South Korea's exports rose to a record high last year with the country's overall trade volume also climbing to a new all-time high, the government said Thursday.   South Korea's overall exports came to US$573.1 billion in 2014, up 2.4 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.   Imports gained 2 percent on-year to about $525.7 billion. The country's trade surplus also rose to a new high of $47.4 billion.   It marked the fourth consecutive year the co

South Korea successfully kept alive its growth momentum in 2014, despite some difficult challenges at home and abroad, the country's top economic policymaker claimed Tuesday.   In a meeting with reporters, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said the sinking of the Sewol ferry in April that resulted in the loss of more than 300 people was a huge shock to the economy.   "The incident was such a shock that consumption was effectively halved," he pointed out.  He added while slower than expected the g

South Korean companies continue to remain pessimistic about their business conditions in January as they predict unfavorable conditions at home and abroad, a poll showed Sunday.According to the survey by the Federation of Korean Industries of the country’s top 600 companies by sales, the business survey index for next month stood at 90.3, the lowest since February.A BSI reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists.“Such a pessimistic outlook is apparently due to a prolonged downturn in

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Friday imposed a trade restriction order for foreigners on eight uninhabited islands in the territorial waters of South Korea.This means that foreigners will have to get special permission from local governments every time they try to purchase or sell a plot on these islands near the country’s maritime border.Currently, there are 23 such areas ― both inland and islands ― that act as the territorial sea base point for the country’s maritime bo

South Korean companies saw the lowest on-year sales growth in more than five years in the third quarter of this year as unfavorable currency exchange rates and weakening oil prices hit exporters, central bank data showed Friday, raising concerns over their flagging growth potential.Sales growth at 1,670 local firms, including 1,519 listed companies, slumped 3.2 percent on-year in the July-September period, falling the most since a 4 percent drop in the second quarter of 2009 when the global fina

Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan has asked the presidential office to conditionally release top businessmen in prison as part of an ongoing effort to revive the sluggish economy, a government source said Thursday.The Finance Ministry official, who declined to be identified, said the minister had made several comments in public and talked with reporters about the need to parole or even pardon leading businessmen.“Since he made the comments on numerous occasions Choi may have conveyed this view to

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Yoon Sang-jik visited the Gori nuclear power plant units 1 and 3 near Busan on Wednesday and Thursday to help reinforce countermeasures against cyberattacks on the country’s atomic power-generating facilities. “We are 100 percent confident in our technical readiness against cyberattacks, but I know that this could be a matter of giving a sense of assurance and security to the public,” Yoon told cheering workers at the power plant’s main control room. “We will

South Korea set out new tax code revisions Thursday that chiefly target boosting household income and making companies spend more of their cash reserves to drive economic growth as the country pushes to increase domestic consumption to ward off deflation concerns.The measures, to take effect starting Jan. 1, include giving a 10 percent tax credit to workers whose wages increased more than the average for the preceding three years. Companies that pay out high dividends will get lower withholding

A trilateral committee of labor, management and government representatives agreed Tuesday on the basic principles of their future discussions on reforming the labor market and to finish discussing three top topics, including easing discrimination against irregular workers, by March.   The Economic and Social Development Commission adopted a basic agreement on labor market reform at the end of a main session held at the main government building in Seoul.   The three parties shared the need to ref

South Korea's parliamentary research agency on Tuesday called on the central bank to lower the key interest rate further from its current record-low level, citing deepening concerns about deflation risks amid plunging oil prices."If current conditions do not improve and the South Korean economy falls into deflation, all policies will be incapacitated," the National Assembly Research Service said in a report. "The key rate should be further reduced before the country lapses into a state of deflat

Excess cash held by South Korean households and non-profit agencies fell to the lowest level in nine months in the third quarter of the year due mainly to seasonal factors and a rise in property market transactions, central bank data showed Tuesday.Their excess funds totaled 19.4 trillion won (US$17.7 billion) in the third quarter, compared with 29.6 trillion won three months earlier when the figure soared to the highest level in more than a year on sluggish private spending after the deadly Sew