World Bank to hire Korean nationals in 11 positions

The World Bank Group has launched a special recruitment drive on selected global and regional functions, offering priority to Korean nationals, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Sunday.“A total of 11 jobs are available as of today, and other positions may be added to the list later,” the ministry said in a press release, encouraging Korean nationals to bid for the jobs.The range of functions vary from energy, investment and the public sector to legal consulting, wi

Jan. 21, 2018

Regulator to tighten rules on high-risk household lending

South Korea's top financial regulator said Sunday that it will tighten capital regulations on high-risk household lending, in the latest move meant to slow the pace of household debt growth. The stricter regulations will be applied to banks, savings banks and insurance firms that provide loans to home buyers of more than 60 percent of a property's value, the Financial Services Commission said in a statement. To encourage financial institutions to channel funds into the corporate sector, the FSC

Jan. 21, 2018

Tax revenues rise amid concerns over fiscal soundness

Korea has seen tax revenues surpass government-set targets in recent years amid rising concerns over its long-term fiscal soundness.According to recent data from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, national tax revenue amounted to 251.9 trillion won ($236.5 billion) in the first 11 months of 2017, exceeding the yearly revenue goal of 251.1 trillion won. The ministry estimated taxes collected for the whole of last year would reach 270 trillion won, up from 242.6 trillion won a year earlier.It m

Jan. 18, 2018

[Monitor] Vietnam grows as Korea’s major export destination

South Korea’s exports to Vietnam have been growing, with the size of the trade surplus for Seoul surpassing that with the United States, data from the Korea International Trade Association showed Thursday.Korea exported $47.7 billion worth of products to Vietnam, accounting for 8.3 percent of the country’s entire outbound shipments. Vietnam is also quickly catching up with the US as a major export destination, with the export value to Vietnam amounting to 69.7 percent of that to the

Jan. 18, 2018

BOK raises 2018 GDP forecast to 3%

The Bank of Korea on Thursday raised its economic growth forecast for this year on expectations of continued domestic demand recovery and robust export growth. The central bank forecast that South Korea's gross domestic product will grow 3 percent in 2018, faster than its previous estimate of 2.9 percent, BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol told reporters. The BOK left its base rate unchanged earlier in the day, saying it "judges that the solid trend of domestic economic growth has continued as exports ha

Jan. 18, 2018

[Monitor] Most home buyers in Gangnam are residents of the area

Sixty percent of those that purchase apartments in the top four Gangnam districts in southern Seoul are residents of the area, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Appraisal Board showed Wednesday.In December alone, a total of 2,339 transactions were carried out in the four districts -- Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa and Gangdong. Among them, 59.6 percent involved buyers with registered residencies in one of the four districts. Some 18.9 percent were residents of o

Jan. 17, 2018

Statistics show growing number of long-term unemployed

Some 147,000 people have been jobless for six months or longer last year, the highest since recordkeeping began in 2000, latest figures from Statistics Korea showed Tuesday.Last year's number marks a 10.5-percent increase from 133,000 tallied in 2016. It accounts for 14.3 percent of the total number of jobless people, also the highest since 14.1 percent reached in 2000.The figure compares to 80,000 in 2009 when the country was reeling from the global financial crisis, and to 138,000 in 2000 duri

Jan. 16, 2018

EU to remove Panama, Korea, UAE, 5 other from tax haven blacklist

BRUSSELS -- European Union officials have proposed removing eight jurisdictions from the blacklist of tax havens the bloc adopted in December, in what critics may see as a blow to its campaign against tax avoidance. EU states decided last month to draw up the list in a bid to discourage the most aggressive tax dodging practices. But eight of the 17 jurisdictions currently listed are set to be quickly removed from the list after they offered to change their tax rules, according to EU documents se

Jan. 16, 2018

Rising won, rates, oil pose downside risks

The prospects of a simultaneous rise in the value of the won, interest rates and oil prices are casting a shadow on the government’s expectation that the Korean economy will grow more than 3 percent this year, propelled by a continuous rise in exports and a rebound in domestic demand.Trade officials here worry that such upward trends might be coupled with lingering uncertainties in the financial market and rising global protectionism to make it hard to achieve the export growth target for

