South Korea and India have discussed ways to reduce the use of trade remedy measures and promote investment opportunities between the two nations, Seoul's trade ministry said Thursday.Senior officials of the Korea Trade Commission under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry held a meeting in New Delhi to explore ways to facilitate bilateral trade and investment.Seoul officials asked the Indian government to fairly conduct trade-related investiga

South Korea's job market is expected to improve in earnest next year, with more than 200,000 new jobs likely to be created in the second half of 2019, the vice chief of the presidential job commission said Thursday.Rhee Mok-hee made the remark at a meeting of officials from the government and the ruling Democratic Party to discuss ways to create jobs by fostering new growth industries. "I expect that the job market will improve to some degree in the second half," Rhee said at the start

The United States Department of Commerce has decided to impose an anti-dumping duty on power transformers made by South Korea's Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co., industry sources said Wednesday.In its latest, fifth review, the US government upheld its earlier ruling that levies an anti-dumping duty of 60.81 percent on large power transformers manufactured by Hyundai Electric shipped to the US, according to the sources. The final decision will be made in March next year.As it did in earl

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a revised trade deal between the US and South Korea may be signed "in a couple of weeks."Speaking at the White House, Trump indicated the signing could take place when he meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month."It may be signed during the United Nations conference in a couple of weeks," he said. "The deal is done. It's been done with South Korea

A steep rise in debt owed by self-employed people with faltering businesses is a ticking time bomb for the South Korean economy, experts warn.Outstanding loans to the self-employed increased 77 trillion won ($68.9 billion) on-year to 598 trillion won at the end of last year, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service.The figure is now estimated to be close to 615 trillion won, given that banks extended 15.8 trillion won more in loans in the first seven months of this year, with fig

The trade volume of lump sum retail orders on South Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq surged this year on the back of growing demand for biopharmaceuticals, data showed Wednesday.According to the country’s stock operator Korea Exchange, the number of individual purchasers’ orders amounting to 100 million won ($90,000) or more at a time totaled 12,499 as of the end of August, up 161.21 percent from the same period last year.Purchases of more than 10,000 shares also moved up 15.5 p

Shinhan Financial Group Co., a major South Korean financial holding firm, said Wednesday it will acquire a majority stake in Orange Life, formerly known as ING Life Insurance, for 2.29 trillion won ($2.04 billion). The acquisition, which would make Shinhan Financial the nation's top financial group, is subject to regulatory approval, Shinhan Financial said in a regulatory filing.Shinhan Financial will pay 47,400 won for each of 48.5 million shares, or the 59.15 percent stake, in Orange Life, acc

South Korea’s major banks saw their household loan balance climb at the fastest pace in almost two years in August, propelled by the mortgage loan uptrend amid the robust real estate market here, said industry officials on Tuesday.The household loan balance of the nation’s top five banks -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, KEB Hana and Nonghyup -- stood at 552.39 trillion won ($495.7 billion) as of end-August, up 4.65 trillion won from a month earlier. This on-month increase was visibly h

South Korea's consumer prices remain unstable ahead of the Chuseok holiday due to soaring vegetable prices stemming from weeks of hot weather and the recent downpours, data showed Tuesday.The prices of 21 vegetables had increased 4.1 percent as of Aug. 31 compared with a week earlier, according to the Korean Consumer Agency's price chart.Of the total, the cost of 15 items gained over the cited period as an unprecedented heat wave damaged crops and caused diseases in leafy vegetables, while six w

South Korea's consumer price growth continued to stay above 1 percent in August on a rise of agricultural goods and the service sector, government data showed Tuesday.The country's consumer price index climbed 1.4 percent last month from a year earlier, decelerating from the previous month's 1.5 percent on-year gain, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, the index rose 0.5 percent.Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, grew 0.9 percent on

South Korea's economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace in the second quarter from three months earlier on sluggish construction investment, the central bank said Tuesday.The country's gross domestic product expanded 0.6 percent in the April-June period, slowing down from a 1 percent on-quarter increase in the previous quarter, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea.The latest reading marks a slight decrease from an earlier estimate of a 0.7 percent gain in July.The BOK explained t

Concerns are growing over the weakening vitality of the Korean economy as facility investment continues to decrease, with consumer sentiment and business confidence sluggish.Government data released last week showed facility investment fell 0.6 percent on-month in July, marking a decline for five consecutive months. It was the longest straight decline since the foreign exchange crisis, when investment fell for 10 straight months from September 1997. Analysts at the state statistics office a

South Korea is facing another set of brawls this year concerning taxation equity and wealth distribution, as the government and ruling party signaled at further toughening tax rules for affluent property owners, according to officials Monday.Detailed prospects, however, remain unclear as related ministries held different stances over the reduction of benefits for lease business operators -- an action that may deliver a blow upon the government’s policy credibility.“We will begin disc

Following the recent replacement of the statistics office chief, the ongoing dispute concerning the Moon Jae-in administration’s income-led growth initiative has now expanded into an argument on the credibility of key economic indicators here.While the presidential office and the ruling party held the statistics office liable for a sampling flaw, the opposition camp claimed that the administration was deceiptfully trying to cover up its thwarted economic strategies.“Statistics cannot

The richest people in South Korea earned nearly 1,000 times more than the lowest wage earners last year, a parliamentary report said Sunday, highlighting the country's widening income disparity.The average earned income of the top 0.1 percent bracket reached 660 million won ($590,000) per person last year, according to the report submitted to the National Assembly by the National Tax Service.Their combined annual income of 11.7 trillion won accounted for 2.66 percent of the country's total earne