Hyundai Steel says no US antidumping duty on its steel products

Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea's No. 2 steelmaker, said Thursday that the United States has decided not to impose an antidumping duty on its corrosion-resistant steel products. The US Department of Commerce made the final determination on Wednesday (local time) in its annual review of the case, according to Hyundai Steel. The move came after the U.S. launched an investigation into the sale of corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea between July 2017 and June 2018. Hyundai Steel s

March 12, 2020

Coronavirus to have bigger, longer impact on economy than past epidemics: BOK

The ongoing spread of the new coronavirus is expected to have a greater and longer-lasting impact on the local economy than past epidemics, partly due to its impact on China, now one of the world's largest suppliers and buyers, a central bank report said Thursday. "The ongoing crisis is expected to have a greater impact than in the past in that COVID-19 is spreading to other countries while China currently is the world's largest trading and tourism exchange country and plays a critical rol

March 12, 2020

Exports of agricultural goods down 13% in Jan. amid coronavirus outbreak

South Korea's exports of agricultural goods tumbled a whopping 13 percent in January from a year earlier as the global outbreak of the new coronavirus dealt a harsh blow to the country's efforts to penetrate deeper into Asian countries. Outbound shipments of agricultural products reached $692 million in January, down from $786 million posted a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. Exports of fresh goods tumbled 14.4 percent o

March 12, 2020

S. Korea’s job figures improve in Feb. amid virus fears

South Korea saw its jobless rate decline and job creations extend the uptrend for several months straight in February, while some service industries have started reflecting the negative impact of the new coronavirus, government data showed Wednesday. However, with the infection rate taking a steep upturn, Asia’s fourth-largest economy is likely to face the full-scale fallout in its employment indexes starting this month. Korea added 492,000 new jobs in February from a month earlier,

March 11, 2020

Korea's ICT exports increase for 1st time in 16 months in Feb.

South Korean exports of information and communication technology (ICT) goods grew for the first time in 16 months in February on brisk shipments of chips and smartphones, government data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of ICT products expanded 8.5 percent on-year to $13.74 billion last month, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. February marks the first month since November 2018 that the country's ICT exports have increased from a year earlier. Asia's fourth-larg

March 11, 2020

Korea's exports up 21.9% in first 10 days of March

South Korea's exports rose by more than 20 percent from a year earlier in the first 10 days of March, customs data showed Wednesday, but the new coronavirus outbreak may limit the growth of its exports and economy. The country's outbound shipments came to US$13.3 billion in the March 1-10 period, up 21.9 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. The daily average, however, slipped 2.5 percent on-year to $1.78 billion. The customs office note

March 11, 2020

Korea's jobless rate at 4.1% in February, 492,000 jobs created

South Korea's jobless rate fell in February and job creations rose by more  than 400,000 for the third straight month, with the outbreak of the new coronavirus dealing a harsh blow to some sectors, such as the retail and wholesale segment, data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage point to 4.1 percent last month, and the number of employed people reached 26.83 million, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. South Korea added 492,000 jobs in the month.

March 11, 2020

S. Korea to tighten grip over stock short selling as emergency action

South Korea vowed Tuesday to tighten regulations on stock short selling to stabilize the market amid increased volatility caused by the spread of the new coronavirus, and also the sudden drop in global oil prices. “As a market stabilizing action, (the government) will alleviate the requisites for (designating) overheated short selling and expand the transaction ban period (for these stocks),” Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki was quoted as saying in a minist

March 10, 2020

Students' private education spending surges to 10-year high in 2019

Young South Korean students' spending on private education spiked to a 10-year high in 2019, data from the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea showed Tuesday, reflecting undiminished parental enthusiasm for their children's academic achievements. Elementary, middle and high school students spent 20.99 trillion won ($17.6 billion) on private education last year, up 7.8 percent from the previous year's 19.48 trillion won and marking the largest amount since 2009, when 21.6 trillion won wa

March 10, 2020

[Newsmaker] Basic income scheme of W51tr spurs controversy

With the novel coronavirus outbreak dealing a major blow to South Korea’s economy, a far-reaching welfare measure to give every citizen 1 million won ($839,00) is igniting a heated debate. Suggested as a temporary scheme, primarily designed to support citizens financially crippled by the rapid spread of COVID-19, politicians and liberal-leaning opinion leaders claim it could also stimulate the sluggish economy. There are mixed responses, with some questioning who the beneficiaries sho

