LONDON/SEOUL -- South Korea plans to again push to win developed market status from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), the finance minister has said, amid expectations that a possible upgrade could help dispel the undervaluation of the Korean stock market. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks Monday (local time) in London at an investor relations session with global investors to explain his country's economic situations. Hong said the government will make efforts to win the

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged to the country has surged more than 5,000 times in 60 years, which helped play a key pillar of now Asia's fourth-largest economy, the industry ministry said Tuesday. In 1962, a local carmaker reported receiving $3 million in foreign investment, the first of its kind for the country, and the total FDI amount that year stood at $4 million, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The foreign investment then spiked drastically to come to $20

　South Korea's internet banking services continued to grow in the first half of the year, with the number of users and daily transactions rising to new highs, central bank data showed. 　The number of internet banking users, including mobile banking, came to 186.5 million as of end-June, up 5.6 percent from six months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　The figure is the simple sum of all registered users of 18 internet and mobile banking service providers in the country,

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday as investor sentiment was uplifted by overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 38.03 points, or 1.28 percent, to 3,016.97 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.26 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.63 percent. The local stock market got a boost from gains in tech and auto shares. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. added 2.29

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest clip in almost a decade in October due to last year's low base effect and surging oil prices, data showed Tuesday, raising expectations that the central bank will hike its key rate this month. The consumer prices rose 3.2 percent in October from a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.5 percent on-year gain in September, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Compared with a month earlier, consumer inflation inched up 0.1 percent. I

New home permits in South Korea jumped nearly 23 percent in the first nine months of the year amid high housing prices, government data showed Tuesday. Construction permits issued for new homes came to 358,990 units in the January-September period, up 22.5 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. New construction permits in the South Korean capital of Seoul spiked 62.2 percent to 62,516 over the cited period. New home permits issu

Kakao Pay, the mobile payment service arm of Kakao Corp., South Korea‘s top messenger app, will make its market debut on Wednesday, the country’s bourse operator said Monday. Kakao Pay has set the IPO price at 90,000 won (US$76.50) per share, which will enable the company to raise 1.53 trillion won through the initial public offering. Kakao Pay‘s market capitalization is expected to reach 11.7 trillion won after its market debut, which would rank the fintech firm among the to

Digital assets likely to fall under anti-money laundering act, according to experts

South Korean midcap buyout fund VIG Partners said Monday it has selected domestic private equity firm Stonebridge Capital as the preferred bidder to sell its stake in massage chair company Bodyfriend. The selling price will be announced when the proposed buyer and seller sign a binding deal by the end of this year, according to VIG Partners. VIG Partners said in a statement the deal will prompt the fund house’s exit from the portfolio companies for its second flagship blind pool fund, c

Keppel Investment Management, the South Korean arm of Singapore-based real estate investor Keppel Capital Holdings, has purchased Sheraton Seoul D Cube for 131.7 billion won ($117.9 million) to embark on a redevelopment project to turn the hotel into a commercial office building. In the latest indication that luxury hotels in Seoul are increasingly losing their luster, Sheraton Seoul D Cube, located in Guro-gu, western Seoul, shut down Sunday after opening in 2011, according to the hotel franch

Shinhan Financial Group said Monday that it has signed a deal to acquire BNP Paribas Cardif’s non-life-insurance subsidiary in South Korea in a bid to diversify its business portfolio to include the digital insurance sector. Through the share purchase agreement inked Friday, the Korean banking group will hold a 94.54 percent stake in BNP Paribas Cardif General Insurance, a firm that BNP Paribas Cardif and Shinhan Life jointly established in 2014. The transaction price was not disclosed,

Household debt-to-income ratio in Korea surpasses 200% in 2020

South Korean stocks advanced Monday after a three-day loss, largely on investors' move to cash in the recent gains and strong exports in October. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 8.26 points, or 0.28 percent, to close at 2,978.94 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 469 million shares worth some 9.3 trillion won ($7.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 496 to 358. Foreigners sold a net 358 billion won, whil

Despite economic figures signaling labor market recovery, virus-hit job seekers struggle to find quality jobs

The number of registered vehicles in South Korea grew nearly 2 percent this year to near 25 million, with that of eco-friendly cars topping 1 million units, government data showed Monday. Car registrations came to 24.78 million units as of end-September, up 1.7 percent from the end of last year, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The figure is also up 0.5 percent from three months earlier, with the number expected to exceed 25 million during the firs