Korea dismisses economic crisis speculations despite signs

Despite hullabaloo in the stock market accompanied with pessimistic economic indices, the South Korean government on Tuesday denied the signs being the bellwether of another economic crisis.While vowing to keep a stern eye on market fluctuations, top policymakers underlined that the bourse “overreacted” to external risk factors such as the US-China trade conflict and US rate hike gestures, and that it remains premature to go as far as activating a contingency plan.　“Considering

Oct. 30, 2018

Seoul asks Washington for exemption from auto tariffs

South Korea has asked that it be exempted from the US' proposed tariffs on imported cars as the two sides have concluded negotiations on autos under their revised bilateral trade pact, Seoul's finance ministry said Tuesday.In a meeting with Rob Rapson, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Seoul, Vice Finance Minister Ko Hyeong-kwon also stressed that the South Korean auto industry had invested over $10 billion in the US and generated more than 110,000 jobs, according to the ministry.The

Oct. 30, 2018

Number of temporary workers inches up in 2018

The number of temporary workers in South Korea rose slightly this year from a year earlier, with the percentage of such employment also rising, government data showed Tuesday.A total of 6.61 million workers were non-regular workers, part-timers or outsourced laborers as of August 2018, up 36,000 from a year ago, according to the data from Statistics Korea.They accounted for 33 percent of the country's 20.04 million salaried employees. The 2018 data also showed that of the non-regular workers, 2.

Oct. 30, 2018

'Korean economy to face rising economic uncertainties next year'

South Korea’s economy is expected to face growing economic uncertainties next year, with the government ready to take preemptive measures to reduce any possible downside risks, the country’s chief economic policymaker said Monday.“Given various factors such as external conditions, our economy may face growing uncertainties,” Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a parliamentary audit session in Seoul.The minister said the government will take measures to reduce any poten

Oct. 29, 2018

State health insurance income to reach W120tr by 2027

South Korea's state health insurance program will have an income of 120.3 trillion won ($105.47billion) and expenditure of 122.49 trillion won by 2027, according to projections by the welfare ministry Monday.Income figures were derived on assumption that insurance payments will increase 2.04 percent in 2014, 3.49 percent in the years 2019-2022 and 3.2 percent in the years 2023-2027, with government a subsidy of 13.6 percent from 2019 onward. The ministry's projections, provided for a parliamenta

Oct. 29, 2018

Brokerages to set up emergency response system to market volatility

Major South Korean financial firms vowed Monday to establish an emergency monitoring system to better respond to market instability, their association said.The pledge came after chiefs of 12 local securities firms and nine asset management companies held an emergency meeting earlier in the day to assess the current market situation and discuss ways forward to stabilize the market. In the face of a mixture of unfavorable factors both at home and abroad, the benchmark KOSPI has tumbled more than 1

Oct. 29, 2018

Govt. to set up W500b fund to stabilize bourse

The government will actively work to stabilize the equity market by setting up a 500 billion-won ($438.4 million) fund that can be injected into local stocks, the country's financial regulator said Monday.Kim Yong-beom, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, made the remarks at a meeting with senior executives from brokerages, as he sought to reassure investors amid a sharp decline in stock prices. South Korea's benchmark stock index sank nearly 6 percent last week as foreign invest

Oct. 29, 2018

[Newsmaker] Anxiety heightens on stock market depreciation

Market observers remained tense throughout the weekend amid burgeoning skepticism that the stock benchmark Kospi might dip below the psychologically significant threshold of 2,000 this week, reeling under the prolonged US-China trade tension and visible losses in recent corporate earnings.Foreseeing further depreciation, especially in the market top cap companies, officials responsible for the securities sector are to put their heads together to devise countermeasures this week in response to th

Oct. 28, 2018

Korea's economic growth being hurt by weak employment, falling investment

The South Korean economy is expected to post a weak annual growth for this year due to the country's high unemployment rate coupled with the falling corporate investment, industry watchers said Sunday. The Bank of Korea recently revised down the growth target for 2018 to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent. In the third quarter of 2018, South Korea's economy grew 0.6 percent, the same as the 0.6 percent gain tallied in the second quarter and down from a 1 percent expansion in the first.Overseas financi

Oct. 28, 2018

[Video] Rise of startups in world’s most reclusive regime

The idea of nurturing budding enterprises in North Korea at first glance draws skepticism.People from free market economies may question how it will be even possible in a country that prohibits the ownership of personal assets, not to mention incentives for ventures.It might sound paradoxical. However, the more North Korea has faced tougher economic sanctions from the international community in the last 10 years, the more passion for business success among people there has built up, said Geoffre

