first time that Korea has topped Japan in terms of accumulated account surplu

Nov. 3, 2013

South Korea’s exports surged to a new monthly high last month on growing shipments to the United States and Europe, posting a trade surplus for the 21st consecutive month, the government said Friday.The country’s total outbound shipments came to $50.5 billion last month, up 7.3 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The previous monthly record was at $48.95 billion posted in July 2011. It also marks the first time the country’s monthly expo

Nov. 1, 2013

A consortium of Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson and Sony filed a lawsuit against Google, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Pantech, HTC, ASUS, Huawei and ZTE over former patents of Nortel Networks at the U.S. District Court in Texas on Friday (Korean time), industry sources revealed.The consortium, dubbed Rockstar, had purchased 6,000 patents belonging to the telecommunication company during its four-day bankruptcy auction in 2011.Google had attempted to attain this same portfolio with

Nov. 1, 2013

South Korea's finance minister Friday voiced his opposition to the idea that increasing the salaries of workers could boost overall economic conditions, apparently objecting to a similar policy being undertaken by Japan.Japan has provided tax incentives for companies whose spending on salaries expanded -- a policy intended to raise income levels and boost domestic demand and economic recovery. Seen as successful in bolstering its slumping economy, the country is reportedly considering expanding

Nov. 1, 2013

The International Monetary Fund said Friday that it has decided to maintain its previous 2014 growth outlook for South Korea at 3.7 percent but expressed concerns over the relatively weak domestic demand caused by "debt overhang" in the household and corporate sectors. The decision was made by an IMF team led by Isabelle Mateos y Lago, the deputy chief of the IMF's Asia-Pacific bureau. It completed its two-week-long annual meeting here with South Korean policymakers to assess its overall economi

Nov. 1, 2013

Overseas credit card purchases by South Koreans rose 41.7 percent over the past five years, data showed Friday, raising concerns that the trend may spark a social disharmony amid the economic slump.Overseas credit card bills totaled 5.5 trillion won ($5.1 billion) last year, rising sharply from the 3.1 trillion won tallied in 2008, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association submitted to parliament.The number of cardholders making purchases overseas doubled over the cited pe

Nov. 1, 2013