South Korea's trade commission said Thursday it will launch an anti-dumping investigation into stainless steel bar products imported from Taiwan and Italy.The Korea Trade Commission under the trade ministry said it made the decision at the request of Korean manufacturers, including Dongil Steel Co. and SeAH Special Steel Corp., who claimed that the cheap imports hurt their businesses.The commission said it will look into whether Taiwanese and Italian companies sold their products below fair mark

South Korea will be revealing its records on foreign exchange market intervention at an incremental pace, as part of efforts to promote the credibility of the nation’s currency policies, according to the top financial policymaker on Thursday.“The disclosure of the (government’s) measures to stabilize the foreign exchange market is the right way to go,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon in a meeting of economy-related ministers.“But consid

Seoul citizens spend an average of an hour and 36 minutes traveling to and from work every day, data showed Wednesday.According to a report by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transport Institute, Seoul citizens’ average commuting time as of 2016 stood at 96.4 minutes, the longest among major cities and provinces nationwide. Of this daily average, 41.8 minutes were spent going to work and 54.6 minutes on returning home.The corresponding figures for the metro

Concerns are deepening that the planned implementation of reduced work hours unaccompanied by specific guidelines and supplementary measures will add to difficulties faced by local companies, pushing them further to move production abroad.Under the labor law revision passed by the National Assembly in February, the maximum workweek will be reduced from 68 hours to 52 hours in three stages, starting from July 1 at companies with 300 employees or more. The shortened workweek will be applied to fir

The number of female executives at South Korea's top 30 conglomerates came to 3.1 percent of the total last year, a market tracker said Wednesday, in a sign that the glass ceiling is still intact in the male-dominated Asian country.Among 8,835 executives of 268 affiliates belonging to the business groups, known as chaebol here, that submitted business reports last year, only 274 were female, according to CEO Score.Yet, it was the first time for the tally to surpass the 3 percent mark, it said. T

South Korea's jobless rate fell slightly in April due to a rise in employment in the health care, financial service and public service sectors, but job creation still remained weak, government data showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent last month, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 26.86 million in April, up 123,000 from a year earlier, according to the data.The unemployme

Citibank Korea Inc. said Tuesday its net profit for the first quarter of this year rose 6.7 percent on-year, helped by stringent cost-cutting efforts.　Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup Inc., posted a net profit of 73 billion won (US$6.8 million) for the January-March quarter.　Its net interest margin (NIM), a measurement of profitability, climbed 0.08 percentage point on-quarter to 2.78 percent last quarter, the bank said. 　Citibank Korea has closed 90 of its 126 retail-bank

Large and mid-cap South Korean stocks set to be added to global and regional equity indexes by MSCI moderately rallied Tuesday, after an announcement by the US index publisher to rebalance its indexes. 　MSCI, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International, is an American provider support tool widely used as investment guidance.　In the May 2018 Semi-Annual Index Review for the MSCI Equity Indexes released Monday, MSCI unveiled five Korean won-denominated shares to be added starting June 1. New to

COMMEMORATING CULTURAL HERITAGE -- The state-owned Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. unveiled Monday in Seoul commemorative medals that depict a now-defunct Korean consulate in Washington, built some 130 years ago. The cultural heritage building was repatriated by the government in 2012, about a century after being sold to the US upon the start of Japanese occupation in 1910. (Yonhap)

This is the 55th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. While leading sectors of South Korea’s second-tier stock market Kosdaq have suffered downward pressure over the past few weeks, some powerhouses have pulled through.One of the firms is Koh Young Technology, which has striven to make a linear growth since it was listed a decade ago. On the back of it was its earnings increase with its unrivaled tech prowess suitable for manufact

Korea is unlikely to be significantly affected by the spreading financial instability in emerging market countries but it must not let its guard down, analysts say.There are growing concerns that capital outflow from emerging economies with weak fundamentals will accelerate in the coming months, as they are being hit by the strengthening of the dollar amid the rise in US interest rates and oil prices. Prompted by the prospect that low unemployment and high oil prices will push inflation above it

South Korea's service exports shrank nearly 8 percent in 2017 from a year earlier due to a strong local currency amid the service industry's weakening competitiveness, data showed Monday.The service sector in Asia's fourth-largest economy saw its exports reach $87.72 billion last year, down 7.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Among the 35 OECD members, South Korea was the sole country that suffered a fall in ser

Despite government-led regulations to rein in the real estate market, luxury residence prices in Seoul shot up nearly 25 percent on-year in the first quarter, marking the fastest rate of growth worldwide. According to a report on the Prime Global Cities Index by UK-based real estate data provider Knight Frank, which analyzed houses that ranged in the upper 5 percent in terms of prices in 43 global cities, house prices in Seoul showed the fastest growth rate, five times the average growth rate of

Major financial firms are poised to kick off massive recruiting in the latter half of this year, industry sources said Sunday, after allegations of illicit hiring caused many lenders to hold off offering jobs in the past. According to the financial industry sources, the nation's four major banks -- KEB Hana Bank, Woori Bank, Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank -- are preparing to hire a large of number of junior employees for this year. The hiring process had temporarily been frozen since late l

Rapidly spreading global trade protectionism and South Korea's growing household debt are major risks now facing country's financial system, a survey showed Sunday.According to the poll of 72 market watchers of financial officials, researchers and investors conducted by the Bank of Korea, 76 percent said intensifying trade pressure and global protectionism was the biggest problem facing the country. The rate was 26 percent in a survey held in November last year.Asia's fourth-largest economy is o