Oct. 25, 2018

Korean economy grows 0.6% on-quarter in Q3: BOK

The South Korean economy slowed down in the July-September period, central bank data showed Thursday, fueling concerns of an economic downturn.In the three months, Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 0.6 percent on-quarter, the same as the 0.6 percent gain tallied in the second quarter and down from a 1 percent expansion in the first, according to the advance estimate by the Bank of Korea.The central bank lowered the earlier preliminary growth rate for the second quarter from 0.7 percent. From a

Oct. 25, 2018

[Kim Kyung-ho] Moon’s employment policy goes awry

Kim Kyung-ho is the Sejong-based business editor of The Korea Herald. He can be reached at khkim@heraldcorp.com -- Ed.Shortly after taking office in May last year, in an initiative that was widely perceived as pro-labor, President Moon Jae-in vowed to turn all temporary jobs in the public sector into permanent positions.He made the pledge surrounded by workers at Incheon International Airport, saying he would “wipe away the tears from the eyes of non-regular employees.”That seemingly

Oct. 24, 2018

Govt underlines innovation, dithers over deregulation

The South Korean government on Wednesday announced a set of innovative growth actions plans, centering on ways to create new jobs and revitalize private investment.Addressing the automobile, auto parts and shipbuilding industries -- all having undergone extensive restructuring earlier this year -- the government pledged to extend guarantees for corresponding companies and create some 60,000 new jobs for various age clusters within the year. It also revealed a financial program for small-sized bu

Oct. 24, 2018

KAI donates $100,000 to Indonesia

Korea Aerospace Industries said Wednesday the company will make a donation of $100,000 for the restoration of damages in Indonesia, which suffered enormously from a heavy earthquake that occurred in the area of Sulawesi Island and the resultant tsunami.The donation will be delivered to Indonesia via the Korea Red Cross and will be used for the fastest restoration of damages in the affected region and for support of relief supplies to help damaged residents maintain their existence.“We will

Oct. 24, 2018

Applicants for 'unemployment credits' on rise

South Korea saw more jobless people seek financial assistance from the state pension fund amid the country's worsening unemployment situation, data showed Wednesday.According to the data from the National Pension Service and submitted to the National Assembly, 312,616 unemployed people applied for the "unemployment credits" in the January-August period, compared with 369,272 for the whole of 2017. South Korea introduced the unemployment credit system in August 2016 to help mitigate fin

Oct. 24, 2018

Financial support, tailored measures eyed to boost investment, create more jobs

South Korea's government said Wednesday that it will provide more financial assistance and tax incentives to boost sluggish facility investment, accelerate deregulation, stimulate innovation-led growth and create jobs.The finance ministry said the current slump in the job market and facility investment could further worsen down the road due to the deepening trade war between China and the United States, a slowing down of China's economy and rising oil prices.Also, the rate hikes in the US could

Oct. 24, 2018

Top 1% earn W4.45b in investment income in 2016

Top 1 percent of South Korean taxpayers earned an average 4.45 billion won ($3.87 million) in investment income in 2016, data showed Wednesday. Their average investment income was 18.3 times bigger than the average income from salaries of top 1 percent earners, according to the data by the National Tax Service. In 2016, top 1 percent earned 243 million won in income from wages, the data showed.Investment income accounted for 34.1 percent of total earnings from top 1 percent earners, followe

Oct. 24, 2018

S. Korea to diversify trade amid US-China tension: finance minister

Responding to protracted trade tension between the United States and China, South Korea should further diversify its trade channels and seek multilateral ties, the country’s top economic policymaker said Tuesday.“Seeking to actively respond to trade protectionism, (Korea) will take pre-emptive actions to diversify its investment and human interchanges,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon in a meeting of economy-related ministers.He then called for Seo

Oct. 23, 2018

Korea to firmly deal with trade protectionism: finance minister

South Korea will firmly deal with the growing trade protectionism and actively seek to create new overseas markets via free trade pacts, the country's top economic policymaker said Tuesday.South Korea is seeking to join the fledgling Pacific trade pact, dubbed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.The agreement that aims to slash tariffs on goods to stimulate trade include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and Peru as its m

Oct. 23, 2018

Policy change needed to cushion impact from rate hike

Measures need to be taken quickly to prevent a possible interest rate hike next month from making a deeper dent in the country’s economic growth and employment, economists say.Slowing growth and disappointing job figures led the Bank of Korea last week to decide to freeze its key rate at 1.5 percent for 11 consecutive months despite growing concerns that a rate increase may be overdue.Announcing the rate freeze, the central bank revised down its growth forecast for this year to 2.7 percent

Oct. 22, 2018