Finance Minister vows to speed up budget execution, acknowledges wage hike is worsening unemployment

A widening gap between South Korea’s large, export-oriented companies and its domestically focused smaller enterprises, in terms of both earnings and employment, highlights the need for a pro-corporate policy across the board, economists say.Small and midsized enterprises have been hit harder by the increased costs stemming from a set of labor-friendly measures taken by President Moon Jae-in’s administration in its pursuit of “income-led growth.”Under these circumstances,

South Korea's unemployment rate rose slightly in August due to a fall in employment in the retail and manufacturing sectors, with poorer-than-expected job creation showing no signs of a letup, government data showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate stood at 4 percent last month, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 26.9 million in August, up 3,000 from the same month in 2017, according to the data.

A steep decline in domestic investments is becoming a main drawback on the country’s economic growth, with projections suggesting it is likely to fall short of the government’s target of 2.9 percent this year.Investments in facility, construction and intellectual property production dropped on-quarter in the April-June period, according to data released by the Bank of Korea last week. It marked the first time investments had fallen simultaneously in the three segments since the secon

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon left for Vladivostok on Monday to attend an annual international economic forum and hold meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.About 6,000 people are expected to attend the Eastern Economic Forum that Putin has hosted in Vladivostok every year since 2015, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Abe and Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga. The three-day trip will be Lee's first to Russia as prime minister.During the visi

Inbound travelers increase amid alleviated geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula

South Korea and India have discussed ways to reduce the use of trade remedy measures and promote investment opportunities between the two nations, Seoul's trade ministry said Thursday.Senior officials of the Korea Trade Commission under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry held a meeting in New Delhi to explore ways to facilitate bilateral trade and investment.Seoul officials asked the Indian government to fairly conduct trade-related investiga

South Korea's job market is expected to improve in earnest next year, with more than 200,000 new jobs likely to be created in the second half of 2019, the vice chief of the presidential job commission said Thursday.Rhee Mok-hee made the remark at a meeting of officials from the government and the ruling Democratic Party to discuss ways to create jobs by fostering new growth industries. "I expect that the job market will improve to some degree in the second half," Rhee said at the start

The United States Department of Commerce has decided to impose an anti-dumping duty on power transformers made by South Korea's Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co., industry sources said Wednesday.In its latest, fifth review, the US government upheld its earlier ruling that levies an anti-dumping duty of 60.81 percent on large power transformers manufactured by Hyundai Electric shipped to the US, according to the sources. The final decision will be made in March next year.As it did in earl

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a revised trade deal between the US and South Korea may be signed "in a couple of weeks."Speaking at the White House, Trump indicated the signing could take place when he meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month."It may be signed during the United Nations conference in a couple of weeks," he said. "The deal is done. It's been done with South Korea

A steep rise in debt owed by self-employed people with faltering businesses is a ticking time bomb for the South Korean economy, experts warn.Outstanding loans to the self-employed increased 77 trillion won ($68.9 billion) on-year to 598 trillion won at the end of last year, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service.The figure is now estimated to be close to 615 trillion won, given that banks extended 15.8 trillion won more in loans in the first seven months of this year, with fig

South Korea’s major banks saw their household loan balance climb at the fastest pace in almost two years in August, propelled by the mortgage loan uptrend amid the robust real estate market here, said industry officials on Tuesday.The household loan balance of the nation’s top five banks -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, KEB Hana and Nonghyup -- stood at 552.39 trillion won ($495.7 billion) as of end-August, up 4.65 trillion won from a month earlier. This on-month increase was visibly h

South Korea's consumer prices remain unstable ahead of the Chuseok holiday due to soaring vegetable prices stemming from weeks of hot weather and the recent downpours, data showed Tuesday.The prices of 21 vegetables had increased 4.1 percent as of Aug. 31 compared with a week earlier, according to the Korean Consumer Agency's price chart.Of the total, the cost of 15 items gained over the cited period as an unprecedented heat wave damaged crops and caused diseases in leafy vegetables, while six w

South Korea's consumer price growth continued to stay above 1 percent in August on a rise of agricultural goods and the service sector, government data showed Tuesday.The country's consumer price index climbed 1.4 percent last month from a year earlier, decelerating from the previous month's 1.5 percent on-year gain, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, the index rose 0.5 percent.Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, grew 0.9 percent on

South Korea's economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace in the second quarter from three months earlier on sluggish construction investment, the central bank said Tuesday.The country's gross domestic product expanded 0.6 percent in the April-June period, slowing down from a 1 percent on-quarter increase in the previous quarter, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea.The latest reading marks a slight decrease from an earlier estimate of a 0.7 percent gain in July.The BOK explained t