The National Assembly issued an order Wednesday for the two former chiefs of the intelligence agency and Seoul police to attend a hearing on their involvement in an alleged election interference and cover-up after they defied parliamentary summons. The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party agreed to hold the hearing on Friday and issue an order of accompaniment to former National Intelligence Service Director Won Sei-hoon and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner

South Korea's jobless rate remained unchanged in July from a month earlier but job creation slightly quickened, raising hopes that labor market conditions are improving, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.1 percent last month. The jobless rate adjusted for inflation also stayed unchanged at 3.2 percent over the cited period.The pace of job creation quickened. The number of employed people was 25.47 million in July, up 367

The government and the ruling party have reached a consensus to raise the minimum annual salary subject to increased taxes starting next year amid criticism that their latest tax code revision plan increases the tax burden on salaried and middle income people, informed sources said Tuesday.According to the sources, the government and the ruling Saenuri Party shared the view to raise the minimum annual salary subject to the tax hikes to over 55 million won (US$49,300) from the 34.5 million won se

South Korea's tax collection during the first half dropped to the lowest level in three years, affected by slowing economic recovery, sluggish corporate profits and consumer spending, government data showed Tuesday.According to the data provided by the National Tax Service to Democratic Party Rep. An Min-suk, the government collected a total of 92.19 trillion won (US$82.6 billion) in taxes during the January-June period, down 9.41 trillion won, or 9.3 percent, from a year earlier.This also marks

The state-run Korea National Oil Corp. has decided to abandon the oil exploration business in Yemen, a project that has consumed $81.5 million over the past six years.“The oil reserves in the Yemen gas field No. 4 turned out to fall below the break-even point so we decided in the latest directorate meeting to terminate the project,” said an official of KNOC on Monday.The corporation will thus liquidate KNOC Yemen, a special company established for the purpose, and return the exploration and mana

President Park Geun-hye ordered the government Monday to review its new tax code proposal, saying it should not cause additional burdens to the working and middle classes.Park's remarks follow recent criticism against the government for its plan to overhaul the tax code in a way that critics claim favors the rich and hurts the working and middle classes.Under the overhaul announced last Thursday, 4.34 million people, accounting for about 28 percent of workers, will see their tax burden increase

South Korea's import prices declined for the 11th straight month in July as the local currency's gain helped offset higher oil costs, the central bank said Monday.In local currency terms, the country's import prices declined 4.3 percent in July from a year earlier after falling at the same pace of 4.3 percent in June, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The import prices have fallen every month since September last year when such prices dipped 2.2 percent on-year. In March, the import prices fe

Swiss bank UBS was the most-favored broker by Koreans who established paper companies in overseas tax havens, according to the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, a group of local journalists.The journalists said they found that UBS branches in Singapore and Hong Kong mediated 31 cases among 369 phantom companies established by Koreans.Those who turned to UBS for alleged tax evasion were reported as Hanjin chairwoman Choi Eun-young, OCI chairman Lee Soo-young and KB AutoTech president Par

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― Intel Corp., a U.S. tech giant, stressed Thursday that it has no intention of doing business in North Korea although it has secured the U.S. government‘s approval for efforts to protect its intellectual property rights in the communist nation.“Our position is that we have no plans to do business in North Korea,” Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel, said in an email.Last year, the company submitted an application for a “specific license” in North Korea to the Treasury’s

People earning more than 100 million won (US$89,847) a year will see their effective tax rate rise faster than other income brackets next year under the government's latest tax code overhaul plan, the finance ministry said Friday.   The ministry unveiled its 2013 tax code overhaul proposal on Thursday in which it plans to phase out most of the income deduction programs and replace them with tax deductions in a bid to provide more benefits to low- and middle-income earners.   The government estim

The government has allowed George Mason University to open its regional campus in the international district of Songdo, part of the Free Economic Zone in Incheon, officials said Thursday.The officials said the Industry Ministry’s FEZ committee reviewed the proposal and approved it at a meeting.The campus, scheduled to open in March 2014, will be located at the Songdo Global University Campus area and will be the second university to open a foreign branch in Songdo after the State University of N