The South Korean economy might suffer some $20 billion in losses in trade with China in the future, if the diplomatic dispute over Seoul's installation of a US anti-missile system further escalates, a report showed Wednesday. Tension is rising between the two countries after Beijing took aggressive steps to restrict Korean companies and their goods in an apparent reprisal for Seoul's decision to bring in a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery on its soil. The stationing of THAAD has anger

Industry March 22, 2017

South Korean household heads in their 20s and 30s spent more on food and housing in 2016 than six years ago as their wages remained stagnant amid soaring home prices, data showed Wednesday.According to the data by Statistics Korea, those household heads forked out nearly 23.8 percent of their monthly expenditures worth 2.58 million won to pay for food and housing last year. The figure was up 1.2 percentage points from 2008, when the global financial crisis broke out. (Yonhap)Comparable figures w

March 22, 2017

The top envoys of South Korea and the US on North Korea's nuclear stalemate will meet in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss their coordinated approach toward the ever-growing nuclear and missile threats from the reclusive state. Kim Hong-kyun, the foreign ministry's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will have talks with his US counterpart Joseph Yun, according to the ministry.  Kim Hong-kyun, the foreign ministry's special representative for Korean Peninsula peac

Foreign Affairs March 22, 2017

South Korean shares opened weak Wednesday, tracking Wall Street's decline overnight as investors were concerned about US President Donald Trump's pledge to implement his agenda. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 12.82 points, or 0.59 percent, to 2,165.56 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded lower with market kingpin Samsung Electronics falling 1.36 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor shed 2.06 percent, and top steelmaker POSCO dipped 4.78 percent.Naver,

March 22, 2017

US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce on Tuesday introduced fresh legislation significantly tightening sanctions on North Korea, including authorizing sanctions on those providing the North with crude oil and other related products.The "Korea Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act" (H.R. 1644) is designed to strengthen last year's North Korea sanctions law by adding new measures, including new UN Security Council resolutions that have been billed as the toughest-ever sanc

Foreign Affairs March 22, 2017

North Korea will convene a major parliamentary meeting next month, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday, amid lingering tensions sparked by the country's nuclear and missile development programs.The Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly decided to hold the fifth session of the country's 13th assembly on April 11, the Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch.The SPA, the country's legislative body, is the highest organ of state power under the North's constitution, but it actual

North Korea March 22, 2017

The international community should come up with tangible action over North Korea's prohibited use of nerve agent VX in the assassination of its leader's half brother last month, otherwise, inaction will send the wrong message to the regime, a US expert said Tuesday."Let's take a good example, somebody has just used VX to kill an innocent civilian in Malaysia. Is the international community doing anything about it? ... Kim Jong-un wants to set a precedent that the international community does not

Foreign Affairs March 22, 2017

Results of the US review of options to deal with North Korea will come out "sooner than later," a senior White House official said Tuesday.Christopher Ford, senior director for weapons of mass destruction and counterproliferation on the White House National Security Council, made the remark during a nuclear policy discussion, saying the North Korea problem "clearly needs a new look.""Past approaches to trying to contain that threat haven't worked as well as one would have liked them to work. So,

Foreign Affairs March 22, 2017

South Korea ranks low among the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of the period during which jobless workers get unemployment benefits, a report said Wednesday.The relatively shorter period for unemployment allowances is a testament to the low level of the country's social safety net and feared to ultimately have a negative impact on the national economy amid the ongoing fallout from a large-scale corporate restructuring drive. An employment and

March 22, 2017

Earnings of South Korea's credit finance firms rose 16.5 percent last year from a year earlier, helped by a continuing rise in household and corporate lending, data showed Wednesday. The combined net income of 78 credit finance companies reached 1.54 trillion won ($1.37 billion) in 2016, compared with 1.32 trillion won in the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service.The companies include capital financing firms and leasing companies, but exclude credit c

Industry March 22, 2017

US President Donald Trump has called the North Korean situation "disgraceful."Trump made the remark in an address at Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday evening, repeating an argument that he's inherited a lot of problems from the previous administration. US President Donald Trump (Yonhap)"The fact is we inherited a mess. It's a mess," Trump said, picking the Middle East and North Korea as examples of such problems. "North Korea, I'll tell you what, what's happening there is disgraceful and not smar

Foreign Affairs March 22, 2017

A Danish court will hold its first hearing next month of an appeal against the prosecutors' decision to extradite the daughter of an arrested long-time friend of ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye, officials said Tuesday.Chung Yoo-ra, daughter of Choi Soon-sil, whose alleged irregularities led to Park's ouster, filed the appeal with the District Court of Aalborg on Friday, shortly after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions decided to send her back to South Korea to face inv

Foreign Affairs March 22, 2017

Signing trade accords with emerging markets could offer a solution for South Korea, which is coping with slowing exports to China, a local think tank said Wednesday. In the past eight years, China has imported one fourth of South Korean exports in terms of value. "South Korean exports to China continued to fall in the past three years due to rising protectionism. It is time to set up new strategies to keep exports as a growth driver," the Korea Economic Research Institute  said in a recent repor

Industry March 22, 2017

Former President Park Geun-hye headed back home Wednesday after over 21 hours of questioning by the prosecution on a string of corruption allegations that removed her from office earlier this month.Park began to undergo interrogation at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul early Tuesday morning as a suspect of various charges, including bribery, abuse of power, coercion and leaking government secrets.Prosecutors said the questioning ended at around 11:40 p.m., but it

Politics March 22, 2017

A fast-attack nuclear-powered US submarine has joined an annual combined military exercise in South Korea in the latest show of force against North Korea, a defense source here said Tuesday."The US Navy's USS Columbus (SSN-762) is participating in the Foal Eagle exercise," the official said. USS Columbus, a US nuclear-powered submarine (Yonhap)It is the third high-profile strategic defense asset of the US to be deployed here for the drill after aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and two B-IB bombe

Defense March 21, 2017