For ten days since the multiple-trade-union law took effect on July 1, 167 new unions have been formed, with about 90 percent of them not joining either of the umbrella unions, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions.Under the revised labor law, employees can freely set up labor unions no matter how many there are at a work site. The measure is expected t

South Korea will carry out a disaster drill on a nuclear power plant on the east coast this week to check updated emergency protocols on damage control and evacuation, the government said Monday.The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said the drill will be carried out at the Wolsong station, located 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The plant currently has fou

With little effect expected from acquisition of Hynix Semiconductor, SK Telecom shares fell to the lowest this year on Monday.On Friday, SK Telecom and STX Group submitted letters of intent to acquire the world’s second-largest chip maker Hynix. The 15 percent stake in the chipmaker is expected to fetch around 2.5 trillion won ($2.4 billion). Hynix closed at 26,450 won, down 0.56 percent from Frid

KT&G Corp. said Monday that its share in the local market has risen for the second quarter in a row to nearly 60 percent, thanks to robust sales of its new products and price hikes by rival tobacco firms. Korea’s top cigarette manufacturer said its 55.7 percent stake in the fourth quarter last year climbed to 58 percent in the first quarter this year, then to 59.8 percent in the second quarter. It

The level of foreign debt is poised top $400 billion, complicating Seoul’s capital control efforts increasingly watched by major credit rating agencies abroad. Foreign debt in the first quarter May made the steepest hikes in three years, reaching $381.9 billion at the end of March. Noting an increase of $21.9 billion in just three months from December, the Finance Ministry predicted the figure to

Regulator pushes banks to improve capital adequacy ratiosKorea’s financial regulator said Monday it will further toughen the standards used to assess savings banks’ fiscal soundness in a bid to accelerate the cleanup of the troubled sector. “The planned assessment of 85 savings banks has started, and banks with BIS capital ratio of less than 8 percent as of late June are now required to submit sel

Korea will sell 2 trillion won ($1.89 billion) in Treasury bills this month as part of efforts to secure money to cover possible shortfalls in government operation funds, the Finance Ministry said Monday.Treasury bills are intended to raise money for the government so it can cope with short-term financial shortfalls. They are generally sold with a maturity of less than one year.The July debt with

South Korea’s finance minister said Monday that the government could carry out smoothing operations if the local currency fluctuates sharply against the U.S. dollar.“If there are steep fluctuations in currency rates, our basic stance is that we could implement smoothing operations to ease the herd behavior in the market,” Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told reporters after a meeting with financial