The South Korean economy grew 6.2 percent last year, the fastest expansion in eight years, as exports remained robust and facility investment jumped amid improved consumer spending, the central bank said Wednesday.   The country's gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic performance, was revised up from an earlier estimate of 6.1 percent for last year, according to the Bank o

Korea has decided to downsize areas originally included as part of the country’s six free economic zones to reflect changing development requirements, the government said Tuesday.The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said a review panel ruled to exclude 12 areas covering 90.4-square kilometers of land from the FEZs, a move expected to cut back on overall costs and construction time.Seoul first designa

Korea will host an annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank in 2015, a chance that the government expects would deepen its economic cooperation with American countries, the finance ministry said Tuesday.The decision was unanimously made during the 52nd round of the IDB annual meeting that ended on Monday in Canada, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a press release.Founded i

The government, telecom operators, handset makers and credit card companies are teaming up to expedite the development of a new mobile payment technology. The Korea Communications Commission announced Tuesday the launch of a coalition to foster near-field communication technology, which allows shoppers to apply their mobile devices to an electronic reader at the check-out to pay for goods and serv

Telecom industry giant and world’s No. 2 phonemaker struggling to shirk blame for high call feesSK Telecom and Samsung Electronics, known for their airtight alliance on phone marketing and sales, are showing signs of a major rift with both parties attempting to shift blame for spiking call fees, according to industry watchers. On the government’s mounting demands on telecom companies to slash the

The Trade Ministry is to again revise the Korean-language version of the Korea-EU free trade agreement, and resubmit the bill for ratification to the National Assembly for the third time.“The government was recently informed that several errors were found while reviewing the Korea-EU FTA’s Korean translation,” Rep. Nam Kyung-pil, National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee

Korean commercial and state-controlled banks are seeking to strengthen their investment banking sectors in the belief they will be their new growth engines.Beyond the saturated loan issuance market, most local banks share the view that investment banking is one of many priorities for globalization in the coming years.Among them are KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, Shinhan Bank and Industrial Bank of K

Amid the flooded mobile application market, already awash with new creative programs, another app has been introduced -- to help parents better understand their children.The “Woteva” (slang for “whatever”) app, expected to be officially available by summer, will provide users with definitions of teenagers’ slang, reported the Daily Mail.Due to the Internet and the use of text messages, youngsters

South Korea's current account surplus widened in February from the previous month mainly because spending on overseas travel decreased amid still brisk exports, the central bank said Tuesday.   The current account surplus reached $1.18 billion in February, up sharply from a revised $154.7 million the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure