South Korea said Wednesday it will actively push for free trade agreements with African nations in a move to deepen economic ties with the resource-rich emerging market and to diversify its trade portfolio. Last month, South Korea and Egypt agreed to carry out a joint feasibility study on the bilateral trade and economic partnership, which is a first step for South Korea to have a free trade pact with an African country if the two sign the free trade deal. Trade volume between South Korea and Af

South Korea reported the largest job growth in nearly 22 years in January as the job market improved to pre-pandemic levels due to a low base effect and the ongoing economic recovery, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 26.95 million last month, up 1.14 million from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the largest job growth since March 2000, when the number of employed people increased 1.21 million on-year. It also marked the

South Korea's three major instant noodle makers saw their operating profits tumble in 2021 due largely to increased costs, their regulatory filings showed Wednesday. Nongshim Co., the leading maker of instant noodles, or "ramyeon" in Korean, said that its 2021 operating income plunged 33.8 percent from the previous year. Ottogi Co. and Samyang Foods Co. also saw their operating profits for last year shrink 16.1 percent and 31 percent on-year, respectively. The companies attributed t

South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street that stemmed from eased Ukraine tensions. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 40.21 points, or 1.5 percent, to trade at 2,716.75 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, US stocks rallied, snapping a three-day losing streak, on the back of overall gains in tech shares amid eased tensions over Russia's possible invasion of Ukraine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

SEJONG -- Korea’s economic policymakers are mapping out contingency plans to minimize shocks from the possibility of worsening relations between Ukraine and Russia, the Ministry of Economic and Finance said Tuesday. Their plans are mainly focused on protecting export-oriented enterprises and the financial market by carrying out a variety of emergency countermeasures. Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon presided over a task force meeting during the day to cope with the geopolitical risk. P

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South Korea’s financial regulator’s plan to allow nationwide post offices to work as brick-and-mortar branches for commercial banks here continues to face major hurdles as the plan has been stalled for nearly two years. On Monday, the Financial Services Commission mentioned its plans to review post offices and other similar institutions that could partner up with lenders in offering offline banking services, in its 2022 annual plan. The plan is part of its efforts to narrow the gap

The number of unicorns in South Korea reached an all-time high in 2021 amid state support for promising startups, data showed Tuesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy had 18 unicorns as of end-December last year, up from 13 a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It was also sharply up from three in 2017. A unicorn is an unlisted startup with a valuation of $1 billion or more. The number of unicorns serves as a yardstick of a country's ecosystem for startups

South Korea's automobile exports fell more than 6 percent in January from a year earlier due to a global shortage of automotive chips and a high base effect, data showed Tuesday. Outbound shipments of automobiles came to 179,709 units last month, down 6.4 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, however, exports rose 2.3 percent to $4.09 billion last month. "A high base effect, the temporary shutdown of some pr

South Korean stocks opened nearly flat Tuesday, as investors took to the sidelines amid heightening US-Russia tensions over Moscow's potential invasion of Ukraine. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) edged up 0.79 point, or 0.03 percent, to 2,705.27 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed unchanged and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.49 percent. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.27 percent,

Dividend payouts by South Korea's major listed firms fell more than 14 percent in 2021, but seven paid out more than 1 trillion won ($835 million), a corporate tracker said Tuesday. The combined amount of dividends by 53 companies, including top-cap Samsung Electronics Co., stood at 28.55 trillion won for fiscal 2021, down 14.4 percent from a year earlier, according to Leaders Index. The firms cover those that have announced dividends as of Friday out of the country's top 100 listed corporatio

South Korea's import prices rose for the first time in three months in January as the costs of bringing in crude and other raw materials became more expensive, central bank data showed Tuesday. The import price index gained 4.1 percent in January from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The rise followed 1 percent and 2 percent on-month declines in November and December, respectively. The January uptick came mostly from increased crude oil and raw materia

Morgan Stanley Capital International, the world’s largest index provider, could reclassify South Korea as a developed market from the current emerging market status as early as 2024, if Seoul works to internationalize currency markets, Goldman Sachs said Monday in a report. “If Korea addresses MSCI market accessibility concerns, it could be placed on the annual review watchlist this June,” the report said, referring to a necessary step before Korea can be officially included i

SEJONG -- The nation’s exports of information and communication technology products enjoyed their best January on record last month, state data showed Monday. 　 The record was driven by growths in exports to five major destinations for ICT products -- China, Vietnam, the US, EU, and Japan. According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea’s outbound shipments of ICT products recorded $19.6 billion last month, up 20.7 percent from $16.2 billion in January 2021 amid robust export p

South Korean stocks closed sharply lower Monday, tracking a plunge on Wall Street last week amid heightening US-Russia tensions over Moscow's potential invasion of Ukraine. The Korean won sharply rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) decreased 43.23 points, or 1.57 percent, to close at 2,704.48 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 606 million shares worth some 11.3 trillion won ($9.4 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 787 to 117. Reta