[Monitor] Number of households to decline from 2043

South Korea’s population will hit a peak in 2031, predictions by Statistics Korea showed.The number of households, meanwhile, will continue to rise until 2043 due to a rise in single-person households before starting to decline in 2043.

Aug. 23, 2017

Korea's childbirths hit six-month low in June

The number of newborn babies in South Korea dropped to a six-month low in June, government data showed Wednesday.About 28,900 babies were born in the month, down 12.2 percent, or 4,000, from 32,900 tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.It is the second-lowest monthly figure after just 27,200 kids were born in December last year.Childbirths have been on the decline since a 3.4 percent on-year gain in November 2015, logging a double-digit on-year drop for seven straig

Aug. 23, 2017

Korea's household debt hit record high in Q2

South Korea's household debt hit a record high in the second quarter, central bank data showed Wednesday, despite tighter lending rules meant to curb rapidly growing household debt.The country's overall debt incurred by households came to 1,388.3 trillion won ($1.22 trillion) as of end-June, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea.Household debt rose 2.1 percent in the second quarter from the previous three month period, it said. South Korea's househo

Aug. 23, 2017

Number of heavy debtors hits 3.9 million in June

The number of heavy debtors in South Korea stood at about 3.9 million people in June, a report showed Wednesday, reflecting growing potential for default risks among desperate borrowers. The number of debtors who have borrowed money from more than three financial institutions has been on a steady rise. It stood at 3.38 million in 2013, 3.47 million in 2014 and 3.65 million in 2015.According to the report from the office of National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, the combined debt of the "

Aug. 23, 2017

Korean exports to Vietnam surge nearly 50% in 2017: customs data

South Korea's exports to Vietnam surged nearly 50 percent in the first seven months of 2017, customs data showed Wednesday, an increase that is likely to put the Southeast Asian country among the top three shipment destinations for locally made goods.According to Korea Customs Service, exports to Vietnam for the January-July period totaled $26.95 billion, up a sharp 49.8 percent from the same period a year ago and roughly three-times higher than the 16.3 percent increase for South Korean exports

Aug. 23, 2017

Banks' bad loans fall in Q2 on efforts to clear bad debt

Non-performing loans at South Korean banks fell 0.13 percentage point in June from three months earlier, as banks bolstered efforts to clear bad debt, official data showed Wednesday. Bad loans held by local banks reached 21.8 trillion won ($19.2 billion) at the end of June, or 1.25 percent of total lending, according to the quarterly data by the Financial Supervisory Service.  Bad loans extended to businesses reached 20 trillion won at the end of June, accounting for 91.7 percent of total n

Aug. 23, 2017

S. Korea says no agreement reached with U.S. on possible FTA amendment

South Korea and the United States reached no agreement on possible amendments to their free trade pact, Seoul's top negotiator said Tuesday.   The U.S. demanded that Seoul and Washington quickly begin negotiations on amending the free trade agreement (FTA), citing a spike in its goods trade deficit with South Korea after the pact went into effect, Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said.   Still, South Korea did not agree with the unilateral U.S. proposal, Kim said, noting any dec

Aug. 22, 2017

Seoul rejects Washington’s request to revise FTA

Seoul and Washington were unable to reach a consensus regarding the United States’ request to amend certain terms of the two nations’ free trade agreement, the country’s newly elected chief trade negotiator Kim Hyun-chong said Tuesday. Trade representatives from Seoul and Washington began their first round of negotiation talks on Tuesday morning during the joint committee special session on the Korea-US FTA, held at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul. “We were unable to reach

Aug. 22, 2017

Chinese visitors drop 70% amid THAAD row

The number of Chinese tourists in South Korea declined nearly 70 percent on-year last month, marking a drop for five straight months following China's ban on sales of Korea-bound trips amid a diplomatic row over the deployment of a US anti-missile system here, government data showed Tuesday.The tally of Chinese visitors came to 281,263 last month, down 69.3 percent from 917,519 recorded the previous year, according to the data by the Korea Tourism Organization. The number of Chinese visitor

Aug. 22, 2017

Land ministry says home prices stabilizing

The government claimed credit Tuesday for its latest real estate policy bringing down housing prices in Seoul.The price of a home in Seoul was up 0.33 percent in the fifth week of July, just ahead of the government announcement of the new policy on Aug. 2, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in its report to the parliament. Immediately after the announcement, prices fell 0.03 percent in the first week of August and 0.04 percent in the second week, it said. "The overheate

