Under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing trade disputes between nations, South Korea’s trade-reliant companies are going through a difficult time.  Struggling to survive in this hard time, often likened to the “barley hump,” they have made desperate efforts. The “barley hump,” is a Korean way of describing the lean season, known in some countries as the hunger gap, when the fall harvest runs out but barely anything in the fields is ready to eat

In 3 years, 97% surge seen in recipients of unemployment benefits among 20-somethings

Nearly two-thirds of South Korean manufacturing firms believe that the business environment will not change much under the forthcoming Joe Biden administration in the United States, a poll showed Sunday. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), 65.3 percent of local manufacturers answered that they expect no significant changes in the business environment with the new US government. The survey, which asked 300 firms earlier this month, showed that

Environmentally friendly cars, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen-powered cars, make up more than 3 percent of the total vehicles registered in South Korea, a report from the country's transport ministry showed Sunday. There were 766,464 green vehicles registered in South Korea as of end-October, accounting for 3.16 percent of the total vehicles here, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation. This is the first time that the share of eco-fri

The Bank of Korea (BOK) is expected to freeze its policy rate at a record low of 0.5 percent next week, as it will likely gauge the impact of the protracted pandemic on the economy, a poll showed Friday. In a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, all 14 analysts polled predicted the BOK will freeze the base rate at its rate-setting meeting next Thursday. They also forecast the BOK to stand pat on the rate during the remainder of the year and even throughout

South Korea's producer prices declined for the first time in five months in October, mainly due to falling costs of agricultural, livestock and fishery goods, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, fell 0.5 percent in October from the previous month, slowing from a 0.1 percent on-month gain in September, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the first monthly decline since June. The index rose on a monthly basis for the l

Govt. acknowledges that speculation control is insufficient to solve housing problem

Passengers on ‘flights to nowhere’ to receive same tax benefits for duty-free shopping

South Korea’s top financial regulator said Thursday it has decided to relax regulations on five promising services proposed by local companies in continued efforts to spur innovation in the finance sector.  The move is part of the government‘s “regulatory sandbox” policy, which took effect in April last year. Under the regulatory program, the financial authorities suspend legal and regulatory requirements imposed on local financial companies, including both traditio

South Korea's net overseas assets hit an all-time high in the third quarter, mainly due to increased stock investments, central bank data showed Thursday. The nation's external financial assets came to $1.81 trillion at the end of September, up $66 billion from a quarter earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Net international investment position came to $553.1 billion as of the end of September, down $100 million from a year earlier, the data showed. The positio

South Korean savings banks reported 9 percent growth in their combined net profit for the first nine months of this year, supported by a modest rise in interest income, data showed Thursday. The combined net income of the 79 savings banks stood at 1.02 trillion won ($918 million) for the January-September period, compared with a profit of 935.7 billion won a year ago, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Their interest income rose 8.9 percent on-year to 4.8 trillio

South Korean households saw their income earned through wages decline for the second straight quarter in the third quarter as the new coronavirus outbreak dealt a blow to the job market, data showed Thursday. The average household earned 5.31 million won ($4,774) per month in the July-September period, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. But hit by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, household income earned through wages declined 1.1 percen

South Korea will supply 114,000 public 'jeonse' houses by 2022 to help tackle a shortage of the two-year contract-based rental homes, the transport ministry said Thursday. The government plans to purchase existing homes to convert them into public jeonse houses mainly for the underprivileged who have difficulties in finding such homes, as higher demand has pushed up jeonse prices amid low rates and a recently passed related bill, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a stat

The South Korean currency dropped against the US dollar Thursday after currency authorities warned that they are ready to take actions at any time to curb the won's sharp gains. The local currency ended at 1,115.6 won to the greenback, down 11.8 won from the previous session, when the won rose to a 29-month high of 1,103.8 to the dollar. Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said that FX authorities are closely monitoring the market, warning that excessive currency volatility is not

Listed companies in South Korea posted improved earnings in the third quarter from a quarter ago, possibly signaling a rebound from the previous pandemic-hit quarters this year, data showed Wednesday.  In the July-September period, the combined net profit of 590 out of 655 firms that are listed on the main KOSPI bourse and close their books on Dec. 31 came to 25.6 trillion won ($23.2 billion) on a consolidated basis, up 81.3 percent from three months ago, according to the data compiled by