The number of apartments owned by households in South Korea came to 9.03 million in 2018, accounting for 59 percent of all homes across the country, government data showed Tuesday.  The figures represent a 3.9 percentage-point hike from 8.7 million apartments owned by households in South Korea in 2017, Statistics Korea said.  The latest data is a reminder that apartments have long been the most-favored housing choice for many South Koreans.  In this densely populated country,

South Korea will invest 4.84 trillion won ($4.2 billion) to expand its main airport by 2024 to meet rapidly rising travel demand, the transport ministry said Tuesday.Incheon International Airport Corp, the operator of Incheon International Airport, will make the investment in stages over the next five years to build a fourth runway and expand the second passenger terminal and other facilities, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport."In recent years, an increased num

South Korea’s actual key interest rate, in relative term to its inflation, is one of the highest among peer economies, data showed Monday, raising speculations that the country may carry out additional rate cuts.According to data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and cited by experts here, Asia’s fourth-largest economy had the third highest “actual” base rate in October, next to Turkey and Mexico.The official policy rate here currently

For South Korea’s largest brokerages, investment banking has replaced traditional income sources such as stock trading and wealth management as the No. 1 profit maker this year, data showed Monday.Local brokerages are bolstering their investment banking divisions and looking to this business area as a steady income source due to the sluggish stock market. According to regulatory filings compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service, Mirae Asset Daewoo’s investment banking unit posted

The head of South Korea's central bank called for preemptive measures Monday to actively prepare the bank for future changes, but insisted such measures must be practical enough to win the support of not only bank officials but also the general public."Changes and innovations are becoming much faster and more complicated than ever before in each sector of our society," Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said in a biennial meeting of top BOK officials. "Should we not react activel

SC Bank Korea, the local subsidiary of British banking giant Standard Chartered, said Monday that it will launch a limited edition of its check cards and bankbooks featuring characters from the upcoming Disney animation “Frozen 2.”To commemorate opening of the highly anticipated sequel to the Disney hit “Frozen,” slated to hit local theaters on Thursday, the Korean subsidiary is offering 30,000 Ace Plus Check Cards and 60,000 deposit and savings accounts.  Under the

South Korea said Monday it will consider extending a scheme to cap the presale prices of privately built apartments in the case of instability in real estate markets.Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom made comments in a meeting with officials at a building in western Seoul. The comments came more than a week after the government announced a plan to introduce a "presale price cap system" for new apartments built by private builders to help stabilize escalating home prices.The system is

SEJONG -- An online commenter, who identified himself as a salaried worker in charge of a household, wrote earlier this month that he bought an apartment in Seoul during the latter part of the Park Geun-hye administration (2013-2017).The price of the apartment has climbed 300 million won ($257,000) during President Moon Jae-in’s term, which began in May 2017, according to the commenter’s post.“But I don’t feel so happy when I think about (negative) effects of this kind of

A local equity fund in which President Moon Jae-in invested has amassed more than 100 billion won ($85 million), fund operator NH-Amundi Asset Management said Sunday.Since its launch in August this year, the NH-Amundi Victorious Korea Equity Fund has logged 6.98 percent in return rate as of Friday.The fund was designed to invest in local firms that manufacture industrial equipment, components and materials impacted by Japan’s export curbs. Its popularity has grown about two weeks after Pre

The amount of investments by South Korea’s top 30 conglomerates as of the third quarter fell over 16 percent on-year amid slow growth and sluggish trend of the semiconductor business, a market tracker said Sunday.The combined investments totaled 54.33 trillion won ($46.3 billion) as of the end of September, down 16.6 percent from 65.17 trillion won a year earlier, CEO Score said in a statement.The tally covered the 272 conglomerate subsidiaries that have unveiled their half-year business r

South Korea is exploring the possibility of forging individual free trade deals with more ASEAN member states, a senior trade official has said, in a move to further boost growing economic ties with the region.South Korea has a free trade agreement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but Seoul has been pushing for separate free trade deals with individual members of the Southeast Asian bloc. "We are reviewing the possibility of free trade agreements" with some of

South Korea’s obsession with a penguin character is nothing new, with Pororo the “little penguin” having charmed kids with his orange goggles and innocence for more than a decade. However, Pengsoo -- a penguin character that bears a striking resemblance to Pororo, but armed with a blunter persona -- has gained cross-generational popularity in recent months, even nudging investors to purchase related stocks.Digital education contents producer Uangel -- which signed a memorandum

South Korea's weak investment and slowing exports have undermined its economic growth, the finance ministry said Friday."Overall industrial output and consumption are on the rise, but a sluggish trend persists in exports and construction investment, weighing on economic growth," the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in its monthly economic assessment report. The report, called the "Green Book," is based on the latest economic indicators of such key factors as output, expor

South Korean stocks opened almost flat on Friday as investors attempted to cash in recent gains amid a lack of market momentum.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index inched down 0.91 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,138.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Large caps were mixed, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics unchanged.No. 1 portal operator Naver shed 2.78 percent and carmaker Hyundai Motor was down 0.4 percent.In contrast, chipmaker SK hynix climbed 0.48 percent and POSCO, the No

The Korean Intellectual Property Office said Thursday it plans to help boost competitiveness of the local materials, parts and equipment sectors and reduce their reliance on foreign technologies through its system of IP big data. According to the nation’s top IP office, its plan involves four goals: cut back foreign dependency of materials, parts and equipment-related technology; innovate South Korea’s research and development system to a more IP-centered one; bolster IP competitiven