South Korea's imports of kimchi touched an all-time monthly high in October amid runaway inflation in the country, government data showed Wednesday. Inbound shipments of the spicy Korean traditional side dish stood at a record $17.02 million last month, up 50.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. It was also up 16.2 percent from the previous month and marked the first time for South Korea's monthly kimchi imports to surpass the $17 million

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, despite overnight gains on Wall Street, as investors moved to lock in profits amid renewing geopolitical concerns in Europe. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 10.98 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,469.35 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.17 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.45 percent, after the United States' producer price index, a measure of wholesa

South Korea’s import prices rose annually at their slowest pace in 15 months in October, fueling speculation over an inflation peak ahead of the central bank’s rate hike next week -- the last one for the year in the face of 24-year-high inflation. Preliminary data from the Bank of Korea showed Tuesday that import prices rose 19.8 percent, at the slowest rate since July 2021, though they edged up for the second straight month in October on higher energy import costs. The depreciating

South Korea's import prices rose for the second straight month in October on high energy prices and the weak local currency that drove up overall import bills, central bank data showed Tuesday. The import price index rose 1.5 percent in October from a month earlier, following a 3.4 percent on-month increase in September, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. Compared with a year earlier, the index jumped 19.8 percent. The BOK attributed the increase to high crude oil pri

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, despite overnight losses on Wall Street, on the back of gains in big-cap tech shares. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 9.38 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,484.03 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.63 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.12 percent as investors moved to take profits from last week's rally. In Seoul, tech and bio shares led the overall market advan

South Korea’s top financial watchdog said Monday that the local banking giants should seek more transparency in how they elect their chief executives, a week after the Financial Supervisory Service’s disciplinary move against one of the chiefs over “junk funds.” The chief of Woori Financial Group -- one of the five biggest banking groups -- is now banned from holding a job in finance for up to five years as part of punishment for having sold funds the regulator says shoul

Seoul stocks ended lower Monday as investors moved to cash in part of recent gains on cautions that it would be too early to expect the Federal Reserve to slow down its aggressive rate hikes push. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 8.51 points, or 0.34 percent, to close at 2,474.65. Trading volume was moderate at about 499 million shares worth some 7.21 trillion won ($5.43 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 563 to 301. Foreigners and retail investo

South Koreans' working hours may have decreased by 10 percent compared to a decade ago, but the country still works longer hours than most of its OECD peers, ranking fifth among them, data found Monday. According to the recent OECD's data, Koreans worked 1,915 hours last year, the fifth-longest among 38 OECD member countries. The hours marked a 10.3 percent decline from 10 years earlier, when the country topped the list with 2,136 hours in 2011. Despite the decrease in average annual hours worke

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday as eased inflation woes raised hopes for less aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 8.11 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,491.27 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 0.1 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.88 percent on hopes that the Fed could slow the pace of its aggressive monetary tightening over eased inflation woes. The US

 Opposition-envisioned tax scheme targets top 1 percent of retail investors, but fear is widespread

SEJONG -- Market insiders are raising the possibility that dozens of local businesses will suffer a downgrade in their credit standings next year in the wake of economic slowdown as well as worsening liquidity in their financial statements among many in the corporate sector. Their prediction is based on the situation that three major credit rating agencies have recently increased the number of watch list for potential downgrades. According to the lists held by Korea Investors Service, Korea Rati

A monetary policymaker of the Bank of Korea on Friday underlined the need for "simple" and "direct" communication when the central bank tries to send signals to the market on its future policy directions. Park Ki-young, one of the BOK's seven-member monetary policy board that determines the key policy interest rate, also raised the need for more research for the central bank's effective communication with market participants. "Such practical restrictions as the

South Korea's car exports jumped 28.5 percent on-year last month on brisk demand for eco-friendly cars, data showed Friday. The value of outbound shipments of automobiles came to $4.92 billion last month, the largest ever for any October, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of volume, a total of 208,544 vehicles were sold last month, up 30.2 percent from the previous year, the data showed. By region, exports to North America jumped 60.2 percent to $2.3

South Korea's top central banker said Friday that it is a top priority to ensure price stability and reduce inflation pressure through monetary tightening but worried there are "growing signs of stress" in various sectors amid recent steep interest rate hikes. Rhee Chang-yong, governor of the Bank of Korea, also voiced worries over money moving from non-banking sectors to the banking sector due to fast-rising deposit rates, saying that it is an "important issue" to turn

South Korea's exports slipped 2.8 percent on-year in the first 10 days of November due mainly to weak shipments of chips and mobile devices, data showed Friday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $17.7 billion in the Nov. 1-10 period, compared with $18.2 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports also went down 6.7 percent on-year to $19.8 billion during the cited period, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.05 billion. Outbound shipments