Korean exporters must participate more in global value chain: report

South Korea's exporters should increase their participation in the global value chain in order to improve their productivity, a report by the central bank said Tuesday.The report featured in the monthly periodical of the Bank of Korea said South Korean exports' participation in GVC fell from 62.7 percent in 2008 to 56 percent in 2009, following the global downward pattern after the international financial crisis of 2008.  GVC measures international trade by counting all phases in production

Aug. 8, 2017

US trade pressure on China to hit Korea hard: report

South Korea may be hit hardest if the United States turns up the heat on China over trade issues as Seoul vies fiercely with Beijing for a bigger slice of the US market, a report said Tuesday.The Korea International Trade Association claimed in the report that Washington has singled out China for tougher import restrictions, which is resulting in greater import regulation risks for South Korean products.KITA based its assessment on the US administration's "too many" antidumping investi

Aug. 8, 2017

Korea's domestic supply gains in Q2

South Korea's total supply in manufacturing gained ground in the April-June period marking five straight quarters of growth on a sharp rise in imports, but the pace slowed down slightly, government data showed Tuesday.The manufacturing domestic supply index that measures both goods produced locally and brought into the country, advanced 5.3 percent on-year to stand at 116.9, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The on-year growth slowed down from a record 7.2-percent gain tallied t

Aug. 8, 2017

Audit opinions on China Ocean Resources again refused

An accounting firm again refused to provide its audit opinions on China Ocean Resources Co., a Hong Kong-based deep-sea fisheries company listed on the Korean stock market, saying the company's accounting books were riddled with problems. In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Shinhan Accounting Corp. said it could not "rationally judge" the financial status of China Ocean Resources, which is on the verge of being delisted from the Korean stock market due to its false financial disclosures

Aug. 8, 2017

Korean economic recovery remains feeble due to weak production

The recovery pace of the South Korean economy has remained feeble for months as an upturn in exports and private consumption was offset by weak industrial output, a government report said Tuesday."The South Korean economy saw its exports and investment continue to rise and private consumption make a slight rebound, but its recovery pace remained lackluster due to a slowdown in the production of mining and manufacturing," the finance ministry said in its monthly economy assessment repor

Aug. 8, 2017

Korea's antitrust watchdog receives top grade

South Korea's antitrust watchdog has received the top rating among the world's competition authorities for two years in a row this year for its effective anti-competitive activities, the agency said Tuesday.The South Korean regulator earned five stars, or the "elite" grade, along with France, Germany and the United States, at the latest "Rating Enforcement" survey conducted by the Global Competition Review, the Fair Trade Commission said.The FTC advanced to the top spot in th

Aug. 8, 2017

Banks' net profit jumps to W8.1tr in H1: regulator

South Korean banks' combined net profit more than doubled on-year in the first six months of 2017, government data showed Tuesday, led by lower loan-loss provisions and higher interest income.Combined net profit at local banks soared 171.4 percent to 8.1 trillion won ($7.18 billion) in the first six months of 2017, compared to 3 trillion won a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a statement."The growth was mostly because loan loss expenses were reduced by 5.7 trillion wo

Aug. 8, 2017

[Monitor] Public institutions miss employment target

Public institutions hired about 9,730 people in the first half of this year, dropping below previous averages and missing the target, data by All Public Information in One (Alio), a government portal, showed.The newly recruited people accounted for 49 percent of the 19,862 new workers they planned to hire for the entire year. The initial goal was to meet 55.9 percent of the target by the end of June. The Moon Jae-in administration had prioritized job creation and added 2,500 more to the target f

Aug. 7, 2017

WeWork to invest $500m in Korea, Southeast Asia

WeWork, a global shared office space provider, said Monday it will invest a combined $500 million in South Korea and Southeast Asia as it attempts to expand its presence in the Asian market. Under the expansion plan, the New York-based company has appointed Matt Shampine, currently head of Marketing and Revenue for Asia, as the General Manager of Korea.  "Today's announcement reaffirms WeWork's commitment to scaling our business across Asia," Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork,

Aug. 7, 2017

Real estate measures hit upon young home buyers in Seoul

Coming up with an unprecedented set of real estate speculation curbing measures last week, the government certainly sought to deter wealthy multiple home owners from monopolizing the market and to lower the entry barrier for first-time buyers.The extended impact of the policy, however, also seemed to reach out to the cash-strapped urban-dwelling bidders in their 30s and 40s who, under the renewed mortgage loan conditions, were left with few housing alternatives.“I would never have been abl

