FTC head highlights market stability, drive for transparency to assure foreign businesses

The head of the nation’s antitrust watchdog, Kim Sang-jo, assured foreign businesses here that he is confident the South Korean market will remain strong despite concerns over North Korea’s latest missile launch Wednesday. 　The chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission also said his organization is devoted to increasing transparency to raise the market’s credibility for foreign businesses operating here.　“When looking at the stock market conditions and economic outlook,

Nov. 29, 2017

Korean biz leaders meet Sri Lanka president in Seoul

South Korean business leaders met with the president of Sri Lanka on Wednesday to seek cooperation in expanding their presence in the South Asian market, a local corporate lobby said.Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena attended a luncheon meeting in downtown Seoul with a group of Korean entrepreneurs who operate businesses in the South Asian country or plan to make forays into the region.  "Many South Korean businesspeople are interested in Sri Lanka as part of a South Asian trio

Nov. 29, 2017

Korea seeks to expand free trade networks

South Korea needs a balanced and sophisticated strategy to cope with efforts by China and Japan to take the lead in building a free trade framework for Asia and the Pacific amid the US’ strengthening protectionism, experts here say.At a summit in Manila earlier this month, the leaders of 16 countries involved in talks on launching the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreed to complete the negotiating process by the end of 2018.RCEP encompasses the 10-member Associatio

Nov. 29, 2017

Korea to provide 1 million homes for young people, underprivileged

The Korean government will provide 1 million homes as part of its "housing welfare" road map for young people, newlyweds, the elderly and the underprivileged, the infrastructure ministry said Wednesday. The Moon Jae-in government, which seeks a paradigm shift from a provider-oriented housing market to one that focuses on the needs of homebuyers, announced the housing road map to give customized support for people in different stages of life, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastru

Nov. 29, 2017

Korean economy to grow 3% in 2018: think tank

South Korea's economy is forecast to continue to expand 3 percent on-year in 2018 on growing exports, investment and private consumption, a private think tank said Wednesday.Asia's fourth-largest economy is likely to achieve the growth rate in the coming year following a 3.2 percent on-year expansion this year, according to the Woori Finance Research Institute affiliated with Woori Bank."Private consumption is expected to be better in 2018 than this year, and growth of exports and investmen

Nov. 29, 2017

Biz sentiment gap widens between conglomerates and SMEs: data

The business sentiment gap between conglomerates and smaller firms has widened, suggesting recent signals for economic recovery were mostly limited to the market’s upper clusters, data showed Tuesday. The business survey index of domestic companies for December stood at 80, up two points from the previous month, according to the central Bank of Korea. The given figure for manufacturing firms was 83, also up two points from a month earlier.A BSI figure below 100 indicates an overruling

Nov. 28, 2017

China partly lifts bans on Korean trips

BEIJING/SHANGHAI/SEOUL  -- China's tourism authorities decided Tuesday to partially lift its bans on group tours to South Korea, sources said, as Seoul and Beijing move to repair bilateral relations badly frayed by the deployment of a US defense system in South Korea. At meetings earlier in the day, China's National Tourism Administration made a decision to allow offline tourist agencies in Beijing and Shandong Province to sell package tours to South Korea, the industry sources said. "

Nov. 28, 2017

Biz community expecting largest-ever delegation to accompany Moon to China

Business associations said Tuesday they are expecting the biggest economic delegation so far to accompany President Moon Jae-in on his China trip next month.The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea International Trade Association opened their websites to accept applications from companies who want to join the delegation. This was a change in practice for the KCCI, which usually conducts the process through separate contacts.The application period ended Monday.Moon is scheduled to

Nov. 28, 2017

Income of one-person households falls 3.5% in Q3

South Korea's single-person households saw their income drop at the fastest clip in about four years in the third quarter due to the country's rapid population aging, government data showed Tuesday.The average income of such households stood at 1.68 million won ($1,540) in the July-September period, down 3.51 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.It marks the biggest on-year drop since the 3.54 percent decline during the fourth quarter of 2015.

