Growth of the South Korean financial industry hit a six-year low in the first half due mainly to the struggling savings bank sector and insurers’ poor track records, data showed Monday.The local financial industry expanded 1.6 percent on-year in the January-June period, the slowest gain since a 0.2

South Korea's consumer prices jumped at a faster pace in July, raising concerns that inflationary pressure is building up despite the government's anti-inflation efforts, a report showed Monday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 4.7 percent last mont

With the presidential election slated for December 2012, the Korean administration is likely to focus on firmer fiscal policy and welfare promotions rather than growth-oriented measures in a bid to appease the low-to-mid-income group, Morgan Stanley said. In a new research report titled “2012 Election Year: Market Implications,” Morgan Stanley forecast that the Korean government will not go for an

June industrial production posted slower than expected growth of 0.7 percent, a government report said Friday.Output in the construction, service, mining and manufacturing sectors expanded by 6.4 percent from a year ago, down from a revised 8.1 percent growth forecast in March, Statistics Korea said. The 0.7 percent on-month expansion is the slowest output growth in nine months, and a slow down fr

The weight of exports in the South Korean economy hit an all-time high in the second quarter, central bank data showed Thursday, underlining the country’s heavy dependence on overseas shipments for economic growth.Seasonally adjusted exports of goods and services amounted to 141.7 trillion won ($134.6 billion) in the April-June period, or 52.68 percent of the gross domestic product, according to t

South Korea's current account surplus hit an eight-month high in June on record exports, the central bank said Thursday, showing that overseas shipments are humming along despite strong currency and global economic uncertainties.The current account surplus reached US$2.99 billion in June, up from a revised $2.18 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account

The free trade accord between South Korea and Peru will take effect on Aug. 1, paving the way for the two countries’ trade and investment to increase sharply, the trade Ministry in Seoul said Wednesday.“The free trade deal with Peru will contribute to bolstering trade and investment and promoting cooperation in resources development. We expect that the trade pact will help South Korea expand into

Major South Korean companies are set to recruit more employees in the second half of the year than a year earlier as the economy is on a solid growth path, a poll said Wednesday.According to the joint survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Incruit, a local online job placement portal, 338 companies plan to hire a combined 17,361 employees in the July-December period, up 1.7 perce

By Cho Ji-hyunControversy is escalating over whether it was appropriate for a member of a media watchdog to post photos that some argue are “sexually offensive” on his personal blog.Last Wednesday, Park Kyung-sin, one of the nine commissioners at the Korea Communications Standards Commission, posted screen-grabs of photos of multiple male genitals published on other blogs on his own site, asking v

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The wealth gaps between whites and minorities in the United States have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tabulating them a quarter-century ago. The recession and uneven recovery have erased decades of minority gains, leaving whites on average with 20 times the net worth of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics, according to an analysis of new Census da

The top U.S. trade official predicted confidently Tuesday that Congress will pass free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia and Panama in September.In a speech at a Bretton Woods Committee meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said a "framework" for a deal on the controversial Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is already in place.President Barack Obama is pushing to renew the w

The South Korean economy grew at the slowest pace in six months in the second quarter as export gains sharply eased amid global economic uncertainty, the central bank said Wednesday.Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 0.8 percent in the April-June period, down from a 1.3 percent on-quarter expansion tallied in the first quarter, according to an advance estimate of the Bank of Korea (BOK). The count

The number of cattle in South Korea hit a record high in June and is expected to grow further for a couple of years, helping stabilize beef prices, the government said Tuesday. The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said that the country had 3.05 million heads of hanwoo beef cows as of last month, up 4.5 percent from a year earlier and the largest ever. Despite 110,883 heads of

South Korea will produce vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease next year to protect livestock after the country suffered the worst outbreak of the disease earlier this year, a government agency said Tuesday.The Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency said it plans to import FMD antigens from foreign vaccine manufacturers and get local companies to learn production knowhow so the