Debts owed by the government, individuals and companies in South Korea reached a record high last year, data showed on Sunday, raising concerns that the high level of debts could derail the economy off the recovery track.   According to data compiled by the Bank of Korea, their interest-bearing debts reached 2,586 trillion won ($2.37 trillion) at the end of last year, up 7.4 percent from 2,408

   South Korea's inflation is expected to remain above the 4 percent range in April due to higher oil prices and other external shocks such as the fallout from Japan's nuclear crisis, experts said Sunday.   The country's consumer prices rose to a 29-month high last month and were far above the central bank's target, stoking expectation that the nation's central bank may raise its key rate soon.  

South Korea's top financial regulator has said the watchdog will push to make a final decision this month over whether Lone Star Funds has the legal right to be the top shareholder of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB).Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Kim Seok-dong said in a meeting with reporters, "We are working to make a final decision on Lone Star's eligibility in April."The regulator is ex

South Korean stocks rose on the seventh-straight day to set a new record of 2,121.01 points on Friday, buoyed mainly by foreign buying. The benchmark KOSPI jumped 14.31 points or 0.68 percent from the previous day to break the previous record it set in January when the KOSPI closed at 2,115.69. Trading volume was moderate at 328.2 million shares worth 7.12 trillion won ($6.5 billion), with gainers

South Korea will invest a record amount of 53.8 billion won ($48 million) in Jeju Island this year to boost regional businesses in industries such as water and energy management, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Friday. The government will be spending about half of the funds on developing renewable energy facilities such as offshore wind turbines, while another 23 billion won will be used to

SK Group, the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, said Friday that it had spun off its life science unit in a bid to develop the business into a new driver of growth. SK Biopharm’s total assets will reach 300 billion won ($260 million), and will be wholly owned by SK Holdings Co. The new unit’s main goal will be developing globally competitive new medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients,

Korean game-lovers will have a chance to experience Kinect on 3-D television at experience zones and Kinect tournaments operated as a joint effort between Microsoft Korea and LG Electronics, Microsoft said this week. Kinect is new game device launched by Microsoft last year that requires no controllers, as an embedded sensor picks up the movements of the players. Customers also can buy special Kin

The government is to toughen its crackdown on conglomerates’ irregular support for affiliates, often used to evade taxes and hide the transfer of owners’ wealth to their siblings. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Thursday the government will widen its investigation into and levy new taxes on corporations unfairly giving orders to subsidiaries. As part of the government’s commitment to est

Three major telecom operators submitted applications to the government on Thursday for reassignment of frequency bandwidths to offer the current 2G communication services and prepare for the next generation of network technologies.As the 10-year period for the frequency band expires in June, SK Telecom, KT Corp. and LG Uplus said they asked the Korea Communications Commission for the frequency ban