South Korea could suffer $20 billion in economic losses if its already-soured relations with China exacerbates, an industry report said Tuesday.Korea is already suffering from China’s apparent economic retaliation measures, such as banning Chinese travelers from visiting Korea and applying stricter customs procedures on Korean goods, as China has been asserting that the deployment of a US anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula poses a threat to its territory.A duty free shop specializing in

South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Tuesday called for all-out efforts to manage economic risks stemming from the US Federal Reserve's recent decision to raise key interest rates.During a Cabinet meeting, Hwang pointed out growing concerns that the interest rate hike could further weigh down Asia's fourth-largest economy suffering from flaccid domestic consumption and relatively high unemployment.  Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn speaks during a C

South Korea's exports jumped 14.8 percent in the first 20 days of March from a year earlier, continuing their upbeat mode for five straight months, customs data showed Tuesday.The total outbound shipments reached $27.3 billion during the cited period, up from $23.8 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.The increase was led by a 42.5 percent on-year gain in exports of semiconductors and a 62.2 percent surge in petroleum product

The number of closed down franchise stores nationwide in 2015 reached 13,241, 19.7 percent more from the previous year, data by the Fair Trade Commission showed.This means an average of 36 stores closed down per day.The number of newly opened franchise branches, meanwhile, reached 22,536, down 9.2 percent from 2014.The aggravating franchise business is attributed to declining consumer sentiment and excessive competition.Experts also warned against retirees jumping into franchise businesses witho

Calls are rising for the government to redouble efforts to bring home Korean manufacturers’ overseas production as a way to help reduce the country’s soaring unemployment.Only 30 companies have returned home since Korea enacted a special law on support for reshoring firms four years ago. In a recent survey, half of them said they were not satisfied with government support provided since their return. Only 23.3 percent expressed satisfaction.(123RF)According to a report released by the Korea Econ

South Korea has lagged behind the United States in key economic indicators as its economy remains in the doldrums in contrast with America's full-fledged recovery, data showed Monday.South Korea has underpeformed the world's largest economy in terms of growth for two quarters running while posting a higher unemployment rate for the first time in 16 years. In addition, the US policy interest rate is feared to overtake that of South Korea within this year as the US Federal Reserve has shifted to a

South Korea‘s average hours worked ranks among the highest levels of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries, but its productivity failed to reach even half the level of advanced nations, data from the OECD’s “Goring for Growth” report showed.The report pointed out that while South Korea raised the gross domestic product per capita in a short span of time, to reach within a quarter of the average of the most advanced OECD countries, the working hours remained among the

Household power consumption remained almost the same for the first two months in 2017 from a year earlier despite the government lowering electricity rates in December, data showed Monday.The government reduced household electricity bills by about 11 percent in December by changing the six-tier cumulative residential electricity price system to a three-tier one to ease the financial burden on households.On-year household power consumption declined 0.7 percent to 5,602 gigawatts in December, whil

The economic gap between South and North Korea remained wide in 2016 as the South Korean economy, Asia's fourth largest, expanded at a much faster clip, a US intelligence report said Monday.In terms of purchasing power, South Korea's gross domestic product came to$1.93 trillion last year, 48 times larger than the North's $40 billion, according to the CIA's World Factbook. This undated file photo shows a North Korean man working at a bag factory in Pyongyang. (Yonhap)South Korea's GDP ranked 14th

The lack of reference to anti-protectionism in a joint statement released after a meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors over the weekend poses greater risks to trade-reliant Korea, observers said.The economic policymakers of the Group of 20 leading countries wrapped up their gathering in Baden-Baden in Germany on Saturday, but failed to reject protectionism, reportedly due to strong opposition from the US under trade protectionist President Donald Trump. US Secretary of th

Nearly 7 out of 10 companies with more than five employees have adopted a "wage peak" or incentive payment systems since the introduction of legislation to extend the retirement age to 60 in 2013, a survey showed Sunday.The government has pursued the wage peak system in which employees accept reduced salaries for several years before retirement to reduce the corporate financial burden with the retirement age extension. In this file photo taken on Nov. 14, 2015, public servants protest against th

Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho met with global rating firms in an attempt to assure credit appraisers of the economic situation in the aftermath of former president Park Geun-hye’s impeachment on the eve of a meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors.Yoo met Moritz Kraemer, S&P‘s global sovereign chief ratings officer, and James McCormack, head of sovereign ratings at Fitch, separately to address positive signs of a recovery in exports and investment in recent months. The minister

Overseas tuition fees spent by South Koreans fell 6 percent last year from a year earlier due to the won's weakness and the slowing economy, the central bank said Friday. In 2016, the tuition fees for South Koreans studying overseas declined to $3.52 billion from $3.74 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea."Rising exchanges rates may have affected the declines in spending by parents on education for their children overseas," a BOK official said.The dollar rose t

Won Hee-seon recently switched from a Givenchy bag to a Prada for a "fresh look," but the decision did not result in a big dent in her bank account.The secret behind the change of designer luxury bags that ordinarily would have cost a tidy sum of money was simply renting the accessory.Won is one of a growing number of young South Korean women who have signed up for a monthly membership to rent luxury bags and watches. "I want to carry Givenchy and Prada bags, but buying luxury goods is not easy