The South Korean economy is maintaining its recovery momentum amid the fallout of the new coronavirus outbreak, the country's chief economic policymaker said Tuesday. During a conference call with global credit appraiser Standard & Poor's (S&P) earlier in the day, Hong discussed the country's overall economic situation and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Every year, delegations from key global credit rating agencies visit South Kor

South Korea’s banking industry on Tuesday sorted out seven candidates for the Korea Federation of Banks’ next chairmanship, set to make the final choice as early as Monday. In an apparent response to criticism that the bankers’ association is under excessive bureaucratic influence, the latest list included several figures from the private sector -- incumbent or former chiefs of commercial banks. The KFB board of directors met in a closed-door breakfast meeting early in the

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, the nation’s leading financial cooperative, has been strengthening global cooperation with its foreign counterparts in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federation said Tuesday. 　 Under KFCC President Park Cha-hoon’s initiative, the financial cooperative has been exchanging messages with cooperatives around the world via Facebook and Twitter to encourage each other to stay strong during the pandemic. A total of 21 foreign

South Korean activist private equity fund KCGI on Tuesday lashed out at Korean Air's plan of acquiring its rival Asiana Airlines with the policy lender’s help, claiming that the scheme is being pursued to cement Hanjin KAL chairman Cho Won-tae’s control over the air carrier. Hanjin KAL is the holding company of Hanjin Group, which owns Korean Air. “The state-run Korea Development Bank’s pledge to finance the acquisition in advance helps the Hanjin KAL chairman complete t

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South Korean shares snapped their two-day gains Tuesday after hitting a nearly three-year high the previous session, as valuation pressure offset optimism over Moderna's experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 3.88 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 2,539.15. Trading volume was high at about 1.2 billion shares worth around 17.5 trillion won ($15.8 billion), with losers outnumb

South Korea’s private equity fund backed by fried chicken franchise Pelicana Chicken is on the verge of closing a 20 billion won ($18.1 million) acquisition deal to become the biggest shareholder of MP Group, which owns pizza restaurant franchise Mr. Pizza and coffee chain Manoffin, a filing showed Tuesday. The deal will reach a final close once MP Group gets the green light to resume trading on the Korea Exchange’s development bourse Kosdaq in a decision affecting some 10,000 smal

Fitch Ratings said Tuesday that it holds a negative outlook on two South Korean carmakers -- Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. -- due to uncertainties over the COVID-19 pandemic and hefty quality-related expenses. Fitch holds the BBB+ rating for the two Korean carmakers with negative outlook despite their "resilient performance" since the start of the pandemic this year. Hyundai and Kia's operations and profitability have been resilient so far, and Fitch expects

Nearly half of the population in South Korea's farming areas was aged 65 and older last year as younger people flocked to cities for education and jobs, data showed Tuesday. The portion of those aged 65 and above accounted for 46.6 percent of the total population residing in rural areas last year, sharply up from 4.9 percent in 1970, according to Statistics Korea. The number of people engaged in the farming industry came to 2.25 million in 2019, down 84.4 percent from 14.42 million in 1970. S

South Korea will hold the fourth round of free trade talks with Cambodia this week as part of efforts to diversify its export portfolio in Southeast Asia, the trade ministry said Tuesday. The three-day virtual meetings, slated to start Wednesday, will focus on general rules, origin of country, customs clearance, market access and other issues. The two sides have held three rounds of negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) this year with a goal to finalize a draft by year-end. T

Combined service output in major cities and provinces declined 1.7 percent on-year in the third quarter as the new coronavirus outbreak hit the service sector involving face-to-face contact, data showed Tuesday. Service output in six cities and nine provinces retreated in the July-September period, with Incheon, west of Seoul, suffering the biggest on-year fall with an 11.6 percent decline, according to the data from Statistics Korea. "Service output contracted on-year in the third quarte

The number of multiple home owners in South Korea grew by more than 90,000 over the past year, data showed Tuesday, amid the government's efforts to curb rising home prices. The number of multiple home owners reached 2.28 million as of Nov. 1, 2019, up 92,000 from 2.19 million in the same period of last year, according to Statistics Korea. The tally picked up from a rise of 73,000 posted in the one-year period that ended on Nov. 1, 2018. The portion of people who have more than two houses acc

South Korean shares opened flat Tuesday after hitting a nearly three-year high the previous session, as valuation pressure offset optimism over Moderna's experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 0.1 point to 2,542.93 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks traded choppy after a 1.97 percent gain the previous session. Valuation pressure, along with the unrelenting coronavirus toll, increased investor caution. Market bellwether Samsung Elec

The stock value of Lee Kun-hee, the late chief of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, has surpassed the 20 trillion won mark for the first time thanks largely to a surge in shares of tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., data showed Tuesday. The value of stocks held by Lee, who died on Oct. 25 after being bedridden following a heart attack in 2014, totaled 20.08 trillion won ($18.1 billion) as of Monday, according to the data from market researcher Chaebol.com. It was up about 14 perce