South Korea said Monday it has launched a new round of negotiations to clinch a free trade agreement with Mercosur, South America's leading trading bloc, as it aims to further expand its export portfolio. Asia's fourth-largest economy and Mercosur began a five-day virtual meeting that will run through Friday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Mercosur -- made up of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay -- accounts for around 70 percent of the population in South Ameri

South Korea said Monday it will begin providing emergency relief funds to people in the bottom 88 percent income bracket next week in the latest move to help them cope with the fallout from the pandemic. The government will begin to provide up to 250,000 won ($215) per recipient on Sept. 6 as part of an 11 trillion-won cash handout program, according to the interior and finance ministries. The money must be spent by end-December. In July, the country drew up an extra budget of 34.9 trillion wo

South Korean firms are suffering from the triple whammy of rising raw material costs, a coronavirus resurgence and an interest rate hike, a poll showed Monday. The survey of 310 large and smaller companies, taken by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), showed that 81.6 percent of the respondents to the poll, in which multiple choices were possible, cited an increase in raw material prices as their top concern. The resurgence of COVID-19 infections came next with 80.6 percent, fol

Household lending surges at last minute over BOK’s rate hike, stricter lending rules

Despite the Parliament’s approval of the nomination of the Financial Services Commission’s new chairman on Friday, concerns remain over his familial ties with the chairman of Korea Investment Holdings, the parent group of a major South Korean brokerage firm. The FSC chief nominee, Koh Seung-beom, is the brother-in-law of Kim Nam-goo, chairman and CEO of Korea Investment Holdings, which controls Korea Investment & Securities, the nation’s second-largest securities company

Amid recurring industrial accidents such as the 2018 Taean Power Plant tragedy, the 2020 Icheon fire incident, and the death of a worker at Pyeongtaek Port in April, social interest regarding the need for health and safety in outsourcing arrangements has been steadily growing. Meanwhile, with the increase in outsourcing of work across all industries, the vague division of roles and responsibilities between companies and contractors, and the lack of authority of contractors/subcontractors that

Industrial accidents at workplaces caused an estimated loss of nearly 30 trillion won ($25.6 billion) last year, data showed Sunday, with the country seeking to impose heavy punishment on employers in the event of workplace disasters starting next year. The losses caused by industrial accidents were estimated at 29 trillion won in 2020, up 8.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The total number of deaths from industrial accident

South Korea on Friday inked an agreement to expand a joint loan facility program with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in a bid to support infrastructure development in Latin America. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone signed the agreement between the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), South Korea's lower-interest loan scheme with emerging countries, and the regional development bank, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The a

South Korea's outbound shipments are predicted to increase 34.5 percent on-year in August on strong global demand for chips and automobiles despite the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, a poll showed Friday. Exports are expected to reach $53 billion won this month, according to the survey of seven brokerage houses by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. Imports are estimated to rise 44.8 percent on-year in August to $51.8 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $1.2 bil

South Korea will launch another round of COVID-19 cash handouts for nearly 90 percent of Koreans, as well as other financial support for small merchants, before the Chuseok holiday in September. Authorities plan to provide 11 trillion won ($9.4 billion) to people in the bottom 88 percent income bracket under this year’s second extra budget, worth 34.9 trillion won. The government aims to distribute 90 percent of the subsidies by the end of September. The beneficiaries will be selected

Korean government’s debt-to-GDP ratio headed for 50%

South Korea’s central bank on Thursday carried out its first rate hike since the pandemic began, marking a major turnaround from its expansionary stance that had been proactively deployed to buttress the nation’s virus-hit economy for the last 15 months. The rate hike marked the first case of a central bank in a major Asia-Pacific economy tightening monetary policy, reflecting concerns over overheated markets and growing inflationary pressure.　 The Bank of Korea raised its benchma

The number of jobs for wage workers in South Korea grew at a slower pace in the first quarter than three months earlier due to slumps in in-person service sectors amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of paid employee jobs reached 18.9 million in the cited period, up 321,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The tally was lower than an on-year increase of 503,000 in the fourth quarter of last year. It also marked the smallest increase since the second quarter of

South Korea's central bank delivered its first pandemic-era rate hike Thursday to fight rising inflation and rein in surging household debts, ending 15 months of record-low interest rates as the economy showed signs of improving. The monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) voted to raise its key rate by 0.25 percentage point to 0.75 percent in this year's sixth rate-setting meeting. It marked the first rate hike since May last year, when the BOK cut the key rate to a record low of 0.

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday the government plans to provide pandemic emergency relief funds to people hit hard by the pandemic before next month's fall harvest Chuseok holiday. The country plans to provide 11 trillion won ($9.4 billion) to people in the bottom 88 percent income bracket under this year's second extra budget of 34.9 trillion won. Hong said the government has decided to start the provision of cash handouts to the recipients before the Chuseok holiday scheduled for