Nearly half of South Korean exporting companies expect Southeast Asian and Chinese markets to spearhead a recovery in their exports down the road, a poll showed Thursday. According to the survey of 1,051 local exporters, 25.2 percent of the respondents said trade conditions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will improve the most among overseas markets in the fourth quarter of the year and thereafter. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the

Up to 92% of first-time buyers will be eligible for preferential housing applications

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Wednesday it will have 70 percent of its employees go on unpaid leave until December due to the prolonged coronavirus impact on the airline industry. In April, the national flag carrier had 70 percent of its 18,000-strong workforce take paid leave for six months through Oct. 15 as part of self-help measures to overcome the unprecedented virus crisis.  With no end in sight for the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean Air has decided to exten

The amount of national pension premiums unpaid by high income-earners in South Korea totaled nearly 1 trillion won ($871 million) as of June this year, data showed Wednesday. According to a report from the National Pension Service submitted to the ruling Democratic Party Rep. Jung Choun-sook, a total of 198,399 high earners left their subscription fees to the state-run pension program unpaid, up around 20,000 from six months earlier. Of the accumulated amount, only 6.5 percent, or 71.33 billi

Central bank keeps base rate frozen, addressing concern of aggravated household loan, housing markets

SEJONG -- South Korea's vice finance minister said Wednesday that the government has continued efforts to stabilize foreign exchange markets, citing the "relatively speedy" strength of the Korean currency against the US dollar. Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom made the remarks at a policy meeting, as the won has been recently trading at a level of 1,140 won against the US dollar, compared with a level of 1,180 won in mid-September. "The won's strength appears to be relative

SEJONG -- South Korea will hold a national census this week, the statistics agency said Wednesday, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Statistics Korea asked people to use mobile phones, fixed-line telephones and computers to register their personal, family and other information in a move to stop the spread of COVID-19. The agency said about 27,000 census workers will carry out door-to-door visits from Nov. 1 to Nov. 18 for those who fail to respond to the non-contact survey from Oct. 15 to 31. So

South Korea's central bank froze its key interest rate at a record low Wednesday amid heightened economic uncertainties over the protracted coronavirus outbreak and rising housing prices. The Bank of Korea (BOK) also voiced concerns about the fast growth of household debt as asset markets, such as the housing market, could become unstable due to excessive household loans. In a unanimous decision, the BOK's monetary policy board kept steady the benchmark seven-day repo rate, called the base rat

SEJONG -- South Korea plans to supply more homes to newlyweds and first-time homebuyers through public and private development projects, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday. About 92 percent of newlyweds and first-time homebuyers will be eligible to purchase housing units as the government plans to ease some rules for them, Hong said in a meeting with property-related ministers. Currently, the government requires public and private construction firms to sell a certain amount of new h

  The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that South Korea's economy will shrink 1.9 percent this year as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged exports and consumption. The IMF's latest forecast represented a slight upgrade from its previous prediction of 2.1 percent contraction in June. The IMF also painted a somewhat brighter picture of the global economy as advanced nations reopened their economies, although the pandemic has showed no signs of weakening. The global economy is expect

South Korean shipbuilders are expected to win orders later this year to build liquefied national gas (LNG) ships in Africa, analysts said Tuesday. In the January-September period, local shipbuilders fell far short of achieving their annual order targets as the new coronavirus pandemic continued to affect the shipbuilding industry, according to their order data. Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering received $4.5 billion worth of orders in the first nine months, achieving 29 percent o

South Korea’s tax agency has returned over 300 billion won ($260.89 million) of corporate tax to overseas funds over last five years, after losing lawsuits related to tax returns.　 According to data compiled by the National Tax Service, NTS had a total of 14 administrative litigation cases regarding overseas funds and lost six cases between 2015 and 2019. The tax authority reimbursed a total of 314 billion won of tax receipts over the period, according to the reports submitted to ruling

For corporate tax increases, the nation ranks 3rd

South Korean banks' household loans continued to grow at a fast pace in September largely due to accelerated home-backed lending amid soaring home prices, central bank data showed Tuesday. Outstanding bank loans to local households came to 957.9 trillion won ($832.5 billion) as of end-September, up 9.6 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It slowed from an all-time high of an 11.7 trillion-won gain in August but still marked the second-large

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea shot up 43.6 percent in the third quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, as the manufacturing segment drew a massive investment commitment. Asia's No. 4 economy received $5.23 billion worth of FDI commitments over the July-September period, compared with $3.61 billion logged the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. But in the first nine months of the year, the FDI pledges edged down 4.4