South Korea's consumer confidence rebounded after a three-month slide in September on the back of brisk exports and low inflationary pressure, central bank data showed Friday.The composite consumer sentiment index for this month stood at 101.7, up 2.5 points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Bank of Korea.The figure had skidded since May to come to below the breakeven point of 100 in August due mainly to unsatisfactory employment data and the soaring prices of everyday good

South Korea's air passenger traffic reached a new record high in August on increased overseas travel demand, the government said Thursday. The number of air passengers came to 10.58 million in August, up 6.1 percent from a year earlier, making it a new monthly record, according to a tally from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.It is the second time that the country's monthly number of air passengers has surpassed the 10 million mark. In January this year, the figure was 10.06 mi

The employment rate of senior citizens has been rising steadily, with such individuals actively seeking jobs to avoid falling through the country's weak social safety net, official data showed Thursday.According to the data compiled by Statistics Korea, the number of people aged 65 years or older reached 7.38 million in 2018, accounting for 14.3 percent of the country's total population.The employment rate for those aged between 55 and 59 was 72.6 percent in 2017, compared to 70.6 percent in 201

NEW YORK,  -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera agreed Wednesday to further develop their countries' bilateral relationship and also boost their trade by seeking to revise their free trade agreement.In a bilateral summit held here on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the leaders noted the South Korea-Chile FTA has greatly contributed to boosting the countries' bilateral trade since it went into effect in 2004. "The two leaders

The latest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve will have a limited impact on South Korea, with authorities here ready to take actions if the need arises, the country's chief economic policymaker said Thursday.As widely expected, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent Wednesday and signaled one more rate hike within this year. The US central bank said it foresees three more rate hikes in 2019. "Given our sound e

The country’s large companies have been piling up growing amounts of cashable assets as they remain reluctant to expand investments in the face of what they perceive as anti-business policies at home and increasing uncertainty in the global economic environment.According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea’s top 30 companies in terms of turnover had 88.48 trillion won ($79.24 billion) in cashable assets in the first half of this year, up 11.5 percent from a year ear

A record-high number of job-seekers have given up on finding a job, amid a feeble employment market and slowing economic growth, government data showed Sunday.The monthly average number of “discouraged job-seekers” -- referring to those with no signs of job seeking for at least four weeks over the past year -- stood at 510,000 as of end-August, up 5.4 percent from the same period last year, according to Statistics Korea. This was also the highest figure since the government started c

The uncertainty concerning South Korea’s economic growth and economic policies reached the highest level in 15 months, global data showed Sunday.According to the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, Asia’s fourth-largest economy recorded 155.15 in July, the highest since 165.4 in April last year.The global index, conducted on 20 key economies across the world, also reached the highest since March last year, standing at 227.77, data showed. The index, developed by three US-based ec

Sung Yun-mo advocates Moon’s nuclear-free vision at hearing

A protracted slump in South Korea’s exports might set in next year and jolt the country’s economy, which has relied on outbound shipments for growth amid sluggish domestic demand, economists say.Reports released last week by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the state-run Korea Development Institute cited robust exports as a key factor in keeping the economy on the path to recovery and preventing it from taking a sharp downturn.In the first eight months of this year, Korea&rsqu

Land Ministry, KEC aim to upgrade rest stops into regional economic hubs by 2022

The tension concerning the country’s key interest rate hike is expected to peak this week, in the wake of the government‘s latest set of additional measures to curb real estate speculation.While the government seeks to tighten the money market through a possible policy rate hike within the year, the central bank continued to dither over the decision, citing sluggish economic indexes.Further unnerving the hawkish observers here is the largely anticipated rate hike of the US Federal Re

South Korean households saw their debts increase sharply with per-person debt expected to top 30 million won ($26,700) this year, data showed Sunday.Household credit reached 1,493 trillion won as of end-June this year, which marks a 362 trillion-won rise from the second quarter of 2015.Simply calculated, it means a South Korean household owed 75.6 million won to local lenders and card firms, and 28.9 million won of debt per person, data from the Bank of Korea showed. The per-person debt topped t

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Friday that the government would take stronger measures if home prices do not stabilize.On Thursday, South Korea's government said it will levy tougher taxes than originally planned as it strives to rein in soaring housing prices.Over the past year, the Moon Jae-in government has unveiled a series of measures to curb housing prices that have had little impact on the market. Alarmed by the fastest housing price gains in a decade, Seoul said it would f

Multiple-home owners to face maximum comprehensive real estate tax rate of 3.2%