The government will unveil a three-year economic growth plan next week that President Geun-hye outlined in her New Year's news conference with a pledge to nearly double South Korea's per capita national income.The announcement will be made in an economic ministers' meeting that Park plans to preside over on Feb. 25, the first anniversary of her inauguration, presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook told reporters.The plan was put together jointly by the state-run think tank Korea Development Instit

South Korea's finance minister Tuesday called on European companies to expand investment here, promising that the government will continue to provide support and help them do business "with security."Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok made the remarks during a meeting with envoys of EU member countries in central Seoul. The meeting comes a week after Hyun met with foreign business leaders and urged them to increase local investment and employment."The Korean government has continued to push forward i

The chief of KB Financial Group Co., South Korea's No. 3 banking group, may be punished for a recent massive data theft at its credit card unit depending on the results of an ongoing probe, the country's financial regulator said Tuesday.Last month, the Financial Services Commission revealed that some 20 million clients' personal data had been leaked from three credit card firms -- KB Kookmin, NH Nonghyup and Lotte – as well as Kookmin Bank, which shared customer data with its affiliated card fir

An injured student is treated outside South Korea's producer prices declined for the 16th straight month in January as prices of raw materials including oil fell, the central bank said Tuesday.The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, slid 0.3 percent in January from a year earlier, compared with a 0.4 percent on-year fall in December, according to the Bank of Korea.On an on-year growth basis, producer prices have fallen every month since October 2012, when they fell 0.

Shinhan Bank is likely to face fines and penalties for illegally accessing its customer accounts, reports said Monday.The Financial Supervisory Service will soon convene a meeting to decide possible disciplinary action against the bank after concluding a nearly four-month investigation into the bank, a source close to the matter told media. Obtaining or accessing personal data without authorization is a criminal offence. The nation’s second-largest lender is believed to have checked the account

Policy coordination in response to the recent turmoil in some emerging markets will likely be among the main topics for discussion at this week’s meetings of G20 policymakers, South Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance said on Monday.Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 major economies will meet in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 22-23. Bond, currency and stock markets in developing countries have swung wildly in recent months as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering of it

South Korea's tax agency said Monday that it imposed more than 1 trillion won ($944.3 million) in taxes last year through an investigation into offshore tax evasion.A total of 1.08 trillion won was imposed as a result of its offshore tax evasion probe last year, which is a 30.6 percent rise from 2012, according to the National Tax Service. This also marked the first time that the amount surpassed the 1 trillion mark.The NTS said that it probed 211 people suspected of evading taxes through divers

Citibank Korea has become the latest victim in a string of fraudulent loans involving large corporate customers.Digitech Systems, a main supplier of Samsung Electronics’ assembly lines in China, is currently under investigation for taking money worth 18 billion won ($17 million) in loans from the bank with forged documents, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. According to the financial watchdog, the local touch-panel producer borrowed the money from Citibank with false account receiv

Hyundai Capital Services, Inc. was found to have issued irregular loans worth 800 billion won ($720 million) to two Hyundai Motor Group subsidiaries, the Financial Supervisory Service said Sunday.According to the financial regulator, Hyundai Capital has breached the state supervisory rules that oblige a lender to immediately notify the FSS governor of a credit-based lending worth 1 billion won or more.“While Hyundai Capital signed the loan contract with its two sister firms (in the automotive gr

South Korea's national debt came to 486.4 trillion won ($458.9 billion) as of the end of November, slightly more than the 2013 annual forecast made earlier, a government report showed Sunday.According to the monthly financial report from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the national debt increased from 443.1 trillion won tallied at the end of 2012.The November tally is slightly more than the 480.3 trillion won projected earlier by the government, but ministry officials said the year-end tal

South Korea plans to send a delegation of business and trade representatives to Iran to expand its bilateral trade with the Middle East country, the government said Sunday.According to the finance ministry, a business delegation organized by the Korea International Trade Association plans to visit Tehran and express Seoul's wish to increase trade relations.The move comes as other nations rush to Iran to seize business opportunities with a country that has been cut off from the international comm

More than 20 companies may be delisted for capital erosion or illegal activities including corruption, analysts here said Sunday, as the deadline approaches for audit reports.According to the Korea Exchange, at least 22 firms, including 14 listed in the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market, may be delisted. Analysts say the number may increase following the March 31 deadline for the audit reports.JS Cable, an affiliate of LS Group, is voluntarily seeking an exit as it has been suspended for supplying substa

South Korea's financial watchdog is stepping up its probe into Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co.'s alleged accounting fraud and may expand its inspection into its largest shareholder, the Korea Development Bank (KDB), depending on the outcomes, industry sources said Friday.   Daewoo Engineering has been under an audit review by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on accounting fraud charges based on a tip-off it received last year.The builder was originally affiliated with the now-defunc

President Park Geun-hye said Friday that the country’s push to reform debt-ridden public firms should first focus on making “visible” progress at larger institutions as they are responsible for more than 80 percent of the total debts at public organizations.The remark marked the second time in less than a week that Park has talked about the need for public sector reform after she warned Monday of stern responses to any labor attempts to derail the campaign. This shows how committed she is to the