Trade ministers in Asia-Pacific to gather for RCEP talks

Trade ministers of 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region will gather in South Korea this week to discuss the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the trade ministry said Monday. RCEP is in essence a massive regional free-trade agreement between the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the six countries with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements, including South Korea, China, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand.Some 800 negotiators from the member na

Oct. 23, 2017

Manufacturers’ debt repayment ability improves in recent years: KSE

South Korea's manufacturing firms have improved their ability to repay short-term debt with the cash inflow from their operations in recent years, data showed Monday, despite Asia's fourth largest economy struggling with sluggish growth.The cash flow coverage ratio for 674 manufacturers listed on the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose to 124 percent last year, up from 107 percent in 2013, according to the statistics by the Korea Stock Exchange. The comparable figure for the 65 larg

Oct. 23, 2017

Korea's economy to grow 2.8% in 2017: think tank

South Korea's economy is expected to grow 2.8 percent this year due to a weakening in business investment, a non-governmental think tank said Sunday.The Korea Economic Research Institute said it is lowering growth numbers for 2017 from the previous 2.9 percent, with its growth forecast for next year standing at 2.7 percent.The institute under the Federation of Korean Industries, the lobbying group for large businesses, said that while facility investment surged 15.9 percent in the first half, th

Oct. 22, 2017

[Monitor] Income gap widening among professional jobs

Nearly 15 percent of professionals working as individual businesses made less than 2 million won ($1,765), or one-tenth of an average of income in these traditionally highly paid professions, suggesting growing competition in the professional market.While those in these professions, a total of 35,108, earned an average of 230.8 million won a year, 14.3 percent of the group made a monthly income of 2 million won or 24 million won a year, according to data provided by the National Tax Service requ

Oct. 22, 2017

China denies THAAD retaliation against Korea: WTO report

Trade representatives of China denied the existence of trade-restrictive measures in tourism and distribution services against South Korean companies, despite the United States and Japan voicing support for Korea, a report by the World Trade Organization showed Sunday.　According to the meeting minutes for a council meeting held in June by the Council for Trade in Services, the Korean government raised again the issue of China’s trade-restrictive measures seen as retaliatory actions against

Oct. 22, 2017

Seoul to take fresh measures to curb household debt

South Korea is set to unveil another set of measures this week, the third of its kind, aimed at curbing rising household debts amid expectations that the central bank would raise its key rate in the coming months, industry sources said Sunday.The measures, due Tuesday, come as a rise in housing prices still does not show signs of abating despite a series of measures, including heightened financial regulations.Over the past few years, housing prices in South Korea have continued to rise on the ba

Oct. 22, 2017

Govt. buys 370,000 tons of rice to stabilize market price

The government has started to buy up 370,000 tons of rice harvested this year to stabilize domestic prices of the staple grain, the agriculture ministry said Sunday.It said regional governments have been notified of Seoul's plans to "isolate" rice this year and details related to the purchase.Besides the rice to be bought from growers for the purpose of keeping market prices at certain levels, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it will set aside another 350,000 to

Oct. 22, 2017

Govt. sets up committee to review policy goals

The government said Sunday it will set up a committee comprised of experts to review President Moon Jae-in's industrial technology-related state affairs and policy goals.Earlier, the Moon administration announced that finding new growth engines through the so-called fourth industrial revolution for the South Korean economy is one of its key policy objectives. Moon said the revolution will help create more jobs, develop cutting-edge technologies and eventually serve as a catalyst for the economy.

Oct. 22, 2017

Income gap growing among professional jobs

Professionals in jobs that traditionally enjoyed high pay like lawyers and accountants earned an average of 230.8 million won ($203,796) per individual last year but close to 15 percent of the people in these professions made less than one-tenth of the amount, data showed Sunday.Records provided by the National Tax Service for parliamentary audits said 35,108 people were registered to be in private practice as lawyers, accountants, customs agents, certified architects, appraisers, patent attorne

Oct. 22, 2017

Issuance of gift certificates accounts for more than half of central bank's printed money in 2016

The total value of gift certificates issued in South Korea last year accounted for more than 50 percent of the country's money printed by the central bank, a report showed Sunday.Some 11.3 trillion won ($10 billion) worth of gift vouchers, mobile coupon and revenue stamps were issued in 2016, according to a report by Rep. Shim Ki-joon of the ruling Minjoo Party. This is equivalent to 56.2 percent of 20.2 trillion won worth of money printed by the Bank of Korea in the same one-year period. The re

