Overseas direct investment by South Korean small and medium enterprises lagged far behind that of big companies in 2012 as they were reluctant to invest due to worsening profitability, a research institute said Thursday.The Korea Eximbank Overseas Economic Research Institute said local SMEs invested a combined $3.6 billion in foreign countries last year, or a mere 18.9 percent of the $19 billion overseas direct investment made by large companies. The ratio reached 58.2 percent in 2005 but it beg

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s retail sales are expected to have improved slightly in February, driven in part by increased sales at department stores and discount shops, a report showed Thursday.Sales at department stores are estimated to have risen 1.1 percent on-year in February, a turnaround from the previous month’s 8.2 percent decline, the finance ministry said in a report that assesses the latest economic conditions.Sales at discount store chains are also presumed to have jumped 10.

South Korean stocks fell 0.81 percent Thursday as investors took profits from a two-day rally in the previous sessions, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 16.34 points to finish at 2,004.40. Trading volume was moderate at 382.2 million shares worth 3.63 trillion won (US$3.35billion) with decliners far outstripping gainers 511 to 287.   "Foreigners opted to unload their holdings in top-cap Samsun

South Korean stocks traded 0.79 percent lower late Thursday morning on widening losses in shares of tech companies and shipbuilders, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slid15.92 percent to 2,004.82 as of 11:20 a.m. STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the country's fourth-largest shipyard, slumped more than 3 percent, with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, an affiliate of the world's No. 1 shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries, dipping 1.7 percent. Top-cap Samsung Electronics als

About 50 percent of South Korean banks' employees are women, but female senior bankers account for only some 4 percent out of local banks' total executives, pointing to the sector's still thick glass ceiling, data showed Thursday.Top lender Kookmin Bank and its other five rivals said the number of their combined employees stood at 81,234 as of end-February, out of which 48.8 percent bankers were women.But the number of women at the senior level is marginal in the Korean banking sector. In the ba

Inter-Korean trade jumped more than 15 percent last year but was still far short of that between China and North Korea, data showed Thursday.According to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), trade volume between South Korea and North Korea reached $1.98 billion last year, up 15.8 percent from a year earlier.But the 2012 annual trade amount between the two Koreas was just some 30 percent of North Korea's trade with its strongest ally China, the data showed.Last y

The proportion of Korean women in their 20s currently working or looking for work exceeded that of men in the same age group for the first time last year.The so-called economic activity rate for women reached 62.9 percent, surpassing men’s 62.6 percent in 2012, signaling change in the labor market.An increasing number of women are working alongside men, data by Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Employment and Labor showed.The increase in women’s activity rate is attributable to women pushing

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Thursday, erasing a two-day rally in the previous sessions, as blue-chip tech firms lost ground, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell5.61 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,015.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Market behemoth Samsung Electronics shed nearly 1 percent, with its smaller rival LG Electronics declining 0.4 percent. State-run electricity provider Korea Electric Power also dipped 0.6 percent. The local

Samsung Electronics will become the fifth-largest stakeholder of its Japanese rival Sharp as the Korean tech giant announced plans on Wednesday to invest around $111 million in the financially hit electronics maker.The world’s top handset and television maker said it is planning to invest the money in Sharp within this month in exchange for securing a 3 percent stake in the Japanese firm. The move, which is the first capital tie-up between industry-leading Korean and Japanese electronic firms, w

Yongsan development project faces bankruptcy as bailout funds elusive