South Korea's industrial electricity consumption rose 0.6 percent in the second quarter from a year ago helped by an upturn in the chipmaking and chemical sectors, the government said Wednesday.The amount of electricity consumed by the country's industrial sector reached 69.97 billion kilowatt-hours in the April-June period, compared with 69.55 billion kWh in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The quarterly figure has been on a steady rise since th

Industry Aug. 2, 2017

The sales of small-sized food products jumped in the first half of this year on rising demands from one-person households, industry data showed Wednesday.According to E-Mart Inc., South Korea's largest discount chain operator, sales of small fruit containers rose 71.9 percent on-year in the January-July period.  South Korea`s largest discount chain operator, on Aug. 2, 2017, shows a watermelon slice packaged in small containers for single- or two-person households. (Yonhap)Auction, a leading onl

Industry Aug. 2, 2017

State subsidies for childbirth and child rearing have helped increase South Korea's birthrate, but the effect is weakening over time, a report said Wednesday.According to the report from the Center for Economic Catch-up, subsidies can take credit for 0.122 of 0.163, or 75 percent, increase in the nation's birthrate between 2005 and 2015. The birthrate during the period rose from 1.076 to 1.239. Such effects, however, are waning after policy changes from 2012-2013 to pay a uniform amount to all h

Economy Aug. 2, 2017

HANOI -- Vietnam has criticized the North's latest test-launch of a second intercontinental ballistic missile, calling on Pyongyang to comply with UN Security Council resolutions, government officials said Wednesday.Le Thi Thu Hang, spokeswoman of Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, said in a press conference the previous day the country "is deeply concerned about the continued test of an intercontinental ballistic missile by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on July 28, 2017, which seriously vi

North Korea Aug. 2, 2017

The government and ruling Democratic Party on Wednesday agreed to toughen regulations to stabilize an overheating real estate market. The government is set to announce the measures later in the day, including increasing capital gains taxes on multiple-home owners and restricting the resell of purchase rights of new apartments, which has been cited as a major speculative practice aggravating problems facing regular households.The government is also expected to list four affluent districts in sout

Politics Aug. 2, 2017

The savings rate of South Korean households is expected to lapse into negative territory in a decade due the country's rapid population aging, a central bank report said Wednesday.The Bank of Korea report estimated the household savings rate to start to register negative growth starting in 2026 in step with the country's fast population aging.The figure is forecast to fall from 8.9 percent in 2015 to -3.6 percent in 2030, when the ratio of people aged 65 and older to total population is likely t

Economy Aug. 2, 2017

South Korea's five carmakers saw their combined sales of subcompact sport-utility vehicles jump 55 percent in July from a month earlier on growing consumer demand.The five automakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a combined 11,627 vehicles last month, up sharply from 7,505 units tallied for June, according to sales figures provided by the companies. (Yonhap)The sharp gain appears mainly attributed to the release

Mobility Aug. 2, 2017

More than 90 percent of small merchants plan to lay off workers because of the expected minimum wage increase next year that is disapproved by nearly all of them, a survey showed Wednesday.In the survey carried out by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise from July 21-28, 92.4 percent of 532 merchants polled said they would need to cut back on the number of their employees, with 68.1 percent saying they definitely would have to resort to layoffs.The government and union representatives agreed

Industry Aug. 2, 2017

South Korea is pursuing a trilateral foreign ministerial meeting with the United States and Japan to discuss North Korea's nuclear stalemate and other issues of mutual concern, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is to attend foreign ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations early next week in Manila, the Philippines. They include the ASEAN Regional Forum, a rare gathering attended by North Korea."On the sidelines of the ASEAN meeti

Foreign Affairs Aug. 2, 2017

South Korean stocks opened higher on Wednesday, largely helped by bullish tech caps.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 4.34 points, or 0.18 percent, to reach 2,427.30 in the first 15 minutes of trading.  Performance of large-cap stocks were mixed, with tech shares pushing the bourse up.Market behemoth Samsung Electronics added 0.9 percent and global chipmaker SK hynix jumped 2.9 percent.The local currency was trading at 1,122.1 won against the US dollar, down 0.8 won fro

Market Aug. 2, 2017

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. are anticipated to make record investments to expand and upgrade their facilities this year, industry sources said Wednesday, amid the global boom in mobile and computer chips.The two South Korean tech giants plan to allocated a whopping 30 trillion won ($26.7 billion) to secure sustainable growth following their robust performances, sources said.Samsung Electronics has injected some 12.5 trillion won in facility investment over the first half of the yea

Industry Aug. 2, 2017

More than 4.8 trillion won ($4.27 billion) is estimated to be required to compensate victims of civilian massacres and other tragic incidents involving government abuse of power during the dark decades up until South Korea's democratization.The government of President Moon Jae-in has made it one of its agenda goals to resolve the grievances of victims of state abuse of power since Korea's 1945 liberation from Japan's colonial rule through the following decades of authoritarian rule.About 36,000

Politics Aug. 2, 2017

Chip giant SK hynix Inc. posted the highest operating margin among large-gap companies in the second quarter of the year on its strong semiconductor business, data showed Wednesday.The consolidated operating margin of SK hynix, the crown jewel of South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate SK Group, came to 45.6 percent during the April-June period, the largest among the top 30 listed companies by market capitalization, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service. (Yonhap)KT&G Corp., South K

Industry Aug. 2, 2017

One out of every 10 workers at South Korea's top 30 business groups were irregular workers as of end-March this year, with the rate highest at construction firms, research data showed Wednesday.According to an analysis by corporate tracker CEO Score of 360 companies who have over 300 full-time workers, the business groups checked had 119,577 non-regular workers, or 9.6 percent of the total 1.24 million. The latest figure marks a 4.2-percent drop from last year.The top three conglomerates with th

Industry Aug. 2, 2017

Despite a bullish stock market, retail investors lost big in their equity investments in July, data showed Wednesday, due to insufficient strategy and information.The top 20 stocks purchased by individuals tumbled 6.11 percent on average last month, according to the data compiled by market tracker FnGuide.In contrast, their 20 most sold stocks generated an average return of 8.07 percent, far higher than the 1.02 percent on-month gain in the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index.Driven by s

Market Aug. 2, 2017