Home sales continued to grow significantly in April, reflecting recovery signs in the country’s real estate market, the government said Thursday.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the number of home transactions surged 16.6 percent from the same month last year to 92,691 in April. This follows a 34.2 percent on-year spike in the previous month and marks the fourth consecutive month that the country’s home sales posted an on-year gain.The growth in April was most visible in t

Korea’s financial regulator said Thursday it will complete the re-merger of the state-run Korea Development Bank with a policy lender by the end of this year, pushing ahead with the plan that overturns a decision by the previous administration.The regulator also said it will establish a maritime financing guarantee agency within this year.Last year, the newly inaugurated Park Geun-hye government unveiled a blueprint for reuniting KDB with the Korea Finance Corp., which was spun off in 2009 as pa

South Korean shares remained almost unchanged Thursday after a more than 1-percent rise a day earlier as investors took a breather, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.63 point, or 0.03 percent, to 2,010.20. The index reached as high as 2,015.37 at one point but pared its gains on profit-taking. On Wednesday, the index hit an over 5-month high. Trading volume was moderate at 253 million shares worth 3.3 trillion wo

The falling value of the U.S. dollar may be a nuisance for Korean manufacturers and financial authorities, who want the Korean won to remain weak to maintain an edge in exports.But it is considered a golden opportunity to dollar buyers such as investors eyeing the U.S. or parents whose children are studying there amid an outlook that the world’s largest economy will recover in the second half of this year.The number of customers seeking to buy dollars at major private banking centers in Seoul ha

The South Korean financial watchdog on Thursday took "name and shame" measures on local banks and financial institutions rated as having poor customer service, forcing them to display hard-to-miss posters at their entrances.The Financial Supervisory Service last month announced the results of a customer complaint report on 85 local financial institutions, rating the quality of their customer service in five levels, ranging from excellent to poor.Seventeen of the institutions, including banks, sa

The South Korean financial watchdog will reprimand a local insurance firm for not giving insurance money in cases of suicide, officials said Wednesday, prompting concerns that the move will promote suicide across the nation.The Financial Supervisory Service discovered in an inspection last year that ING Life Insurance had sold a special disaster insurance policy that covers disaster-caused deaths as well as suicide between 2003 and 2010 when it changed the term to omit the suicide condition.Howe

The South Korean currency continued to strengthen on Tuesday, surpassing the psychologically important level of 1,000 won per 100 yen. The won hit 998.25 per 100 yen as of 5:34 p.m., up 4.92 won  from the previous close. The won had previously rose to a yearly high of 995.63 per yen on Jan. 2. The Tuesday gain comes as the bullish global stock market is rekindling investor appetite for risky assets."The won has been strengthening against the U.S. dollar as investors are again turning to risky as

Fears of massive layoffs are looming high over the nation’s life insurance industry in the wake of worsening profitability due mainly to the protracted era of low interest rates and lackluster performance in attracting new policyholders.While the nation’s top three insurance firms are initiating the full-fledged manpower restructuring, small and mid-sized players are expected to follow suit, industry watchers said Tuesday. The big three insurers are Samsung Life, Hanwha Life and Kyobo Life.Kyobo