US lawmakers urge Trump to keep S. Korea trade agreement

A bipartisan group of American lawmakers Thursday urged President Donald Trump to keep the US free trade agreement with South Korea amid a deepening security crisis on the Korean Peninsula.In a letter addressed to the president, four co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Korea underscored the importance of a tight alliance in the wake of North Korean provocations, including its sixth nuclear test Sunday.Trump was earlier reported to be planning a withdrawal from the five-year-old trade pact.

Sept. 8, 2017

Boosting female workforce is solution to aging society problems: IMF chief

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, on Thursday asserted that the most effective solution to Asia’s aging population and consequent productivity decline is to boost the proportion of women in the workforce. “Korea and Japan, for example, could further increase their focus on reforming secondary earner taxation and boosting child care benefits and tax incentives for part-time work,” Lagarde said in a speech at a conference addressing the chal

Sept. 7, 2017

White House denies Trump’s claim of KORUS FTA withdrawal

Washington appears to be retracting US President Donald Trump’s claims that the US is looking to terminate the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, said a report by Inside US Trade on Thursday. 　According to the publication, White House officials have assured key lawmakers that the US government will not be pursuing talks of withdrawing from the 5-year-old trade deal amid opposition by lawmakers and government officials from both countries. 　“The plan to terminate the agreement had been di

Sept. 7, 2017

People paying maximum healthcare premiums rise steadily in past years: data

The number of salaried people paying the maximum amount of national health insurance premiums has risen gradually over the past few years amid a steady increase in high income earners, government data showed Thursday.The figure for those paying 2.39 million won ($2,117) per month in premiums from a monthly income of at least 78.1 million won jumped to 3,471 as of the end of June from 2,508 in 2012, 2,522 in 2013, 2,893 in 2014, 3,017 in 2015 and 3,403 in 2016, statistics released by the National

Sept. 7, 2017

Chuseok holiday to have mixed effect on S. Korean economy: experts

The 10-day holiday starting late September will likely have mixed effects on South Korea's economy struggling to cope with trade sanctions imposed by China over a missile row, growing protectionism from the United States and geopolitical risks caused by North Korea.The Moon Jae-in government earlier designated Oct. 2 as a one-off holiday to bridge the Sept. 30 weekend with the Chuseok holiday, National Foundation Day and Hangeul Day, which commemorates the invention of the Korean alphabet that f

Sept. 7, 2017

US not planning to withdraw from S. Korea trade deal for now: report

The United States does not plan to withdraw from its free trade agreement with South Korea for now, a report quoted sources as saying Wednesday.According to Inside US Trade, the White House assured key lawmakers that it would not push forward on its earlier plan to weigh termination of the five-year-old pact known as KORUS.Last week, there were reports that President Donald Trump had instructed advisers to prepare for a withdrawal after the first South Korea-US meeting in August that discussed p

Sept. 7, 2017

Korea’s fiscal soundness on shaky ground

Doubts are rising over the government’s assertion that the country’s fiscal soundness can be maintained even if public spending increases at a faster pace than economic growth during President Moon Jae-in’s five-year presidency, which began in May.Such an optimistic view is based on expectations that tax revenues will continue to rise as the Korean economy is put on a path toward recovery. A draft tax code revision, if passed during the ongoing parliamentary session, would incr

Sept. 6, 2017

[Monitor] Income gap between single-, doouble-income households narrows

The income gap between single-income and double-income households for the second quarter this year decreased to the narrowest level since the fourth quarter of 2015, data from Statistics Korea showed Wednesday.The decline was attributed to lower quality jobs.Double-income households earned an average of 5.47 million won ($4,830) compared to single-income households’ 3.69 million won.While the overall number employed in the second quarter increased by over 300,000 from the previous year, th

Sept. 6, 2017

Tax-to-GDP ratio needs to top 35% by 2060 to meet growing welfare programs: report

South Korea's tax-to-GDP ratio needs to surpass the 35 percent mark by 2060 to meet the government's social welfare-related spending plan, a local think tank said Wednesday.The report by the Korea Economic Research Institute comes as the ruling Democratic Party proposed hiking up tax rates for the super-rich and top-earning conglomerates to help finance the Moon Jae-in administration's welfare and job creation agenda estimated to cost 178 trillion won ($156 billion) over the next five years.It s

Sept. 6, 2017

ILO chief urges ‘quick’ resolution on outlawed teachers and civil servants unions

