[Monitor] SMEs anticipate financial problems during Chuseok

Nearly half of surveyed small and medium-sized enterprises anticipate financial problems during the 10-day holiday that includes Chuseok in early October, according to the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business.Of the 1,147 SMEs, 46 percent said they anticipate facing financial problems mainly due to a drop in sales (69.1 percent), delayed collection of payments (37.7 percent) and a rise in raw material prices (23.1 percent).

Sept. 18, 2017

Household debt tops W1,400tr in July: lawmaker

South Korea's household debt jumped 9 percent in July from a year earlier, a lawmaker said Tuesday, despite the government's tightened lending rules.The country's overall household debt came to 1,439 trillion won ($1.27 trillion) as of end-July, said Chae Yi-bai, a lawmaker of the opposition People's Party, citing the Korea Credit Information Services, the public agency responsible for managing the country's credit information. He said household loans extended by credit card firms and other

Sept. 18, 2017

Income-led growth policy put to test

The relevance of President Moon Jae-in’s income-led growth policy is being put to an early test by the worsening unemployment problem.Data released by Statistics Korea last week showed the on-year increase in the number of newly employed people in August fell to the lowest in four and a half years.  The unemployment rate for young people aged 15-29 stood at 9.4 percent last month, the highest for August since 1999, when the Korean economy was struggling with the aftermath of a foreign

Sept. 18, 2017

State-run financial institutions moving to hire temps as regular workers: FSC

South Korea's financial watchdog said Monday it will present comprehensive measures later this month to give permanent jobs to temporary workers currently employed at state-run institutions.The move comes as the Moon Jae-in government is pushing ahead with the implementation of his presidential campaign pledge to reduce the number of nonregular workers and increase employment of regular workers.Officials at the Financial Services Commission said guidelines will be set for the full-time employmen

Sept. 18, 2017

Weak employment conditions adversely affects sex life among women: survey

South Korean women in their 20s and 30s had sex less in 2014 compared with a decade ago, a survey showed Monday, amid high youth unemployment that has led to late marriage and less dating.South Korea's overall unemployment rate stood at 3.8 percent in June, up 0.2 percentage point from the same month last year. The unemployment rate for young people aged between 15 and 29 was much higher at 10.1 percent, up from 9.4 percent a year earlier. Jobless numbers have consistently outpaced those of the

Sept. 18, 2017

Financial regulator vows greater role on job creation

The head of the nation's top financial regulator said Monday he will put more emphasis on helping the government to create jobs and offer financial incentives for startups. In a report to the National Assembly, Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said the FSC will eliminate entry barriers for financial firms to make inroads into new businesses. Job creation is one of the top priorities of President Moon Jae-in, who has embraced income-led economic growth as his main econ

Sept. 18, 2017

[Monitor] Losses from drop in Chinese tourists amount to W81.6tr

A report from Hyundai Research Institute showed over the weekend that losses incurred by a radical decline in Chinese tourists amount to 81.6 trillion won ($71.94 billion) yearly.The number of incoming Chinese visitors dropped by 40 percent from March and July this year compared to the same period last year. The report estimated that some 3.33 million Chinese decided not to visit Korea in light of the Chinese government‘s purported group travel ban in a retaliation to Seoul’s deploym

Sept. 17, 2017

Long Chuseok holiday poses dilemma for SMEs

Planned to encourage consumer spending and revitalize the domestic market, the government’s designation of Oct. 2 as a temporary holiday to fill the chain of holidays in early October comes amid discouraging indices and dilemmas faced by smaller merchants. “We still haven’t decided whether to keep our store closed throughout the holiday season or to partially open,” said Kim Rae-won, an owner of a small restaurant in central Seoul. “It is hard to figure out whether

Sept. 17, 2017

North Korea's fresh missile launch has limited impact on local market

South Korea’s financial market on Friday remained relatively unperturbed by North Korea’s launch of another ballistic missile, despite aggravated geopolitical tension on the Korean Peninsula.Financial decision makers nevertheless vowed for a full readiness posture, lest the continuing military threats from the North dampen investor sentiment in the long-term. The nation’s benchmark Kospi on Friday closed at 2,386.07, up 8.41 points from the previous day. The secondary Kosdaq cl

Sept. 15, 2017

PM Lee, Wisconsin governor discuss economy, FTA

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon met with the governor of the US state of Wisconsin on Friday and discussed trade and economic cooperation, including the free trade pact between the two countries, Lee's office said.Gov. Scott Walker has been on a four-day visit to South Korea since Wednesday, leading an economic mission of about 20 people that includes government officials and business leaders in the state. It is his first visit to Korea. During the meeting, Lee noted the steady development of co

