The South Korean stock market may trade in a narrow range this week, affected by a U.S. rate decision and overseas economic data, but it is not likely to face steep falls on global recovery hopes, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished at 1,986.50 last week, down 0.97 percent from a week earlier.The KOSPI was weighed down this week by heightened geopolitical risks from North Korea’s nuclear threats and the yen’s weakness, decoupling from the bullish gain in the U.

March 17, 2013

The government plans to invest 1.36 trillion won ($1.22 billion) in energy-related research and development this year, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Sunday. Targeted R&D projects for investments will include technology development, improving human resources, international cooperation, and standardization in the energy sector. Most of all, the ministry will allocate 700 billion won to technology R&D, while human resources and international cooperation projects will attract 40.3 billion w

March 17, 2013

SAO PAULO (Yonhap News) ― Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, has maintained fourth place in subcompact passenger car sales in Brazil during the first two and half months of this year, the company said Sunday. Hyundai Motor, the world’s fifth largest automaker, has sold 6,124 units of the HB20 in the first half of March, a Hyundai spokesman said. The South Korean carmaker sold 10,179 units of the HB20 in Brazil in February alone, emerging as the fourth biggest seller in the subco

March 17, 2013

The government will soon introduce an agricultural products distribution system that connects farmers directly to consumers to greatly reduce the prices of farm products, government officials said Sunday. The move comes as President Park Geun-hye early last week pledged to improve the agriculture distribution system to guarantee higher incomes for farmers and lower prices for consumers.Both producers and consumers have long been unhappy with the country’s complicated distribution system in which

March 17, 2013

Foreign-currency loans extended by South Korean banks declined last year from a year earlier, as a stronger won helped borrowers repay their outstanding debts, the financial regulator said Thursday. The amount of foreign currency-denominated loans extended by local banks reached $29.93 billion in the January-December period of 2012, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The figure has been on the decline since it hit $43.10 billion as of the end of 2008, the FSS said. From 2010,

March 14, 2013

Korea’s weekly working hours fell to a record low in 2012 as companies reduced operations and production to shed costs amid the economic slowdown.Companies with more than five workers had their employees work an average 41.4 hours a week last year, with average monthly working hours also falling below 180 hours for the first time since 1999 when Statistics Korea began compiling data, the statistics bureau and the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Wednesday.Korea’s monthly working hours avera

March 13, 2013

South Korean mobile operators ended lower on the Seoul main stock index on Wednesday following government remarks on tightening regulations on smartphone subsidies.During a briefing on President Park Geun-hye's first cabinet meeting, spokeswoman Kim Haing said the government is seeking to draw up measures to curb excessive subsidies involved in mobile phone sales.Top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. slipped 0.27 percent to 183,000 won, while No. 3 player LG Uplus Corp. lost 1.03 percent to 8,660 wo

March 13, 2013

South Korea's jobless rate jumped in February from a month earlier and job creation also slowed sharply, raising worries that labor market conditions will remain bleak down the road, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 4 percent last month, up from the previous month's 3.4 percent. This is the highest ever since February last year when it was 4.2 percent.The jobless rate adjusted for inflation also rose to 3.5 percent from J

March 13, 2013

The massive Yongsan development project came on the verge of bankruptcy as its developer is facing default under severe financial difficulties.The Dream Hub failed to the meet the deadline of payment of 5.9 billion won ($5.4 million) in interest on its asset-backed commercial paper as of 6:00 p.m.The developer would head toward bankruptcy if it could not repay its debt by Tuesday. KORAIL, the state-run rail operator and largest shareholder, had earlier pledged to inject 6.4 billion won in an eff

March 12, 2013

The proportion of people currently working or seeking work in Korea’s labor market is expected to fall below the 60 percent threshold for the first time in 24 years.Korea’s economic activity rate is predicted to sink to 59.3 percent this year, according to data by Statistics Korea and the National Assembly Budget Office. Korea has generally kept its economic activity rate above 60 percent since 1990. The economically active population also is expected to fall 2.3 percent to 25.4 million. This wo

March 11, 2013

A round of heated debates over the effects of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) is expected in the U.S. capital this week, as the two sides mark the first anniversary of the implementation of the historic deal.After years of political controversies and tumultuous ratification procedures, the agreement, dubbed "KORUS FTA," went into effect on March 15 last year. It is arguably the U.S.'s most commercially significant free trade agreement in almost two decades.South Korea's oppositio

March 11, 2013

Korea will likely see a slow economic recovery as various indices ranging from domestic consumption to exports registered lackluster figures, a state-run think tank said on Sunday.Exports, the country’s main growth engine, dropped about 9 percent in February from a year ago, but Korea was able to record a trade balance surplus of some $2 billion, the Korea Development Institute said in the report.The fall in exports is in part due to sluggish outbound shipments of ships and automobiles, as well

March 10, 2013