Korea slaps anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese, Indian, Ukrainian ferroalloy

South Korea has decided to impose anti-dumping duties on ferroalloy imported from Vietnam, India and Ukraine, the trade commission here said Thursday.The Korea Trade Commission said it made the final decision to levy punitive duties of 4.06-19.06 percent on ferro-silico-manganese imported from the three countries for the next five years, for underselling their products here and causing damage to the local industry.Currently, a preliminary tariff of 6.08-32.32 percent has been imposed on the prod

Sept. 14, 2017

N. Korean risks not high enough to change ratings on S. Korea: S&P official

Tensions over a raft of provocations by North Korea are not high enough to adjust ratings on South Korea, a senior official of the global rating agency Standard & Poor's said Thursday."As long as there is no actual war outbreak, I think the impact is relatively limited, and that's why we don't change our outlook on the rating of South Korea," Kim Eng Tan, senior director of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings at S&P, said in a brief interview with Yonhap News Agency.Last month, S&am

Sept. 14, 2017

[Herald Interview] ‘Forests are Korea’s largest resource’: minister

With Asia home to more than half of the world’s urban population, the depletion of natural resources, diminishing water quality, increased air pollution and adverse climate change effects are considered some of the biggest threats to humanity that experts are looking to combat amid growing urbanization across the continent. 　Therefore, Kim Jae-hyun, minster for the Korea Forest Service, is stressing the need for the government to use Korea’s vast greenery to improve the country&rsquo

Sept. 13, 2017

Finance minister hints at slowing pace of minimum wage hike

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said Wednesday that the government will carefully review how much it will raise the minimum wage from 2019, indicating that the government may slow the growth pace to reflect various conditions. In July, the government decided to raise the minimum wage by 16.4 percent to 7,530 won ($6.67) per hour next year, marking its biggest jump in nearly two decades. President Moon Jae-in has pledged to increase the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020, as part of his efforts to

Sept. 13, 2017

Korea’s major manufacturing industries falter

Korea’s manufacturing industries have been losing their vitality, squeezed between worsening external conditions and domestic policies that are an increasing burden on them.Industrial facilities across the country ran at 71.6 percent of their capacities on average in the second quarter of this year, according to Statistics Korea.The figure is the lowest since the January-March period of 2009 when the Korean economy was struggling to pull out of the aftermath of a global financial crisis.&n

Sept. 13, 2017

Job fair connects 2,500 intl. students to Korean firms

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency is running a job fair for international students from Wednesday to Thursday.Organized by KOTRA, the two-day event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Coex in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul. More than 2,500 international students from some 50 countries signed up for the fair. In addition, 129 Korean companies including Cuckoo electronics and Daewoong Pharmaceutical are participating to connect with the job seekers.  Programs at the fair include one-on-on

Sept. 13, 2017

[Monitor] Single-person households’ income drop

South Korea’s single-person households saw an income drop for a third consecutive quarter in the second quarter this year, data by Statistics Korea showed Wednesday.The decline was attributed to a decrease in temporary jobs, many of which are taken by the elderly and young people. Elderly retired persons tend to make up a large portion of single-person households, according to the Statistics Korea official. The average monthly income in the second quarter decreased by 2 percent to 1,642,54

Sept. 13, 2017

Adjusted wages of Korean big biz workers much higher than US, Japan: report

The average adjusted monthly wage for workers at South Korea's big businesses far exceeds those of their US and Japanese counterparts, although South Korea's per capita GDP is much lower than the two advanced economies, a report showed Wednesday.The average South Korean employee at companies with more than 500 workers earned $6,048 per month last year when adjusted by the purchasing power parity, according to the report written by the Korea Small Business Institute.The comparable figures were $4

Sept. 13, 2017

Taking China to WTO is one option being considered: trade minister

South Korea's trade minister said Wednesday that taking China to the World Trade Organization is one option being considered in response to that country's apparent retaliatory actions against Seoul's decision to deploy a US missile shield.The Beijing government slammed the deployment of the defense system, called THAAD, on South Korean soil, claiming that the system will threaten its national security.It also seemed to have banned Chinese travel agencies from selling group tours to South Korea a

Sept. 13, 2017

Korea's semiconductor exports to exceed $90b this year: KITA

South Korea's semiconductor exports are expected to exceed $90 billion this year due to increased overseas chip demand and higher prices, an international traders organization said Wednesday.In the January-August period, outbound shipments of computer chips surged 52 percent on-year to $59.5 billion, the Korea International Trade Association said in a statement. "If the country reports an average of $8 billion a month in semiconductor exports for the rest of the year, the overall value (of

