The number of people earning a living by renting property has risen sharply in recent years, government data showed Thursday, amid a market boom brought on by policy measures to prop up the housing market.The total number in the rental and leasing businesses surged to 1,452,000 people as of the end of 2015 from 882,000 in 2006 and 1,340,000 in 2014, according to data by the National Tax Service.The number accounts for 21.7 percent of the total registered businessmen in the country, which stood a

To help startups prepare for the future, Korea Development Bank has been running the “KDB Next Round” program that helps link companies with new investors.　First launched in August last year, KDB’s Next Round was introduced in an effort to minimize market friction and promote market expansion in order to further develop startup investments in the wake of the “fourth industrial revolution.”　The KDB’s investment platform does not involve a funding model or direc

South Korean employees were paid an average 3.29 million won ($2,885) per month in 2015, with male workers earning 1.7 times more than their female colleagues, government data showed Thursday.According to the data by Statistics Korea, the median monthly wage of South Korea's employees was 2.41 million won.The statistics agency said the data is based on a survey of 15 million workers hired by local businesses, but some 9 million self-employed people and part-timers were excluded from the list.The

South Korean shares extended gains late Thursday morning as foreigners turned net buyers. The won traded higher against the dollar.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 7.19 points, or 0.30 percent, to 2,364.72 as of 11:20 a.m.Individuals bought a net 148.91 billion won ($131 million) worth of stocks. But institutions dumped holdings.   Large-cap stocks were mostly trading higher. Technology and airline stocks led gains, helped by rising overseas demand and declin

The South Korean government has used nearly half of its planned budget in the first five months of the year as part of its efforts to frontload spending to prop up the economy, the finance ministry said Thursday.Budget spending by the government and public institutions for the January-May period stood at 135.3 trillion won ($118.7 billion), up 5.5 trillion won from the earlier target of 129.8 trillion won, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.It accounted for 48 percent of the 281.7

Sales of whisky products in South Korea continued to fall in the first five months of this year, mainly due to a protracted economic slump and a change in the drinking culture, industry data showed Thursday.According to the data, whisky product sales in the January-May period fell 6.8 percent to 619,341 boxes from 664,310 tallied in the same period last year. A box contains 18 0.5-liter bottles. Sales of whisky in the Korean market reached their peak in 2008 with 2.84 million boxes and have sinc

The combined value of stocks owned by South Korea's 100 richest stockholders has jumped 21.3 percent, helped by a rally in the stock market, industry data showed Thursday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 16.3 percent to 2,357.53 on Wednesday, compared with a closing price of 2,026.16 as of Jan. 2 this year. According to the data by industry tracker Chaebul.com, the value of stocks owned by the 100 richest stockholders stood at 113.2 trillion won ($99.1 billion), up from 93

South Korea's four major lenders saw mortgage applications jump nearly 11 percent shortly after the government unveiled measures to cool the property market this week, sources said Thursday.The finance ministry announced Monday it will start tightening credit early next month as part of efforts to counter signs of overheating real estate markets in Seoul and several other regions.According to the sources, mortgage applications filed Tuesday with the four largest lenders in the country -- KB Kook

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday despite overnight losses on Wall Street, led by gains in top cap Samsung Electronics. The won rose against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 1.56 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,359.09. Foreigners turned net buyers after shedding 183 billion won worth of stocks in the previous session. On Wednesday (local time), the Dow Jones industrial average moved down 0.27 percent to end at 21,410.03. Large-cap stocks mostly rose

The financial regulators launched a probe Wednesday on the massive short sellings of the game developer NCsoft the previous day, amid market concerns over alleged insider trading. On Tuesday, a day before the highly-anticipated release of the mobile game “Lineage M,” stocks of its developer NCsoft plunged 11.4 percent in the closing compared to Monday. This came on the heels of a hearsay circulating online at around 2:30 p.m. that the mobile version of the mega-hit PC game “Lin

Nearly half of South Korean workers paid no income tax in 2015, a state-run think tank‘s report showed Tuesday.According to the report by the state-run Korea Institute of Public Finance, 46.5 percent of 17 million wage earners were exempted from paying income tax in the year, jumping from 32.2 percent in 2013. The increase was attributed to the government’s change of income tax deduction programs in 2014 to allow higher deduction rates to low income earners.The proportion in Korea wa

South Korea’s stock markets are unlikely to be dampened despite foreign cash flight triggered by the MSCI’s plans to add China A Large Cap shares to its benchmark emerging markets index starting next year, according to the Financial Services Commission on Wednesday.The looming investors’ capital exodus of up to 4.3 trillion won ($3.76 billion) and reduction of their proportion in the emerging markets index by between 0.23 percent and 15.27 percent “will put little pressur

South Korea's top economic leaders vowed on Wednesday that they will make concerted efforts to create quality jobs and stir up investment and innovation in the private sector.Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo and presidential chief of staff for policy Jang Ha-sung had trilateral talks in Seoul earlier in the day, their first since the inauguration of President Moon Jae-in on May 10, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.The three policymakers

South Korean stocks ended lower on Wednesday as foreigners turned net sellers tracking losses on Wall Street. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 11.70 points, or 0.49 percent, to close at 2,357.53. Trade volume was moderate at 356.21 million shares worth 6.34 trillion won ($5.5 billion), with decliners outnumbering advancers 516 to 296.Foreigners sold a net 180.29 billion won worth of stocks and institutional investors also dumped share

The number of single households is continuing to spike as more Koreans live away from their families, while the country’s marriage rate continues to nose-dive. 　According to a survey released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of single-person households in the second half of 2016 reached roughly 5.27 million as of October last year, up 3.3 percent from the previous year. 　The data showed that the number of married people living alone hit 3.12 million or 59.1 percent of all singl