South Korea‘s economy is on a recovery path, although industrial output and investment are facing adjustments, a government report said Friday.A weaker job market and rate hikes in the United States pose downside risks to Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the finance ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report.“The overall recovery pace is being maintained,” the ministry said. “Industrial output and investment faced correction in the first two months of the

Guaranteeing a living wage for everyone is important, and Hyun Sang-won (an alias), the owner of a convenience store in downtown Seoul, agrees in principle that people deserve fair pay for work rendered.But the harsh reality facing the 50-something retiree is that he is currently tinkering with the possibility of reducing part-time workers at his store amid a saturated market and increased costs, which he says partly stems from the recent hike in the country's legal minimum wage. Preaching an in

More than half of all salaries in 170 major South Korean companies are based on employee seniority, a new poll showed Thursday.The poll released by the Korea Economic Research Institute found that 51.2 percent of employees receive seniority-based salaries while 36.2 percent receive their salaries based on performance.Under the decades-old seniority-based wage system, employee pay rises every year regardless of productivity. This kind of hierarchical pay system has been cited for placing a financ

Recent economic data have pointed to the weakening vitality of the Korean economy, raising questions about the possibility it will grow more than 3 percent this year as predicted by policymakers.The country saw all economic indicators except for retail sales take a negative turn in March, the latest month for which official data are available.Economists here caution that the supply side of the Korean economy is falling apart as its key traditional manufacturing industries are losing competitiven

Critics say measures a step-up but fail to address fundamental issue

It takes an average of 6.8 years of savings to own one’s first home in South Korea, as of last year, slightly longer than 6.7 years tallied in 2016, according to analyses on housing in the country conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The average number of years residing in one place came to eight years, also up from 7.7 years in 2016. While homeowners lived in their homes for an average of 11.1 years, those renting the place stayed for an average of 3.4 years.The

SEJONG -- The South Korean economy is on a firm growth trajectory under the Moon Jae-in government, but a dire job market situation, coupled with controversy over the effects of a raft of new economic policies, is posing daunting challenges for the liberal government that took office a year ago.South Korea's economic growth accelerated last year on the back of robust exports amid a global economic recovery. The nation's economy expanded 3.1 percent in 2017 from a year ago, when it grew 2.8 perce

A year into his five-year term, President Moon Jae-in is finding public support for his economic policies far lower than his high approval ratings.A survey of 1,002 Korean adults conducted by Gallup Korea earlier this month showed 83 percent gave a positive appraisal of his overall job performance.But only 47 percent said he was doing well in the economic area, down from 52 percent six months after his inauguration on May 10 last year.What should be taken more seriously by Moon and his economic

South Korea's credit default risk has hit a yearly low amid rising hope for reconciliation between the two Koreas after Seoul and Pyongyang successfully held a summit last month, data showed Satuday. The credit default swap premium for South Korean foreign exchange stabilization bonds with a five-year maturity reached 42 basis points as of Friday, according to the data by the Korea Center for International Finance.It is the first time the figure has reached 42 basis points since Jan. 11, wh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for joint efforts to boost economic cooperation between his country and Saudi Arabia Friday, stressing the need to expand their bilateral cooperation to other areas, including the health and cultural sectors.While meeting with the visiting energy minister of Saudi Arabia, Khalid A. Al-Falih, Moon also sought to promote his country's nuclear energy technology, noting the country has safely built and operated nuclear power plants for over four decades, the

South Korea and Saudi Arabia discussed ways to step up cooperation in the energy sector as Seoul seeks to tender a bid for the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear power project, the industry ministry here said Friday.Paik Un-gyu, South Korean minister of trade, industry and energy, met with Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih in Seoul to explore ways to expand collaboration for "Saudi Vision 2030."Under the economic blueprint, the Middle Eastern kingdom has been pushing to reduc

MANILA -- Finance chiefs from South Korea, China and Japan on Friday warned against growing protectionism trends and stressed the importance of promoting an open and rule-based trade framework."We stressed the importance of resisting all forms of protectionism, ensuring an open and rule-based multilateral trade and investment system, and of strengthening resilience against external shocks, and agree to further enhance communication and coordination among China, Japan and Korea," they s

South Korea‘s personal loans increased by over 1 trillion won ($929 billion) to 99.7 trillion won in April, pushing the overall household loans to grow at the fastest speed in five months in April, data by five major commercial banks showed Thursday.The banks include KB Kookmin, Shinhan, KEB Hana, Woori and NH Nonghyup.It is the first time since November last year for personal loans to increase by over 1 trillion won, a trend attributable to the government’s tougher rules on mortgage

South Korea’s reliance on trade climbed in 2017 for the first time in six years, data from the Bank of Korea showed Wednesday.The share of the country‘s trade to its gross national income came to 84 percent last year, up 3.1 percentage points from the previous year. It is the first on-year increase since 2011.The share had remained in the 60 to 70 percent range before jumping to 104.5 percent in 2008 in the wake of the global financial crisis. It further increased to 113.5 percent in

South Korea saw more jobless people seek financial assistance from the state pension fund in the first quarter of this year amid the country's worsening unemployment situation, data showed Thursday.According to the data from the National Pension Service, 129,000 unemployed people applied for the so-called unemployment credits in the January-March period, up 12 percent from the same period a year earlier.Unemployment credits are the pension operator's financial support for those who receive unemp