Parliament tentatively agrees to extend retirement age to 60

Consensus has been reached between ruling and opposition parties to extend the legal retirement age of South Korean workers to 60 beginning in 2016, parliamentary officials said Monday.Currently, no legal age limit is set for South Koreans to retire but all government offices and most private-sector businesses retire their workers at between 56 and 58.The consensus, reached between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party, is no surprise, because it was their camp

April 23, 2013

BOK to aggressively pursue market-stabilizing measures: Kim

South Korea's central bank said Monday it plans to aggressively map out measures to stabilize the financial markets as high currency volatility is feared to hurt the Korean economy."While closely monitoring the financial markets, if needed, we plan to pump liquidity into the financial system and flexibly manage the macro-prudential measures," Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo told lawmakers.The governor said that the central bank continues to keep tabs on possible outflow of foreign capital and

April 22, 2013

LG Display swings to black in Q1

South Korean panel giant LG Display Co. said Monday it swung to profit in the first quarter from a year earlier, driven by solid growth of panels for smart devices.Net profit reached 3.48 billion won ($3.1 million) in the January-March period, compared with a loss of 129 billion won a year earlier, LG Display said in a regulatory filing.Revenue jumped 10 percent on-year to 6.8 trillion won in the first quarter, while the company posted an operating profit of 151 billion won, a sharp turnaround f

April 22, 2013

SK Innovation to launch car battery biz in China

SK Innovation, the holding company of SK Group’s energy-related businesses, said Monday it will enter the Chinese electric-car battery market by setting up a joint venture in Beijing by June this year with its two state-run Chinese partners Beijing Automotive Industry Holding and Beijing Electronics Holding. For this plan, the company’s top management, including SK Holdings vice chairman Chey Jae-won, signed an investment letter of intent with their Chinese counterparts on Monday in Beijing. The

April 22, 2013

POSCO unit begins work on plant for ‘needle coke’

POSCO, South Korea’s leading steelmaker, said Monday that its chemical unit broke ground for a plant that will produce so-called “needle coke,” a special type of coke used in making LEDs, solar cells, secondary batteries and electrodes. Needle coke, produced from coal tar pitch, has excellent properties such as a low coefficient of thermal expansion and low electric resistance, according to POSCO.In 2011, POSCO ChemTech Co. set up a joint venture with two Japanese firms such as Mitsubishi Chemic

April 22, 2013

Provincial SME duty-free shop plan fizzles out

The Korea Customs Service’s plan to allow duty-free shops to open in major cities reached a deadlock recently as some the participating companies have abandoned the project, citing low profitability.Even those which are sticking to the blueprint are faced with difficulties of finding a sufficient range of business partners, as prestigious global brands tend to avoid being involved in the provincial shops.Late last year, the KCS licensed several small and medium-sized companies to run duty-free s

April 21, 2013

Korea to seek port-driven logistics hubs

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries unveiled Friday its road map aimed at making the nation surrounded by three seas into an ocean-powered country.Reporting her ministry’s policies to President Park Geun-hye at Cheong Wa Dae, Minister Yoon Jin-sook said the ministry will promote four policy initiatives including reinforcement of sovereignty over the nation’s marine territories.The ministry also plans to upgrade ocean-related industries, cultivate marine technology-driven industries, and foster

April 19, 2013

Fiscal balance to be delayed due to extra budget: report

The extra budget that the government recently drew up will likely delay achieving a fiscal balance until 2016 due to increased spending coupled with less-than-expected tax revenues, a government report showed Friday.The government earlier unveiled a 17.3 trillion won ($15.4 billion) extra budget aimed at boosting the country's slowing economic growth. This was the second largest since 2009 when it announced 28.4 trillion won in extra spending in response to the fallout from the global financial

April 19, 2013

ESCAP sees lower Asia-Pacific growth as ‘new normal’

The U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific said Thursday that Asia-Pacific economies would see “subdued” growth this year after last year’s sharp slowdown.In its annual report, the regional arm of the United Nations said it expected South Korea to grow 2.3 percent in 2013.South Korea’s Finance Ministry earlier projected the same growth rate for this year.“An important finding is that the relatively subdued growth compared to the pre-global financial crisis period could beco

April 18, 2013

Korea Herald holds forum on new government’s policies

The Korea Herald, the largest English-language daily in South Korea, will hold a special conference on President Park Geun-hye’s key policies at Millennium Seoul Hilton hotel in Seoul on Thursday. The forum, titled “Hear from the New Korean Government: Policies and Reforms over the Next Five Years,” offers a rare chance for senior officials of the new government to brief the global business community policy reform and key issues that will affect not only Korean businesses but also foreign compan

April 17, 2013

Gov't debt from bond sales reaches 765.6 tln won in April

South Korea's debt from bond issuance reached 765.6 trillion won (US$687.8 billion) this month, raising concerns over increasing tax burdens down the road, data showed Wednesday.According to the data compiled by Korea Financial Investment Association, the combined amount of state bonds needing to be repaid by the South Korean government reached 436.1 trillion won on Monday, up 5.5 percent from the end of 2012.The amount of special bonds, which refer to debt sales floated by state-owned enterpris

April 17, 2013

S. Korea eyes extra $194m for defense spending

The defense ministry said Tuesday it will submit a 217.4 billion won ($194.3 million) supplementary budget to the parliament for approval to increase spending on weapons on the frontlines and shelters on border islands to better counter North Korean threats amid high tensions.The Cabinet approved an extra budget worth 17.3 trillion won for this year in a bid to revitalize the economy faced with gloomy market conditions at home and abroad. The budget is the largest since 2009 when the nation unve

April 16, 2013

S. Korea draws up 17.3 tln won extra budget to revive economy

South Korea on Tuesday drew up an extra budget worth 17.3 trillion won ($15.4 billion) for this year in a bid to revitalize its economy faced with gloomy market conditions at home and abroad.The budget plan, which was endorsed by a Cabinet meeting, is the largest since 2009 when the nation unveiled 28.4 trillion won in additional spending in the wake of the global financial crisis.The proposal for the latest extra budget, which will come on top of a 342 trillion won annual budget for 2013, will

April 16, 2013

Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Tuesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street sparked by worse-than-expected Chinese growth data, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 9.95 points, or 0.52 percent, to 1,910.50 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares lost ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 0.26 percent and top auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis losing 0.37 percent. Leading steelmaker POSCO also move

April 16, 2013