SEJONG -- South Korea will lower tariff rates on a total of 90 products next year to strengthen competitiveness of small businesses and stabilize prices of key materials, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The number is higher than the 83 items subject to temporary tariff cuts under a tariff quota system this year, according to the ministry. Those products include crude oil, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, sugar, corn, chicken eggs and materials needed to produce batteries, the

　South Korea has the third-highest ratio of youth “not in education, employment or training,” or NEET youth, among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report showed. 　The average monthly number of NEET people aged 15-29 in the country is estimated at 1.56 million in the January-October period, according to the report from the Korea Employment Information Service. 　Of the total, 778,000 were preparing for employment or seeking jobs, with another

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 4,000 for the first time in 28 days Tuesday due partly to antivirus restrictions and fewer tests over the weekend, but the number of critical cases remained high. The country added 3,865 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 615,532, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The figure marked the first time daily cases fell below 4,000 since Nov. 30, and represented a sharp decline from a daily record hi

South Korean shares opened lower Tuesday, bucking the overnight advance on Wall Street amid concerns over the spread of the omicron variant. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.20 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,994.35 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. US shares advanced on optimism that the global economy can ride out the COVID-19 pandemic and tightening monetary policy. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.98 percent to 36,302.38 and the tech

The government will buy 200,000 tons of locally produced rice this year to help stabilize the market price of the staple grain, the ruling party said Tuesday following a meeting with agriculture authorities. "Of the surplus amount of 270,000 tons of rice, the government will isolate 200,000 tons from the market in the near future," said Rep. Park Wan-joo, the chief policy maker of the ruling Democratic Party (DP). "The government will announce a detailed plan for the purchase of

South Korea's consumer sentiment index dropped for the first time in four months in December due to concerns over the resurgence of the coronavirus, central bank data showed Tuesday. The composite consumer sentiment index (CCSI) came to 103.9 in December, down 3.7 points from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. This marked the first decline since August when the index fell to 102.5 from the previous month's 103.2. A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pe

President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law a US defense budget bill that calls on his administration to maintain the troop level of US Forces Korea (USFK) at the current level. The National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, less than two weeks after the Senate approved it in a 89-10 vote. The House of Representatives had also approved the bill earlier this month. "On Monday, December 27, 2021, the President signed into law: S. 1605, the "National Defense Authorizatio

Local movies absent from top chart

Public debt has soared since the 2008 financial crisis, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the International Monetary Fund, the ratio of public debt to GDP in advanced economies increased from around 70 percent in 2007 to 124 percent in 2020. But the fear that rising public debt will fuel future financial crises has been subdued, partly because government bond yields have been so low for so long. Although yields started falling much earlier, in the 1990s, they were kept l

As omicron cases rise rapidly, there are urgent questions about how aggressively we should respond. At one extreme are reactions like that of the Netherlands, which has moved into full lockdown mode to blunt the variant’s spread. Another possibility is simply to not do very much, whether out of pandemic fatigue or uncertainty over the best approach. But the sudden surge in cases has given fresh impetus to those who believe the time has come to normalize COVID, treating it much as we would

South Korea‘s electricity demand set a new wintertime high Monday, as the country was gripped by the coldest weather so far this season, the Energy Ministry said.　 Peak power demand had reached 90,708 megawatts as of 5 p.m., as lower-than-normal temperatures led to increased electricity use for heating, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. This season’s first cold wave warning was issued in Greater Seoul and many other parts of the country over the weekend, wi

Late former President Chun Doo-hwan described a military document recommending a crackdown on the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju as a “good idea,” a fact-finding panel said Monday. 　 　Marking the second anniversary of its launch, the May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission released interim results of a probe into the clampdown that led to the deaths of hundreds of protesters in the city, now the cradle of the country‘s democracy. 　 　T

South Korea‘s military approved a plan Monday to locally develop and deploy a reconnaissance and surveillance drone by 2031 to better defend the country’s northwestern border islands, the state arms procurement agency said. The Defense Project Promotion Committee endorsed the project worth 570 billion won ($479 million) for the drone designed to be operated aboard Navy warships and by Marine Corps units on front-line islands, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administra

Twice wraps up successful two-day concert, ready to kick off world tour in the US in February