March 10, 2020

S. Korea incentivizes mask monopolizers to turn themselves in

In an effort to secure the supply of face masks and curb excessive profiteering, the government on Monday announced it will suspend punishment for monopolizers who voluntarily report themselves within a grace period. The action came on the sidelines of a rationing system that allows people to buy two protective masks per week from pharmacies on designated days. “We judged that the top priority is to secure as many (protective) masks as possible that may be distributed through p

March 9, 2020

BOK names research head as new deputy governor

The Bank of Korea said Monday that it had appointed Lee Hwan-seok, the incumbent head of its research department, as its new deputy governor, a senior post within the central bank that had been vacant for nearly two months. Lee, 55, joined the BOK in 1991 and built his career in its policy departments, including research and monetary policy, the bank said. He also served as monetary policy board secretariat within the bank’s planning and coordination department and chief of staff withi

March 9, 2020

New coronavirus leading to more jitters in Seoul-Tokyo trade row

South Korea and Japan plan to hold another meeting this week to discuss their monthslong trade dispute, but they are unlikely to reach a compromise anytime soon as the global outbreak of the new coronavirus has led to more jitters in the bilateral relationship. The two Asian neighbors are set to hold their first trade meeting in around three months on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. While the meeting was planned to be held in Seoul, it was later replaced with

March 9, 2020

Persistent virus outbreak to further hurt Korea's growth: reports

The outbreak of the new coronavirus here may further undermine South Korea's economic growth if it is lasts for a significant amount of time, reports suggested Monday, while some said the virus may already have nearly halved the country's economic growth. "Household spending in Japan and Korea are set to weaken further and slower growth in the US and Europe will add to external headwinds," S&P Global Ratings said in an article titled "COVID-19 Now Threatens More Damage to As

March 9, 2020

Korean economy could shrink 1% due to coronavirus outbreak: ADB

Assuming the worst-case scenario regarding the ongoing new coronavirus outbreak, South Korea could see its GDP contract by as much as 1 percent this year, according to the Asian Development Bank. In its latest report “The Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Developing Asia,” the multilateral agency suggested four possible scenarios to assess the economic fallout that the fast-spreading epidemic may have on major Asian economies. The categories were classified into

March 8, 2020

Banks undermine watchdog, reject KIKO arbitration

The Financial Supervisory Service is finding itself under mounting strain as local banks are blatantly refusing or delaying their response to its mediation proposal over the disputed sales of currency-linked derivatives. As of Sunday, only one out of six lenders -- Woori Bank -- has consented to the FSS’ recommendations to pay indemnities for the alleged misselling of derivatives. The knock-in, knock-out -- KIKO -- products caused 723 local businesses to lose a combined 3.3 trillion won

March 8, 2020

[News Analysis] BOK weighed by US rate cut, raising growth pessimism

Following the United States’ abrupt rate cut action and the escalating pessimism of global investors, South Korea finds itself with little choice but to bend prudence and lower its policy rate as soon as possible, according to market observers. Concerns are mounting, however, that Asia’s fourth-largest economy may already have missed the chance to take relevant monetary moves, considering the prolonged impact of the globally spreading COVID-19. The key agenda for Korea’s

March 5, 2020

South Korean government takes full control of face mask supply, bans exports

The South Korean government said Thursday it will take full control of face masks distributed via public channels, and ban local companies from exporting them to cope with the severe supply shortage amid rising cases of coronavirus. “To distribute face masks swiftly and fairly to all citizens, the government has decided to fundamentally manage the entire process of production, logistics and distribution,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other agencies monitoring the COVID-

March 5, 2020

Korea's current account surplus narrows sharply in Jan.

  South Korea's current account surplus narrowed sharply in January on shrinking exports, central bank data showed Thursday. The country's current account surplus came to $1.01 billion in the month, compared with a surplus of $4.33 billion the previous month and a $3.3 billion surplus the same month last year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The drop was largely attributed to a dip in South Korea's goods account surplus, which shrank to $1.93 billion in January from $5

March 5, 2020

FSS to impose sanctions on KT&G over alleged accounting fraud

  South Korea’s financial watchdog is likely to slap sanctions on the tobacco giant KT&G over accounting fraud allegations, according to officials Wednesday.  The Financial Supervisory Service sent a preliminary notice to KT&G last month, concluding that the firm violated financial reporting standards by reporting its Indonesian affiliate Trisakti in its consolidated financial statements even though it exerts no actual influence. The notice, which recommends prosecuto

March 4, 2020