Number of college graduates defaulting on student loans up 8 times in 3 years

The number of college graduates who failed to pay back their student loans jumped nearly eight times in three years, data showed Monday, in the latest sign of financial trouble for young South Korean workers.Under the student loan program that began 2010, college graduates are required to pay back their loans in case they earn more than 18.56 million won ($16,000) a year.Last year, a total of 86,715 college graduates were obliged to start paying back their loans.Among them, 7,912 college graduat

Oct. 31, 2016

Loan delinquency rate for conglomerates hits new record high in Sept.

The delinquency rate of South Korean banks' won-denominated loans to large companies hit a new all-time high in September after the nation's No. 1 shipper was put under court receivership, government data showed Monday.The rate rose to 2.67 percent during the month, up 0.08 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service. This undated file photo shows bank workers handling corporate financing. (Yonhap)It marks the highest since the relat

Oct. 31, 2016

More people cancel installment savings amid slump

More South Koreans have canceled their installment savings accounts before maturity this year, industry data showed Monday, an apparent sign that an increasing number of ordinary people are feeling the pinch from the country's sluggish economy.The early cancellation rate of installment savings accounts at Shinhan, KB Kookmin, KEB Hana and three other major banks came to 45.2 percent as of end-September, up sharply from 42.6 percent the previous year.Industry sources said households, when they ex

Oct. 31, 2016

[Budget 2017] Rival parties spar over corporate tax hike

As the National Assembly last week began a 40-day review of the government’s budget plan for 2017, opposition lawmakers are pushing hard to raise corporate tax, citing the need to curb a growing fiscal deficit. Ruling lawmakers and the government, however, strongly oppose the idea, saying it would exacerbate the already depressed business sentiment.Saenuri Party lawmaker Yoo Seong-min (right) talks with People‘s Party lawmaker Park Joon-young at a public hearing for the parliamentary review of t

Oct. 30, 2016

New home permits plunge 45% on-year in Sept.

The number of construction permits issued for new homes has been nearly halved from a year earlier in September, also marking a third consecutive month of on-year drop, the government said Sunday.Construction permits issued for new homes came to 48,024 last month, down 45.4 percent from 87,955 issued in the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The ministry attributed the drop to a base effect, noting home construction permits had more than doubled

Oct. 30, 2016

[Graphic News] Top 10 earners control 45% of total income

The top 10 percent of South Korea’s highest income earners account for 44.9 percent of the country’s total income as of 2012, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and The World Wealth and Income Database. This makes South Korea the No. 2 country among major economies in terms of income inequality, only after the US, where the top 10 percent of income earners make up 47.8 percent of the country’s total income. South Korea’s income equality is worsening rapidly. It jumped 15.6 pe

Oct. 27, 2016

[Graphic News] South Korea ranks 5th in business environment

South Korea came in at No. 5 in business environment among 190 countries this year, driven by high scores in electricity supply and other legal, administrative and taxation systems, a report by the World Bank showed Wednesday. It marked a notch down from last year.The annual “Doing Business 2017” report gave South Korea a total 84.07 points. The country moved up in the ratings in terms of legal settlement, environment for starting a business, tax payment and property registration. Its rankings,

Oct. 26, 2016

KOTRA head vows to help revive exports despite dim outlook

Despite a gloomy export outlook, the head of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency vowed his agency would devote itself to help revive declining exports in the last quarter of the year. “We will put forward our best efforts to help revive exports,” Kim said during a press conference held in Seoul.  But he remained skeptical about the outlook for the rest of the year. “It is unlikely that exports in the rest of the year will buck the prolonged losing trend,”

Oct. 26, 2016

Labor policy fails to ease job mismatch

The government-proposed budget for next year has set aside 17.5 trillion won ($15.4 billion), up 10.7 percent from this year, to finance programs designed to create jobs.In her parliamentary speech Monday, President Park Geun-hye described the 2017 spending plan as a job-creating one.Since its installment in February 2013, Park’s administration has put the focus of labor market policy on helping more people into employment. Over the past few years, Korea has seen its overall employment rate edge

Oct. 26, 2016

Korea's debt ratio not that low, given population aging: report

South Korea's national debt ratio remains lower than advanced nations' ratios, but it is not that low when its aging population and income level are taken into account, a report said Wednesday.The National Assembly Budget Office said in the report that Seoul thus needs to step up efforts to bolster its fiscal soundness as its national debt has been rising at a much faster clip in the 2010s than countries in Southern Europe that suffered a debt crisis.According to the report, South Korea's ratio

Oct. 26, 2016

BOK chief calls for consistent corporate restructuring

The head of South Korea's central bank called Wednesday for consistent corporate restructuring in financially troubled industries to help put them back on track."The government should consistently push forward restructuring in close consultation with subjected industries according to market rules," Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol said in a meeting with several economists at the bank's headquarters in central Seoul. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol speaks during a meeting with economists in

Oct. 26, 2016

Korea stuck in low growth trap

The South Korean economy is trapped in low growth trends as it suffers a double whammy of weak domestic consumption and slowing exports, the central bank’s data showed Tuesday.According to the Bank of Korea, the quarterly growth of gross domestic product remained weak at 0.7 percent in the third quarter, slowing from 0.8 percent in the previous quarter.Real gross domestic income, a measure for people’s purchasing power, shrank 0.3 percent in the July-September period, after a 0.2 percent contrac

Oct. 25, 2016