South Korea's jobless rate inched up in June from a month earlier but job creation quickened sharply, raising hopes that labor market conditions might be improving, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.1 percent last month, up from the previous month's 3 percent. The jobless rate adjusted for inflation remained unchanged at 3.2 percent over the cited period.The pace of job creation, however, accelerated. The number of emplo

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that it has revised down its global economic forecast to 3.1 percent this year and 3.8 percent next year.Both of these projections are a 0.2 percentage point cut from its initial estimations, the IMF said.The eurozone’s prolonged debt crisis, a slowdown in emerging economies and spending cuts in the U.S. were the reasons for the growth forecast revision, the IMF explained.The U.S., the world’s largest economy, is projected to grow 1.7 percent this yea

FSC faces backlash from civic groups over plan on body for consumer protection

Credit card companies have decided to cease offering insurance payments for death as a result of an aviation accident, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday.Regulatory officials at the FSS said major issuers would scrap the insurance, which has been sold in coordination with insurance firms, from September. Among the firms are Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card, Samsung Card, KB Kookmin Card, Lotte Card and Hana SK Card. About 10 million consumers currently signed up for credit cards

CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun ― who is currently being detained by the prosecution over allegations of evading taxes and creating slush funds ― has been suffering from renal disease and a rare genetic condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, the company said Monday. CJ’s announcement came just one week after the prosecution took custody of Lee, who is the eldest grandson of Samsung Group’s founder Lee Byung-chull and the nephew of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee. The timing raised

The East Sea (or Donghae) Free Economic Zone Authority, which will be responsible for the development of a newly designated FEZ, opened in Donghae City, Gangwon Province, on Wednesday.The FEZ Authority set a bold vision to build four globally competitive districts, including an industrial cluster for material businesses, on the east coast by 2024. Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Kim Jae-hong, who joined the opening ceremony with officials from Gangwon Province, said, “I expect the East

Samsung Electronics Co. and 13 other South Korean companies landed on the 2013 Fortune 500 list based on sales for fiscal 2012, up one local business from a year earlier, the online edition of the U.S. business magazine Fortune showed Monday.Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading maker of mobile phones and computer memory chips, ranked 14th on the list, up six notches from the previous year. SK Holdings, the holding company of SK Group that has the country’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. u

The Korea Communications Commission decided to allow the use of multiple languages on English FM radio channels, the commission said Tuesday.Major English FM broadcasters currently in operation in Seoul metropolitan area, Busan and Gwangju are now allowed to schedule non-English programs based on each region’s ratio of foreign residents.English FM was established to provide various information to the increasing number of foreigners visiting and residing in Korea.However, as the number of foreign

Higher budget demand comes as government plans to increase spending on welfare, social security and R&D