Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Sunday it will be looking at global tech companies that may be abusing their monopolistic control to disrupt fair competition in the local market, a move some insiders say may extend to Google and Apple. “The plan is to check the information technology and electronics sectors to see whether the dominant actors are abusing their control,” Fair Trade Commission chairman Jeong Jae-chan said, adding that greater resources will be allocated to examining the local mobil

The government said Sunday it will kick off a 30 trillion won ($27.4 billion) investment promotion program this month that aims to get companies to pour more money into new growth engines, build up core businesses and engage in large social overhead capital projects.The inter-ministerial program supported by the finance, commerce and science ministries and the Financial Services Commission calls for the state-run Korea Development Bank to provide some 15 trillion won in capital that can be used

The pace of increase in mortgage loans visibly slowed in January, preliminary data from banks showed Sunday, but market watchers say it is too early to tell whether it speaks for a bigger trend that is here to stay.Home-backed loans by six major commercial banks reached 300.99 trillion won ($274.68 billion) as of end-January, up 285.2 billion won from the end of the previous month. The pace of increase is in dramatic contrast with the fourth-quarter months when such loans jumped more than 3 tril

South Korea's energy imports measured in volume edged up in 2014 from a year earlier, mainly due to more demand from the industrial sector, customs data showed Friday.According to the data from the Korea Customs Service (KCS), South Korea brought in 298.53 million tons of crude oil, coal and natural gas in the 12-month period, up from 295.95 million tons reported for 2013. It said, in particular, the fourth quarter saw energy imports jumping to 75.74 million tons, the highest amount tallied for

South Korea's card spending accelerated last year largely thanks to an economic recovery and the growing number of purchases with plastic, data showed on Friday.Purchases made with credit cards totaled 578.6 trillion won ($527 billion) last year, up 6.1 percent from the 545 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Credit Finance Association. Last year's gain is higher than the 4.7-percent on-year expansion the previous year, the association said.The data include the use of credit, debit and

At a glance, superstition doesn't seem to be a key swing factor for economic activities, but if tens of thousands of couples reschedule their weddings due to an ancient belief, as indicated by data released Friday, then it must be.The South Korean economy expanded 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, growing at the slowest pace in more than two years, according to the latest estimate by the Bank of Korea (BOK). It also marked a sharp slowdown from 0.9 percent growth in the third quarter.The centra

South Korean manufacturers' sentiment for business conditions weakened to the lowest level in 18 months amid lingering uncertainties, a poll showed Friday.The business sentiment index, which measures the outlook of manufacturers on their business conditions for the coming month, came in at 73 for February compared with 77 in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. It is the lowest reading since August 2013.In terms of seasonally adjusted figures, the monthly index also slumped to 74

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Thursday it has decided to slap 64.38 billion won ($59.31 million) in fines on two local explosives companies for fixing prices for more than a decade.The Fair Trade Commission said Hanwha Corp. and Koryo Nobel Explosives will be referred to the state prosecutors for criminal investigation.The alleged price fixing took place across the board and covers explosives used in construction and mining and products used by the military as well as detonators and fuse

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog is investigating Japanese and German car parts manufacturers for price-fixing on products they sold to local automakers, a source said Wednesday.The names of the companies under investigation and the parts supplied have not been made public, but the Fair Trade Commission insider said Hyundai Motor Co. and its corporate cousin, Kia Motors Corp., bought the parts for the past several years. The two carmakers are flagships of Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-l

South Korea must make its labor market more flexible and take heed of Japan's mistakes because failure to do so could result in more serious repercussions, the head of the country's top state-run economic think tank said Wednesday.Speaking to top executives at Samsung Electronics Co.'s headquarters in Seoul, Korea Development Institute (KDI) President Kim Joon-kyung warned the country's future will be bleak if Seoul follows Tokyo."Japan poured huge sums of money up until the early 2000s to reviv

The new head of South Korea's trade promotion agency said Wednesday he will strengthen "open collaboration" with other state agencies and organizations to create synergy in helping local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow into global companies. Kim Jae-hong, who took office as the head of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) earlier this month, added that the agency will serve as a "guide" for firms to better capitalize on free trade deals that the government has secur

Outbreaks of bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) caused exports of poultry and fresh pork to drop sharply last year, government data showed Wednesday.Cases of bird flu were reported early last year with the first FMD outbreaks being detected later on. The government even implemented "standstill measures" restricting the movement of animals and farmers earlier in the month to try to contain the spread.According to data by Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation and the farm ministry,

South Korea's economic growth rate for this year is expected to be a little higher than last year's expansion but fall short of the government's estimate, reports compiled by brokerage houses showed Wednesday.Ten major brokerage houses' average economic growth outlook for 2015 came in at 3.4 percent, slightly higher than the 3.3 percent on-year expansion posted last year, according to the reports.Their growth estimate for the year matches the projection by the Bank of Korea (BOK) of 3.4 percent