Sept. 13, 2017

Korea's ICT exports hit record high in August

South Korean exports of information and communication technology products increased for the seventh month to hit an all-time high in August on brisk overseas sales of semiconductors and displays, government data showed Wednesday.A total of $17.4 billion worth of ICT products were shipped overseas, up 23.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT.The monthly overseas shipments of ICT products is a new high surpassing the previous $16.53 billio

Sept. 13, 2017

Single household income drops for 3rd straight quarter: govt. data

South Korea's single household income fell for the third consecutive quarter in the April-June period this year due to a drop in temporary jobs for the elderly and young people amid a sluggish pace of economic recovery, government data showed Wednesday.The average monthly income of a single household shrank 2 percent to 1,642,540 won ($1,455) in the second quarter from 1,676,003 won a year earlier, according to the figures provided by Statistics Korea.The number represents about 45 percent of th

Sept. 13, 2017

Korea's jobless rate remains steady at 3.6% in Aug.

South Korea's jobless rate stayed unchanged in August, but the number of newly employed people dropped to a 4 1/2-year low amid weak signs of economic recovery, government data showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent last month, staying flat from the same month last year, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, it gained 0.1 percentage point.The number of employed people reached 26.7 million in August, up 212,000 from a year earlier, markin

Sept. 13, 2017

Korea‘s export prices up 0.5% in August

South Korea's export prices rose slightly in August from a month earlier due to the hike in prices of coal and petrochemical products, the central bank said Wednesday.In local currency terms, overall export prices rose 0.5 percent month-on-month in August, according to preliminary data provided by the Bank of Korea.Year-on-year, export prices rose 10.7 percent last month, marking the 10th consecutive month of gains. It marked the highest since March 2009 when the corresponding figure was 17.4 pe

Sept. 13, 2017

BOK chief to hold annual talks with Chinese, Japanese counterparts

The heads of the central banks of South Korea, China and Japan are set to begin an annual meeting later Wednesday, the Bank of Korea said, amid keen interest on a currency swap deal between Seoul and Beijing.Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol is scheduled to host a banquet for his Chinese counterpart Zhou Xiaochuan and Japanese central banker Haruhiko Kuroda in Songdo, west of Seoul.The three "will exchange views on recent economic and financial developments in the three countries" during

Sept. 13, 2017

Restrictions drive borrowers from mortgage to credit loans: data

In the wake of the Moon Jae-in government’s reinforced restrictions on housing loans, the increase in mortgage loans has slowed down while credit loans made a record leap in August, data showed Tuesday.According to the Bank of Korea’s monthly data on financial market trends, the balance for household loans stood at 744.2 trillion ($658.4 billion) as of the end of August, up 6.5 trillion won from the previous month.The on-month increase was down 200 billion won from that of July and d

Sept. 12, 2017

Korea has no plan to raise ownership tax: finance minister

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Tuesday that he has no immediate plan to raise property ownership tax as a tool to cool down the speculative movement in the local real estate market.The government earlier announced a series of strong measures to curb price hikes in the capital city and its surrounding areas. It designated Seoul and other cities, including the administrative city of Sejong, as "overheated speculative districts" to tighten mortgage rules and restrict transact

Sept. 12, 2017

[Monitor] South Korea’s family benefits spending still low

Although the South Korean government has poured in some 100 trillion won ($88.4 billion)88,449,000,000) over the past 10 years to solve the low birthrate issue, the country’s spending on family benefits still remained among the lowest of the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs said in a recent report that the country’s family benefits spending as a percentage of gross domestic product reached 1.13 perc

Sept. 12, 2017

Korea’s youth labor participation ranks among OECD lowest

The rate of labor force participation for young Koreans last year ranked near the bottom among developed nations, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday. 　Data from the OECD showed that the labor force participation rate for Koreans between the ages of 25 and 29 was 76.7 percent last year. The figure ties with Chile for the 31st spot among the OECD’s 35 members.　The OECD’s definition of labor force participation rate is calculated by dividin

Sept. 12, 2017

Govt. urged to drop scaled-back 2018 infrastructure budget

Major construction bodies in South Korea called on the government Tuesday to withdraw its scaled-back infrastructure budget for 2018, saying it may hurt not only the industry but also the national economy.Announcing its budget request late last month, the government said that it will spend 17.7 trillion won ($15.7 billion) on infrastructure projects in the coming year, down a whopping 20 percent from this year."We express serious concern over the drastic cut in next year's infrastructure bu

Sept. 12, 2017