Sales of electric vehicles in South Korea nose-dived more than 45 percent in the first two months of the year amid a lack of subsidy policies and customer expectations for rollouts of new models, data showed Wednesday. A total of 2,444 EVs were sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy in the January-February period, down 45.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the industry ministry and carmakers. Sales of Hyundai Motor Co.'s Kona EV sank more than 29 percent on-year to 175 un

South Korea's energy consumption dropped for the second consecutive year in 2020 due to an economic slowdown sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, a report showed Wednesday. The country's overall energy consumption stood at 222.1 million tons of oil equivalent (TOEs) last year, down 4 percent from a year earlier according to the report from the Korea Energy Economics Institute. The decrease follows a 0.6 percent on-year decline in 2019, which was the first annual drop in 10 years. Last year's

South Korea reported job losses for the 12th straight month in February as the new coronavirus outbreak continued to deal a blow to the job market, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 26.3 million last month, 473,000 fewer than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The country has reported job losses every month since March 2020 due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. It marked the longest streak of job losses since April 1999, when

Members of the Bank of Korea's (BOK) monetary policy board saw growing worries over inflation, but they said it was too early to discuss normalization of monetary policy, minutes from their latest meeting showed Tuesday. In the last rate-setting meeting on Feb. 25, the seven-member board unanimously voted to keep the policy rate at a record low of 0.5 percent to support an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. According to the minutes, some board members suggested that the BOK needs

South Korea is mulling whether to introduce multiple voting rights for shareholders as a way to help local startups attract large-scale investment and maintain stable management, according to public officials and politicians on Tuesday. Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups Kang Sung-cheon said the government was working on ways to legalize differential voting rights, which are popular among countries with many unicorn startups. A unicorn startup refers to a fledgling company valued at over $1

The intensifying scandal involving employees of the state housing developer Korea Land and Housing Corp. is likely to put banks under renewed pressure, as the nation’s financial authorities are mulling strengthening control over non-mortgage lending activities in all banking sectors. The scandal centers on LH officials who allegedly took out huge land-secured loans for speculative property purchases, sparking public criticism over the integrity of the state-run institution that contradi

The pace of growth of payments made with cards in South Korea slowed sharply last year as consumer spending remained tepid amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. Spending made with credit, debit and prepaid cards reached a daily average of 2.52 trillion won ($2.22 billion) in 2020, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The growth rate slowed from a 5.7 percent on-year gain in 2019, the BOK said. The central bank said card spending

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has decided to fine 20 ready-mixed concrete manufacturers a combined 2.51 billion won ($2.2 million) for colluding to fix prices of construction-related material. Sanha Industry Corp. and 19 other companies colluded to fix their sales prices and supply of ready-mixed concrete between 2012 and 2017 that was used to build houses in the greater Seoul area, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). The commission ordered them to take cor

South Korea's airfreight exports jumped to account for 36 percent of the country's overall exports last year, industry data showed Tuesday, on higher demand for chips and biohealth products. Of the country's combined exports of $512.5 billion in 2020, air transport accounted for $183 billion, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). While maritime transport still accounted for the majority of $325.8 billion, the portion of air cargo rose 5.4 percentag

South Korea on Tuesday said it will open new facilities overseas to help exporters better capitalize on free trade agreements (FTA) amid the coronavirus pandemic. Under the plan, the country plans to spend 11.9 billion won ($10.4 million) this year to open new FTA support centers in Southeast Asia and provide customized consulting programs, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The country currently operates 18 FTA support centers for exporters nationwide, along with 15 othe

South Korea's export prices rose in February, marking the third straight monthly gain helped by a modest recovery in exports, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, rose 3.1 percent in February from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the third consecutive month of an on-month rise. In January, the index rose 1.8 percent on-month. From a year earlier, the index rose

South Korea plans to expand tax incentives for foreign companies in the digital and green industries sectors to attract foreign direct investments that have been shrinking over the past two years. “In order to strengthen foreign investment in high-tech industries such as digital and green, which have strengths, we plan to draw a roadmap for attracting high-tech foreign investment in the first half of the year,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said at a meeting with economy-related m

Despite the prolonged economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea is forecast to have reentered the list of the world’s 10 largest economies by nominal gross domestic product in 2020, data showed Monday.  Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s nominal GDP for last year was estimated at $1.624 trillion, which marked the ninth highest among 14 major countries, up two notches from the previous year, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

South Korea’s tax agency said Monday that it had caught more than 2,400 individuals who hid assets in virtual currencies to avoid taxation. The National Tax Service collected data from digital currency exchanges and caught 2,416 tax delinquents who had concealed assets through cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. The concealed assets totaled 36.6 billion won ($32.24 million), the officials said. The probe targeted people with over 10 million won in delinquent taxes, a

South Korea's exports of automobiles advanced 35 percent on-year in February, data showed Monday, as major trading partners gradually normalized their economic activities amid the virus pandemic. The country's outbound shipments of automobiles reached 161,886 units in February, compared with 123,022 units posted a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, exports also soared 47 percent to reach $3.5 billion. Over the first two months of 2020, th