Korea’s antitrust regulator has imposed corrective measures against a real estate subsidiary of Lotte Group over the retail giant’s recent acquisition of a transportation terminal asset in Incheon.The Fair Trade Commission said Monday that it set preconditions on Lotte Incheon Development’s acquisition of Incheon Terminal and its land that houses a department store of Shinsegae, Lotte’s competitor, in the retail space.The regulator said it would approve the deal only if Lotte sells two of its de

Industry April 15, 2013

Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index is expected to gradually rebound toward the 2,000 mark in about two weeks, as few downside risks remain that can undermine investor sentiment in the short term, analysts said.“We expect to see a gradual rebound in share prices. I think it will be possible (for the KOSPI) to reach 2,000 in the short term of one to two weeks,” said Samsung Securities analyst Kwak Joong-bo. The KOSPI fell from 2,004.89 on March 29 and has yet to recover. He added that most negative fac

April 12, 2013

Big businesses are expected to face stringent tax audits and probes by the country’s tax agency following a state auditor’s demand for strengthened tax regulations.The National Tax Service said that it plans to boost its tax inspections on companies with sales of more than 50 billion won ($44.2 million), which amounts to about 1,170 enterprises in the country, as well as increase the duration of its regular audits to six to eight months from the current three to four months. The tax collecting a

April 11, 2013

The Bank of Korea said Thursday that it has decided to ease its credit policy to increase its supply of low-interest loans through commercial banks to small and medium enterprises.The central bank raised its aggregate credit ceiling to 12 trillion won ($10.6 billion) from 9 trillion won, which has been maintained since October 2012.Loans will be extended to SMEs and start-ups that have “exceptional” technology with interest rates of 0.5-1.25 percent, down from 1.25 percent through a rise in the

April 11, 2013

The Korean won has fallen the most against the dollar among global currencies this year after the Japanese yen.The won lost more than 6 percent between January and April 8 this year, losing more of its value against the dollar than 28 other currencies including the euro, the British pound and the Canadian dollar, according to data by the Bank of Korea.The Philippine peso shed 0.70 percent, and Malaysian ringgit 0.07 percent, one of the lowest falls against the dollar among Asian currencies, whic

April 9, 2013

The Korean central government’s debt amounted to 425.1 trillion won ($373.3 billion) in 2012, up 22.3 trillion won from a year earlier, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Tuesday.The central government’s debt accounted for 33.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.The total state debt which includes regional governments’ preliminary debt estimation of 18.7 trillion won reached 443.8 trillion won, up 23.3 trillion won in the same period. This accounts for 35 percent of the GDP,

April 9, 2013

The Korean stock market is expected to rebound as its fundamentals remain untouched despite increasing threats from North Korea.Also, Korean shares will pick up after bearish trading last Friday on the Bank of Japan’s easy-money policy, as the country is set to follow up on its stimulus measures soon, analysts suggested.“We expect to see share prices stay low in the beginning of the week and pick up towards the end of the week,” said Kwak Joong-bo, an analyst at Samsung Securities.“The Bank of K

April 7, 2013

The Korean economy is likely to recover slower than expected, despite slight improvements in demand and exports, the state-run Korea Development Institute said on Sunday.The KDI report said that industrial production continued to show weak performance between January and February this year, with February’s data showing a 0.8 percent decline from in January.Facility investment declined as well, indicating that manufacturers are striving to cut costs to further offset their first quarter slowdown.

April 7, 2013

Sovereign risks of Northeast Asian economies ― South Korea, Japan and China ― are increasing as North Korea ratchets up its threats against the allied forces of South Korea and the U.S.This heightened regional tension may further drive local stocks and currency to spiral downward going forward as North Korea’s unpredictable bellicose action is undermining investors’ sentiment, analysts said.South Korea, given its closest proximity to the North, has seen its sovereign risk on state bonds measured

April 7, 2013

Korea’s top 30 conglomerates pledged to increase investment in their respective sectors such as electronics, automobiles and displays by 7 percent to 149 trillion won ($132 billion) this year, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a meeting with corporate executives on Thursday.They also plan to increase hiring of new employees by 1.5 percent to some 128,000 in 2013, of which some 47,000 high school graduates will be recruited.“We are happy to hear of the investment and employment p

Industry April 4, 2013

The Korea Consumer Agency on Thursday listed a number of vacuum cleaners ranging from premium to low- and mid-cost products to better inform consumers of their efficiency relative to their price.Premium brands such as Nilfisk’s X300C, Dyson’s DC37 and Siemens’ VSZ61240 cost more than 700,000 won with a wide range of functions, but they lack efficiency in terms of suction power and noise when compared with Samsung Electronics’ VC-UBJ937, which costs around 382,000 won, or other lower-cost brands,

Industry April 4, 2013