Aug. 7, 2017

Calls rising for cutting income tax exemption

Calls are rising to reduce the proportion of workers exempted from paying taxes as a draft tax code revision announced by the government last week is seen to fall far short of funding President Moon Jae-in’s lavish welfare and employment programs.As of 2015, 46.8 percent of workers in the country paid no tax for their earned incomes, according to data from the National Tax Service. The figure was far higher than 15.8 percent in Japan, 19.8 percent in Germany, 23.1 percent in Australia and

Aug. 7, 2017

Foreign IBs see slowdown in Korea's 2018 growth

Foreign investment banks predict the South Korean economy to lose momentum slightly in 2018 after posting solid growth this year, a report showed Monday.According to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance, Barclays, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Nomura and five other foreign IBs forecast the economy to grow at an average rate of 2.8 percent in 2017 on robust exports and facility investment as of end-July.But Asia's fourth-largest economy will likely lose growth momentum slightly ne

Aug. 7, 2017

USTR seeks advisers' opinions on amending trade pact with Korea

The US Trade Representative's office has asked a group of industry advisers to provide opinions on amending a bilateral trade pact with South Korea by Aug. 15, indicating that the two nations may not be able to hold a joint committee to revise the agreement this week, sources said Monday. According to the report by the Inside US Trade website, published last Saturday, the USTR "recently asked its industry trade advisory committees for ideas on the implementation of the agreement and issues

Aug. 7, 2017

Korea's gasoline, diesel consumption hits record high in Q2

Consumption of gasoline and diesel fuel in South Korea hit a quarterly record high in the second quarter on falling oil prices, government data showed Monday.During the April-June period, 19.95 million barrels of gasoline were consumed, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Sales of diesel also rose 3.8 percent on-year to 43.17 million barrels over the same period. The latest numbers for both fuels marked the highest quar

Aug. 7, 2017

South Korea's per capita GDP to exceed $30,000 in 2018: data

South Korea’s per capita gross domestic product is expected to exceed $30,000 in 2018, raising its global ranking by two steps, the government predicted based on data.According to data released Sunday by the International Monetary Fund on 190 countries, South Korea’s per capita GDP stood at $27,633 as of October 2016. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance claimed that the figure will reach $29,200 this year and rise up to $30,353 in the following year.Should the prediction be met, the

Aug. 6, 2017

[Photo News] More influx to suburbs?

Aug. 6, 2017

Fishery goods exports rise 15 months in a row in July: govt. data

Exports of fishery products rose for the 15th month in a row last month helped by a sharp rise in shipments of laver, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Sunday.Fishery product shipments reached $210 million in July, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier.Exports of fishery products have been on the rise since May last year. Outbound shipments of fishery goods surged 11.1 percent on-year to $1.33 billion for the first seven months this year from $1.2 billion in the same period in 2016.Laver re

Aug. 6, 2017

Korea set to expand grape exports to Australia

South Korea reached an agreement with Australia that will allow its commercially grown grapes to be exported to the Oceania country, the government said Sunday.The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency said Canberra has agreed to ease quarantine inspections of the Campbell Early type of grapes, which effectively translates into the easing of restrictions on all outbound shipments of the fruit. Under existing rules only nine cities and counties in South Korea were allow to export grapes to Australia

Aug. 6, 2017

Lending rate cap to be lowered to 24% from next January

South Korea's maximum interest rate that private lenders can charge customers will be lowered to 24 percent per annum from January 2018, the nation's financial regulator said Sunday. In a statement, the Financial Services Commission said it will promulgate an ordinance in October to lower the maximum legal lending rate with the change to come into force after a three-month grade period.  The move is aimed at helping ease interest rate burdens for desperate borrowers, according to the FSC. C

Aug. 6, 2017

Koreans traveling to China plunge amid THAAD row: data

The number of South Koreans traveling to China plunged from April through June of this year amid the diplomatic row over Seoul's decision to deploy US anti-missile defense systems on its soil, tourism industry data showed Sunday. The total visitors going to China fell by 50 to 60 percent in the quarter compared with the year before, which roughly coincides with Beijing ordering its travel agencies to stop selling group tours to South Korea in mid-March, Hana Tour and Mode Tour said. China has al

Aug. 6, 2017