South Korea aims to attract more foreign capital as part of its efforts to promote globalization of its financial industry, the top financial watchdog said Thursday. Zhin Woong-seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, made the remarks earlier in the day at an international conference of finance in the southern port city of Busan. South Korea is working to promote the derivative financial sector, although challenges remain, Zhin said.  "The financial authorities have recentl

Economy June 1, 2017

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.'s mega project to establish a ship repair and shipbuilding joint venture in Saudi Arabia has gathered pace by signing a shareholder agreement with key business partners, including Saudi Aramco, industry sources said Thursday.Hyundai Heavy, a major South Korean shipyard, and Saudi Arabia's state-run oil firm Aramco have been seeking to build a joint shipbuilding and maintenance yard and a maritime engine facility in Saudi Arabia. (Yonhap)In November of last year, the

Industry June 1, 2017

The number of South Korean business groups' affiliates subject to restrictions on mutual investment and loan guarantees dropped slightly in May from a month earlier, the corporate watchdog said Thursday.The Fair Trade Commission said 1,263 firms were on its monthly watch list as of end-May, down three from the previous month. (Yonhap)They are owned by the country's 31 largest business groups, including Samsung Group and Hyundai Motor Group.Three groups, including GS and Korea Investment Holdings

Industry June 1, 2017

Fewer than 4 in 10 irregular workers in South Korea benefit from the country's state pension program, a much lower percentage than full-time employees, a report said Thursday.Slightly over 36 percent of temporary workers had state pension subscriptions as of 2016, compared to 83 percent for regulars, according to the report by the Korea Labor Institute. Roughly 68 percent of all workers in the country had subscriptions to the pension scheme that was introduced in 1988 to guarantee income for the

Economy June 1, 2017

A potential US interest rate hike in June is likely to have an insignificant impact on the South Korean stock market as it is widely expected, analysts said Thursday.The Federal Reserve is slated to hold its monetary policy meeting on June 14-15 amid widespread expectations the US central bank will jack up its benchmark lending rate for the second time this year. The Fed raised rates in March on economic optimism. "As a recent survey shows, all watchers expect a rate increase in June, it wo

Economy June 1, 2017

The head of South Korea's central bank called Thursday for measures to cope with population aging that could undermine growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said South Korea is not well-prepared for its rapidly increasing older population. Experts have expressed concerns that the aging population, coupled with a low birthrate, poses a serious threat to Asia's fourth-largest economy, as it could lead to fewer working people and increased spending on health and wel

Economy June 1, 2017

South Korean stocks opened lower on Thursday, as investors attempted to cash in recent gains, but top market cap Samsung Electronics continued to build up gains.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 3.6 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,343.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.Market kingpin Samsung Electronics was up 0.22 percent, continuing a two-day winning streak. Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, moved up

Market June 1, 2017

South Korea's exports jumped 13.4 percent last month from a year earlier to extend their winning streak to seven months on the back of brisk overseas sales of computer chips and displays, the trade ministry said Thursday.Outbound shipments came to $45 billion last month, up from $39.7 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The country's exports have been on a steady rise since November led by an upturn in oil prices and recovering global trade. I

Economy June 1, 2017

South Korea ranked high in first-quarter economic growth among major advanced and emerging economies as its economy got a boost from recovering exports and investment, data showed Thursday.Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded 0.9 percent on-quarter in the January-March period from three months earlier, a quarterly increase of 0.4 percentage point in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It was the sixth-highest quar

Economy June 1, 2017

South Korean banks saw their financial health improve slightly in the first-quarter of this year, helped by less exposure to risky assets, the financial regulator said Thursday. The average capital adequacy ratio of 17 commercial and state-run banks stood at 15.14 percent as of end-March, up 0.33 percentage point from the previous quarter, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. A key barometer of financial soundness, the ratio measures the proportion of a bank's capital to its risk-weig

Market June 1, 2017

South Korea's consumer prices continued their upbeat mode to touch the 2 percent level in May on high-flying oil and livestock prices, government data showed Thursday.The country's consumer price index gained 2 percent last month from a year earlier, slightly up from the previous month's 1.9 percent rise, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Consumer prices have been hovering around 2 percent since the first month of 2017 due to a sharp gain in oil prices, following a 1.3 percent

Economy June 1, 2017

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that North Korea is one of the topics he would discuss in summit talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc."It's an honor to have the prime minister of Vietnam at the White House, in the Oval Office. Prime Minister Phuc has done a spectacular job in Vietnam, led so many different categories in trade and other things," Trump said at the start of the meeting with Phuc.US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Vietnamese Prime Min

North Korea June 1, 2017

WASHINGTON -- The successful shootdown of an intercontinental ballistic missile target in this week's interceptor test shows the United States can "outpace" foreign missile threats through 2020, the US missile defense agency chief said Wednesday.The Pentagon carried out the interceptor test over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, in which an ICBM-class target was fired from a site in the Marshall Islands and a ground-based interceptor was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to interc

Defense June 1, 2017

South Korean football defender Kim Jin-su is scheduled to marry his girlfriend of 18 months on Wednesday.So what did the 24-year-old do for preparation? He trained for two hours with the rest of the national team in the morning. South Korean fullback Kim Jin-su (L) jogs with teammate Son Heung-min at the National Football Training Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on May 29, 2017. (Yonhap)"After the wedding ceremony today, I'll be back here for training tomorrow," Kim told reporters at the Nati

Soccer May 31, 2017

An employee working for small and medium-sized companies  in South Korea gets paid on average a little over half of the wage provided to a person employed at a large firm, a local report showed Wednesday, reflecting the big gap in wages within the country.The average monthly wage of SME workers stood at 3.23 million won ($2,881) in 2016, or 62.9 percent of 5.13 million won paid to those working for a big enterprise, according to the latest report by the local think tank Korea Small Business Inst

Industry May 31, 2017