South Korea will scale up its “Korean New Deal” stimulus package by making additional investments worth 60 trillion won ($52.2 billion) to nurture human talents for future industries, and improve ill-functioning employment and the social safety net, the government said Wednesday. Marking the first anniversary of the launch of the Korean New Deal initiative, President Moon Jae-in unveiled an upgraded version focusing on responses to deepening social inequality and economic polar

South Korean banks' household loans swung to an upturn in June following the previous month's one-off decline, central bank data showed Thursday. Outstanding bank loans to local households came to 1,030.4 trillion won ($896 billion) as of end-June, up 6.3 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marks a turnaround from the 1.6 trillion-won on-month decline in May, which was attributed to repayments of loans by customers after the initial public

South Korea said Wednesday it plans to expand its investment in its signature New Deal policy projects in a bid to create more jobs and better prepare for the post-pandemic era. Under the "New Deal 2.0" initiative, the government will invest 220 trillion won ($191 billion) in pushing for digital and green energy projects and promoting inclusive economic growth by 2025, up from its earlier investment plan of 160 trillion won. It is an upgraded version of the New Deal 1.0 drive unveile

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans rose for the second straight month in May due to an increase in overdue corporate and household loans, the financial watchdog said Wednesday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.32 percent at the end of May, up from 0.3 percent the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Banks' loan delinquency rate hit a record low of 0.28 percent in March. Compared with a year earlier, t

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Wednesday that it has signed deals worth a combined 911 billion won ($792 million) to build four LNG carriers. A 454 billion-won deal with a Bermudian company calls for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a unit of KSOE, to build and deliver two LNG carriers by September 2025, KSOE said in a regulatory filing. Under a 458 billion-won deal with a European company, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., another subsidiary of KSOE, will build a

South Korean airlines will resume flights to Saipan later this month as scheduled despite a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. The Seoul government recently signed a quarantine-free travel bubble agreement with Saipan to allow group tours of fully vaccinated Koreans to such holiday destinations. The government is in talks with Guam and Singapore to sign travel bubble deals in preparation for an increase in outbound travel demand as early as late this year. Among local carriers, Jeju Air Co. resu

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products reached a record high in June, data showed Wednesday, on the back of robust global demand for semiconductors and displays as the global economy picks up steam from the pandemic-induced slump. Outbound shipments of ICT products stood at $19.3 billion in June, up 29.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The figure marks the highest ever for the month and the 13th

Sales of equity-linked securities (ELS) in South Korea swelled nearly 13 percent in the first half of the year despite the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The value of ELS issues stood at 35.6 trillion won ($30.9 billion) in the January-June period, up 12.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. The figure, however, was down 5.1 percent from the 37.5 trillion won floated during the second half of last year. ELS refers to hybrid de

South Korea reported job additions for the fourth straight month in June, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign the job market has improved amid an economic recovery. The number of employed people reached 27.6 million last month, 582,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The June additions were lower than an on-year increase of 619,000 the previous month. The country has reported job additions since March when 314,000 jobs were added on-year, th

The government will strengthen its monitoring of financial markets as volatility increases due to a recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases here, First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said Tuesday. “As uncertainty related to virus variants persist, the possibility of increased volatility in the financial market in the future cannot be ruled out,” he said during a meeting on macroeconomic policies and financial affairs. With the quick spread of the more contagious delta variant lo

Cryptocurrency exchanges that are based outside South Korea must register with the nation's anti-money laundering body if they use the Korean currency, a top financial regulator said Tuesday. Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo made the remarks when asked by a lawmaker whether Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, should comply with a revised law from September. If a cryptocurrency exchange serves local customers with the won-currency settlement, it must regis

South Korea's top economic policymaker on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to the idea of providing universal COVID-19 relief handouts to all people with another extra budget currently under review at parliament. On Monday, the heads of the ruling and main opposition parties shared the view about the need to provide cash handouts to all people with this year's second extra budget. In late June, the government proposed an extra budget of 33 trillion won ($28.9 billion) to finance the fifth rou

South Korea's money supply continued to grow in May, as loans to households and firms grew amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's M2 stood at 3,385 trillion won ($2.95 trillion) as of end-May, up 0.6 percent from a month earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 jumped 11 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply that counts cas

A majority of bond mavens in South Korea predict the central bank to hold its key interest steady for July amid the prolonged coronavirus fallout, a poll showed Tuesday. According to the survey of 200 bond experts by the Korea Financial Investment Association, 89 percent of the 100 respondents said the Bank of Korea (BOK) will likely freeze its policy rate at a rate-setting meeting slated for Thursday. The number of standpatters was down nine from the previous month. In contrast, 11 experts, u

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday that Delivery Hero (DH) has asked it to extend the deadline for the sale of its food delivery affiliate here, Yogiyo, as the German company is facing difficulty in finding a potential investor. In December, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ordered DH to sell Yogiyo, South Korea's No. 2 food delivery app, if it wants to buy the country's top food delivery app operator, Woowa Brothers. DH has to sell Yogiyo by Aug. 3. Details on DH's request a