South Korea's finance ministry has been considering imposing a 20 percent tax on income from cryptocurrency transactions, officials said Monday. The Ministry of Economy and Finance has recently ordered its office of income tax to review a taxation plan for cryptocurrencies, according to officials. Previously, the ministry's office of property tax had reviewed the plan. The move raised speculation that the government may categorize gains from cryptocurrency trading as other income, not capital ga

The South Korean economy is expected to have fallen far short of its growth target last year, marking the slowest growth in a decade, a poll showed Monday.In a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, seven local experts polled estimated Asia's fourth-largest economy to have expanded 1.89 percent from a year earlier in 2019.The Bank of Korea earlier predicted a 2 percent on-year expansion in Asia's fourth-largest economy, which would have still marked the

South Korea will focus on promoting economic cooperation this year with Russia, Mongolia and other countries located north of the Korean Peninsula in line with the diplomatic initiative of its New Northern Policy, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Monday. Hong made the remarks at a meeting with economy-related ministers earlier in the day. South Korea "will bolster economic cooperation with northern countries to pull off accomplishments from the New Northern Policy," Hong told the meet

South Korea ranked No. 2 on the Bloomberg Innovation Index this year, putting an abrupt halt to its six-year winning streak, government data showed Sunday.According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Korea scored 88.16 points this year, slipping a notch from last year, but has remained in the top three for nine consecutive years. Germany took the crown this year with a score of 88.21 points, switching places with Korea. Singapore was next, rebounding to No. 3. The annual Bloomberg Inno

South Korea’s central bank maintained the country’s base interest rate at 1.25 percent, prolonging its wait-and-see approach amid mounting expectations of an economic recovery this year. The Bank of Korea’s Monetary Policy Board announced Friday that the key rate will be kept at the record low of 1.25 percent, largely conforming to market expectations.The rate-setting board carried out two rate cuts last year, reducing by 0.25 percentage point each time, in July and October.In

Sluggish exports and weaker construction investment continued to weigh on South Korea's economy, despite a solid gain in service output and consumption, a government report showed on Friday.  In its monthly economic assessment report, the finance ministry said market sentiment improved after the United States and China signed an initial trade deal, but uncertainties linger on prospects for a second phase of the US-China trade deal.  "Exports and construction investment are still i

As widely expected, South Korea's central bank on Friday left its policy rate frozen, citing slight improvements in the economic and trade conditions facing Asia's fourth-largest economy and the need to assess the effect of previous rate cuts.The Bank of Korea's monetary policy board voted 5 to 2 to keep the rate steady at a record low 1.25 percent.Friday's monetary policy decision was in line with market consensus. In a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News A

South Korea’s government will be initiating the registration process for the annual meeting of the Asia Development Bank, to be held here in May this year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Thursday.“We have finished reorganizing the official website for the operation of the 53rd ADB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors,” said Jung Byung-sik, operation head of the ministry’s task force, adding that registration starts Friday.While official registration is throu

South Korea’s tax agency said Thursday that it has published its year-end tax settlement manuals for foreigners in English, Chinese and Vietnamese.The publication of tax manuals in foreign languages, while are available both online and offline, comes as the number of foreign employees has been growing.According to the National Tax Service data, Chinese and Vietnamese filers for the 2018 year-end tax settlement accounted for 44 percent of the total filers.  The tax agency also provides

SEJONG -- Fifty years ago, the number of South Koreans engaged in agriculture accounted for more than 40 percent of the total population.But the farming population (defined by the government as people in farming households) has continued to drop. It fell to below 30 percent of the total population in 1980 and was about 15 percent in 1990, according to government data.The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs noted that the farming population posted 4.4 million in 1998, accounting for 9

Ministry calls for revamping the statistical system to reflect demographic changes

A moderate increase in global oil prices sparked by US-Iran tensions is likely to help boost South Korea's exports, a trade association said Wednesday.A 10 percent hike in global oil prices will lead to a 3.2 percent rise in South Korea's outbound shipments, according to the Korea International Trade Association. The trade surplus, however, will narrow as its imports will increase by a slightly higher rate of 3.3 percent.Earlier this month, the benchmark Dubai crude shot up to nearly $70 pe

South Korea's export prices slightly increased from a month earlier in December, ending a three-month drop, central bank data showed Wednesday.The export price index, in terms of Korean won, came to 97.54 in the month, up 0.8 percent from revised 96.74 in November, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The increase follows three consecutive months of on-month decline since September. However, it comes largely on the weakening of the won against the US dollar that pushed up prices

South Korea's jobless rate remained flat at 3.4 percent in December, but Asia's fourth-largest economy reported a stronger-than-expected job growth last month with job additions coming to 516,000, data showed Wednesday.It was the strongest monthly job additions in five years and four months, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The unemployment rate for young adults -- those aged between 15 and 29 -- fell to 7.3 percent last month from 8.3 percent tallied a year earlier. For all of

South Korea will draw up private sector infrastructure projects worth 17 trillion won ($14.7 billion) this year in a bid to spur an economic recovery through investments, the finance ministry said Tuesday.Vice Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol made the remarks at a meeting with relevant officials on infrastructure projects earlier in the day.Among the new infrastructure projects under review are 13.5 trillion won worth of major roads and railways and 3.5 trillion won worth of environment-related bu