(Yonhap) -- South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said Monday that the government's deregulation campaign is designed to remove only excessive regulations, not all of them, amid criticism over the possibility of "indiscriminate" deregulation.President Park Geun-hye has initiated a drive to eliminate non-essential regulations in a bid to reinvigorate Asia's fourth-largest economy. Ministries and agencies have announced their plans to remove regulations after accepting complaints and recomme

Overseas orders for South Korea’s industrial plants surged from a year earlier in the first three months, with large increases in orders from Africa and the Middle East, the government said Monday.In the January-March period, overseas orders amounted to $16.8 billion, up 42.1 percent from the same period in 2013, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.“The rise in the first quarter appears to be the outcome of government efforts to help remove difficulties for (local) firms whil

Shares on the local bourse are expected to rally this week on steady buying from foreign investors, who are likely to stay positive thanks to solid economic data from home and abroad, according to analysts.They now expect the Korean market to settle above the touted 2,000-point level, noting that the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index surpassed the 2,000-point level at one point Wednesday for the first time in three months.The KOSPI finished the week at 1,988.09 this week, up 0.64 perce

Shares on the local bourse are expected to rally this week on account of steady buying from foreign investors, who are likely to stay positive thanks to solid economic data from home and abroad, according to analysts.They now expect the Korean market to settle above the touted 2,000-point level, noting that the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index surpassed the 2,000-point level at one point Wednesday for the first time in three months.The KOSPI finished the week at 1,988.09 this week, up

South Korean stocks opened almost flat Thursday as investors were divided over whether the European Central Bank will take monetary easing steps, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 0.37 points, or 0.02 percent, to 1,997.62 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Carmakers traded mixed, with No. 1 Hyundai Motor falling 0.4 percent and its auto parts affiliate Hyundai Mobis edging down 0.62 percent. Kia Motors climbed 0.66 percent.Tech firms also traded bearish,

A number of foreigners in Korea, including celebrities such as Australian comedian Sam Hammington, U.S. baseball player Mike Loree and French model and actor Fabien Yoon, have confessed that the most peculiar aspect of Korea was its senior-junior culture.In word-to-word translation, the terms “senior” and “junior” could be put as “seonbae” and “hubae” but the Korean version actually has a unique connotation which creates a strict hierarchy.Under the seonbae-hubae system, people’s “ranks” are dec

There were 209 reported attempts of technology theft in the past five years, an overwhelming majority of them from small- and midsize companies, South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday.According to a center for protection of industrial secrets under the National Intelligence Service, attempted theft of trade secrets to foreign countries has grown to cover a wider range of sectors, with smaller companies falling prey because of weaker security awareness and lack of resources to invest in advanced s

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in seven months in March, driven in part by a rise in personal service costs, including private education, a government report showed Tuesday.The country's consumer price index rose 1.3 percent in March from a year earlier, the fastest on-year rise since August last year when it gained 1.5 percent, according to the report by Statistics Korea.This marked the first time since November that the growth rate has quickened on a month-to-month basi

South Korea's trade surplus widened from a year earlier last month as the growth of its exports outpaced that of imports, the government said Tuesday.The country's trade surplus reached $4.19 billion in March with outbound shipments coming to $49.76 billion, up 5.2 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Imports gained 3.6 percent on-year to $45.57 billion. (Yonhap)

South Korea and Mexico have agreed to launch a committee to beef up bilateral economic cooperation, the finance ministry said Monday.The agreement was reached in Brazil on Sunday (local time) between Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok and his Mexican counterpart, Luis Videgaray. They were attending an annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank.The so-called economic cooperation committee will be launched in the second half of this year at the earliest and take comprehensive government-leve

A disabled couple expressed deep anger at American Airlines over a disparaging customer description note by the carrier’s employee, ABC reported on Friday, local time. Free trade pacts that went into effect in the last decade played a role in fueling South Korean exports, a report by an international traders association showed Sunday.According to the Korea International Trade Association, nine open trade arrangements reached so far allowed local companies to make further inroads into 46 countrie