South Korea’s jobless rate inched up in January, as job conditions in the manufacturing sector continued to deteriorate and more young people stopped looking for work, government data showed Wednesday. The jobless rate in January stood at 3.8 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance showed. It marks the highest since April 2016, when the tally was 3.9 percent.  The number of jobless people exceeded the 1 million mark in Ja

Feb. 15, 2017

Import prices rose for the fifth consecutive month in January to reach the highest level in 25 months, putting upward pressure on consumer prices, data from the central bank showed Tuesday. (123RF)The import price index climbed 2.1 percent from the previous month to 84.91 in terms of local currency, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday. The import price index has been moving upward since September, with January’s figure marking the highest since December 2014 at 83.14. The increase was led by hikes in

Feb. 14, 2017

North Korea’s missile launch Sunday had little impact on South Korea’s financial markets Monday. North Korea on Sunday morning launched the Pukguksong-2 missile, which North Korea’s state news agency described as a “surface-to-surface medium- to-long-range ballistic missile.”  Despite the heightened tension, South Korea’s bourses remained stable Monday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened 0.01 percent lower but closed up 0.17 perce

Feb. 13, 2017

Moon Jae-in speaks during the launching ceremony of a regional forum in the southeastern city of Daegu on Feb. 11, 2017. (Yonhap) Moon Jae-in, the current frontrunner in the race for the presidency, will this week register his candidacy for his party's primaries, an aide said Sunday.Moon, a former leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, will sign up for the primaries through his spokesman Rep. Kim Kyung-soo at 11 a.m. Monday, the aide said on the condition of anonymity. A formal declarat

Politics Feb. 12, 2017

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Sunday voiced optimism for US economic growth under President Donald Trump but warned it could herald trouble for the rest of the world."From the little we know, and I will insist on the little we know, because this is really work in progress... but from the little we hear, we have reasons to be optimistic about economic growth in the United States," Lagarde said at the annual World Government Summit in Dubai. International Monetary Fund (IM

World Business Feb. 12, 2017

The South Korean economy has been facing heightened internal and external uncertainties on par with those in 2011, when the world was hit hard by the European fiscal crisis, a report said Sunday."Along with the local political turmoil, South Korea will likely struggle with intensified uncertainties that may surpass the 2011 level, stemming from the murky policies of the new US government and growing trade disputes," said the report by the Hyundai Research Institute. (123RF)The HRI-invented uncer

Feb. 12, 2017

In January, foreign investors held a record high of over 500 trillion won ($435 billion) in shares of listed companies in South Korea, according to the Finance Supervisory Service. Among the top five stocks foreigners have been collecting in the tech-heavy Kosdaq in January was SFA Engineering Corp., a display equipment and logistics equipment maker, which has been enjoying a recent boom in the semiconductor and display sectors. Foreign investors continued their buying spree for the company.

Feb. 12, 2017

Two months after leaders of the two Koreas -- the South’s Kim Dae-jung and North’s Kim Jong-il -- had a historic submit in 2000, a project to launch an economic zone in Kaesong, a North Korean city near the borders of the two Koreas, began. The idea was to create economic synergy by combing South Korea’s capital and technology and North Korea’s cheap labor and land. The South-North joint Kaesong industrial park, a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, produced its firs

Feb. 9, 2017

KEB Hana Bank was named the best private bank in digital client solutions by a global finance magazine, the bank said Wednesday. South Korea’s leading bank, owned by Hana Financial Group, received the Global Best PB in Digital Client Solutions award in New York on Tuesday. The award was bestowed by Global Finance, a finance magazine based in the US that surveys and picks the best players in various financial sectors every year. The bank’s performance in the private banking sector has been recogn

Companies Feb. 8, 2017

South Korea and Australia renewed an existing currency swap for another three years at a size doubling the previous deal, South Korea’s central bank announced on Wednesday. The governors of the central banks -- the Bank of Korea and the Reserve Bank of Australia -- signed a deal on Wednesday to extend the current deal, which was scheduled to expire on Feb. 22, for another three years.  They also agreed to double the size of the currency swap agreement to 10 billion Australian dollar

Feb. 8, 2017

South Korea’s struggling shipbuilders started the first month of 2017 with more orders than their competitors in China and Japan, according to data from a global shipping information firm on Tuesday. South Korean shipbuilders received a total of seven units in contracting volume of 330,000 compensated gross tonnage, a measurement to gauge the amount of work that goes into the construction of a vessel, according to UK-based Clarkson Research Service.  This includes two floating stor

Industry Feb. 7, 2017

Foreign investors held a record high of over 500 trillion won in shares of listed companies in South Korea in January. Foreign investors owned a total of 501.96 trillion won in shares of South Korea’s listed companies, adding 20.4 trillion won from the previous month or almost 100 trillion from a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said Monday. They accounted for 32 percent of the total stock ownership, up from 31.2 percent in December. The prospect of the greenback weaken

Feb. 6, 2017

This is the 34th in a series of articles analyzing major companies by market capitalization traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- EdCJ E&M Corp.’s stock price leaped by almost 60 percent in late January driven by the popularity of its cable drama “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.” Before the tvN series featuring Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun turned into one of the most popular shows in December and January, the stock price of CJ E&M had stood at 53,400 won ($46.91) at the start of December, th

Feb. 5, 2017