South Korea’s exports have extended their slump for the eighth consecutive month in July, falling nearly 10 percent from a year earlier, a poll showed Monday, due mainly to the prolonged trade row between the United States and China.Outbound shipments are estimated to reach $46.6 billion last month, down from $51.8 posted a year earlier, according to the poll conducted by Yonhap Infomax, a financial information service arm of Yonhap News Agency, on 10 local financial companies. The Korea C

SEJONG -- South Korea saw its youth unemployment rate reach 10.4 percent in June 2019, up more than 1 percentage point from 9 percent a year earlier.The number of jobless people aged between 15 and 29 increased from 388,000 to 453,000 over the corresponding period, according to Statistics Korea.The youth unemployment rate exceeding 10 percent is arousing social worries, as it was 8.4 percent a decade ago (in June 2009) and 8 percent five years ago (in June 2014).Though the Moon Jae-in administra

Banking groups prolong profit boom but face market challenges in H2 amid slow growth, lower interest rates

The South Korean government is speeding up preparations to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization as Japan is moving to remove Asia's fourth-largest economy from its "whitelist" of trusted trading partners, sources said Sunday."We plan to file a complaint with the WTO on a date convenient for South Korea," Deputy Trade Minister Kim Seung-ho said last week after returning home from Geneva, where he participated in a WTO meeting to win support from the international

The daily average trading volume at South Korea's main bourse reached the lowest level in 30 months in July, data showed Sunday, as investors' sentiment was hurt by the global trade disputes.As of Friday, the daily average trading volume on the main bourse reached 4.3 trillion won ($3.63 billion), which marked the lowest level since 4.1 trillion won posted in January 2017, according to the Korea Exchange.The figure marked a sharp decrease from May last year, when the figure reached a record high

Woori Financial Group said Friday it has acquired Kukje Asset Trust, a local real estate trust company, in an effort to boost its nonbanking portfolio.The financial holding firm signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire a combined controlling stake of 65.7 percent from Kukje Asset Trust Chairman Yoo Jae-eun and his partners.  Woori said it has acquired the first batch of stock traded -- 44.5 percent -- and the remaining 21.27 percent will be acquired three years later, with Chairman Yoo

South Korea's financial regulator said Friday it will double the size of funds to restructure struggling small and medium-sized enterprises this year, as part of its drive for "market-oriented" corporate restructuring. The government has launched a 1 trillion-won ($845 million) fund for the restructuring of SMEs, but the Financial Services Commission said it will increase the fund to 2 trillion won this year.  The fund will be gradually expanded to 5 trillion won, the FSC said in

South Korea's consumer sentiment reached the lowest level in eight months in July, central bank data showed Friday, amid growing concerns that Asia's fourth-largest economy could lose more growth momentum amid protracted trade tensions.The composite consumer sentiment index came to 95.9 this month, down 1.6 from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.The reading marks the lowest since November when the index stood at 95.7. A reading below the benchmark 100 means pessimists

The South Korean government announced Thursday that it plans to raise the tax credit rate for corporate facility investment and research and development in an effort to stimulate the economy by lifting the tax burden on firms. The government’s announcement of its 2019 tax code revision bill, comes amid an escalating trade row between Korea and Japan, after Tokyo placed export restrictions on key materials needed for semiconductors and display screens, as well as a slew of pessimistic econo

South Korea’s discount chain Homeplus on Thursday raised the stakes in the competitive retail market here by announcing its full-fledged expansion of specialized branches and online business.During a press conference on its business strategy held in Seoul, Homeplus CEO Lim Il-soon said that the retail giant will aim to raise its online revenue from around 600 billion won last year to 2.3 trillion won by 2021 through innovation that breaks the boundaries of online and offline shopping.Homep

South Korea’s official export credit agency Export-Import Bank of Korea said Thursday it will expand its credit policy to be more inclusive in financing new exporters with low credit ratings. According to Eximbank, it has allocated a total of 20 billion won ($17 million), with individual raw material exporters funded up to 3 billion won.Also, firms in the innovative growth industry -- such as the energy, information and communications technology, and future transportation and materials sec

The South Korean economy is estimated to have expanded 1.1 percent in the second quarter, a dramatic turnaround from an unexpected contraction the previous quarter, partly afforded by increased government spending that offset a skid in private spending, central bank data showed Thursday.The country's gross domestic product expanded an estimated 1.1 percent from three months earlier in the April-June period, after backtracking 0.4 percent in the previous quarter, according to advance data from th

Amid growing concerns about worsening fine dust, the Korea Forest Service is making efforts to provide more green spaces by creating forests in cities as part of measures to tackle the environmental problem. Under plans to reduce fine dust and build green infrastructure for urbanities, set by the KFS last year, the government agency is going to create at least one urban forest in each of the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces across the country starting this year. In addition, the agency is pl

Yeouido sees fall in vacancy rate amid slow supply of A-list offices: Cushman & Wakefield

South Korea’s individual investors chose Walt Disney stocks as their favorite foreign stock, a poll showed Wednesday.The survey, conducted by local brokerage Samsung Securities, involved 484 investors that participated in its foreign stocks seminar. About 20.9 percent of the respondents chose the media giant in a question asking which foreign stocks they would purchase before heading off to their summer holidays.Microsoft ranked No. 2 with 15.1 percent and Amazon No. 3 with 10.3 perce