South Korean stocks ended up at a fresh record high Wednesday backed by institutional buying amid hopes for sound corporate earnings. The won rose against the US dollar.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 3.90 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at a record high of 2,429.94. Trade volume was moderate at 266.82 million shares worth 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 521 to 289. Institutional investors bought a net 140 billion won worth of stoc

A public servant paid an average of 88.53 million won ($78,868) a year, an amount equal to the top 7 percentile of the nation's average income, according to the Korea Taxpayers' Association.Based on basic salary information disclosed by the government and expenditure analysis of a ward office in Seoul picked as a representative sample, it costs about 179.9 million won a year to keep a public servant employed, the association said. Salary levels of government workers have become news after p

A tough market is making it harder for young people to find work with new jobseekers taking up to a year to land a position, government data showed Wednesday. According to Statistics Korea, the number of college graduates, dropouts and high-school graduates stood at some 4.82 million in May. Of them, about 4.18 million, or 86.8 percent, were employed or held a job at least once. The ratio of young people who had work experience fell 0.2 percentage point from a year ago.  As for 4.09 million

South Korea's central bank said Wednesday that it has put more than 290 million dormant coins back into general circulation.People brought out some 296 million coins worth 40.8 billion won ($36.3 million) to have them changed into banknotes during the nationwide collection campaign in June, according to the Bank of Korea.This marked a 10.6-percent increase in the number of reclaimed coins vis-a-vis last year. Combined value of coins collected rose 10.9 percent. The annual campaign is designed to

The volatility in the dollar-won exchange rates slightly eased in the April-June period from a quarter earlier as global financial markets stabilized, the central bank said Wednesday.The average daily variation, showing the change from the previous session's closing price, came to 4.2 won in the second quarter, down from 5.7 won in the previous quarter, according to data from the Bank of Korea.Meanwhile, the average gap between the daily high and low of the dollar-won exchange rates came to 5.8

South Korean stocks turned lower Wednesday morning as foreigners and individuals offloaded their holdings. The won traded higher against the dollar.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index that started the day in positive territory surrendered 2.36 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,423.68 as of 11:20 a.m.Foreigners and individuals sold a combined 133 billion won ($118 million) worth of stocks. Institutions bought a net 126 billion won that kept the main index from falling further. Tech

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday despite losses on Wall Street, with institutions buying stocks on bargain hunting.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 1.26 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,427.30 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The main index hit a record high of 2,425.10 in the previous session. Institutional investors bought a net 29 billion won ($26 million) worth of stocks. Foreigners and individuals offloaded a combined 27 billion won in shares.  On

South Korea's national pension fund has raised its holdings of stocks in Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. apparently to capitalize on the global semiconductor industry boom, market data showed Wednesday. The National Pension Fund held 85.4 trillion won ($75.8 billion) worth of stocks in 100 companies in South Korea at the end of last month, according to the data by corporate tracker CEO Score. The fund's holdings of Samsung Electronics stocks stood at 30.8 trillion won, accounting for 3

Panelists in a public hearing held Tuesday to build a legal ground for cryptocurrency in South Korea called for regulators to take swift action to strengthen consumer protection from its transactions.The panel also encouraged the state-led protection to guarantee the stability of the cryptocurrency‘s value and soundness of the related business. Rep. Park Yong-jin, lawmaker of ruling Democratic Party of Korea, presided over the public hearing, about two weeks after he unveiled a plan to pro

The number of South Koreans who are economically inactive due to reasons related to child care has dropped to a record low this year amid the country‘s chronic low birthrate, data by Statistics Korea showed Tuesday.The total number of economically inactive people aged over 15 stood at 15.83 million last month. Of them, about 1.24 million people, or 7.8 percent, were categorized as people not looking for work because they have to take care of children. It is the lowest since the government

South Korean stocks turned higher to reach a fresh record high Tuesday backed by institutional buying. The won rose against the US dollar.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.94 point, or 0.04 percent, to close at a record high of 2,426.04.Trade volume was moderate at 255.64 million shares worth 4.6 trillion won ($4 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 414 to 387. Institutional investors bought a net 122.04 billion won worth of stocks amid expectations that ma

South Korea's antitrust regulator announced a set of measures meant to strengthen rights of franchisees Tuesday, a sign that underscores the government's commitment to ending unfair business practices across the board.The measures call for, among other things, food franchisers to release information on profit margins of essential goods that franchisees need to buy from their corporate parents, the Fair Trade Commission said.Commission officials will team up with their counterparts from the Seoul

A Seoul appellate court on Tuesday commuted the sentence on a former head of a now debt-ridden shipyard convicted of massive accounting fraud that culminated in state-led fund injections.The Seoul High Court reduced the sentence for Ko Jae-ho, former chief executive of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., to nine years in jail. He was handed down a 10-year term by a lower court in January.Ko was indicted in July last year on charges of cooking the books worth over 5.7 trillion won i

One in five workers said that they will not be able to take time off work this summer, citing a sluggish economy and excessive workload as the main reasons, according to a survey by workers education company Hunet on Tuesday.  　Hunet’s survey of 934 employees found that 21.6 percent of the respondents said they are not planning on taking summer vacations this year. The results are slightly lower compared to last year, where 25.5 percent had said they could not take a vacation. 　In thi