South Korea's ICT ministry said Tuesday it will invest 125.3 billion won ($114.1 million) this year to support the development of neural processors, up 75 percent from last year. Neural processing units refer to high-performance and low-powered logic chips that specialize in artificial intelligence (AI) services, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. The government placed big bets last year on next-generation chip technology, including neural processors, with a plan to spend 1 trillion

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea dipped 11 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, as the unprecedented virus pandemic has dealt a harsh blow to business activities around the globe. Asia's No. 4 economy received $20.7 billion worth of FDI commitments last year, compared with $23.3 billion logged in 2019, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The amount of investment that actually arrived here also dropped 17 percent over the cited per

South Korea said Tuesday it will allocate 205 billion won ($186.3 million) to adopt eco-friendly technologies for the local maritime industry in line with the country's green energy drive. Under the project, the country will seek to build a total of 39 eco-friendly ships this year, including 23 for the public sector, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The latest move came in line with the government's vision to operate around 530 eco-friendly ships by 2030. To promote the use

South Korea's tax revenue declined 2.1 trillion won ($1.9 billion) in November 2020 due largely to a fall in value-added and transportation tax earnings, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 14 trillion won in taxes in November, compared with 16.2 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The fall in tax revenue was mainly attributable to a decline in value-added and transportation tax earnings, as the government has extended the dead

South Korea's environment-friendly vehicle sales jumped 54 percent to exceed 200,000 units in 2020 from a year earlier on subsidies and an improvement of charging infrastructure, industry data showed Tuesday. Carmakers sold a total of 213,264 eco-friendly models last year, up from 138,957 units the previous year, according to data from companies and the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA). It was the first time for automakers to report annual sales of more than 200,

South Korea's payments for foreign service imports fell for the 11th consecutive month in November last year amid pandemic-induced travel restrictions, central bank data showed Tuesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy paid $8.59 billion for imports of foreign services in November, down 18.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). South Korea's service payments have been declining on-year since January last year, when the country reported its first confirmed

South Korea's finance minister instructed his officials Monday to accelerate efforts to draw up measures to increase housing supply, saying that stabilizing housing prices is the most pressing issue. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki called for mobilizing all policy efforts to tame soaring home prices, after President Moon Jae-in apologized for the issue earlier in the day amid mounting public criticism over housing policy. "As the property market issue is the most pressing one in terms of peo

The South Korean government will actively consider joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, and improve systems to engage in the new global trading order evolving in the region, its fiscal chief said Monday. Stressing that megasized free trade pacts such as the Asia-Pacific agreement will become foundations for changes in the global economic order, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will begin unofficial talks with member countri

Bond issuance in South Korea shot up more than 23 percent in 2020 due to a surge in government debt sales to tackle the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, data showed Monday. The value of bonds issued in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 844.7 trillion won ($774 billion) in 2020, up 23.2 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The spike was attributed to sharply increased sales of state and special-purpose bonds designed to h

South Korea's exports declined 15.4 percent on-year in the first 10 days of January, customs data showed Monday, amid the prolonged fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak. The country's outbound shipments stood at $11.2 billion in the Jan. 1-10 period, compared with $13.2 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports decreased 22.9 percent on-year to $11.8 billion in the 10-day period, resulting in a trade deficit of $636 million, the data showed. By

South Korean state bonds worth nearly 48 trillion won ($44 billion) are slated to mature in 2021, with the amount rising further in the next couple of years due to more fiscal spending to weather the coronavirus fallout, government data showed Monday. Treasurys worth 48.2 trillion won, including state debt and inflation-indexed bonds, are scheduled to come due this year, according to the data from the finance ministry. The value of maturing state bonds is forecast to soar to an all-time high o

South Korean brokerage houses have slightly revised down their fourth-quarter earnings outlook for major listed companies amid the coronavirus pandemic, a market tracker said Monday. The combined operating income forecast for 164 major listed firms came to 32.7 trillion won ($29.9 billion) for the October-December period as of Friday, up 52.4 percent from a year earlier, according to FnGuide. Yet it represents a 2.6 percent decrease from their estimate of 33.6 trillion won made a month earlier

South Korea's electricity consumption fell more than 2 percent in the first 11 months of 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. Power sales in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 464,243 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the January-November period, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from state utility Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco). Electricity sales are thus projected to decline for all of 2020 from a year earlier due to sluggish demand stemmin

Free trade talks with 4 Mercosur countries draw attention

South Korea plans to kick off a 4.1 trillion won ($3.7 billion) emergency cash handout program Monday to offer up to 3 million won to small business owners, freelancers and special contract laborers hit by the third wave of coronavirus here, the Finance Ministry said Sunday.　 Roughly 2.5 million small business owners and self-employed individuals, or almost 90 percent of the country’s total, are eligible for the cash subsidies. They will be notified via text messages that they have been c