Excess funds held by South Korean households and nonprofit agencies sharply rose in the second quarter from a year earlier due mainly to the government's emergency handouts and an extended slump in private consumption amid the pandemic, the central bank said Wednesday. Net financial funds -- the value of financial assets minus financial liabilities -- held by local households and nonprofit organizations serving households amounted to 64 trillion won ($55 billion) in the April-June period, sharp

South Korea said Wednesday it has set up new guidelines for pig farms hit by African swine fever (ASF) as they are gradually preparing for reopening after the disease swept the inter-Korean border area last year. "As the virus can spread by automobiles, people or other mediums, it is necessary to enforce sanitary measures to prevent the farms from contacting the virus," the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. The new measures center on providing detai

Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it has maintained South Korea's credit rating at "AA-" with a stable outlook. Fitch's rating for South Korea has been AA-, the fourth-highest level of the agency's sovereign ratings, since 2012. "Korea's rating balances robust external finances, steady macroeconomic performance and sufficient fiscal headroom going into the coronavirus pandemic against geopolitical risks related to North Korea and medium-term structural challe

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 15 percent in September from a year earlier due to strong demand for German cars, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to 21,839 units last month from 20,204 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models were Mercedes-Benz's E300 4MATIC sedan and A 220 sedan, and the Audi A6 45 TFSI sedan, the statement

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Wednesday it will begin flights to Japan next month mainly to meet business travel demand. T'way Air will resume services on the routes from Incheon to Osaka and Tokyo on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6, respectively, with a plan to eventually provide flights on routes to Nagoya and Fukuoka, the company said in a statement. The budget carrier said it will initially offer one flight a week on the routes to Osaka and Tokyo as the new coronavirus outbreak cont

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Wednesday it plans to test-run issuing and circulating a central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) next year, as the bank will launch a pilot program to study the potential introduction of a new cryptocurrency.   In March this year, the BOK began reviewing legal and technological issues to check its capabilities for the possible issuance of such a currency under its three-step scheme.   The bank plans to establish and activate a pilot program

A day after South Korea’s measures to ensure fiscal soundness for 2025 drew immediate flak from experts and the public alike for its time frame and "loopholes," the nation’s fiscal chief came to the defense of the rules Tuesday. The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced Monday that it aims to maintain the national debt-to-gross domestic product ratio below 60 percent, and its consolidated fiscal balance at minus 3 percent in 2025. The rules are to be exempted in a time

SEJONG -- South Korea held a videoconference with member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday during which they shared their experience in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the finance ministry said. The conference was organized by a Southeast Asian office of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. During the conference, South Korea briefed ASEAN members about measures to se

In OECD, Korea ranks 4th in growth of personal income tax

Effect may be temporary as increase driven by effect of heavy rain on food prices

Doosan Corp., the holding company of South Korea's Doosan Group, said Tuesday that it will increase sales of unmanned forklifts in the country. Industrial Vehicle, a business division of Doosan, has been discussing ways to provide its automated guided forklifts to about 20 companies, Doosan said. Last year, Doosan launched its first-ever unmanned forklifts in the local market. "To meet growing demand for automated forklifts, we plan to expand our product lineup to pallet trucks known

SEJONG -- South Korea's antitrust regulator on Tuesday accused Naver Corp., the nation's biggest search engine, of manipulating search algorithms in favor of the company's online shopping site and imposed a 26.7 billion-won ($22.9 million) fine. The fine, announced by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), is the nation's first that the regulator has levied on a technology platform operator for making algorithmic changes that favor a certain business. The accusation is also expected to unde

South Korean shipbuilders took the top spot in new global shipbuilding orders in the third quarter of the year, beating their Chinese rivals, industry data showed Tuesday. According to the data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service, Korean shipbuilders' new orders came to 1.42 million compensated gross tons (CGTs), taking up 45 percent of the total orders amounting to 3.19 million CGTs in the July-September period. The South Korean shipbuilders were followed by Russi

South Korea's exports of agricultural products rose 6.5 percent on-year in the January-September period, data showed Tuesday, on the back of strong overseas demand for kimchi and other traditional fermented products. Outbound shipments of agricultural goods reached $5.51 billion over the first nine months of 2020, up $5.18 billion posted over the same period a year earlier, according to the data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. By category, outbound shipments o

South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Tuesday that it has gotten the nod for its ammonia-powered ship from Lloyd's Register, a British quality assurance and risk management company. Daewoo Shipbuilding plans to commercialize the ammonia-fueled 23,000 TEU container carrier by 2025, the company said in an emailed statement. TEU stands for twenty-foot equivalent unit, a measurement of a ship's cargo capacity. In a bid to develop the ammonia-propelled container car