South Korea will firmly deal with the growing trade protectionism and actively seek to create new overseas markets via free trade pacts, the country's top economic policymaker said Tuesday.South Korea is seeking to join the fledgling Pacific trade pact, dubbed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.The agreement that aims to slash tariffs on goods to stimulate trade include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and Peru as its m

Measures need to be taken quickly to prevent a possible interest rate hike next month from making a deeper dent in the country’s economic growth and employment, economists say.Slowing growth and disappointing job figures led the Bank of Korea last week to decide to freeze its key rate at 1.5 percent for 11 consecutive months despite growing concerns that a rate increase may be overdue.Announcing the rate freeze, the central bank revised down its growth forecast for this year to 2.7 percent

A majority of local companies neglected to provide public information on their corporate management and governance three months into the adoption of a mechanism that enables the national pension operator to use the data in better exercising their voting rights as stakeholders, an analysis indicated Monday. CEO Score, which tracks corporate management, canvassed 159 local firms in which the National Pension Service own a stake of 5 percent or more. The results showed that only 36, or 22.6 percent

Shareholders in GM Korea Co. on Friday approved the company's plan to establish a separate R&D unit amid opposition from the union, which sees the separate unit as a move to scale down local operations over the long term, the company and the union said Friday.      General Motors Co. (GM), the biggest shareholder with a stake of 77-percent stake in GM Korea, approved the plan in a GM-only shareholders meeting. The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), the second-la

Over 2,000 people have emigrated from South Korea without paying back debt to financial organizations in the past 10 years, leaving some 438 billion won ($387 million) of unsettled debt here, data showed Friday. The total number of such indebted emigrants stood at 2,345 as of end-August this year, according to data submitted by the Korea Asset Management Corporation to Rep. Lee Tae-kyu, a lawmaker of the Bareunmirae Party and member of the parliamentary National Policy Committee. Of the 438

South Korea has avoided being classified as a currency manipulator by the United States, but will remain on its monitoring list over the next six months, financial officials said Thursday.“The foreign exchange market here will not receive much impact as we were not designated as a currency manipulating country,” said an official of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.“But should China be named a currency manipulator (in April next year), there will then be significant indirect

The government plans to increase spending to create more jobs, boost innovation-led growth, narrow income inequality and expand the social safety net in the face of rising uncertainties, the country's economic policy chief said Thursday.In a policy report to the National Assembly, the ministry said it would implement a set of policies as planned in the future to improve job market conditions and provide support for the underprivileged.The ministry also said it would maintain the expansionary fis

The amount of money inherited by grandchildren, skipping a generation, has nearly doubled over the past five years despite higher taxes, records showed Thursday.Some 1.48 trillion won ($1.31 billion) worth of wealth was transferred to grandchildren from grandparents in 8,388 cases last year, according to the tally provided by the National Tax Service for a parliamentary audit.The sum marks a continued increase from 759 billion won in 2013, 819.4 billion won in 2014 and 971 billion won in 2016. C

WASHINGTON -- South Korea on Wednesday avoided being labeled a currency manipulator by the United States but remained on a list of countries to monitor.The US Department of the Treasury wrote in a semiannual report to Congress that it determined six major trading partners warranted attention to their currency practices. None met the criteria for a currency manipulator.The six countries are South Korea, China, Germany, India, Japan and Switzerland."The Treasury Department is working vigorous

Country takes lead in macroeconomics, ICT, but faces challenges in diversity, innovation.

Korea’s public corporations are set to suffer from shrinking profits and mounting debt, largely due to what critics view as the Moon Jae-in administration’s ill-conceived policies on energy and employment.Since its launch in May last year, the Moon government has pushed to replace cost-effective nuclear power generation with renewable energy and create a massive number of jobs in the public sector. Such moves have placed heavier financial burdens on utility companies in particular.Ac

South Korea's ranking in global competitiveness rose by two notches this year thanks to improvement in the country's macroeconomic environment and a high-level of information technology, a report showed Wednesday.In 2018, Asia's fourth-largest economy ranked 15th out of 140 countries surveyed in the World Economic Forum competitiveness index, up from 17th the previous year. WEF said this year's gains were tempered by challenges in the country's labor sector and certain structural problems. The W

Around 200 attendees from political, business and academic circles on Tuesday shared views on the significance of economic cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at The Korea Herald Biz Forum, applauding the forum’s discussion as “timely” in line with the increasing value of the Southeast Asian market not only for the Korean Peninsula, but also for the world. Kim Hyun-chul, chairman of the Presidential Committee on New Southern Policy, highlighted the forum

Growing uncertainties in the external economic environment are posing greater downside risks to the Korean economy, which has already been held back by declining corporate investment and sluggish consumer spending.The country’s export-heavy economy remains particularly vulnerable to the prolonged trade row between the US and China, widespread financial instability among emerging markets and soaring crude prices, experts say. Net exports made a 1.3 percentage point contribution to Korea&rsq

South Korea has clinched new investment deals totaling $600 million with firms in European Union countries, achieving the annual target for foreign direct investment, Seoul’s trade ministry said Monday.  The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it secured the new deals with four EU-based companies at the investment roundtable it held in Paris. It came on the sidelines of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s four-day state visit to France that ends Tuesday. Moon is cu