South Korea‘s finance minister said Friday that his country should not be regarded as a currency manipulator as it strives to enhance transparency in its currency market.Kim Dong-yeon made the argument during a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on the sidelines of G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, according to the finance ministry.Kim cited latest trends in the foreign currency market, efforts by the Seoul governm

The financial regulator said Friday it will conduct more inspections into accounting practices at big companies as part of its efforts to toughen rules on corporate accounting standards.In a report for a parliamentary audit, the Financial Supervisory Service said big firms with assets worth more than 1 trillion won ($880 million) accounted for 7 percent of the watchdog's annual inspections into accounting practices last year.The ratio rose to 20 percent this year, the FSS said. In the first eigh

South Korea's trade minister will attend the ministerial meeting of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in Singapore to discuss ways to deepen economic ties with the fast-growing bloc, his office said Friday.Kim Hyun-chong will participate in the latest round of talks for RCEP -- a proposed mega trade deal involving Asian nations -- in Singapore on Saturday, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.  RCEP is in essence a massive regional trade deal between the 10 members

South Korea's economy is showing decent growth on the back of robust exports and domestic consumption, although capital spending and job creation remain sluggish and external uncertainties are on the rise, a government report said Friday.A weaker job market, rate hikes in the United States and rising oil prices pose downside risks for Asia's fourth-largest economy, the finance ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report."The economy is still on a firm growth path backed by sound

South Korea's jobless rate rose slightly in September due to a fall in employment in the retail and restaurant sectors, with poorer-than-expected job creation continuing, government data showed Friday.The unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent last month, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier, marking the highest rate for September since September 2005, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 27.05 million in September, up 45,000 from the

South Korea’s stock markets were routed Thursday following a plunge in stocks at Wall Street amid surfacing doubts about current tech stock valuations in the United States and fears on lingering US-China trade war threats.Analysts said the market correction in the US triggered a ripple effect on Korean stock markets along with other Asian stocks, drawing concerns about what they call “the biggest external market risk.”Both the top-tier Kospi and the second-tier Kosdaq suffered

Household lending by South Korean banks grew at a slower pace in September than the previous month despite an increase in mortgages, central bank data showed Thursday.Outstanding household loans from banks came to 807.7 trillion won ($707.9 billion) as of the end of last month, up 5.1 trillion won from June, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.The on-month gain was lower than the 5.9 trillion won tallied in August.But home-backed mortgages increased by 3.6 trillion won on-month to 594.7

The government plans to gradually cut the maximum interest rate that private lenders can charge to 20 percent per annum, the financial regulator said Thursday. In a parliamentary audit meeting, Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku said the plan is aimed at further easing the financial burdens on people.  Choi said the government will review market interest rates and other economic factors before it cuts the maximum legal lending rate. In February this year, the government low

South Korea came in second in the World Bank Group's human capital index, which shows the productivity of the next generation of workers, the bank's report showed Thursday.Singapore ranked first with its index standing at 0.88. South Korea and Japan tied for second with 0.84. Hong Kong, Finland, Ireland and Australia came next in that order, according to the report titled "World Development Report 2019: Changing Nature of Work."The HCI measures the amount of human capital that a child

South Korea's current account surplus continued to remain firmly in the black in August on brisk overseas sales, central bank data showed Thursday.The country's current account surplus came to $8.44 billion in August, up from $6.03 billion in the black a year ago, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. From a month earlier, the August figure declined from a yearly high of $8.76 billion.Asia's fourth-largest economy has maintained a current account surplus for 78 straight month

The South Korean startup 8Percent, dedicated to peer-to-peer financing to individuals and small-sized business owners, announced Wednesday it had drawn a combined 6 billion won ($5.3 million) in investments from three venture capital firms. The investments will be used to develop new credit analysis models, advance banking system and improve the profitability of lenders -- or investors into notes of borrowers -- the company said. One of the venture capital firms involved was DSC Investment, whil

Economists have raised the alarm on the weakening growth momentum of the Korean economy, calling on the government to take steps to prevent the country from being stuck in a prolonged slowdown.Local research institutes predict that Asia’s fourth-largest economy will next year expand at a slower pace than its annual potential growth rate, which is estimated by the Bank of Korea to be around 2.8-2.9 percent. The potential growth rate refers to the maximum growth an economy could achieve thro

The economic value of nonpaying housework reached some 360 trillion won as of 2014, according to a report from Statistics Korea. That figure, the most recent available, was 33.3 percent higher than five years earlier, when it stood at 90.1 trillion won. It was also one-fourth of the nation’s gross domestic product. If converted into a monthly wage, it would be about 590,000 won.Nonpaying housework refers to preparing meals, cleaning, taking care of children, pets and plants, purchasing goo

The country's leading firms have increased their sales and employee salaries over recent years but hiring has stalled, an analysis showed Wednesday.Corporate appraiser CEO Score studied 307 of the top 500 companies in terms of sales and found that their annual employee salaries rose 12.5 percent on average between 2014 and 2017, from 63 million won ($55,668) to 70.9 million won. Staff sizes, by comparison, increased 1.8 percent, from 1.19 million to 1.21 million.The companies were selected on th

Nearly four out of 10 South Koreans have an average household debt of 80 million won ($70,690), an increase of 3.3 percent from a year ago, according to figures from a credit information provider.The data, provided by National Information & Credit Evaluation Inc. to ruling party lawmaker Kim Byung-wook for parliamentary inspection, showed that 19 million people, or 37 percent of the country's population, had household debts as of the end of June this year. Their lending totaled 1,531 trillio