The portion of foreigners who bought real estate in South Korea last year hit a record high, led by Chinese buyers, court data showed Sunday. A total of 15,600 foreign nationals completed property purchases in 2023, accounting for a record 0.9 percent of the total land acquisitions, according to the data from the online real estate registry service run by the Supreme Court. The percentage of foreign buyers in the South Korean real estate market has been on a steady increase since the South Korea

South Korea and Japan held a vice-ministerial meeting Friday to discuss ways of cooperating on a wide range of economic and financial issues, Seoul's finance ministry said. South Korea's Deputy Finance Minister Choi Ji-young met with Japanese Vice Finance Minister Masato Kanda in Tokyo earlier in the day for the vice-ministerial finance dialogue, the second of its kind, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. During the meeting, the two sides discussed issues of mutual concer

S&P Global Ratings on Thursday lowered the outlook for two major Korean asset management firms, Mirae Asset Securities and Korea Investment & Securities, from "stable" to "negative." The agency kept their long-term issuer credit ratings at BBB and short-term ratings at A-2. The negative outlook reflects the agency's concern that property risks could strain the asset quality and profitability of Korean securities firms over the next one to two years. "Headwin

Ratings agency Moody's downgraded the outlook on the South Korean banks' credit rating to "negative" from "stable" Thursday, predicting their asset quality and profitability will weaken. The agency released a report on the Korean banking system and lowered the credit ratings outlook for the local banking sector to "negative." In its assessment, Moody's anticipated a deterioration in the business environment for domestic banks over the next 12 to 18 mo

Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it has reaffirmed South Korea's sovereign rating at "AA-" with a stable outlook. It is the fourth-highest level on the agency's sovereign ratings table, and Fitch has maintained AA- for South Korea since September 2012 when it upgraded the rating by one notch from A+. "(South) Korea's rating balances robust external finances, resilient macroeconomic performance and a dynamic export sector against geopolitical ri

Experts remain ambivalent about ‘sticky’ inflation

South Korea's economy grew 1.4 percent last year, matching an earlier estimate, amid sluggish exports and tightening monetary policies around the globe, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's real gross domestic product -- a key measure of economic growth -- increased 1.4 percent last year, in line with the central bank's earlier estimate in January, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. But last year's economic expansion marked a slowdown from a 2.6

Korean banks expand in-person services for older people amid aging population, digitalization push

South Korea's industrial output rose for the third consecutive month in January despite the marked fall in semiconductor production, data showed Monday. Retail sales also gathered ground for the second month, while facility investment and construction orders tumbled amid weak domestic demand, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Industrial output gained 0.4 percent on-month in January, following a 0.3 percent increase in November last year and 0.4 percent growth in December.

Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Gas Corp., two major state-run companies, have reported combined liabilities of nearly 250 trillion won ($187.1 billion) as of end-2023 due to hikes in global energy prices, data showed Sunday. KEPCO has said in a regulatory filing its total debt reached 202.4 trillion won last year, up 9.6 trillion won from a year earlier. Korea Gas' total debt came to 47.4 trillion won, down from 52 trillion won in 2022, according to the company's regulatory filin

The National Assembly passed the revision bill to raise the Export-Import Bank of Korea's capital limit from the current 15 trillion won to 25 trillion won ($12.24 billion to $15 billion) on Thursday, giving the policy lender some extra room to level up its financing for the arms export deal to Poland. The revision of the Export-Import Bank of Korea Act was passed as a total of 209 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, while 29 voted against it. There were 34 abstentions. Under the revision

Inflation could rise over 3 percent in South Korea in February on high prices of global oil and fresh food items, the finance ministry said Thursday, vowing all-out efforts to curb inflation. In January, consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.8 percent on-year, marking the first fall below the 3 percent level in six months. The country has experienced a gradual easing of inflationary pressure, but uncertainties have grown, centering on prices of farm produce and petroleum products, Fi

South Korea's fertility rate continued its steep fall last year as it hit a record low of 0.72, darkening prospects for the country that already has the world's lowest fertility rate, data showed Wednesday. The country's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime -- came to 0.72 last year, down from 0.78 in the previous year, according to the preliminary data presented by Statistics Korea. It is the lowest level since 1970 when the state-run s

The head of the country's financial regulator vowed continued efforts Wednesday to quickly address risks related to real estate project financing loans. Lee Bok-hyun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, stressed that such efforts will help end the capital crunch caused by PF loans related risks. "We are witnessing signs of a capital crunch as excessive amounts of money invested in real estate PF remain tethered," he told a meeting with the heads of financial think tanks

South Korea has become one of the first countries to implement the so-called “global minimum tax rule” this year, which aims to ensure companies pay at least 15 percent tax on corporate income, regardless of where they operate. The initiative aligns with international efforts to tackle tax avoidance by major corporations, as they often seek refuge in low-tax jurisdictions. Korea is one of about 20 nations to adopt the new rule so far, while some countries, including the US, are still