Sept. 15, 2017

THAAD row with China costs Korea dear: report

South Korea's tourism industry has been hit hard by a diplomatic row with China over the deployment of a US missile shield here that has sent the number of Chinese visitors tumbling, a report said Friday.In mid-March, China banned the sale of group tours to Seoul in retaliation against the installation of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in southeastern South Korea. Seoul and Washington insist it is purely designed to counter North Korea's missile threats, but Beijing argues the sys

Sept. 15, 2017

Korean economy remains calm despite NK missile provocation: finance minister

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Friday that the local financial market seems to remain calm despite the latest North Korean missile firing, but the government will take immediate action, if necessary."The market condition looks steady," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said. "It does not seem likely that there will be sudden fluctuation in the market. But if we experience it, actions will be taken swiftly and resolutely."The North fired a ballistic missile over Japa

Sept. 15, 2017

Korea boosting efforts to attract more visitors for PyeongChang Olympics

PYEONGCHANG  -- South Korea is gearing up its efforts to attract more local and foreign visitors to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, officials said Friday, with the quadrennial event just five months away. The Winter Games will be held in the alpine county of PyeongChang, 180 kilometers east of Seoul, from Feb. 9-25, 2018, and will be attended by about 6,500 athletes and officials from 95 countries.The government of Gangwon Province, where PyeongChang and other venues for the upcoming

Sept. 15, 2017

Banks' foreign currency deposits fall in August

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea fell in August from a month earlier as exporters decreased their deposits in the US dollar and Japanese yen, central bank data showed Friday.Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by banks here reached $67.14 billion at the end of August, down $1.97 billion from a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea.Broken down, foreign currency deposits held by domestic banks came to $57.41 billion in August, down from $59.38 b

Sept. 15, 2017

Health care costs for insured foreigners double over 5 years

Health care costs for foreigners covered by South Korea's state health insurance have more than doubled over the past five years as more subscribe to the scheme, data showed Friday.The total medical cost for covered foreigners came to 553 billion won ($487 million) last year, up 109 percent from 2012, according to the data by the National Health Insurance Service and the Justice Ministry.The amount is much larger than the 426 billion won paid by those covered foreigners in state health insurance

Sept. 15, 2017

Korea seeks gradual fade-out of nuclear power: energy minister

South Korea's energy minister said Friday that the country is gradually pushing forward a zero nuclear policy that will extend into the next 60 years so as to meet the rising demand for safer and cleaner energy."It is the right time to transform our energy base into a safe and clean one," Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-gyu said in a conference in Seoul. "There is a need to move away from the energy scheme of the past, which focused on promoting nuclear power plants

Sept. 15, 2017

Finance Minister dismisses calls to delay religious taxation

Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon on Thursday reiterated the government’s plan to impose taxes on clergy, dismissing persistent complaints from Protestant church circles.“We shall make all preparations so that the religious taxation may take effect from next year without setbacks,” the minister told reporters after his meeting with Protestant leaders.“When I said that I would make a zero-based assessment of their demands, I mean

Sept. 14, 2017

Household debt may limit policy maneuvering: finance minister

South Korea's top economic policymaker on Thursday expressed concerns that ballooning household debt may narrow room for policy maneuvering in Asia's fourth-largest economy when interest rates rise, while downplaying the chance of high household debt posing a threat to the overall economy."The risk of massive household debt will unlikely spill over to the entire economy," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a policy meeting with Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol and high-ranking offici

Sept. 14, 2017

Chemical industry to expand investment in Daesan complex

The domestic chemical industry has responded to the government‘s push toward active domestic investments and job creation demands as major chemical companies have vowed to expand large-scale investment projects totaling some 10 trillion won ($8.8 billion), the government said Thursday. 　According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, S-Oil, Lotte Chemical and Hanwha Total Petrochemical signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial government to invest in the Daesan Petr

Sept. 14, 2017

Firms' Q2 sales growth at 5-yr high on brisk sales of electronic goods

South Korean companies' combined sales jumped 8 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier helped by increased sales of semiconductor and other electronic goods, central bank data showed Thursday.The on-year sales growth rate marks a turnaround from a 1.9 percent contraction in the second quarter of last year, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. The yearly growth rate for the second-quarter also marks the highest since the first quarter of 2012 when the comparable figure was 10.4 perce

Sept. 14, 2017