South Korea's domestic demand for steel is forecast to hit the lowest level in 11 years in 2020 due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, a trade body said Thursday. The Korea Iron & Steel Association said domestic steel demand is likely to reach the 48 million-ton range this year, down around 8 percent from 53.2 million tons a year earlier, as manufacturing, construction and other key industries were stung by the COVID-19 pandemic. The figure is projected to be the lowest since th

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States have agreed to extend a $60 billion bilateral currency swap agreement by another six months in an effort to help ease market uncertainties amid a global resurgence of coronavirus infections, the US Federal Reserve Board (FRB) said Wednesday. In late March, the Bank of Korea and the US Federal Reserve signed the bilateral currency swap facility to help ease financial market jitters caused by the pandemic. The swap agreement, which is se

Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a midsized shipbuilder here, will turn its industrial equipment division into a wholly owned subsidiary to boost the division's competitiveness, its parent Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Wednesday. The new entity, named Hyundai Infra Solutions Co., will be launched on May 3 next year, Korea Shipbuilding said in a regulatory filing. Hyundai Samho will focus on the construction of ships, while the envisioned spin-off entity will be de

Major South Korean companies in carbon intensive industries are jacking up investment in hydrogen across sectors to cut their greenhouse emissions and capture new business opportunities in the emerging energy sector. Hydrogen can offer solutions in fields ranging from transport to energy storage as an alternative to fossil fuels and is an important pillar of President Moon Jae-in's Green New Deal initiative aimed at going carbon neutral by 2050 and developing renewable energy industries. To e

Seven out of 10 South Koreans plan to travel abroad after coronavirus vaccines are developed, a survey showed Wednesday. According to Incheon International Airport Corp.'s recent survey, 70.2 percent of South Koreans and 82 percent of foreign nationals said they have overseas travel plans after the development of COVID-19 vaccines is completed. The survey was conducted on 1,000 Koreans and 600 foreign nationals from China, Japan, Vietnam and other countries from Oct. 30 to Nov. 20. Of them,

South Korea's export prices fell for the fourth consecutive month in November as the local currency continued to strengthen against the US dollar, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, declined 0.8 percent in November from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the fourth consecutive month of on-month decline after the index rose for a third month in a row in July.

SEJONG -- South Korea topped the list among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the growth of tax revenue -- the state’s income from taxation -- between 2017 and 2019. According to the France-based organization, Korea’s tax revenue was equivalent to 27.38 percent of its gross domestic product in 2019. This represents a 2.02 percentage point climb from 2017, when the Moon Jae-in administration took office and tax revenue was 25.36 percent of GDP.

South Korea’s money supply saw further growth in October, as businesses and households continued its rush to secure funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country’s M2 – a yardstick for the nation’s cash, checking deposits and other near money deposits – gained 9.7 percent on-year and 1.1 percent on-month to 3,150.5 trillion won ($2.8 trillion) as of end-October. The 1.1 percent or 34.7 trillion won on-month gain is the second-lar

One out of every 5 couples in South Korea who got married in 2015 had no children last year, government data showed Tuesday.  According to Statistics Korea, about 18 percent of the 216,008 couples who tied the knot in 2015 and remained married as of 2019 were still childless, marking the highest figure since 2015. The percentage of childless couples married for five years has been on an upward trend, having increased from 12.9 percent in 2015 to 16.9 percent in 2018. The trend appears to

South Korean companies' earnings declined by the most in 11 years in 2019, as the manufacturing sector remained sluggish amid the global economic slowdown, data showed Tuesday. Their combined before-tax net profit reached 102 trillion won ($93.3 billion) in 2019, down 37.1 percent from the previous year, according to the data on 13,255 firms compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the sharpest on-year decline since 2008, when their earnings fell 43.6 percent. In 2019, manufacturers, led by el

The number of overseas tourists visiting South Korea is expected to slump to the lowest level in 32 years amid the new coronavirus pandemic that has practically paralyzed the global tourism sector, data showed Tuesday. The number of foreigners who visited the country in the January-October period reached 2.39 million, down 83.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the culture ministry and the state tourism office. Roughly half of the figure -- 1.27 million -- was tallied in Jan

South Korea said Tuesday its outbound shipments to New Zealand will be completely tariff-free starting in 2021, a move that could help local exporters penetrate deeper into the Oceania nation. The two countries agreed to abolish tariffs on all South Korean exports within seven years after launching a free trade agreement, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The Seoul-Wellington free trade pact went into effect in December 2015. In 2020, around 96.2 percent of South Korean

South Korean companies saw their combined sales inch up in 2019 but their operating profits tumble amid a trade spat between the United States and China, as well as weak demand for semiconductors, government data showed Monday. The combined sales of 752,675 companies reached 4,987 trillion won ($4.52 trillion) last year, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Their operating profit slipped 22.7 percent on-year to 220 trillion won in 2019, the da

South Korea's top financial regulator said Monday that his agency will take more emergency steps, if necessary, as health authorities struggle to contain a winter wave of coronavirus infections. Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Eun Sung-soo made the remarks a day after the nation reported its highest one-day increase of 1,030 infections. In the span of the past 10 days, the nation recorded about 7,500 confirmed infections, bringing the total caseload to 43,484 on Monday. "As

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans edged up in October from the previous month, but remained stable, the financial regulator said Monday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.34 percent at the end of October, up 0.04 percentage point from September, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the bank loan delinquency rate was down 0.12 percentage point. The delinquency rate for corporate loans ros