South Korea’s trade surplus surged to a nearly three-year high in May, as an economic recovery of its two largest exporting partners fueled brisk outbound shipments, the government said Saturday. South Korea chalked up a trade surplus of $6.03 billion last month, compared with a surplus of $2.39 billion a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Exports gained 3.2 percent on-year to $48.37 billion, while imports fell 4.8 percent to $42.34 billion over the cited peri

South Korean stocks are expected to continue rangebound trading this week, as investors will likely keep a close watch over global markets amid a possible tapering of U.S. monetary easing, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,001.05 on Friday, up 1.3 percent from 1,973.45 the previous week. The main bourse got off to a strong start in the beginning of the week, breaching the psychologically important 2,000 mark on Wednesday, as the yen’s weakness stabilized

South Korea’s listed companies saw their earnings shrink nearly 10 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, as major exporters suffered a setback from the Japanese yen’s prolonged weakness amid the economic slowdown, the bourse operator said Sunday. The combined net profit of 625 firms listed on the main bourse came to 14.4 trillion won ($12.7 billion) on a consolidated basis in the January-March period, down 9.71 percent from 16.1 trillion won the previous year, according to the data b

The top Dutch court has dismissed Apple Inc.’s request to ban sales of tablets made by Samsung Electronics Co., ruling in favor of the South Korean smartphone maker in its legal battle with the iPhone maker. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands did not agree with the U.S. firm’s accusation that its Korean rival infringed its design patents, the court said on its website on Friday.The California-based tech giant filed an injunction against Samsung, claiming it had copied Apple’s designs in its Ga

The country’s antitrust watchdog said Sunday that it will significantly increase fines for unfair business practices, a move partly aimed at financing the administration’s new policy goals.However, the Fair Trade Commission said it seeks to increase the amount of money actually collected by lowering fine reduction rates and eliminating or strengthening certain conditions for a reduction, instead of raising the upper limit for fines.The move comes as the government seeks to further promote fair b

Financial Services Commission chairman Shin Je-yoon has reaffirmed that the government will find a new owner for Woori Financial Group by 2014.The FSC chief picked the much-disputed privatization of Woori Financial Group as his do-or-resign financial agenda. “Our plan at this point is to fix the new owner by the end of 2014, although we may need more time for the rest of the legal paperwork,” Shin told reporters on Saturday.He stressed that the sale of Woori Financial was currently “headed towar

‘Final goal is to create business model that fits Korean environment’

 South Korea's trade surplus surged to a nearly three-year high in May, as an economic recovery of its two largest exporting partners fueled brisk outbound shipments, the government said Saturday.South Korea chalked up a trade surplus of US$6.03 billion last month, compared with a surplus of $2.39 billion a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Exports gained 3.2 percent on-year to $48.37 billion, while imports fell 4.8 percent to $42.34 billion over the cited per

South Korea's finance minister held an investor relations meeting in London on Friday to explain the latest economic conditions of the country and the government's policy direction to foreign investors.The overseas IR meeting at Andaz Hotel drew keen interest from investors as it marked the first of its kind led by a minister-level policymaker in four years. It also represented the first such meeting since President Park Geun-hye took office in February. About 100 investors attended the gatherin

The government’s decision to cut its budget for infrastructure construction by 11.6 trillion won ($10.3 billion) for the next four years is prompting concerns that it would aggravate financial woes facing some builders and their creditor banks.Under the plan, the budget for road construction projects will drop the most, with a 4.5 trillion won ($4.billion) reduction, followed by railroads with a 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion) cut. The cuts for infrastructure make up about 13.8 percent of the over

Creditor banks of troubled STX Group have almost reached an agreement to provide additional liquidity to the group’s shipbuilding unit in a bid to help it stay afloat, industry sources said Friday.Creditor banks of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. are moving to offer 300 billion won ($266.4 million) to the company, smaller than the 400 billion won requested by the shipbuilder, according to sources.Previously, the shipbuilder was injected with 600 billion won in liquidity from creditors.STX Group,

The Financial Supervisory Service is set to launch a special inquiry into Woori Bank next week as it received from the prosecution a list of hundreds of Woori accounts that CJ Group held under borrowed names.The lender belongs to the state-invested Woori Financial Group, which was chided by the Board of Audit and Inspection on Thursday for its outgoing chairman’s abuse of authority, executives’ ethical lapses and lax management that led to low earnings.The FSS said it has no plans to look into o