Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon on Thursday reiterated the government’s plan to impose taxes on clergy, dismissing persistent complaints from Protestant church circles.“We shall make all preparations so that the religious taxation may take effect from next year without setbacks,” the minister told reporters after his meeting with Protestant leaders.“When I said that I would make a zero-based assessment of their demands, I mean

South Korea's top economic policymaker on Thursday expressed concerns that ballooning household debt may narrow room for policy maneuvering in Asia's fourth-largest economy when interest rates rise, while downplaying the chance of high household debt posing a threat to the overall economy."The risk of massive household debt will unlikely spill over to the entire economy," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a policy meeting with Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol and high-ranking offici

The domestic chemical industry has responded to the government‘s push toward active domestic investments and job creation demands as major chemical companies have vowed to expand large-scale investment projects totaling some 10 trillion won ($8.8 billion), the government said Thursday. 　According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, S-Oil, Lotte Chemical and Hanwha Total Petrochemical signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial government to invest in the Daesan Petr

South Korean stocks closed higher Thursday as investors scooped up large-cap tech and auto shares following overnight gains on Wall Street, analysts said. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 17.48 points, or 0.74 percent, to 2,377.76. Trade volume was moderate at 283.1 million shares worth 6.3 trillion won ($5.8 billion), with losers slightly outnumbering advancers 403 to 397.The broad index opened higher taking a cue from overnight gai

South Korean companies' combined sales jumped 8 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier helped by increased sales of semiconductor and other electronic goods, central bank data showed Thursday.The on-year sales growth rate marks a turnaround from a 1.9 percent contraction in the second quarter of last year, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. The yearly growth rate for the second-quarter also marks the highest since the first quarter of 2012 when the comparable figure was 10.4 perce

South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges largely appear unshaken despite the latest drop in bitcoin price fueled by the Chinese government’s reported plans to shut down domestic bitcoin exchanges, which experts here say would more likely stabilize, rather than stumble, the market.  The Korea Composite Bitcoin Price, based on prices of a bitcoin in major exchanges in Korea’s Bithumb, Korbit and Coinone, came to 4,351,533 won ($3,842.1) as of 4 p.m. Thursday, down 5.9 percent

South Korea has decided to impose anti-dumping duties on ferroalloy imported from Vietnam, India and Ukraine, the trade commission here said Thursday.The Korea Trade Commission said it made the final decision to levy punitive duties of 4.06-19.06 percent on ferro-silico-manganese imported from the three countries for the next five years, for underselling their products here and causing damage to the local industry.Currently, a preliminary tariff of 6.08-32.32 percent has been imposed on the prod

South Korean stocks traded mildly higher late Thursday morning as individual investors scooped up large-cap tech shares, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index inched up 0.71 point, or 0.03 percent, to 2,360.89 as of 11:20 a.m.On Wednesday (local time), US stocks closed at fresh record highs, with the S&P 500 inching up 0.1 percent and the Dow gaining 0.2 percent. Most large caps traded mixed, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics addin

Tensions over a raft of provocations by North Korea are not high enough to adjust ratings on South Korea, a senior official of the global rating agency Standard & Poor's said Thursday."As long as there is no actual war outbreak, I think the impact is relatively limited, and that's why we don't change our outlook on the rating of South Korea," Kim Eng Tan, senior director of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings at S&P, said in a brief interview with Yonhap News Agency.Last month, S&am

South Korean securities companies were stingy with their donations in the first half of the year despite a jump in earnings, a market tracker said Thursday.According to data from financial information provider FnGuide, 12 brokerage houses donated a combined 4.3 billion won ($3.8 million) to local charities in the January-June period, down 18 percent from a year ago.In contrast, their combined net profit more than doubled to slightly over 1 trillion won over the cited period, driven by a bullish

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 2.89 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,363.07 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Wednesday (local time), US stocks closed at fresh record highs, with the S&P 500 inching up 0.1 percent and the Dow gaining 0.2 percent.Most large caps on the Seoul bourse traded mixed, with tech shares leading the gain. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.85 per

South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO and leading chemicals manufacturer LG Chem have seen their market value surge during this year's stock rally driven by large caps, data showed Thursday.POSCO's market capitalization stood at 29.1 trillion won ($25.8 billion) as of Wednesday, ranking fourth among the top 30 companies listed on the local stock market and rising five notches from the end of last year, according to the data by the Korea Exchange.POSCO trails the No. 1 automaker and third-biggest-ca

With Asia home to more than half of the world’s urban population, the depletion of natural resources, diminishing water quality, increased air pollution and adverse climate change effects are considered some of the biggest threats to humanity that experts are looking to combat amid growing urbanization across the continent. 　Therefore, Kim Jae-hyun, minster for the Korea Forest Service, is stressing the need for the government to use Korea’s vast greenery to improve the country&rsquo

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said Wednesday that the government will carefully review how much it will raise the minimum wage from 2019, indicating that the government may slow the growth pace to reflect various conditions. In July, the government decided to raise the minimum wage by 16.4 percent to 7,530 won ($6.67) per hour next year, marking its biggest jump in nearly two decades. President Moon Jae-in has pledged to increase the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020, as part of his efforts to

South Korean stocks closed lower Wednesday, paring earlier gains, as individual and foreign buyers went on a selling spree, analysts said. The Korean won closed unchanged against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 5.29 points, or 0.22 percent, to close at 2,360.18. Trade volume was moderate at 315 million shares worth 5.8 trillion won ($5.3 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers 546 to 253.Institutional buyers purchased a net 41.2 billion won worth of shar