Nov. 28, 2017

Real household income on the decline

Recent data showing a continuous decrease in Korea’s real household income has strengthened calls for balancing the Moon Jae-in administration’s income-led growth policy with regulatory and labor reforms to help create more jobs.The average monthly income earned by households with two and more members across the country stood at 4.53 million won ($4,165) in the July-September period this year, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier on nominal terms.Adjusted for inflation, however, the fi

Nov. 27, 2017

Korea’s Q3 growth No. 2 among OECD on back of strong exports

South Korea‘s third quarter economic growth was the second highest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, on the back of strengthening exports, data showed Monday.　Korea’s economy grew 1.4 percent from July to September of this year compared to the previous quarter, the data showed. The figure marked the second-highest on-quarter jump among all OECD members behind Latvia, which edged out Korea at 1.5 percent. 　The country’s strong economic grow

Nov. 27, 2017

Mortgage rates jump despite key rate freeze

South Korean banks' mortgage rates have surged over the past 17 months despite a freeze in the country's benchmark interest rate, industry data showed Monday.Annual mortgage rates charged by South Korea's major lenders have risen by 0.4 percentage point to more than 0.8 percent since May last year, according to the data from the Korea Federation of Banks.As of October, the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea had the highest interest rate of 3.55 percent on 10-year mortgages, up slightly over 0.8

Nov. 27, 2017

[News Focus] Market consensus points toward key rate hike

Tension is building up within the financial market over whether the central bank will increase the nation’s key interest rate this week, for the first time in more than six years.The market consensus as of Sunday was that the Bank of Korea’s monetary policy board, which is to hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, will raise the current record-low rate of 1.25 percent by 0.25 percentage points.Hints an imminent rate hike have been building up for some time. Last month, while freezing

Nov. 26, 2017

Household debt jumps 34 pct over past 3 years

South Korea's household debt soared 34.4 percent over the past three years, buoyed by the government's policy of easing lending regulations for home mortgages and by low interest rates, data showed Saturday. At the end of September, household debt stood at 1,419.1 trillion won ($1,306 billion), up 362.7 trillion won from three years earlier, according to data by the Bank of Korea. In comparison, household debt grew by 165.2 trillion between September 2011 and September 2014.  In August 2014

Nov. 25, 2017

Consumer sentiment reaches 7-year high on eased geopolitical risks

South Korea's consumer confidence in November hit its highest level in seven years as tensions subsided over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, a central bank poll showed Friday.The composite consumer sentiment index for November stood at 112.3, up 3.1 points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Bank of Korea.A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists. The BOK attributed the rise in consumer confidence to eased tensions between North Korea and the US ove

Nov. 24, 2017

Korea to expand trade talks during Olympics

The South Korean government is looking to the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics as beacon for providing additional means and opportunity in which the country can expand its economic territory and extend multilateral Free Trade Agreement talks with leaders from Eurasian nations, according to local trade officials on Thursday. 　The winter games, which will launch in February, will play host to a sleuth of economic and political figures from the Eurasian Economic Union, including Russia, Be

Nov. 23, 2017

[Monitor] Household credit hits all-time high in Q3

The nation's household debt hit a record high in the third quarter, despite the government’s set of measures including stricter loan regulations, according to the central bank.The outstanding total of household debt stood at 1,419.1 trillion won ($1.3 trillion) in the July-September period, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier, preliminary data by the Bank of Korea showed Wednesday. The amount was also a 2.2 percent rise from the previous quarter.The latest data came a week before the BOK is

Nov. 23, 2017

[PyeongChang 2018] Trade officials hope for progress on Eurasia FTA talks during PyeongChang Winter Olympics

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics are hoped to expedite South Korea's economic cooperation with other countries, especially with Eurasian nations with which the country is seeking a free trade agreement, trade-related officials said Thursday.The PyeongChang Games, opening in February, will bring a substantial number of foreign political and economic leaders to South Korea, naturally providing venues to address bilateral and multilateral issues. Officials hope that one of the opportunities wil

Nov. 23, 2017

Korea expands outreach to ASEAN

The Moon Jae-in administration has vowed to go all out to expand economic cooperation and personnel exchanges between South Korea and Southeast Asian nations in the coming years.President Moon used his seven-day trip to Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines earlier this month to trumpet what has been dubbed the New South Policy.He told regional business leaders that South Korea would seek to double its annual trade with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to over $200 billion b

Nov. 22, 2017

Korea’s export growth rate likely lower than global trade rise

Despite Korea experiencing a boom in exports in the semiconductor industry, overall export growth for Korean goods is expected to fall short of the overall growth rate of worldwide trade due to worsening international competitiveness, according to the Bank of Korea on Wednesday.　The central bank forecast Korea’s exports would see 3.7 percent growth this year compared to last year. However, the figure is 0.5 percentage point lower than the International Monetary Fund’s global trade gr

Nov. 22, 2017