Aug. 22, 2017

Single-member households to become most common dwelling arrangement in 2045

One-person families will likely become the most common household type in all South Korean cities and provinces in the next 30 years amid the country's low birthrate and rapidly aging population, government data showed Tuesday.Households consisting of a single member are forecast to account for 36.3 percent of all family units in 2045, far outnumbering families of married couples with children, according to the data by Statistics Korea.The percentage of those living alone stood at 27.2 percent in

Aug. 22, 2017

Trade deficit in intellectual property rights narrows in H1

South Korea's deficit in the trade of intellectual property rights narrowed in the first six months of this year from a year earlier on reduced shortfalls from patent use contracts, the central bank said Tuesday.South Korea posted a trade deficit of $600 million in intellectual property rights for the January-June period, down from a deficit of $950 million a year earlier, data released by the Bank of Korea showed. South Korea exported $5.53 billion and imported $6.13 billion in intellectua

Aug. 22, 2017

Korea's consumer sentiment hits 22-year high: survey

South Korea's consumer confidence has hit a 22-year high for the second half of the year on expectations for the country's newly inaugurated government, a survey showed Tuesday.South Korea's overall consumer confidence for the July-December period stands at an average 78 on a full scale of 100, up 46.7 points from the first half, according to the Mastercard Index of Consumer Confidence.The latest Mastercard index is based on a survey of 9,153 people (407 South Koreans) in 18 markets in the Asia-

Aug. 22, 2017

Number of heavy debtors jumps 48% over 3 years

The number of heavy debtors in South Korea has surged nearly 48 percent over the past three and a half years, a report said Tuesday, amid low interest rates and eased government property rules.As of the end of June, 1.18 million people in the country had a debt service ratio of 100 percent or higher, up 47.5 percent from the end of 2014, according to the report from the office of National Assembly Speaker Chung Sey-kyun. The number had been on a steady rise since 2013, reaching 800,000 at the en

Aug. 22, 2017

Welfare hike cuts into infrastructure spending

The need to finance President Moon Jae-in’s programs to expand welfare benefits and create more jobs is set to cut deeper into government infrastructure spending.The draft budget for next year, which Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon unveiled in a meeting with ruling party officials last week, calls for a 6.7 percent increase from this year to 427 trillion won ($375 billion). The increase rate would be the highest since 2009, when the national budget expanded 10.7 percent to fund stimulus mea

Aug. 21, 2017

[Monitor] Producer prices rebound in July

Korea’s producer prices rose slightly, by 0.1 percent in July from the previous month, data by the Bank of Korea showed Monday. The first rebound in five months was driven by an increase in the prices of services and agricultural products and slower decline in prices of manufactured goods.The producer price index indicates future consumer inflation. It marked 101.84 in July.Compared to the same month last year, the index surged 3 percent, notching nine consecutive months of gains.

Aug. 21, 2017

Recovering Korean economy faces some downside risks

The South Korean economy will face some downside risks going forward due to possible labor strikes at local carmakers and a cooldown in the local property market, a vice finance minister said Monday."The economy is on an upside cycle for the most part. But the upturn is largely driven by robust overseas sales of semiconductors and brisk facility investment," Vice Finance Minister Ko Hyoung-kwon said in a press briefing in Sejong, an administrative city some 130 kilometers south of Seou

Aug. 21, 2017

‘Seoul expected to limit amendment talks in FTA showdown’

Seoul is expected to play defense against the United States’ push to utilize the two nations’ upcoming special joint committee meeting to discuss possible amendments to the bilateral free trade agreements, by limiting talks regarding trade modifications, local experts said Monday.　The capital is gearing up to play host to a Korea-US Free Trade Agreement joint session at the request of the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, at the Lotte Hotel on Tuesday. Although the US Trade

Aug. 21, 2017

Monthly basic pension to rise starting in 2018

South Korea will raise the monthly basic pension to 250,000 won ($219) in 2018 and to 300,000 won in 2021 in a bid to help buttress elderly people's income, the health ministry said Monday.Under the basic pension system introduced in July 2014, the government pays 200,000 won a month to every senior citizen belonging to the bottom 70 percent of the country's income bracket. The inflation-adjusted amount of basic pension was set at 206,050 won for a single elderly household this year. The Ministr

Aug. 21, 2017

BOK says producer prices up 0.1% in July

South Korea's producer prices rose slightly in July from a month earlier due to an increase in the prices of services and agricultural products, central bank data showed Monday.The producer price index -- a barometer of future consumer inflation -- reached 101.84 in July, up 0.1 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The BOK attributed the slight hike to a rise in the prices of services and agricultural products as well as a slowed decline in the p

Aug. 21, 2017