Oct. 22, 2017

Korea's tax rate will be 5th highest under gov't plan

South Korea's tax rate will rise to be the fifth highest among major economies if the incumbent Moon Jae-in administration follows through on its plans to collect more dues from very big companies, an opposition lawmaker said Friday.The government and the ruling Democratic Party have said they will increase the corporate tax rate for firms with annual net profits exceeding 200 billion won ($177 million) to 25 percent from 22 percent at present to help finance Moon's welfare and job creation agen

Oct. 20, 2017

[Herald Interview] ‘Korea should take leadership in the world intellectual property sector’

Having risen to one of the global technology innovators within a relatively short period of time, South Korea holds a unique position in the intellectual property sector, acting as a bridge between developing nations and advanced ones.Recognizing its strength and challenges, the country should now focus on increasing its leverage in the international intellectual property realm, according to the chief of the Korea Intellectual Property Office.“In step with key technological development suc

Oct. 19, 2017

KIPO urges pre-emptive IP measures for ‘4th industrial revolution’

South Korea‘s Korean Intellectual Property Office attended the World Intellectual Property Organization’s General Assembly meeting at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland this month, urging the member states to take pre-emptive measures for the anticipated changes in the intellectual property market with the advent of the “fourth industrial revolution” brought on by artificial intelligence and big data. 　The WIP is a self-funding agency of the United Nations for intell

Oct. 19, 2017

Korea's financial debt-to-GDP ratio reaches nearly 100% in 2016

The ratio of South Korea's financial debt to gross domestic product reached nearly 100 percent last year amid rapidly rising household lending, a report showed Thursday.South Korea's combined household financial credit and nonprofit organizations accounted for 95.6 percent of the country's GDP in 2016, up 4.6 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the report by Rep. Kim Du-kwan submitted to parliament. The country GDP was tallied at $1.64 trillion last year. The debt-to-GDP ratio ha

Oct. 19, 2017

BOK raises economic growth outlook to 3%, holds rate at 1.25%

South Korea's central bank on Thursday revised up its growth outlook for Asia's fourth-largest economy this year to 3 percent as it held its key rate steady for October.In a widely expected move, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea voted to keep the key rate at 1.25 percent, extending its wait-and-see approach for the 16th consecutive month.In June last year, South Korea's central bank made a surprise rate cut, citing the need to stimulate the lackluster economy amid a prolonged econo

Oct. 19, 2017

Inconsistent policy hobbles resources development abroad

Korea’s policy to develop energy and other mineral resources abroad has been inconsistent, biased toward short-term achievement and swayed by political winds.As a result, the country’s state-run energy and resources firms have shown a pattern of acquiring overseas oil rigs and mining fields at high prices and disposing of them at low prices. Over the past several years, Korea has swung from an aggressive push for overseas resources development to a hasty withdrawal from it.Under the

Oct. 18, 2017

US vows to closely monitor Korea's currency practices

The United States did not designate South Korea and four other major trading partners currency manipulators, but it has vowed to closely monitor their currency practices."No major trading partner of the United States met the standards... for currency manipulation in the first half of 2017," the Treasury Department said Tuesday in a report made to Congress.Still, the Treasury placed South Korea, China, Germany, Japan and Switzerland on its Monitoring List for special attention. Taiwan w

Oct. 18, 2017

[Monitor] South Korea’s export prices inch up

South Korea’s export prices increased slightly last month from August largely due to rising prices of oil and raw materials, the Bank of Korea said Wednesday.Based on local currency, the prices rose 0.9 percent in September from the previous month, driven by a rise in oil prices that raised petrochemical product prices.Export prices increased 10.9 percent on-year in September, marking the highest since March 2009.Meanwhile, import prices also rose 1.7 percent in September from a month earl

Oct. 18, 2017

Korea to promote social economy as new economic engine

The South Korean government said Wednesday that it will promote the "social economy" sector in a bid to expand its contribution to employment and build up a social safety net.The Presidential Committee on Job Creation held a meeting chaired by President Moon Jae-in and announced a plan to boost the country's social economy.The social economy is a third sector that creates social value through economic activities based on communities and voluntary institutions. They are mostly made up o

Oct. 18, 2017

Moon govt. unveils plan for job creation

The Moon Jae-in government unveiled Wednesday its final version of a road map aimed at creating over 800,000 jobs in the public sector in the next five years as part of its efforts to tackle the country's rising unemployment amid slowing growth.  Under the plan, some 200,000 public sector temporary workers who are expected to work for the next two years or nine months a year, will be switched to full time by 2020, according to the Presidential Committee on Job Creation. Of those, 70,000 wil

Oct. 18, 2017