Efforts to foster an environment where creative ideas and innovative technologies lead to new jobs and markets are expected to show results starting this year, the country's minister in charge of science and IT affairs said.The so-called "creative economy," though it has many meanings and applications, is a method through which President Park Geun-hye said she can realize many of her economic development campaign pledges."The creative economy has just taken shape, and would show visible results

South Korea's plastic card spending moved up 1 percent on-year in September, marking an all-time low growth due mainly to the lower number of business days amid the Chuseok holiday, a trade association said Thursday.South Korea's combined plastic card spending totaled 46.3 trillion won ($43.6 billion) last month, inching up from 45.8 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data by the Credit Finance Association (CREFIA).It marked a sharp drop from a whopping 7.2 percent and a 7.6 p

The South Korean government said Wednesday that it plans to nurture the country’s chip-making industry by boosting local output of chip-making equipment.South Korea is one of the leading memory chip manufacturing countries in the world, but there have been calls to enhance its technological base on design-related services, semiconductor-related parts, components and manufacturing machines. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the localization rate of semiconductor equipment h

South Korea's finance minister called for lawmakers on Wednesday to accelerate their efforts to pass pending bills initiated by the government to boost the overall economy. "Over the past eight months, the government has worked hard to boost the economy and strengthen its fundamentals but such efforts have not resulted in helping how people actually feel (in their lives)," Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok told a meeting with other policymakers here. "This is blamed much on uncertain economic situat

South Korea’s customs agency said Tuesday that it will expand the floor size of stores run by small- and medium-sized enterprises in its duty-free areas as part of efforts to help boost their business performance.Currently, the size of stores run by SMEs in the customs agency’s duty-free areas stands at 12 percent of the total but the Korea Customs Service said that it will increase the ratio to 25 percent by 2018.The KCS also said that it will increase the ratio of products made by SMEs in Kore

South Korea's exports to Japan have declined sharply this year as the Japanese yen's weakness, coupled with a stronger Korean won, has reduced demand for Korean goods, data showed on Tuesday.Shipments to Japan declined 13.32 percent on-year in August this year, dropping for the seventh consecutive month, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association.Exports to Japan accounted for 5.94 percent of South Korea's total outbound shipments in August, also down from 7.7 pe

The delinquency ratio of loans extended by South Korean insurers inched up n August from a month earlier due mainly to growth in both corporate and household loans, the financial regulator said Tuesday. The average bad debt ratio of local life and non-life insurers came to 0.75 percent at the end of August, up 0.03 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the figure dropped 0.1 percentage point from 0.85 percent

South Korea's tax agency said Monday that it has collected about 6 trillion won ($5.7 billion) less in taxes on-year during the first eight months of this year as the slowing economic recovery undercut corporate and other revenues. In its briefing to lawmakers ahead of a parliamentary audit session, the National Tax Service (NTS) said that it had collected 129.6 trillion won in national tax during the January-August period, which is 5.9 trillion won less compared with that in the same period a y

SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean stock market is expected to continue its upward trend next week as foreigners are anticipated to maintain their buying rally amid eased woes over the U.S. political impasse, analysts said Saturday.The country's key stock index, the KOSPI, advanced 1 percent this week to close at 2,052.40 on Friday.Earlier this week, the local stock market was dented by concerns stemming from political tension in the U.S. over its debt limit.However, the market returned

South Korea's central bank said Friday that household debt could become a potential risk factor for the economy as the rate of debt growth is continuing to outpace that of income.The Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a report for the annual parliamentary audit that it is unlikely household debt will sour massively in the short term and the growth rate of household debt has slowed on the back of the government's efforts to lessen indebtedness problems.However, the central bank warned that since househo

Orders clinched by South Korean shipbuilders jumped significantly in the first nine months of the year from a year earlier, raising hopes that the shipbuilding sector is poised to recover down the road, the government said Thursday.In the first nine months of the year, South Korean shipyards reaped orders for 10.9 million compensated gross tons, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The figure accounts for 36 percent of total global orders placed during the cited period but fal

South Korea's producer prices declined for the 12th straight month in September on falls in prices of oil and agricultural products and the local currency's gain against the U.S. dollar, the central bank said Thursday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, slid 1.8 percent in September from a year earlier, compared with a 1.3 percent on-year decline in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The September data marked the sharpest on-year fall since a 2.6 percent