Jan. 15, 2018

Regulator looking for 'reasonable' way to fine Samsung chairman

South Korea's chief financial regulator said Monday that efforts are being made to find a "reasonable" option to impose a fine on Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., who allegedly withdrew 4.4 trillion won ($4.1 billion) from accounts under borrowed names.Earlier, the Financial Services Commission, the country's financial regulator, asked the Ministry of Government Legislation to clarify whether it could levy a fine against Lee."We will find a reasonable way, taking

Jan. 15, 2018

[Monitor] Polarization of apartment prices in Seoul deepens

Apartment prices in Seoul increased by 0.57 percent last week, faster than the previous week’s 0.33 percent and similar to the rate at the end of July last year, immediately before the government’s anti-speculation measures were announced, data by Real Estate 114 showed.Industry watchers said the sale prices of apartments in expensive and popular districts in Seoul such as Gangnam, Songpa and Yongsan have been skyrocketing since the end of last year as the government’s strong m

Jan. 14, 2018

Korea within reach of becoming 5th largest exporting nation: think tank

South Korea is within reach of becoming the fifth-largest exporting nation in the world, fueled by a steady rise in outbound shipments, a private economic think tank said Sunday. The Hyundai Research Institute said in its latest 2018 export issue review paper that as of September last year, Asia's fourth-largest economy ranked No. 6 among exporters, up from eighth place in 2016. In 2017 its products accounted for 3.6 percent of all exports, a record high for the country.It said the Netherla

Jan. 14, 2018

Korea's youth unemployment in slump despite global recovery

South Korea's unemployment among the youth remained high with no signs of recovery last year, data showed Sunday, despite solid improvements in the job markets of other advanced economies.According to the data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the country's unemployment among those aged from 15 to 24 came to 10.2 percent for the July-September of 2017, marking the third consecutive quarter that the figure hovered above the 10-percent mark.The unemployment amo

Jan. 14, 2018

Chinese consumers pick safety as top priority for infant goods

Product safety is the top priority for Chinese consumers of infant goods, a report said Thursday.The report by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said South Korean companies need to focus on improving the safety of products while making inroads into the infant goods market in China.The number of newborns rose by 1.31 million to 17.8 million in 2016 from a year earlier as the Beijing government lifted the decades old "one-child policy" and allowed couples to have a second child

Jan. 11, 2018

Moon vows chaebol reform, support for vulnerable groups

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday reiterated his pledge for conglomerate reform and vowed to protect socially vulnerable clusters from the possible aftermath of the increased minimum wage, underlining his economic slogan for a fair economic order.“Conglomerate reform matters not only for the sake of economic transparency but also in the sense that it may return economic achievements to small and medium-sized firms and to the people,” the president said in his New Year’s addres

Jan. 10, 2018

Korea faces key trade talks with G-2 economies

South Korea is set to hold tough trade negotiations with the world’s two biggest economies -- the US and China -- this year while navigating rising protectionism around the globe.An early and smooth conclusion of the negotiations, which trade officials here say is far from guaranteed, would help improve external conditions for the Korean economy that relies heavily on exports for growth.According to government data, Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its exports to China and the US in

Jan. 10, 2018

Korea's jobless rate edges up in December

South Korea's jobless rate rose slightly in December due to seasonal factors, government data showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate stood at 3.3 percent last month, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.From a month earlier, it also climbed 0.1 percent. The number of employed people reached 26.42 million last December, up 253,000 from a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month's rise.  The unemployment rate for young people

Jan. 10, 2018

Korea targets 4% growth in exports

Trade officials here expect Korea’s exports will grow 4 percent on-year in 2018.The target is modest compared to last year’s 15.8 percent growth but will still be challenging, as worsening conditions, including the strengthening of the won, are weighing on exporters.Heo Yoon, the dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University, said export growth would slow dramatically if such negative factors add to the high base effect.According to Trade Ministry data, As

Jan. 8, 2018

Gov't finalizes details on tax code revision

SEJONG -- South Korea's finance ministry said Sunday that it has finalized the details on a tax code overhaul whose main features are the levying of an additional tax on owners of multiple homes, a move intended to curb rising housing prices, and the raising of the highest corporate income tax rate.Late last year, the National Assembly approved a bill that, starting in April, will impose an additional tax of up to 30 percentage points on owners of multiple homes.The parliament also passed a bill

Jan. 7, 2018