The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Sunday that it planned to propose amendments to legislation on foreign exchange transactions to allow increased monitoring and punishment by state regulators of those who hide assets offshore.The revised bill to be reviewed by the National Assembly over the next month would give local regulatory agencies such as the Korea Customs Service and the Financial Supervisory Service more power to conduct joint investigations into suspicions of illegal foreign ex

June 16, 2013

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission unveiled measures on Thursday to eradicate the long-standing practice of conglomerates pressuring their suppliers to lower their prices of goods and services as part of efforts to overhaul the supply chain management system and boost mutual growth.FTC chairman Noh Dae-lae said that the antitrust agency and other related organizations would overhaul the system ensuring fair valuation of SME products supplied to conglomerates, and impose tougher sanctions and regulato

June 13, 2013

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said Tuesday that the government would push to end the nation’s long-standing period of low growth through various economic policies that had been already devised for implementation in the second half of this year.In a meeting with heads of social and economic research centers, Hyun said recovery momentum was still weak although Korea’s first-quarter growth of 0.8 percent was above expectations.Korea continues to face growing risks and unce

June 11, 2013

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday that the government would ease rules governing the establishment of child care centers and increase its financial support to them.The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will be overseeing the process of deregulation to encourage the private corporate sector to build centers for their employees, the Finance Ministry said.The ministries said that they were aiming for 70 percent of private businesses to build child care centers within their compl

June 10, 2013

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said Monday that it has imposed penalties against KCC and Hankuk Glass Industries after detecting that the two flat-glass manufacturing giants colluded to rig prices of their building materials.The antitrust agency will slap combined fines of 38.4 billion won ($34.1 million) on the two companies, and name one executive from each company involved in price collusion to be prosecuted.Its penalty measures also include forbidding the two manufacturers to share any inside

Industry June 10, 2013

The sale of Woori Finance Holdings is open to foreign investors as well, Korea’s top financial regulator said Friday, amid the government’s stern move to wrap up the long-pending privatization of the country’s largest banking group.Shin Je-yoon, the chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stressed that there is “no discrimination against foreign banks” concerning the sale.“We’ll announce the plan (of Woori sale) at the end of this month, and (we) don’t have any intention to discriminate (

June 7, 2013

The nation’s finance minister and central bank chief agreed on Tuesday that uncertainties were increasing due to a weaker yen and advanced economies’ possible early exit from quantitative easing. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok and Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo also shared the need for the government to closely monitor capital flows prone to increasing risks of volatility.The nation’s two finance leaders met over a casual breakfast to review and discuss the latest iss

June 4, 2013

Woori Bank has reportedly notified and gained approval from financial regulators and other creditors of STX Corp. to unload and sell-off its equities of STX and ForceTec Woori received as collateral for loans extended to ForceTec.The conglomerate’s chairman Kang Duk-soo, whose key subsidiaries such as shipping and shipbuilding are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy due to the debt overhang, had put up his equity ownerships of about 11 percent in STX and its de facto IT and logistics parent Forc

June 2, 2013

Japanese stocks, bonds and exchange rate have lost momentum over the past weeks, a sign that the effect of its monetary and fiscal stimulus, or part of the so-called “Abenomics,” may be letting up.Japan’s Nikkei225 falling more than 7 percent on May 23 was a wake up call to investors and financial policymakers as the benchmark continued its decline toward 13,700 from 15,000 over the last six trading days.Yields on Japan’s state bonds touched 1 percent, while their value has dropped, increasing t

June 2, 2013

Korea’s ranking in terms of economic competitiveness remained unchanged at 22 among 60 countries in 2013 for the third straight time, according to the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development.Asia’s fourth largest economy earned high marks for having a high education level, skilled workforce and reliable infrastructure.However, it received poor scores in the areas of cost of living, tourism and direct investment flows.Its weaknesses also included having high tariff ba

May 30, 2013

The National Tax Service said Wednesday that it has officially launched a probe into 23 individuals and companies suspected of evading tax payments through their accounts via paper companies set up in tax havens. Of the 23, eight may have allegedly avoided paying taxes through ghost companies in the British Virgin Islands, another eight people via Hong Kong and the rest through offshore accounts in Panama, it noted.It remains to be seen whether the list of 23 include those holding tax haven acco

May 29, 2013