A government plan to merge a state-controlled bank and financial corporation is expected to reduce state lending capacity, backfiring on cash-short small and medium enterprises, experts said on Wednesday.The move came as state authorities are set to integrate the Korea Development Bank and the Korea Financial Corp. in the course of reorganizing state-controlled brokerages. The KDB and the KoFC were established in 1954 and 2009, respectively, largely to boost the national economy by providing cre

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering closed in on winning a battleship order from Thailand, further consolidating its leading position in the world defense market.The Thai government on Tuesday approved the navy’s decision to order a 520 billion won ($463.7 million) frigate from the Korean shipbuilder, according to news reports on Wednesday.DSME is currently the sole preferred bidder for the deal and is highly expected to sign the final contract as early as August, officials said.The 3,700-t

The Korea-Peru Free Trade Agreement turned out to have significantly boosted Korea’s exports to the South American state, as well as its relative share in the local import market.Over the past two years, since the FTA effectuation, Korea’s exports to Peru increased by 11.6 percent, whereas the nation’s general export growth rate was 2.2 percent, the Institute for International Trade said through a report on Wednesday.The total trade volume between the two countries, too, rose by 7.5 percent to $

South Korea’s new venture-driven stock market has posted stagnant growth since its launch earlier this month, data showed Wednesday, as its low trading volume has dented investors’ sentiment.The Korea New Exchange market saw its market capitalization reach 497.3 billion won ($446.6 million) Tuesday, a tad higher than 468.8 billion won tallied on July 1, the Korea Exchange data showed.The KONEX market was officially launched earlier this month to foster the growth of young venture firms and lend

The nation’s Foreign Economic Zones are expected to lure more private developers and real estate investment immigrants as the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy revised qualifications for land development and foreign real estate investment. The revised bill on the special law for FEZs, specially designated regions to attract foreign investment, will be sent to the regular session of the National Assembly this fall, the ministry said in a press release on Wednesday. “To step up land developme

South Korea suffered a widened deficit in tourism in the first six months of the year as outbound travelers outnumbered inbound visitors, industry data showed Wednesday. The country’s tourism deficit reached $1.79 billion in the January-June period, compared with the $279 million shortfall a year earlier, according to the data.The deficit came as the number of South Korea’s outbound travelers exceeded that of foreigners visiting the country, and they spent big on purchases overseas.The number of

Samsung Group is nearing an agreement to acquire Novaled AG, a German maker of materials used to light up smartphone and television screens, two people with knowledge of the matter said.“We are internally reviewing plans to acquire Novaled, but no details have been set yet,” said Lee Tae-hun, a spokesman for Cheil Industries Inc., the chemical and electronic materials unit of South Korea’s largest conglomerate, in a telephone interview.A deal to buy Novaled for more than $200 million may come as

SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s leading mobile operator, said that it plans to expand its next-generation mobile network service to more cities in the country to meet growing demand for faster Internet connectivity.For the first time in the world, SK Telecom introduced the so-called LTE-Advanced mobile network in the country on June 26, 2013, offering speeds twice as fast as the existing long-term evolution, or LTE, network.The LTE-Advanced service is currently available in Seoul, 65 other major c

Android-based tablets further solidified their status in the global market with their market share nearing 70 percent, data showed on Tuesday.According to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics, some 34.6 million Android tablets were shipped in the second quarter of the year, up from 18.5 million shipped a year earlier. Their market share stood at 67 percent, also up from 51.4 percent over the cited period.Apple Inc. shipped 14.6 million units in the April-June period, down from 17 million a ye

Government seeks to levy tax on religious sector, reduce tax cut for rich