The number of double-income households in South Korea declined the most in three years last year as the job market took a beating from the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The number of double-income households came to 5.59 million as of October last year, down 69,000 from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. This accounted for 45.6 percent of all married couple households. It marked the largest on-year decline since 2017, when the number of such households fell by 89,

The volume of container cargo processed at South Korea's seaports jumped 11.2 percent in May from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, in yet another sign of a recovery in trade from the economic fallout of the new coronavirus pandemic. Container cargo processed at the seaports reached 2.63 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in May, compared with 2.37 million TEUs in the previous year, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The ministry attributed the growth to the COVID-

South Korea's financial market continues to be stable, but a build-up of financial imbalance remains worrisome, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday. In a regular report on financial stability, the BOK also called for vigilance against a rise in debt of households and companies amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The nation's financial stability index shot up to 22.3 in April last year, breaching the lower boundary for a crisis warning, but it has since come down to 1.8. At the end of March, outsta

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday it has decided to issue three-year monetary stabilization bonds, in an effort to better control liquidity. The BOK said it will significantly reduce the amount of two-year monetary stabilization bonds to reduce volatility in bond markets in the wake of the sales of longer-term bonds. At the end of last month, about 80 percent of outstanding monetary stabilization bonds had maturities of two years, a BOK official said. The three-year bonds are expected t

South Korea said Tuesday it will extend a temporary removal of tariffs on imported eggs by six months until the end of the year in a bid to stabilize their high prices. The Cabinet approved a revised regulation that will allow local firms to import 36,000 tons of fresh eggs and other egg products without tariffs until Dec. 31. In January, the government removed import tariffs on 50,000 tons of egg products by the end of June in a bid to ease a supply shortage caused by the outbreak of bird flu

South Korea said Tuesday it has launched the fifth round of talks with Chile to reflect the latest industry trends into their 17-year-old free trade agreement (FTA). During the three-day virtual meeting, the two countries plan to discuss a wide array of issues ranging from labor and the environment to intellectual rights, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Seoul and Santiago will also share ideas on ways to promote the digital trade. South Korea implemented its first-ev

South Korea's producer prices gained 0.4 percent on-month in May due to a modest rise in food and energy prices, extending their monthly gains for the seventh straight month, central bank data showed Tuesday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, stood at 108.50 in May, compared with 108.06 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The May index advanced 6.4 percent from the previous year, the BOK data showed. The prices of agricultural goods fell

South Korea will ease mortgage rules for first-time homebuyers starting next month as part of a raft of real estate measures aimed at helping young people move up the property ladder, according to a real estate service provider on Monday. Applying for a mortgage will become easier for both couples and individuals seeking to purchase a home for the first time, the Zigbang report said. From July, couples with a combined annual income of less than 90 million won ($79,141) -- compared with the c

South Korea became the world's third-largest exporter of cosmetics products in 2020 with its trade balance in the sector remaining in the black for nine straight years, government data showed Monday. The country exported $7.57 billion worth of cosmetics goods last year, up 16.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. South Korea's exports were third in the world, trailing France and the United States. Asia's fourth-largest economy posted a

South Korea's economy became slightly less trade-dependent in 2019, with imports accounting for more than 14 percent of overall supplies here, a central bank report showed Monday. The country's overall industrial output amounted to 5,097.5 trillion won ($4.49 trillion) in 2019, compared with 5,074.2 trillion won in 2018, according to the report from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Domestic output accounted for 85.6 percent of the total, up from 85.5 percent in 2018, while imports accounted for the r

More than 4 out of 10 South Korean companies plan to employ interns during the second half of the year mainly for the purpose of covering manpower shortages, a poll showed Monday. According to the survey of 416 companies, taken by recruiting platform Saramin, 44 percent of the respondents said they have plans to hire interns in the July-December period. The figure is higher than the percentage of intern-hiring firms a year earlier. About 33 percent of local firms employed interns during the sa

South Korea's exports rose 29.5 percent on-year in the first 20 days of June on the back of robust demand for chips, autos and petroleum products, customs data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $32.4 billion in the June 1-20 period, compared with $25 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports increased 29.1 percent on-year to $32.1 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $291 million during the cited period, the data showed. B

Nearly 8 out of 10 South Korean consumers have increased their online shopping during the coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Monday. The survey of 1,000 local consumers, taken by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, showed 78.4 percent of the respondents saying their online purchases have risen since the outbreak of COVID-19. About 71 percent of them said they have purchased more foodstuffs and beverages online, followed by dining out and other food services (30.9 percent), kitchen and

South Korea's state-run energy firm on Monday said it has decided to retain the electricity rate in the third quarter of 2021, in a bid to ease the financial burden on local households amid the pandemic and rising inflation. The Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said it will maintain the electricity rate from the previous quarter during the July-September period despite the recent hike in the global price of resources. The company, however, said it may raise costs in the fourth quarter should

Lack of human touch, widening information gap leave seniors out of contactless era