The chief of the International Labor Organization said Wednesday that there is a need to "quickly" address the legal status of South Korea's outlawed teachers and public servants unions, urging the government to work hard to resolve the issue.In a meeting with labor union leaders, Guy Ryder, director-general of the ILO, said South Korea should resolve the legal spat over the progressive unions regardless of the ratification of the ILO's key rights convention by the country.In 2013, the

Sept. 6, 2017

Korea to give rice aid to developing nations

South Korea plans to give rice to developing nations after it joins an international food assistance convention as part of its ambition to stabilize the local rice supply and help the needy around the world, the farm ministry said Wednesday. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it is preparing steps to join the Food Assistance Convention, expecting parliamentary approval for the membership by the end of this year. If approved, the ministry plans to ship about 50,000 tons

Sept. 6, 2017

Korea‘s economic recovery remains feeble: KDI

South Korea's economic recovery pace remains weak and feeble due mainly to the prolonged slump in private consumption, a state-run think tank said Wednesday."Signs of a slowdown have stabilized on the production side, but the overall economy is not showing hints of a steady recovery,"the Korea Development Institute said in its monthly evaluation of the country's economic conditions. "The improvement trend in domestic demand appears to be unsteady."Concerns have been rising as

Sept. 6, 2017

Japanese tourists to S. Korea feared to dip on NK nuke test

The number of Japanese visitors to South Korea may decrease in the wake of North Korea's latest nuclear test, industry sources said Wednesday.Japanese tourists to Seoul have tended to slip whenever tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalate due to Pyongyang's atomic tests or other geopolitical risks. The isolated North carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sunday, drawing strong condemnation from the international community.According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the number

Sept. 6, 2017

US lawmakers voice opposition to withdrawal from Korea trade deal

WASHINGTON -- A group of bipartisan US lawmakers on Tuesday voiced opposition to President Donald Trump's plans to weigh a possible withdrawal from the US free trade agreement with South Korea.In a statement, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-OR) highlighted the importance of the bilateral deal in the wake of North Korea's latest nuclear test. Py

Sept. 6, 2017

Credit finance firms' combined profit falls 7.3% in H1

South Korea's credit finance firms saw their combined net profit fall 7.3 percent on-year for the first half of this year, hit by a rise in loan-loss provisions, data showed Wednesday. The combined net income of 78 credit finance companies was 890.1 billion won ($786.9 million) for the January-June period, compared with 959.7 billion won a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service. The companies include capital financing firms and leasing companies, but e

Sept. 6, 2017

KORUS FTA withdrawal may lead to anti-American sentiment: AmCham

Following US President Donald Trump’s statements over the weekend regarding the US’ possible withdrawal from the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea said it fears the move may lead to anti-American sentiment here. 　“Termination of the agreement will have a severe damaging effect on the economy, and we are also concerned about a deterioration of the relationship between the US and Korea, leading to anti-American sentiment,” said a press

Sept. 5, 2017

Korea-ASEAN FTA support center opens in Jakarta

South Korea has established a support center for businesses operating in Jakarta to serve as a help desk on the bilateral free trade agreement with the Southeast Asian country, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday.The center was set up at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency office in the capital city of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member state to mark the 10th anniversary of the open trade deal.South Korea's exports to the 10-member ASEAN nearly doubled

Sept. 5, 2017

Tax chiefs of Korea, China discuss ways to bolster cooperation

South Korean and Chinese tax agencies agreed to strengthen two-way cooperation in taxation administration amid the diplomatic row caused by the deployment of US anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula, the government said Tuesday.South Korea's National Tax Service Commissioner Han Seung-hee held an annual meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Jun in Beijing, according to his office.The two tax authorities have held regular talks every year since 1996, four years after the two neighbors n

Sept. 5, 2017

Korea further strengthens housing market regulations

The government announced a fresh set of regulations Tuesday to cool down the overheated housing market, a month after adopting strong measures for Seoul and other cities. On Aug. 2, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport designated 25 regions in Seoul and two other cities as "overheated speculative districts" to tighten mortgage rules and restrict transactions of new homes. This action is seen to have curbed price hikes over the past month.Under the follow-up measure, the m

Sept. 5, 2017

Daily credit card spending in Korea hits record high in H1

Daily credit card spending in South Korea hit a record high in the first half of this year, data showed Tuesday, in the latest sign that plastic has become one of the most favored tools for payment.The amount of transactions processed through credit cards came to 1.76 trillion won ($1.5 billion) a day on average in the January-June period, up 8.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea. Among them, average daily spending of mobile credit cards came t

Sept. 5, 2017