The Korea Herald

Female workers top 10 million for first time in 2011

Jan 25, 2012

The number of female workers in Korea exceeded 10 million for the first time in 2011 due to the growing female population and a higher number of jobseekers among those supporting families, data showed Wednesday.Female workers totaled 10.09 million at the end of last year, up 1.8 percent or 177,000 from a year earlier, according to the data provided by the finance ministry and Statistics Korea, Korea’s statistics agency.The number of female workers has been rising since it exceeded 5 million in 1
Iranian oil cheapest of Korea’s imports

Jan 25, 2012

Iranian oil was the cheapest of all crude oil Korea imports from abroad, except for Colombia, Oman and the Saudi-Kuwait neutral zone from where only small volumes are bought. Korea imported 846.59 million barrels of crude oil in the 11 months leading up to November from 23 countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran and Oman, according to Petronet, an oil information provider run by the Korea National Oil Corporation. “Iran accounted for 9.76 percent of Korea’s crude oil imports and is
Korean exports to Mexico surge in 50 years: report

Jan 25, 2012

Korea’s exports to Mexico have skyrocketed since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, thanks to a strong economic relationship, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report by the Korea International Trade Association, Korea’s shipments to Mexico came to $9.1 billion in the first 11 months of 2011, compared with a mere $55,000 in 1967.Korea and Mexico set up diplomatic relations in 1962, while Seoul began tracking bilateral trade five years later.Korea’s imports from Mexico surge
SaKong to attend WEF as Lee’s special envoy

Jan 24, 2012

SaKong Il, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as President Lee Myung-bak’s special envoy from Wednesday through Sunday, KITA said Tuesday.Some 2,500 people from 90 countries including about 30 heads of states, 80 minister-level officials, 20 heads of international organizations, chief executives of private companies and academics are expected to attend the annual conference themed “the Great Transformation: Shaping N
Korea to fight U.S. anti-dumping probe on washing machines

Jan 24, 2012

Korea said Saturday that it will fight a planned U.S. government probe into alleged dumping of Korean washing machines in its market, voicing strong objection to the investigation triggered by a complaint from Whirlpool Corp. On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department announced its plan to probe allegations that Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. sold their washing machines to U.S. customers at unfairly low market prices. Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statemen
Elderly concerned most about finances, health: survey

Jan 24, 2012

Aging Koreans cited economic difficulty and health as their biggest concerns, but the weight of their worries varied according to their education levels, a report showed Monday.In a survey of 60-year-olds by Statistics Korea, 43.2 percent of the respondents with elementary education picked economic difficulty as their top concern. Health closely followed at 40.5 percent, while unemployment and loneliness each stood at 4.7 percent and 4.3 percent.In contrast, 40.5 percent of the respondents with
Manufacturing sector expands 7.7% in 2011: report

Jan 24, 2012

Korea’s manufacturing sector grew at a brisk pace of 7.7 percent on-year in 2011 fueled by surging exports, a report by the central bank showed Tuesday.The Bank of Korea said of the 16 industrial sectors checked, only five surpassed the country‘s gross domestic product growth, with three contracting compared to the year before.Asia’s fourth largest economy may have grown by 3.8 percent last year, down from 6.2 percent growth posted in 2010. For the first three quarters of 2011, data showed the e
Korea’s trade with FTA signatories jumps

Jan 24, 2012

Korea saw its trade with seven economic entities with which it has free trade agreements jump over the past few years, government data showed Monday.South Korea’s trade with those entities came to $296.1 billion in 2011, or 27.4 percent of its total trade volume of $1.08 trillion, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service. That is up from 14.6 percent in 2009.The entities include Singapore, Chile, Peru, the European Free Trade Association, the European Union, and the Association of Sout
International air passenger traffic hits record high in 2011

Jan 24, 2012

Korea’s international air passenger traffic reached an all-time high in 2011, fueled by foreign visitors and transit travelers using local airports, the government said Tuesday.The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said 42.65 million people took international flights coming into and leaving the country in 2011, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier. Of the total, 5.66 million people were transit travelers, a gain of 6.5 percent vis-a-vis 2010.It said traffic to Southeast Asia and Oce
Europe, oil may hit Korean exports

Jan 20, 2012

A toxic mix of eurozone News ANALYSIS crisis and rising oil prices likely to hurt Korean economyKorea’s policymakers are headed for their hometowns during the Lunar New Year holiday with an assortment of concerns about the domestic economy. The biggest concern is the negative outlook over the country’s exports, which may be faltering faster than expected. For export-dependent Korea, this is an unsettling development, especially at a time when other external factors such as the eurozone debt woes
Korea to resume Canadian beef imports from Friday

Jan 19, 2012

The government said Thursday it will allow imports of Canadian beef starting Friday, resuming imports it suspended in 2003 after an outbreak of mad cow disease in the North American country. Local livestock distributors will be able to sell Canadian meat from cows younger than 30 months old from this weekend.The Agriculture Ministry said it will proclaim local distributors of the regulations and sanitary requirements on Friday, clearing the final procedure to resume the import.Seoul has been pus
Seoul to extend anti-dumping duties on ethyl acetate imports

Jan 19, 2012

Korea‘s trade commission said Thursday it has decided to extend its anti-dumping tariffs on ethyl acetate solvents imported from China, Singapore and Japan by an additional three years due to damage to local manufacturers.The decision will soon be delivered to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance for approval, the Korea Trade Commission said.Seoul has been imposing anti-dumping duties of 5.81-14.17 percent on products from the three Asian countries since August 2008. “The local industry is recov
Smaller firms demand more foreign workers: survey

Jan 19, 2012

One out of two workplaces that employ foreign workers said the government must increase its quota for the foreign workforce, according to a recent survey conducted by the Korean chamber on Thursday.The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that 53.8 percent of the firms requested an increase in the foreign worker quota and 49.5 percent said they need a greater number of foreign workers. The survey was responded to by 303 companies that employ foreign workers.When asked why they are hiring
Harvard Business School alumni see U.S. losing competitive edge

Jan 19, 2012

Companies and workers in the U.S. will increasingly lose out to competition from overseas during the next three years, according to a survey of Harvard Business School alumni. More than two-thirds of about 10,000 graduates of the school in Boston, said that U.S. companies will become less able to co
Koreans increasingly preparing for elderly life

Jan 18, 2012

More Koreans are preparing for life after retirement as they wish to live independently, a survey report said Wednesday.The report by Statistics Korea showed that 65.7 percent of those surveyed said that they are preparing for their elderly life in 2011, much higher than 32.9 percent in a similar survey conducted in 1998. The ratio for male respondents stood at 73.2 percent in 2011, up from 43.4 percent, while for women it grew to 58.5 percent from 23 percent over the same period.The increase is