Korea’s income inequality high in Asia: IMF report

Income equality in South Korea was the highest among 22 countries in Asia, according to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund. The findings showed that the top 10 percent of earners in South Korea accounted for 45 percent of the nation’s total income. A view of an alley at a slum in eastern Seoul (Yonhap)Income equality, measured by the net Gini coefficient, rose in 15 of the 22 countries from 1990 to 2013, the report said, with sharp increases witnessed in countries with large popu

March 16, 2016

Youth unemployment soars to 12.5%, an all-time high

Korea’s youth unemployment soared to its highest level on record in February, as economic slowdown takes its heaviest toll so far on fresh and inexperienced job candidates. According to Statistics Korea, the jobless rate for workers aged between 15 and 29 was 12.5 percent last month, up 1.4 percentage points from the same month in 2015. From a month ago, the unemployment rate grew by 2 percentage points. The jobless rate among the young tends to be higher in February when most college students g

March 16, 2016

Seoul, Beijing start talks on removing non-tariff barriers

Korea and China held their first official round of bilateral talks Wednesday aimed toward removing nontariff barriers.“The Korea-China FTA went into effect late last year, but various nontariff barriers such as excessive quarantine and safety regulations continue to keep our key export items, such as food and cosmetics, from the Chinese market,” Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in a meeting with a group of local exporters earlier this week. Former Korean Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick (left) shake

March 16, 2016

Kuroda says minus 0.5% rate is theoretically possible for Japan

The Bank of Japan has quite a lot of room to cut its key interest rate further and theoretically it could go to minus 0.5 percent, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in parliament Wednesday.While the BOJ kept policy unchanged on Tuesday, Kuroda underscored in a press conference a readiness to move on any of three fronts: a reduction in the present minus 0.1 percent rate, an acceleration in boosting the monetary base or an expansion in purchases of riskier assets.Questioned by a lawmaker in parliament

March 16, 2016

Korea's income inequality among top in Asia: IMF report

Korea's top 10 percent of income earners account for 45 percent of total earnings, the highest level among 22 countries in Asia measured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a March report seen on the institution's website on Wednesday.Income equality, as measured by the net Gini coefficient, rose in 15 of the 22 countries from 1990 to 2013, the report said, with sharp increases witnessed in countries with large populations such as China, India and Indonesia.For Korea, the Gini

March 16, 2016

Korea's youth jobless rate soars to record high

South Korea's youth jobless rate surged to an all-time high of 12.5 percent in February, a government report said Wednesday, underlying the growing number of college graduates failing to land jobs due to the sluggish economy.   Statistics Korea said the nation's overall jobless rate stood at a six-year high of 4.9 percent last month, up from 3.7 percent in January. The February reading also marks a 0.4 percentage point rise from the year before, the agency said in its monthly job market report. 

March 16, 2016

[Graphic News] As men’s waists widen, women’s legs get longer

Korean men are getting fatter and women’s legs are getting longer, according to a survey on Korean body size and obesity released Monday.The poll of 6,413 people, which was conducted by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Industry Ministry, showed that nearly half of Korean men in their 30s are obese. It said some 52 percent of those aged between 35 and 39 had a body mass index of 25, a measure of body fat based on height and weight. A BMI of 25 or over is regarded as obese

March 15, 2016

Incheon Airport CEO appointed to ACI regional board

The head of Korea’s main international airport has been appointed to the Asia-Pacific Regional Board of the Airports Council International, the airport said Tuesday.Chung Il-young, the CEO of Incheon International Airport Corp., will take part in creating policy at ACI as a representative of Asian-Pacific airlines for three years.  Chung Il-young (Incheon International Airport)He was appointed to his post on March 13.Chung Il-young has been the CEO of Incheon International Airport Corp. since Fe

March 15, 2016

Korea's trade surplus widens to $7.4 bln in Febuary

Korea's trade surplus expanded from a month earlier in February but mostly due to imports shrinking at a faster clip than exports, customs data showed Tuesday.The country's trade surplus came to $7.38 billion last month,compared with a surplus of $5.17 billion in the previous month, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.   February marked the 49th consecutive month of a trade surplus.From a year earlier, however, the February tally dropped 1.2 percent.The on-month increase was lar

