Tax agency says much of undeclared incomes used for illegal purposes or ininheritance schemes

A series of breakdowns of the nation’s nuclear power plants have rekindled the debate over whether to shut down old reactors or extend their operation.A top government official fanned the controversy when he hinted at a possible shutdown of another reactor whose design lifetime has expired.“Whether to extend operation of the 30-year-old first reactor at the Wolseong complex will be decided based on the agreement of the public,” said Lee Eun-chul, new head of the nation’s Nuclear Safely and Secur

South Korea’s alcoholic beverage exports declined for the second consecutive month in March, largely due to the descent of the Japanese yen amid faltering overseas demand, data showed Sunday. The country’s exports of soju, Korea’s traditional distilled liquor, reached $9.5 million last month, down 11 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the beverage industry. The corresponding figure for Korean beers shrank 23.6 percent to $4.4 mill

Kia Motors’ subcompact Morning ranked as the best selling car in South Korea in the first quarter with more than 23,000 units sold, industry data showed Sunday.Kia sold 23,462 Mornings nationwide in the January-March period, the largest volume among vehicles sold in South Korea, the data showed.Morning, known in many foreign countries as the Picanto, has drawn popularity for its unique exteriors, high quality features and excellent fuel efficiency.Morning was followed by Hyundai Motor’s full-siz

Lingering economic jitters here and abroad are holding back major conglomerates in South Korea from making new facility investment, as a weaker yen and North Korean risks have aggravated uncertainties, industry sources said Sunday.According to company officials, Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s tech giant, has not made a single new facility investment this year. The world’s largest mobile phone maker said it decided not to disclose its investment plan for this year, citing market uncertain

 Fears of a massive restructuring are again lingering in the local construction industry as leading contractors are known to have logged steep losses in the first quarter amid a protracted industry downturn, data showed Sunday.    The combined operating profit of eight listed construction companies here is estimated at 197.7 billion won (US$174.9 million) for the January-March quarter, down 75.2 percent from a year ago, according to the data compiled by local corporate information tracker FnGuid

Registered executives at South Korea’s top 20 conglomerates received an average of 1.22 billion won ($1 million) in annual salary in 2012, data showed Friday.CEOSCORE, a Web site that tracks conglomerates as well as financial firms and state-run companies, released the figures based on its analysis of 448 registered executives at 136 non-financial listed companies affiliated with the country’s top 20 business groups.The Web site said 77 out of 136 companies paid 1.3 billion won on average to the

Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index is expected to gradually rebound toward the 2,000 mark in about two weeks, as few downside risks remain that can undermine investor sentiment in the short term, analysts said.“We expect to see a gradual rebound in share prices. I think it will be possible (for the KOSPI) to reach 2,000 in the short term of one to two weeks,” said Samsung Securities analyst Kwak Joong-bo. The KOSPI fell from 2,004.89 on March 29 and has yet to recover. He added that most negative fac