Parliament orders former NIS, Seoul police chiefs to testify

The National Assembly issued an order Wednesday for the two former chiefs of the intelligence agency and Seoul police to attend a hearing on their involvement in an alleged election interference and cover-up after they defied parliamentary summons. The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party agreed to hold the hearing on Friday and issue an order of accompaniment to former National Intelligence Service Director Won Sei-hoon and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner

Aug. 14, 2013

S. Korea's jobless rate unchanged at 3.1 pct in July

South Korea's jobless rate remained unchanged in July from a month earlier but job creation slightly quickened, raising hopes that labor market conditions are improving, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.1 percent last month. The jobless rate adjusted for inflation also stayed unchanged at 3.2 percent over the cited period.The pace of job creation quickened. The number of employed people was 25.47 million in July, up 367

Aug. 14, 2013

Gov't, ruling party seek to raise minimum salary subject to tax hikes: sources

The government and the ruling party have reached a consensus to raise the minimum annual salary subject to increased taxes starting next year amid criticism that their latest tax code revision plan increases the tax burden on salaried and middle income people, informed sources said Tuesday.According to the sources, the government and the ruling Saenuri Party shared the view to raise the minimum annual salary subject to the tax hikes to over 55 million won (US$49,300) from the 34.5 million won se

Aug. 13, 2013

S. Korea's H1 tax collection drops to lowest in 3 yrs: data

South Korea's tax collection during the first half dropped to the lowest level in three years, affected by slowing economic recovery, sluggish corporate profits and consumer spending, government data showed Tuesday.According to the data provided by the National Tax Service to Democratic Party Rep. An Min-suk, the government collected a total of 92.19 trillion won (US$82.6 billion) in taxes during the January-June period, down 9.41 trillion won, or 9.3 percent, from a year earlier.This also marks

Aug. 13, 2013

KNOC abandons $81.5m oil project in Yemen

The state-run Korea National Oil Corp. has decided to abandon the oil exploration business in Yemen, a project that has consumed $81.5 million over the past six years.“The oil reserves in the Yemen gas field No. 4 turned out to fall below the break-even point so we decided in the latest directorate meeting to terminate the project,” said an official of KNOC on Monday.The corporation will thus liquidate KNOC Yemen, a special company established for the purpose, and return the exploration and mana

Aug. 12, 2013

Park orders review of new tax code proposal

President Park Geun-hye ordered the government Monday to review its new tax code proposal, saying it should not cause additional burdens to the working and middle classes.Park's remarks follow recent criticism against the government for its plan to overhaul the tax code in a way that critics claim favors the rich and hurts the working and middle classes.Under the overhaul announced last Thursday, 4.34 million people, accounting for about 28 percent of workers, will see their tax burden increase

Aug. 12, 2013

Korea's import prices dip for 11th month in July

South Korea's import prices declined for the 11th straight month in July as the local currency's gain helped offset higher oil costs, the central bank said Monday.In local currency terms, the country's import prices declined 4.3 percent in July from a year earlier after falling at the same pace of 4.3 percent in June, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The import prices have fallen every month since September last year when such prices dipped 2.2 percent on-year. In March, the import prices fe

Aug. 12, 2013

UBS mediates 31 Korean ...bogus firms in tax haven

Swiss bank UBS was the most-favored broker by Koreans who established paper companies in overseas tax havens, according to the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, a group of local journalists.The journalists said they found that UBS branches in Singapore and Hong Kong mediated 31 cases among 369 phantom companies established by Koreans.Those who turned to UBS for alleged tax evasion were reported as Hanjin chairwoman Choi Eun-young, OCI chairman Lee Soo-young and KB AutoTech president Par

Aug. 9, 2013

Intel reaffirms no plans for N.K. business

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― Intel Corp., a U.S. tech giant, stressed Thursday that it has no intention of doing business in North Korea although it has secured the U.S. government‘s approval for efforts to protect its intellectual property rights in the communist nation.“Our position is that we have no plans to do business in North Korea,” Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel, said in an email.Last year, the company submitted an application for a “specific license” in North Korea to the Treasury’s

Aug. 9, 2013

Effective tax rates for high income earners to sharply rise

People earning more than 100 million won (US$89,847) a year will see their effective tax rate rise faster than other income brackets next year under the government's latest tax code overhaul plan, the finance ministry said Friday.   The ministry unveiled its 2013 tax code overhaul proposal on Thursday in which it plans to phase out most of the income deduction programs and replace them with tax deductions in a bid to provide more benefits to low- and middle-income earners.   The government estim

Aug. 9, 2013

George Mason University to open Songdo campus in 2014

The government has allowed George Mason University to open its regional campus in the international district of Songdo, part of the Free Economic Zone in Incheon, officials said Thursday.The officials said the Industry Ministry’s FEZ committee reviewed the proposal and approved it at a meeting.The campus, scheduled to open in March 2014, will be located at the Songdo Global University Campus area and will be the second university to open a foreign branch in Songdo after the State University of N

Aug. 8, 2013

Over 4 million people to see tax burden increase next year

More than 4 million salaried workers in South Korea will see their tax burden increase next year as the government is pushing to overhaul its tax code aimed at broadening its tax revenue base and raising sufficient money to meet growing fiscal demand.The government will also impose taxes on earnings by monks, priests and other religious leaders starting in 2015, putting an end to a years-old controversy over the issue.These are part of measures included in the 2013 tax code overhaul proposal tha

Aug. 8, 2013

Naver to exit real estate business

The nation’s online portal giant Naver bowed to mounting public pressure and announced on Wednesday that it would withdraw from the real-estate business.Naver, the nation’s largest search engine operator, had been criticized for having expanded its business to online information services markets including shopping and real estate.In particular, the company’s real estate information service, which was launched in 2009, was accused of dealing a serious blow to online real estate agencies that prov

Aug. 7, 2013

Samsung Electronics sees its assets top W200tr

Assets held by Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s top conglomerate by market cap, topped 200 trillion won ($180 billion) as of end-June this year mainly due to its stellar business performance, data showed on Wednesday.Samsung’s assets reached 203.76 trillion won at the end of June, up 12.92 trillion won from three months earlier. The end-June figure is also up 37.46 trillion won from a year earlier, according to its financial statement.Samsung Electronics, the world‘s top maker of memory ch

Aug. 7, 2013

Duty-free shops not allowed at arrival terminals

The government has concluded a years-long controversy over the feasibility of setting up duty-free shops near airports’ arrival gates and terminals. In a meeting with other economic policymakers in Seoul on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said a policy revision for duty-free shops at arrival zones would only increase congestion and unfairness in taxation between the rich and poor. Simply put, the cost of disadvantages would outweigh the cost of benefits to the

Aug. 7, 2013