Samsung to bolster corporate compliance

Samsung Group, South Korea’s biggest family-owned conglomerate, plans to beef up compliance management at its affiliates as part of a group-wide strategy to better cope with risks and irregularities, an official said Wednesday.Samsung plans to adopt an index measuring compliance policies and chief executives’ efforts to put those plans into action, Samsung chief spokesman Rhee In-yong told reporters, citing the group’s chief compliance officer Kim Sang-kyun.The group will also introduce a system

Feb. 13, 2013

S. Korea's jobless rate rises to 3.4 pct in Jan.

South Korea's jobless rate rose above 3 percent in January for the first time in five months, but job growth quickened thanks in part to a hike in the manufacturing sector, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.4 percent last month, up from the previous month's 2.9 percent. The rate rose above 3 percent for the first time since August.Job creation, however, accelerated. About 322,000 jobs were created last month compared wit

Feb. 13, 2013

New foreign investment rules to take effect in June

The Ministry of Knowledge and Economy said on Tuesday that the revised rules of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act that aimed to improve business services for foreign investors would take effect in June.The revised ordinances aimed at sorting out qualified foreign firms and providing them with benefits in terms of financing and services, officials said.Under the new system, access to state-owned or public land will only be allowed for firms that maintain a foreign investment proportion of 30 p

Feb. 12, 2013

Public sector targets 10 percent cut in operating expenses

Government ministries and agencies will cut 10 percent of their basic operating expenses in their 2013 budget in an attempt to tighten their belts amid the protracted economic downtown, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Tuesday. “It is true the government asked for ministries to submit a plan to cut their basic operation costs by 10 percent,” a ministry official said. The cut will be made by reducing spending on administrative activities, information technology system operations and publ

Feb. 12, 2013

Conglomerates boost charitable activities

Some South Korean family-controlled conglomerates have either created or strengthened their organizations handling corporate social responsibility, officials said Tuesday, in what could be an attempt to soothe widespread corporate bashing.The move comes as many South Koreans have called for corporate social responsibility in recent years amid widespread perception that conglomerates are to blame for the wealth gap.GS Group plans to unveil programs meant to provide social contributions after its

Feb. 12, 2013

Top 20 listed companies’ market cap soars in 2012

South Korea’s top 20 listed companies saw their combined market capitalization jump over 16 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, accounting for more than half the total value of companies listed on the main bourse, data showed Tuesday.The combined market cap of the top 20 companies reached 605.5 trillion won ($553.3 billion) in December 2012, up 16.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the bourse operator Korea Exchange.The figure takes up 52.46 percent of the aggregat

Feb. 12, 2013

Korea logs surplus in cultural trade in 2012

South Korea posted the first-ever surplus in trade of cultural products and services last year on the back of the popularity of its pop culture in overseas countries, data showed Tuesday.The account tracking exports and imports of cultural products and contents logged a surplus of US$85.5 million last year, a turnaround from a shortfall of $94 million in 2011, according to data by the Bank of Korea (BOK).This marks the first time that this account posted a surplus since the central bank began to

Feb. 12, 2013

Local households' consumption falls on debt

South Korean households' consumption fell in the third quarter of 2012 from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, apparently as the country's rising household debts gave limited leeway in their spending.Local households with more than two members saw their consumption-to-income ratio reach 59.6 percent in the third quarter, down 3.13 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the data by Statistics Korea.The number marks the lowest rate since the agency started to compile such data in 20

Feb. 12, 2013

Chinese women largest group of marriage immigrants

Korea saw the highest number of international marriages between Korean men and Chinese women over the last 10 years, while more Korean women married Japanese men.According to Statistics Korea, the number of marriages between Korean men and Chinese women reached 130,230 between 2002 and 2011. Observers speculate that the high rate is related to the increase in the number of ethnic Koreans in China who visit or stay in Korea.This figure is followed by Korean marriages with Vietnamese women at 59,6

Feb. 11, 2013

Foreign luxury goods to face stricter tariff audit

In an effort to uncover hidden tax revenues, the Korea Customs Service will ramp up its tariff audit on luxury goods imports this year, officials said.Items subject to the change are mostly designer clothes, bags and cars ― imported by the Korean branches of multinational companies.“We will expand the range of subject companies from 80 to 130 this year, in order to raise tax revenues and to back the new administration’s financial needs,” said a KCS official last week.The amount raised by detecti

Feb. 11, 2013

3 in 10 tourism-related businesses see worse conditions in 2013

Three out of 10 South Korean hotels and other tourism-related businesses said they could face a slump this year due to the global economic slowdown and the local currency's ascent against the U.S. dollar, a poll showed Sunday.The survey of 305 hotels, tour operators and tourism-related businesses by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute in November found that 30.2 percent of the respondents said the tourism industry could suffer a slump.The institute, affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, S

Feb. 10, 2013

China likely to become world's largest economy by 2017: report

China will likely become the world's largest economy by 2017, overtaking the economic powerhouse U.S., a report showed Sunday.Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said in a report that China's gross domestic product measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis will be nearly US$20 trillion, surpassing the comparable figure for the U.S.By 2030, the world's three largest economies on PPP basis will be China with $30.6 trillion, the U.S. with $23.4 trillion and India with $1

Feb. 10, 2013

Korean women least active in startups

The number of women in Korea who intend to start their own business was one of the lowest among developed countries, a report showed.Only 19.8 percent of women were interested in starting a business in 2010, according to a report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade on Thursday.This was significantly lower than the corresponding figures for other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ― 51.2 percent in Mexico, 43.3 percent in the United States,

Feb. 7, 2013

Shinhan Financial posts W2.3tr in profit

Shinhan Financial Group said Thursday that it posted a net profit of 2.36 trillion won ($2.18 billion) last year.The financial services company said the 2012 earnings marked a drop by 23.8 percent from the 2011 net profit of 3.1 trillion won. “The year-on-year fall was attributable to a reduction in the net interest margin and accumulation of loan loss provisions.”Its flagship Shinhan Bank reported a profit of 1.69 trillion won, down 19.9 percent from a year earlier. Shinhan Card posted 749.8 bi

Feb. 7, 2013

Economy dogged by weak employment, consumption: gov't report

South Korea's economy is facing slowing employment and sluggish domestic consumption despite overall improvements in other major indicators, a government report showed Thursday, emphasizing that it will continue its policy efforts to boost economic vitality down the road. "Recently, our economy is seeing its inflation stabilize with production, investment, exports and other major indicators also improving," the finance ministry said in the monthly report that analyzes the latest economic trends

Feb. 7, 2013

Global market share of Hyundai-Kia hits record high

The global market share of South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. hit a record high in 2012 as robust sales around the world offset sluggish domestic performance, a U.S. marketing firm said Wednesday.A total of 7.101 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles were delivered last year, accounting for 8.8 percent of the global market share, up 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier, according to J.D. Power and Associates. In particular, the two firms’ com

Feb. 6, 2013

Confiscated narcotics jump in 2012: data

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― The amount of narcotics confiscated in South Korea jumped in 2012 as the nation’s crackdown efforts and international cooperation to prevent drug smuggling intensified, the customs office said Wednesday.The Korea Customs Service said in a report that it confiscated a total of 33.8 kilograms of drugs like methamphetamine and cannabis last year, up 15 percent from a year earlier.Methamphetamine, also known as philopon, came to 20.9 kilograms, an amount that could be administ

Feb. 6, 2013