The Yoon Suk-yeol government is looking to make it easier for “vulnerable groups” to take out loans to follow through on his campaign promise, while offering better protection to consumers from predatory lending and unfair corporate practices. The groups refer to self-employed people, small business owners, first-time home buyers and those fresh out of college who the government says need more financial support than all the others. COVID fallout and runaway housing prices have put t

Economy May 11, 2022

The benchmark Kospi hit a 17-month low on Tuesday on persistent market concerns over runaway inflation and sluggish growth despite President Yoon Suk-yeol’s optimistic economic outlook at his inauguration. The Kospi closed at 2596.56, the lowest level since Nov. 30, 2020, when it reached 2,591.34. Global efforts to tighten monetary policy, which the US kicked off last week with its biggest rate hike in 22 years to set the range between 0.75 percent and 1 percent, unsettled investors. A f

Market May 10, 2022

Almost half of South Koreans in their 20s said they would prefer to be part of a couple that does not have children after marriage in 2020, in a jump from 2015, when only 3 in 10 Koreans backed the idea, a local think tank said Monday. In 2015, 29.1 percent of Koreans in their 20s said raising children was not a must, whereas in 2020, 52.4 percent said yes to the same idea, according to the Korea Development Institute. Meanwhile, the number of those who said they would have children after marr

Economy May 9, 2022

The incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government is set to reveal an extra budget later this week as the president-elect had promised to support the self-employed and small businesses that COVID-19 hit the hardest. Yoon takes office Tuesday. “The budget will be rolled out at the earliest day possible once the new government takes over,” said Choo Kyung-ho, Yoon’s finance minister nominee who will double as deputy prime minister. The Yoon government is expected to use at least 33 trilli

Economy May 8, 2022

A Legoland theme park opened to the public on Children’s Day, Thursday, in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, 11 years after the deal was signed between the local government and Merlin Entertainments. Merlin, the world’s second-largest operator of visitor attractions behind Walt Disney, had faced opening delays several times because the joint project attracted little capital from local investors and hit a snag over what to do with ancient artifacts found on the site where the park was be

Industry May 5, 2022

The number of South Koreans who are 19 and below and hold shares in Samsung Electronics reached 358,257 in December last year, a record high, according to the Korea Securities Depository. That number accounts for 7.07 percent of all shareholders and 0.25 percent of the total shares the tech giant has issued. The shares the teenagers held at the time amounted to 1.1 trillion won ($891 million), which is equal to 971 billion at Tuesday’s closing share price. The rise in the number of teen

Market May 4, 2022

Toss Bank is now the first South Korean internet-only bank to allow foreign residents here to open an online bank account, the lender said Monday. “Starting Monday, all foreigners here are able to open an account as long as they have their registration card,” Toss Bank said in a statement. Foreigners are offered the same service as locals, according to the bank, which was set up last year, four years after rivals Kbank and KakaoBank were launched in 2017. “For example, the d

Industry May 2, 2022

Ha Yung-ku, a former CEO of Citibank Korea who later led an association of local banks, was named chairman of the Korean office for Blackstone, the asset manager said Wednesday. Ha joined Blackstone in August last year as an executive adviser. “South Korea is one of the most innovative economies in Asia with a highly sophisticated workforce and domestic corporations that are influencing trends around the world,” Blackstone said, adding that it expects to build stronger ties in the p

Industry April 27, 2022

The Korea Exchange said Wednesday that Osstem Implant would begin trading Thursday, lifting a trading suspension put on Jan. 3, when the dental implant maker reported insider theft amounting to 221 billion won ($175 million). “The decision is based on the fact that the company has improved its corporate governance and internal oversight and had it checked up by outside experts,” the KRX said in a statement. The bourse operator said such improvement was necessary for the implant ma

Market April 27, 2022

NH Investment & Securities said Wednesday that it has incorporated its office in London to oversee the brokerage’s entire operations in Europe, seven years after it first opened a branch there to expand alternative investments like private equity and real estate. “This new office in London will be the bridge connecting markets in South Korea, the UK and Europe,” said Jeong Young-chae, the company’s president and chief executive officer. NH Investment and Securities

Market April 27, 2022

The government will provide funds to help startups grow into unicorns, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team said Tuesday. Unicorns are privately-held startups worth at least $1 billion. In South Korea, they have long relied on foreign capital in their late-stage funding to raise their market value “This is part of broader efforts to nurture a new ecosystem for startups, where jobs are created and economic growth is guaranteed, all without interruption,” said K

Economy April 26, 2022

Expanding the high-tech sector will be the way to ensure sustainable economic growth, and the government will ease rules to make that happen, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team said Monday at a press briefing amid concerns over shrinking economic growth. “Building on the high-tech sector involves two things: We help the existing industries go high-tech or go green and digital, because that leads to better products,” said Ahn Cheol-soo, the chief leading the team.

Economy April 25, 2022

The International Monetary Fund said inflation in South Korea would hit 4 percent this year, second behind only New Zealand in a list of eight advanced economies in the Asia and Pacific region, in part because of the war in Ukraine. The projection was made public this month as Asia’s fourth-largest economy is seen as sliding into stagflation, a condition where rising inflation and shrinking economic growth coexist. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF forecast inflation of

Economy April 24, 2022

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that he would work to bring a stronger economy to protect South Korea’s national security interests once he takes office on May 10, at a roundtable with academics, industry leaders and former high-level government officials. “We will lay the groundwork for ‘economic security,’” Yoon said, referring to a strategy to deal with fallout from the unprecedented economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, at a

Economy April 18, 2022

South Korea will step up checks on foreigners buying and selling homes here amid accusations that some of them deliberately evaded property taxes because of lax oversight, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition committee said Thursday. The team said once the Yoon government takes over on May 10, foreigners will have to report to authorities how many homes they have here, because multiple-home owners pay more taxes. Whether they have family members living with them here will be reporte

Economy April 14, 2022