March 15, 2016

Tax office launches probe on S. Korea's largest church

South Korea's tax office has launched a tax probe on the country's largest church, sources said Monday.According to Yoido Full Gospel Church insiders, the National Tax Service (NTS) has started going through its tax records."The NTS Seoul Regional Office started the tax probe into our church... It has asked us to set up an investigation office at the CCMM building (located in Yeouido, southwestern Seoul)," Reverend Dr. Lee Young-hoon was quoted as saying by several church officials who later rel

March 14, 2016

Korean men become fatter: survey

Nearly half of South Korean men in their 30s are obese, while women have longer legs compared to 10 years ago, a nationwide survey showed on Monday.According to the survey on 6,413 South Koreans conducted last year by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, 52 percent of men aged between 35 and 39 had a body mass index of 25. A BMI of 25 or more is regarded as obese in South Korea.On the female side, the survey showed that 46 percent of women aged 60 and over surpassed the 25 BMI thresho

March 14, 2016

Tax revenue increase detached from slowing economy

A monthly fiscal report released by the Finance Ministry last week showed that Korea’s national tax revenue reached 30.1 trillion won ($25.3 billion) in January, up 4.4 trillion won from a year earlier. This accounts for 13.5 percent of the total national tax revenue planned to be collected throughout the year, compared with the corresponding figures for the same months in 2014 and 2015, which stood at 11.7 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively.This spike has drawn some skeptical and grumbling

March 14, 2016

Korea's home transactions plunge in February

South Korea's home sales plunged 24.9 percent last month from a year earlier as the local property market has shown some signs of a slowdown, government data showed Sunday.The number of home transactions reached 59,265 in February compared with a record 78,864 tallied a year ago, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.It also marked a 5 percent drop from the previous month's 62,365 and a 12.2 percent fall from a five-year average of 68,000.February's sha

March 14, 2016

PM offers tax incentives to companies for job creation

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn pledged Monday to provide tax incentives to companies that create jobs for young adults.The government will "make efforts to expand jobs for young adults," Hwang said at the opening ceremony of a job fair in the central city of Daejoen. He did not elaborate on the tax incentives for companies. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (Yonhap)Young Koreans have been hit hard by a prolonged economic slump as local companies remain reluctant to hire new workers.The unemployment rat

March 14, 2016

China's acquisitions of Korean businesses spike in 2015

Chinese companies' takeover of Korean businesses spiked last year, with the culture and financial service sectors emerging as their main targets, industry data showed Monday.According to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association, Chinese companies took over Korean firms in a total of 33 corporate merger and acquisition (M&A) deals last year, which was about three times more than the previous year. Money involved in those deals came to $1.93 billion, a 128-percent rise from t

March 14, 2016

Korea's import, export prices rise in Febuary on oil price recovery

Korea's import and export prices rose from a month earlier in February largely due to a recovery in global oil prices and the devaluation of the local currency against the U.S. dollar, central bank data showed Monday.The export price index came to 81.99 last month, up 0.8 percent from a revised 81.32 the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).The on-month gain, however, was mostly attributed to a weakening of the Korean won, which on average traded 1,217.35 wo

March 14, 2016

Drastic deregulation needed to boost FDI in Korea

Foreign direct investment in Korea reached a record annual high of $20.91 billion last year on the reporting basis, according to recent data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In the period between 2013 and 2015, the amount stood at $54.4 billion.But the record may well be seen as similar to the level in the late 1990s when the country began strengthening efforts to attract more investment from abroad while going through a foreign exchange crisis.The FDI here in 2013-2015 was up so

March 13, 2016

Real wage grew faster than economy due to low inflation

Real-wage growth surpassed economic growth in Korea last year mainly due to a record-low inflation rate, government data showed Sunday.According to the finance and labor ministries, the inflation-adjusted monthly salary at workplaces with five or more regular employees grew 2.7 percent on-year to an average of 3 million won ($2,510) in 2015. It was the first time since 2012 that real wages -- adjusted to reflect purchasing power -- grew faster than the economy itself. Korea’s gross domestic prod

March 13, 2016