The transition committee working for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday discussed digitizing government work with outside experts after being briefed on digital efforts under the current Moon Jae-in government. A task force -- launched by the committee to deliver on Yoon’s promise to change the way the government works by embracing digital technology, mainly big data but also artificial intelligence -- held its first meeting to facilitate the digital shift before Yoon takes office

On price growth hitting decade-high of 4.1% in March, fiscal chief cites Russia’s Ukraine invasion as key trigger

Shinhan Bank report says income gap at four-year high, young Koreans take average 17 years to pay back mortgage

South Korea's national debt rose to a record high last year as the government boosted a debt sale to fund its expansionary fiscal spending to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic-caused slump, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The sovereign debt, which covers bond sales and financial borrowing by central and provincial governments, amounted to 967.2 trillion won ($796 billion) last year, sharply up 120.6 trillion won from the previous year, according to a report on the 2021 national settlement. The 2

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea fell 8.7 percent in March as chip shortages continued to affect vehicle production, an industry association said Tuesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles fell to 24,912 units last month from 27,297 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were Mercedes-Benz's E 250 sedan and E 350 4MATIC sedan and BMW's 520 sedan, it said. In March,

SEJONG -- South Korea will expand tax cuts on fuel consumption as part of efforts to ease inflation pressure that has been building up amid surging energy prices, the country's top economic policymaker said Tuesday. The government will expand fuel tax cuts from the current 20 percent to 30 percent from early May to end-July as the Russia-Ukraine war has sent crude oil and other commodity prices even higher, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki told an anti-inflation meeting. The decision came as South

Jet fuel consumption in South Korea tumbled to a 17-year low in 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Jet fuel consumption in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 21.17 million barrels last year, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. The decrease followed a 44 percent on-year nosedive in 2020, which was sparked by the government's strict social distancing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. La

South Korea's consumer prices grew more than 4 percent for the first time in more than 10 years in March as energy prices jumped amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, data showed Tuesday. The consumer prices rose 4.1 percent last month from a year earlier, accelerating from a 3.7 percent on-year gain in February, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Consumer inflation exceeded 4 percent for the first time since December 2011, when consumer prices climbed 4.2 percent on-year. Infla

Transition committee head raises necessity of freezing power, gas fees

US investor Jim Rogers has been named an inter-Korean project cooperation adviser for the city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, officials said Monday. Rogers was tapped to give the city government policy advice on inter-Korean projects and is scheduled to visit the northern border city on Wednesday to sign the related agreement, according to Paju government officials. The officials added that Rogers is expected to contribute to the re

The net profit of listed firms on South Korean main bourse expanded 160.56 percent last year despite the pandemic, the bourse operator said Monday. The consolidated net profit of 595 firms listed on the benchmark KOSPI totaled 156.6 trillion won (128.6 billion) in 2021, up from 60.1 trillion won the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange (KRX). A total of 595 out of 676 listed companies submitted their consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year of 2021 tha

The Bank of Korea (BOK) should step up efforts to make more accurate assessments of current economic and financial situations ahead of next week's rate-setting meeting, the central bank's acting chief said Monday. BOK Vice Gov. Lee Seung-heon, who is serving as acting chair of the central bank after Lee Ju-yeol left office last week, made the call in an internal meeting with senior officials, according to the bank. The chief post is not expected to be filled until the rate-setting meet

South Korea's antitrust chief plans to participate in a global meeting of regulatory authorities this week to discuss merger guidelines and competition policy, her office said Monday. Joh Sung-wook, chairperson of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), will take part in the Enforcers Summit on Monday (US time) to be co-hosted by the US Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department (DOJ), according to the FTC. The summit will be attended by Lina M. Khan, chair of the US antitrust body, DOJ Assist

Employees at South Korean mobile lender KakaoBank have higher productivity than their peers at the country’s four banking giants, data showed Friday. A KakaoBank employee was estimated to have earned 349 million won ($280,000), higher than the average figures for Hana Bank and Shinhan Bank, at 315 million won and 271 million won, respectively.  Worker productivity of the other two giants -- KB Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank -- on average was 245 million won and 229 million won, respect

SEJONG -- Korea’s monthly exports recorded an all-time high in March on the back of robust performance in outbound shipments of semiconductors and petrochemicals, state data showed Friday. But the nation saw its trade balance in the red, as imports also increased to a record high last month in the wake of a spike in international raw materials prices. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the country recorded $63.4 billion in exports for March, up 18.2 percent from a y