South Korea and Russia started another round of negotiations Tuesday to clinch a free trade agreement (FTA) in the service and investment sectors. During the videoconferences that run through Monday, the two will narrow down differences on details in the two segments, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Seoul and Moscow first launched their FTA negotiations in June last year to lower barriers for the service and investment segments. South Korea has been making efforts to

South Korean shares opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street led by estimate-beating housing data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 24.64 points, or 1.18 percent, to 2,118.12 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average spiked 2.32 percent to end at 25,595.80 on Monday (New York time), with a 1.2 percent gain on the tech-laden Nasdaq. The gain was largely attributed to a record gain in the US pending home sales. A 14

SEJONG -- South Korea's industrial output extended its slump in May as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted supply chains, but retail sales reported a robust gain, data showed Tuesday. The nation's overall industrial production fell 1.2 percent on-month in May, following a 2.8 percent on-month plunge in April, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. Compared with a year earlier, overall industrial production also plunged 5.6 percent in May. Production in the mining, manufacturing, gas

  NH NongHyup Bank said Monday that it will hire Lee Sang-rae, a former executive of Samsung SDS as its chief digital officer, a position that has been vacant for nearly six months. Lee, 56, is the first outsider to the bank to take a senior post. The lender launched a digital finance department in 2018. Having in 1991 joined Samsung SDS, the information and communication technology service arm of Samsung Electronics, Lee climbed the corporate ladder by serving senior posts at various de

South Korea is expected to see an accelerated slowdown of its potential economic growth rate, with domestic and global economic structures facing radical transformation in the post-coronavirus era, the central bank said Monday. “Due to COVID-19, Korea’s potential growth rate faces a sharp decline, with changes in economic structures regarding labor, trade and industries coupled with sluggish input of factors linked to labor and capital,” the Bank of Korea said in its latest r

South Korea’s financial regulator Monday urged financial institutions and tech companies to widen access to client information to foster personal credit information management services here, dubbed MyData. “To maximize customers interest, financial and ICT companies as well as fintech startups need to open up their data assets as much as possible,” said Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Sohn Byung-doo.  MyData refers to a business model that offers integrated

South Korean stocks dipped about 2 percent Monday, amid renewed fears over the coronavirus outbreak promoted by a resurgence in new confirmed cases over the weekend. The Korean won continued to rise against the US dollar. The nation’s main bourse Kospi opened sharply lower at 2,105.54 -- down 29.11 points, or 1.36 percent, from the previous session’s close. The index continued to move downward to 2,087.84 in late trading hours. It was the first time that the index has dropped below

South Korea’s largest institutional investor National Pension Service said Monday it has inked a partnership with Germany-based Allianz to co-invest in core real estate assets worth $2.3 billion across the Asia-Pacific region as part of its alternative investment strategy. The 50:50 fund will target properties in countries such as China, Japan, Australia and Singapore, betting on core opportunities in landmark office buildings, logistics facilities and residential complexes -- or assets c

SEOUL/GENEVA -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) plans to discuss the establishment of a panel to deal with the year-long trade row between South Korea and Japan, after Seoul reopened the case at the Geneva-based trade body amid a lack of progress in their bilateral talks. The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) meeting over the panel establishment is slated for later in the day, according to trade officials here. But the panel is not likely to be opened immediately, as Japan is widely expe

South Korean shares opened sharply lower Monday amid renewed fears over the new coronavirus prompted by a spike in the number of new cases over the weekend. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plunged 31.70 points, or 1.49 percent, to 2,102.95 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The drop is largely attributed to the resurgence in new COVID-19 cases. South Korea added 62 new cases on Sunday, including 40 local infections, raising the total caseload to 12,715. The tally m

The new coronavirus pandemic will likely have a lasting effect on various ways of life, such as where and how people shop, possibly leading to permanent changes in the global economy and trade, a central bank report suggested Monday. Some of the changes may be for the better for some countries, but some may be for the worse for others, it insisted. "The COVID-19 pandemic may not stop at causing an economic slump globally but is highly likely to cause changes in the behavior of economic a

South Korean companies' stock and bond sales rose 40.1 percent in May from a month earlier, due mainly to a hike in sales of corporate debt, data showed Monday. Local companies raised a combined 16.07 trillion won ($13.4 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in May, up 4.6 trillion won from April, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The hike is mainly attributable to the 39.2 percent on-month increase in debt offerings to 15.89 trillion won, the FSS said. Last

Countries all over the world have been rolling out large fiscal stimulus packages in response to the COVID-19 economic crisis. Some are using this as an opportunity to promote policies linked to environmentally sustainable growth, and build a greener, cleaner, and more resilient economy. The European Union announced a COVID-19 recovery package that places climate change at the center of what is considered the largest green stimulus program in history. By recently announcing its own recovery pl

South Korea’s National Pension Service sold 1.09 million shares in the nation’s leading hospitality and duty-free operator Hotel Shilla in the second quarter, a filing showed Sunday. As of Wednesday, NPS was holding 9.73 percent voting rights in the hotel and resort unit of Samsung, down 2.74 percentage points from March 31, with 12.47 percent. From April 1 to June 24, the pension fund sold Hotel Shilla’s shares 50 times out of 78 times of its stock trading. Despite the sta

Mixed views on conglomerates’ control of CVCs shed light on lingering distrust of South Korea’s chaebol families, also urge corporate growth