A growing number of South Korean companies failed to generate enough operating profit to pay tax and interest payments on their debt, data showed Sunday. The number of listed companies that logged pre-tax operating loss last year amounted to 541 companies, or 31.1 percent of the total, according to corporate tracker Chaebul.com. The number of companies that were exempt from corporate tax due to operating loss rose to the highest level in five years, adding 30 firms from 2010, the website said. T

South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and his French counterpart, Manuel Valls, have agreed to cooperate to improve the creative economies of the two countries.  The two leaders said Seoul and Paris will come up with specific measures for bilateral cooperation on the creative economy, as well as action plans for cooperation in each sector.  The agreement was reached during their meeting at the Hotel Matignon, the French prime minister's official residence, on Thursday.  The two leaders expla

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to hold its key interest rate steady is expected to help alleviate continued uncertainty in the international financial market, a senior government official said Friday.   After a two-day policy meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee froze the interest rate on Thursday, citing a cooling global economy even as the U.S. economy grows steadily.   "The rate freeze is a factor that could ease market uncertainty to some degree, but financial volatility at home a

Producer prices in South Korea shrank significantly from a year earlier in August, marking the 13th consecutive monthly drop largely caused by a cut in global oil prices, data showed Friday.   The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, reached 100.88 last month, down 4.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).   The figure also marks a 0.5 percent drop from a month earlier.   The price of gasoline plunged 30.

A group of lawmakers said Thursday that the antitrust regulator has been negligent in curbing the oligopoly of the nation’s two major Internet portal giants.During a parliamentary audit on the Fair Trade Commission, some members of the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly claimed that Naver and Daum Kakao have expanded their business operations recklessly by exploiting their market dominance.“Naver has captured 70 percent of the online information market. It is not a portal but a b

South Korea's exports of information communication technology products rose slightly in August from a year earlier on a rise in shipments of key products, data showed Thursday.  Outbound shipments of ICT products amounted to $14.44 billion last month, up 0.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.  Imports also surged 11.4 percent on-year to $7.55 billion last month, with the country logging a surplus of $6.9 billion.  The increa

South Korea has suffered the largest outflow of foreign stock funds over the past two months among Asian emerging economies amid concerns over a U.S. interest rate hike and turbulence in China, industry data showed Thursday. Foreign investors pulled out $5.2 billion from the South Korean stock market in the past eight weeks, the biggest foreign exodus among Asian emerging markets, according to the data compiled by the Korea Center for International Finance. India was the second-biggest loser wit

South Korea's free trade deals helped prop up weak exports and imports in the first half amid the sluggish pace of the global economic recovery, government data showed Thursday.  Asia's fourth-largest economy reported two-way transactions contracting 10.2 percent on-year in the January-June period, with numbers for countries that have free trade agreements backtracking 6.6 percent the Korea Customs Service said.   In comparison, trade with countries that do not have an open trade arrangement dro

Global investment bank Morgan Stanley has slashed its forecast for South Korea's economic growth citing the country's sluggish exports stemming from slowing Chinese demand, industry sources said Wednesday.It expected Asia's fourth-largest economy to expand 2.3 percent this year, slower than the previously projected 2.5 percent gain, according to sources who are familiar with the matter.An economic slowdown in China, South Korea's biggest trade partner, will work to drag down South Korea's overal

South Korea's public-sector debt ratio is expected to fall below the 200 percent mark in 2015 for the first time in five years thanks to reforms and measures taken to enhance state companies' fiscal health, the government said Wednesday.In its 2015-2019 mid- and long-term fiscal management plan, the finance ministry predicted total debt will likely stand at 496.6 trillion won ($421 billion) by year's end, down 1 trillion won from a year earlier.This will push down their combined ratio of debt to

Minors belonging to families that control South Korea's large business conglomerates, or chaebol, hold 96.2 billion won ($81.4 million) in shares, a report by an opposition lawmaker's office showed Wednesday.According to data provided by the Fair Trade Commission to Rep. Shin Hak-yong's office, 39 children and teenagers who are directly related to owners of 15 conglomerates had stakes in their affiliates as of Sept. 8.This translates into an average 2.5 billion won worth of shares per person, th

The labor costs for South Korean conglomerates have risen during the first half of the year although their bottom lines suffered a setback from an economic slowdown, data showed Wednesday. The total amount paid by 271 affiliate firms under the country's top 30 conglomerates to workers came to 33.47 trillion won ($28.4 billion) in the January-June period, up 4.7 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by corporate researcher CEO Score. In contrast, the companies' net profit

South Korea's level of economic freedom fell seven notches in 2013 from a year earlier, a report showed Tuesday, pointing to the need for more drastic reforms to prop up the country's economic growth. The economic freedom index for South Korea stood at 7.38 out of a possible 10 points to rank at 39th place in 2013, down from 32nd place a year earlier, according to this year's report of the Economic Freedom of the World, The annual report, published by a group of 91 institutions and think tanks a

The South Korean economy is expected to grow only 2.7 percent on-year in 2016 due to a continued downturn in exports and sluggish domestic demand, a private think tank said Tuesday.In its latest economic outlook, the LG Economic Research Institute  predicted that weak exports stemming from a slowdown in China and consumer spending hit hard by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak will continue to weigh on Asia's fourth-largest economy next year. The think tank added that the South Korean

The ratio of South Korea's household debt to its gross domestic product was the highest among key emerging countries last year, a report showed Tuesday, adding to growing concerns over the country's already high level of such liabilities.The country's household credit accounted for 84.3 percent of its GDP at the end of 2014, which was well higher than 13 other emerging countries, including Malaysia with 68.9 percent, Hong Kong with 65.6 percent and Singapore with 60.6 percent, according to the q