South Korea will hold the fourth round of negotiations with Chile this week on revising their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that went into effect in 2004, Seoul's trade ministry said Monday. The two-day videoconference talks, which are set to begin Tuesday, will focus on expanding the scope of free trade and updating terms of the 15-year-old FTA, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two sides will also hold discussions on five categories -- goo

South Korea's outbound shipments of information and communication technology (ICT) products rose 6 percent in October from a year earlier due to global demand for the country's semiconductors and displays, data showed Monday. Exports of ICT products stood at $16.4 billion last month, according to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT, marking an on-year rise since June this year. ICT imports stood at $10.2 billion in October, up 9.2 percent over the cited period, leading to a trade surplus

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Monday that it will acquire Asiana Airlines Inc. in a deal valued at 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion) that would create the world's 10th-biggest airline by fleets. Korean Air plans to raise 2.5 trillion won via rights offerings early next year. Of the proceeds, it will spend 1.5 trillion won to buy new shares to be sold by Asiana and 300 billion won worth of Asiana perpetual bonds, the company said in a statement. "The company mad

South Korea's exports fell 3.8 percent on-year in October on fewer working days and the fallout of the new coronavirus outbreak, customs data showed Monday. The country's overseas shipments stood at $44.9 billion last month, compared with $46.6 billion the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. The October tally snapped a brief rebound in September, when the country's exports rebounded for the first time in seven months by growing 7.3 percent on-year amid the COVI

Loans to accommodation and food services sectors have jumped due to a recent resurgence of the novel coronavirus, central bank data showed Monday. Outstanding loans to lodging and eating businesses totaled 71.1 trillion won ($64.2 billion) as of September, up 21.5 percent from a year ago, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK measured the sectors' production index at 79.7 at the end of September, the lowest since February 2007. The index rebounded to 99.8 in July but beg

South Korea's alcohol imports fell for the first time in 10 years in 2019 amid a boycott of Japanese beer due to a bilateral trade row, data showed Monday. South Korea's liquor imports came to 466,000 kiloliters in 2019, down 6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and the local alcohol industry. It represents the first on-year decrease since 2009, shortly after the global financial crisis. Last year's decline was attributed mainly to a fall in i

South Korea‘s finance minister highlighted the need to promote free trade under multilateral regimes, while expressing support for assistance to debt-ridden developing economies during a G-20 meeting, his ministry said Saturday. “We need to revitalize global trade through multilateral trade systems,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during the Extraordinary G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting held virtually on Friday. “Trade regulations ca

South Korea's trade commission on Friday made a preliminary decision to extend anti-dumping tariffs on stainless steel bars from a handful of nations for another three years. Under the decision, the commission will request that the finance ministry slap tariffs of 3.51 percent to 15.39 percent on imported stainless steel bars from Japan, India and Spain, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Stainless steel bars are utilized in making auto parts, medical instruments, constru

South Korea‘s vice finance minister said Friday the government will stabilize the cost to make kimchi by expanding supplies of major vegetables and ingredients.  “We are planning to extend the supply of vegetables in the market by employing either the government’s hoarded stocks for gimjang or those already purchased by local companies from agricultural farms under contract,” Kim Yong-beom, first vice minister of finance, said in a meeting with related officials to

Financial authorities will tighten rules on unsecured loans from later this month, as they seek to prevent people from borrowing excessively to buy homes or invest in stocks, officials said Friday. Effective Nov. 30, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) will stiffen loan limits for a home buyer to 40 percent of a property's value if the buyer's annual income exceeds 80 million won ($71,748) and holds unsecured loans worth more than 100 million won. If a person buys a home in a regulated a

South Korea's money supply continued to grow quickly in September as firms rushed to secure funds amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Friday. The country's M2 stood at 3,115.8 trillion won ($2.8 trillion) as of end-September, up 0.5 percent from August, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 surged 9.2 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply that count

South Korea will seek to raise the value of its trade to $2 trillion by 2030 by pushing for the digitalization of its trade infrastructure, the industry ministry said Friday. South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, will also push to hike the number of small and medium-sized exporting companies to 200,000 by that year. The ministry unveiled the ambitious plan during an expanded trade strategy coordination meeting chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun. "A structural innovation is ne

SEJONG-- The South Korean economy is on a recovery path, but it faces lingering uncertainty amid a global resurgence in new coronavirus cases, the finance ministry said Friday. The Ministry of Economy and Finance said South Korea's exports are on a mild recovery track and the country's production, consumption and investment are improving. "While the service sector and the job market have seen recovery momentum being capped, the Korean economy faces continuing uncertainty amid the fast spr

The global economy will grow 5 percent next year, but risks will linger from the coronavirus pandemic, a state-run South Korean think tank forecast Thursday. “The global economy is projected to grow 5 percent in 2021, which is 10.1 percentage points higher than this year’s forecast of a 5.1 percent contraction, as it will likely recover from the spread of COVID-19,” Kim Heung-chong, president of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, said at an annual press br

Transactions among affiliates of South Korea's large business groups slightly fell in 2019 from a year earlier on tough regulations, the corporate watchdog said Thursday. The value of inter-affiliate transactions by 1,955 units of 64 large business groups amounted to 196.7 trillion won ($176.9 billion) last year, down 1.1 trillion won from 197.8 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). But such deals accounted for 12.2 percent of all business contracts clinche