Working mothers in South Korea work fewer hours than fathers on average, the latest government data showed, a phenomenon that carries deeper patriarchal significance of role imbalance at home.Employed South Korean fathers work an average of 8.6 hours more than their female counterparts per week, according to the data from Statistics Korea last week.But experts say the figures only tell half the story, as many South Korean women are being held back from making career choices freely and compromise

Woori Bank has acquired Cambodia’s microfinance institution VisionFund Cambodia, becoming a South Korean financial company with the largest offshore retail branch network. Through the acquisition, the Cambodian entity with $196 million total asset as of end-2017 earned the new name of WB Finance, according to Woori Bank Sunday.  The institution with 106 branches across the nation will play the role in microfinance deposit-taking, according to a Woori Bank spokesperson. As a resul

This is the 57th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. Genie Music Corporation, South Korea‘s second-largest music streaming and downloading platform operator by monthly active users, is gaining investor attention on anticipation that it will shake up the local industry through a forthcoming acquisition deal. On Friday, Genie Music’s market cap in market‘s close came to 337.5 billion won ($303.4 million), the 153rd-larg

South Korea's fiscal spending was found to make less contribution to narrowing income inequality compared with other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2015, data showed Sunday.The country's relative poverty rate, referring to the percentage of people with an income below 50 percent of the median income, came to 17.7 percent in 2015, according to data from the OECD.But when disposable income after taxes and public transfers is considered, the rate was found t

　One-person households are spending more than their income on average, data showed Saturday, in a sign of economic trouble for a growing number of such households.　The average monthly income of one-person households came to 1.69 million won (US$1,520) in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.　The statistics office said one-person households spent 1.77 million won per month on average last year. It marked the first time that the average income of one-person ho

South Korea and Russia will conduct a joint study to check the feasibility of cross-border energy projects involving North Korea and prepare negotiations for a trade deal to bolster bilateral economic ties, Seoul's trade ministry said Friday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it signed eight memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Russia's energy ministry and state utility firms to expand cooperation in energy, industry and investment between the two nations.The agreements we

Macroeconomics and resilience score additional points, peninsular volatility and low productivity countervail.

The underprivileged will be eligible for state a housing subsidy starting in October even if they have immediate family members who have enough income or assets to be able to support them, the welfare ministry said Friday.The Ministry of Health and Welfare will carry out of a phased softening of standing regulations that disqualify people from various government subsidies because they have parents or children who are financially capable of helping them. Such rules will be lifted for housing fund

The prosecutors’ latest search and seizure of the Fair Trade Commission was purportedly to look into its suspected backscratching ties with top-tier business groups and to check on potential power abuse by the antitrust watchdog. But the abrupt action was also viewed as a chronic power struggle between the prosecution and the FTC -- often dubbed “prosecutors in the economic realm” -- over the latter’s expansive range of rights concerning fair trade rule violations.On the

The escalating trade dispute between the United States and China is expected to affect South Korea's exports to the world's two largest economies, but only to a limited extent, a study showed Thursday. The US has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on up to $50 billion of 1,102 Chinese goods in response to alleged intellectual property theft, with the initial tariffs worth $34 billion set to go into effect on July 6. China said it will impose 25 percent tariffs on 659 US goods worth $50 bil

Three former Samsung Securities employees were arrested on Thursday for selling unauthorized shares mistakenly given to them as dividends in April.The Seoul Nambu District Court approved the arrest warrants sought for three of the four former employees by the prosecution, citing risk of flight and/or evidence tempering. The court said one of the four did not require to be placed under arrest as the person did not appear to have actively participated in the wrongdoing.The former employees face ch

Major South Korean companies have encouraged their employees to take their annual leave, a survey showed Thursday, as the country pushes its people to better strive for work-life balance.The survey of 155 major South Korean firms released by the Korea Economic Research Institute, a private think tank, found that 52.3 percent of the companies polled said annual leave was the best implemented of 10 proposals drawn up by the government in 2016 to help people strike a balance between work and life,

The chief of South Korea's corporate watchdog said Thursday that his agency will redouble its efforts to regain the trust of citizens amid the prosecution's probe into alleged job irregularities involving former senior officials.On Wednesday, investigators raided the offices of the Fair Trade Commission as part of an investigation into allegations that former senior officials of the anti-trust watchdog landed jobs they were not supposed to after retirement.Investigators from the Seoul Central Pr

Global credit rating agency Moody‘s Investors Service said Wednesday that uncertainty related to the geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula persists even after the recent series of summits and peace mood concerning North Korea.“The key constraining factor restriction to South Korea’s credit rating is its geopolitical risk,” Christian de Guzman, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s, said in a press conference held in Seoul.“The fact that the