The South Korean government said Wednesday that it has lifted the legal hurdles to opening the won-yuan direct trade market in China later this year.A revised local currency law allows all South Korean nationals and businesses to engage in any financial transactions in China using the local currency, including won-yuan spot trading and the settlement of accounts, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.So far, the South Korean currency had been permitted to be used only in trade paymen

South Korea's government and central bank announced Wednesday that they will jointly create an 11 trillion won ($9.5 billion) recapitalization fund to help state-run banks rehabilitate the nation's debt-stricken shipping and shipbuilding companies, capping months of intensive debate on restructuring the ailing core industries.The recapitalization fund includes 1 trillion won directly injected by the government into the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) and a loan of 10 trillion won ex

Korea faces an increasing need to ensure a balance between exports and domestic demand, which is crucial for the sustainable growth of its economy, economists say.They note changes in global economic conditions make the need more urgent but government policymakers are not yet fully up to the task.The country’s outbound shipments fell for the 17th consecutive month in May, though the pace of decline decelerated from the preceding months.The National Assembly Budget Office said in a report release

The South Korean economy has remained in the doldrums due to weak exports and production stemming from waning global demand, despite a slight recovery in domestic consumption, a government report showed Wednesday."Amid a delayed recovery of the world economy, faltering exports and production have dragged down the South Korean economy," the finance ministry said in its monthly economy assessment report called "Green Book.""But domestic demand, including private consumption, has been in a favorabl

South Korea will play host to this year's world congress of the International Federation for Home Economics in the city of Daejeon on July 31-Aug. 6, organizers said Tuesday.The organizing committee of the 23rd IFHE World Congress, titled "Hope & Happiness: The role of Home Economics in the pursuit of hope & happiness for individuals and communities now and in the future," is expected to bring together about 1,000 scholars, policymakers and experts from 54 countries.The gathering is held every f

Lotte Chemical, the petrochemicals unit of South Korea’s Lotte Group, said Tuesday that it has made an offer to buy U.S.-based chemicals producer Axiall Corp. with aims to expand its business portfolio and strengthen its footing in North America.The company said it submitted its bid to take over Axiall Corp. last Saturday. No further details were disclosed, including its offering price.Axiall Corp. is an Atlanta-based chemicals firm that specializes in producing integrated chlorovinyls and vinyl

The South Korean economy is facing a slowdown in the manufacturing sector and the overall economy stemming from protracted sluggish exports, but a steady upbeat trend of domestic consumption buffers a further slump, a state-run think tank said Tuesday."The recent fall in several production indicators implies a minor slowdown in overall economic activities," the Korea Development Institute said in its monthly evaluation of the country's economic conditions."Mining and manufacturing production and

Merger and acquisition deals in Korea, previously expected to flourish thanks to industry-wide corporate restructurings, are actually dragging on due to little interest from potential buyers, industry sources said Tuesday.Early in January, mobile messaging app operating giant Kakao Corp.’s 1.87 trillion won ($1.57 billion) acquisition of Loen Entertainment, the top operator of online music in the local market, was expected to prompt the M&A market later this year.However, major deals that draw k

South Korea's central bank is widely expected to hold its key rate steady in June, a poll showed Tuesday, amid what economists called mild signs of recovery and a looming U.S. rate hike.In a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, 11 out of 13 economists polled forecast the Bank of Korea (BOK) to stand pat on its key rate this month.The BOK has kept its policy rate frozen for 11 consecutive months since June 2015 after sending it to a record low of 1.5 p

Concerns are rising here over what has been deemed as increasing U.S. pressure on Korea to do more to alter its trade practices and business environment.The pressure, which is expected to escalate further in the lead-up to and beyond the U.S. presidential election in November, seems related mainly to the growing trade imbalance between the two sides. Korea’s trade surplus with the U.S. jumped to $28.3 billion last year from $15.2 billion in 2012, when a bilateral free trade agreement came into f

South Korea ranked 28th out of 38 surveyed countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2016 Better Life Index. Korea scored above average in areas such as civic engagement, education and jobs, but fell below average in measures that are more subjective such as life satisfaction and work-life balance.This year’s ranking is the lowest since 2012 when Korea came in 24th in the index. The area in which Koreans showed the least satisfaction was community relations, in whi

Concerns are rising here over what is deemed as increasing U.S. pressure on Korea to do more to alter its trade practices and business environment.The pressure, which is expected to escalate further in the lead-up to and beyond the U.S. presidential election in November, seems related mainly to the growing trade imbalance between the two sides. Korea’s trade surplus with the U.S. jumped to $28.3 billion last year from $15.2 billion in 2012, when a bilateral free trade agreement came into force,

With the global economy in a low-growth trap, Korean exports are expected to remain in negative territory, affecting the growth prospect of Asia’s fourth-largest economy this year.Data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showed that the growth of Korean exports, which the country relied mostly on to expand on account of weak domestic consumption, has dropped since last year.(Yonhap)Although Korea ranked fourth in the OECD after Japan, Ireland and Mexico in January last y

South Korean households' overseas spending jumped 12.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on increased outbound travel to neighboring countries, the central bank said Monday.    Korean households spent 6.95 trillion won (US$5.9 billion) overseas in the January-March quarter, up from 6.16 trillion a year ago, showed data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).    The quarterly data does not include local households' purchases through "direct buying" channels such as Aamazon.com and their expe

South Korea's weakening export growth may hurt the country's growth by 0.2 percentage point this year as global demand remains sluggish and uncertainties involving a possible U.S. rate hike this month remain high, a parliamentary agency said Monday. The country's weak export growth will continue to weigh on its gross domestic product growth for two consecutive years. Last year, declining exports cut into the country's growth by 1.1 percentage points, according to the National Assembly Budget Off