S. Korea to spend W300b on ‘fintech unicorn’ project

The Finance Ministry announced Wednesday plans to establish a 12 trillion won ($10 billion) fund to help support competent startups scale up as unicorns, allocating 300 billion won exclusively for fintech firms.Unicorns refer to startups valued at over $1 billion. “(The government) will actively adopt policies to scale up and advance the fintech ecosystem both quantitatively and qualitatively, so that South Korean startups can emerge as global unicorns,” Deputy Prime Minister and Fin

Dec. 4, 2019

Tax agency unveils list of habitual tax delinquents

The country's tax agency on Wednesday disclosed a fresh list of some 6,800 new citizens and corporate entities with unpaid taxes exceeding 200 million won ($167,462) for one year or longer. The National Tax Service said that it decided to reveal those on the list after they refused to specify their reasons for failing to pay their taxes even though they have been asked to do so for more than six months. The list includes 4,379 individuals. Also included on the list are 2,099 companies that

Dec. 4, 2019

Finance minister dismisses fears of deflation

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Wednesday he sees no acute risk of deflation, adding that next year's projected inflation rate will be higher than this year's. The remarks by Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki came days after the Bank of Korea announced that the third-quarter gross domestic product deflator -- a measure of inflation used to calculate economic growth in real terms -- fell 1.6 percent on-year, marking the sharpest decline in two decades.Consumer prices rose 0.2 percent on-

Dec. 4, 2019

Imported car sales rise 14 % in Nov. on new models

Imported car sales in South Korea rose 14 percent on-year last month, helped by new models, industry data showed Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to 25,514 units in November, up from 22,387 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association said in a statement. German carmakers, including Audi-Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, posted a 30-percent on-year jump last month. Their combined sales climbed to 16,459 in November from 12,688 a ye

Dec. 4, 2019

[Monitor] House prices soar despite tough regulations

Despite the Moon Jae-in government’s eighth and latest set of measures to curb real estate prices in the fall, prices of houses and those for lease have shot up, according to data by the Korea Appraisal Board.The house price index and lease price index for last month surged to the highest level in 14 months since the Sept. 13 measures, which aims to block home-based loans in most popular housing areas and hinder those with at least two homes from buying more. The house price index refers t

Dec. 3, 2019

Finance Ministry’s slow budget execution casts doubt on growth outlook

Skepticism is growing about the prospects of South Korea meeting its minimum target growth rate of 2 percent this year, as fiscal spending by the state budget headquarters is proceeding much more slowly than expected. According to data released by Rep. Park Myung-jae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, who sits on the parliamentary Strategy and Finance Committee, the Ministry of Economy and Finance had spent 12.83 trillion won ($10.8 billion) as of the end of October -- 59.9 percent of i

Dec. 3, 2019

S. Korea, Cambodia sign double taxation avoidance pact

South Korea and Cambodia have signed a double taxation avoidance pact, in a move to boost bilateral economic cooperation, Seoul's finance ministry said Tuesday.  The pact was signed last week in Busan, South Korea at bilateral talks between South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Cambodian counterpart, Prak Sokhonn, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement.   The pact is expected to help ease tax burdens for South Korean firms doing businesses in Cambod

Dec. 3, 2019

73% of Korean workers say they have leftover leave

With less than a month remaining until the end of the calendar year, more than 70 percent of South Korean office workers appear to still have unused annual paid leave, a survey showed Tuesday.Online recruiting company JobKorea surveyed 1,451 employees and found that merely 27 percent of respondents had used up all of their annual leave. Among the other 1,065 respondents with remaining annual leave, 61 percent said they would not be able to use the rest of their annual vacation time. By

Dec. 3, 2019

Korean economy grows 0.4% in Q3

The South Korean economy expanded 0.4 percent from three months earlier in the third quarter as earlier estimated, the Bank of Korea said in its latest revision released Tuesday.The third quarter growth estimate remained unchanged from preliminary figures released in late October despite slight upward revisions to consumer spending and overall exports as a large drop in construction investment offset the gains, it said.Domestic spending grew 0.2 percent from three months earlier in the July-Sept

Dec. 3, 2019

[News Focus] Gyeonggi, Sejong see unemployment-payouts surge

SEJONG -- More than 3 million of the working-age population, aged 15-64, in South Korea have been de facto out of work, while the government highlighted that the nation’s jobless people stayed under 1 million (864,000) last month with official unemployment rate falling to 3 percent.According to the Supplementary Index for Employment III, a database held by Statistics Korea, the extended (or sentiment-reflected) jobless rate posted 10.6 percent as of October 2019.The figure is generated fro

Dec. 2, 2019

S. Korea completes repayment of W48.7tr worth of Treasury debts for this year

South Korea has completed repayment of a total of 48.7 trillion won ($41.2 billion) worth of Treasury debts sold for this year, the finance ministry said Monday. By repaying 1.5 trillion won worth of the debt last Thursday, the government bought back all Treasury bills that were sold for this year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement.  Such debts are usually sold to raise money to cover short-term financial shortfalls, and thus are generally sold with a maturity of less

Dec. 2, 2019

S. Korea's Nov. consumer price growth turns positive

South Korea's consumer prices rose 0.2 percent on-year in November, marking the first gain in four months, the statistics agency said Monday.The consumer price index stood at 104.87 in November, compared with 104.71 for the same month last year, Statistics Korea said in a statement.The November reading was followed by zero growth in October and the first negative inflation rate in September that sparked fears of deflation.However, the November inflation rate was below market expectations. A surv

Dec. 2, 2019

[News Focus] Outlook for Korean economy remains grim

SEJONG -- South Korea has yet to see any positive signals of an economic revival although the government predicted it would bounce back in the second half of the year.The financial woes of companies are continuing while the stock market is lackluster. In addition, another round of the US dollar’s strong position is aggravating the situation.Korea saw its exports fall by 10.3 percent during the Jan. 1-Nov. 20 period, on year, according to the Korea Customs Service. The nation’s outbou

Dec. 1, 2019

Sluggish exports, consumption cast shadow on economy

While the government is likely to further lower its economic growth forecast for this year, the latest statistics are not bright, with exports extending the downtrend for 12 consecutive months and consumption hitting a six-year low, data showed Sunday.South Korea’s exports amounted to $44.1 billion in November, shedding 14.3 percent from a year earlier, extending the downtrend, Imports fell 13 percent during the same period to $40.7 billion, shrinking for the seventh consecutive month, acc

Dec. 1, 2019

Korea's per capita national debt exceeds W14m

South Korea's per capita national debt exceeded 14 million won ($11,864) and is expected to double by 2028, data showed Sunday, amid concerns that such ballooning debt could weigh on the nation's fiscal health. According to the National Assembly Budget Office, per capita national debt stood at 14.18 million won as of Saturday. In comparison, per capita national debt was 7.23 million won in 2009. The office predicted that South Korea's national debt may rise to 1,490 trillion won in 2028, compare

Dec. 1, 2019

Bank of Korea holds key rate steady at 1.25 percent, cuts growth forecast

South Korea’s central bank on Friday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.25 percent, while cutting its economic growth forecast for this year to the lowest level in a decade. The widely expected decision to keep its policy rate frozen follows the Bank of Korea’s Monetary Policy Board’s move in October to trim the rate by 25 basis points to the current rate. It had come merely three months after cutting the rate to 1.5 percent in July. The central bank is likely to m

Nov. 29, 2019

BOK keeps base rate steady, sees slower economic growth

The Bank of Korea Friday kept its policy rate frozen for the remainder of the year to see the impact of recent rate cuts on Asia's fourth-largest economy.But the central bank again trimmed its growth outlook for this year and next year amid still prevailing headwinds.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said the local economy is estimated to grow 2 percent on-year in 2019 and 2.3 percent next year.The figures mark downward revisions from the 2.2 percent for 2019 and 2.5 percent for 2020 forecast in July."T

Nov. 29, 2019

S. Korea seeks to create momentum for economic rebound: minister

South Korea will create momentum for an economic rebound next year, the country's chief economic policymaker said Thursday.  Asia's fourth-largest economy suffered a setback as exports slowed amid a global economic slowdown and the trade dispute between the United States and China.  About 40 percent of South Korean exports go to the US and China -- South Korea's top two trading partners and the world's two largest economies.   The International Monetary Fund has recently lowe

Nov. 28, 2019

Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing near air traffic deal

South Korea, China and Japan are in final talks to accept a United Nations aviation agency's proposal for an agreement critical for the safety of flights near Korea's southern resort island of Jeju, the transport ministry said Thursday.South Korean and Japanese air traffic controllers have been directing north-south flights and east-west flights, respectively, in the "Akara corridor," which is part of South Korean airspace. Japan has shepherded flights between Shanghai and Japan on beh

Nov. 28, 2019

S. Korea adds 464,000 jobs in Q2

The South Korean economy added 464,000 jobs in the second quarter of 2019 from a year earlier, government data showed Thursday.There were 18.68 million salaried jobs in the second quarter, compared with 18.22 million a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.The figure represents a decline from the first quarter of this year when 503,000 jobs were created.The statistics agency said the economy added 162,000 jobs in health care and social welfare, and 77,000 jobs in the wholesal

Nov. 28, 2019