Concerns are growing that a steep rise in corporate costs to be incurred by the Moon Jae-in administration’s anti-business policies will hold back companies from increasing investment and employment.Korean businesses are now bracing for a corporate tax hike, a minimum wage increase and a reduction in work hours in the coming year, which experts forecast will see them shoulder combined additional costs of 36.5 trillion won ($33.4 billion).Ruling party lawmakers, joined by some legislators f

The minimum living expenses for retired elderly people was tallied at 1.77 million won ($1,600) per month for each household, a survey showed Wednesday.The optimum monthly cost of living for retirees, however, is 2.51 million won per household, according to KB Financial Group's recent survey of 2,000 people aged between 20 and 74.Only 27 percent of those surveyed said they are prepared for their minimum living expenses after retirement. Less than half of those in their 50s said they have yet to

South Korea's jobless rate rose slightly in November as the construction sector hired fewer temporary workers than before amid relatively cold weather, government data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate stood at 3.2 percent last month, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.From a month earlier, it remained unchanged.October's unemployment rate marked the lowest rate since December last year, when it hit 3.2 percent. The number of e

Both South Korea’s export price index and import price index saw downturns for the first time in five months as of November, mainly due to the strength of the won against the greenback. The import price edged down 0.4 percent to 82.87 in November, while the export price sank 1.8 percent to 85.68, according to data by the Bank of Korea released on Tuesday. The drops came in spite of oil price hike in November, overshadowed by strengthening local currency, according to BOK. On the contract c

Unpaid tax by Korean tax defaulters amounted to 11.3 trillion won ($10.4 billion) in 2017, the National Tax Service revealed on Monday. The tax agency annually discloses names of those whose unpaid tax money exceeds 300 million won. This year, there were about 4,700 more names on the list compared to 2016 because the standard for disclosure was lowered to 200 million won.Some 21,000 entities failed or delayed to pay their taxes amounting over 200 million won in 2017 without giving specific reaso

President Moon Jae-in called for swift measures Monday to reduce working hours and eradicate job-related corruption at public firms."Revising the Labor Standards Act to cut working hours is a task we can no longer afford to delay," the president said while meeting with his top presidential aides in a weekly meeting at his office Cheong Wa Dae."As both ruling and opposition parties share the common objective of (improving) the economy and people's livelihoods, I ask them to make re

Confusion over plans to reduce work hours is deepening, adding to the aggravating conditions faced by local businesses.Ranking members from ruling and opposition parties at a parliamentary committee last month agreed on a draft revision to the labor law to reduce the maximum workweek from 68 hours to 52 hours in three stages depending on company size. But the revised law would leave additional pay for holiday work unchanged at 50 percent of the wages for weekday work.The parliamentary passage of

The top financial regulator said Monday it will order banks and other financial institutions to improve their risk management for household debt by restricting high-risk debt and improving emergency backstops. Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, told a meeting of journalists that the FSC could amend the calculation system of a loan-to-deposit ratio to help financial institutions better manage risks of household debt. Among the possible measures is to draw a line between

Seoul residents inherited over 23 trillion won ($20.9 billion) over the last five years, which is 45 percent of the total inheritance that occurred across South Korea in the cited period, data released by the National Tax Service showed Sunday.In particular, the inheritance scale was big in Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa -- the three major affluent districts located in southern Seoul -- where a combined 10 trillion won was marked in inheritance. This accounted for 43 percent of the capital city&rsqu

Trade officials of South Korea and Britain will meet this week to discuss ways to forge a new trade deal after London exits from the European Union, Seoul's trade ministry said Monday.South Korea signed a free trade agreement with the EU in 2011, but it will have to strike a fresh deal with Britain once it formally leaves the 28-nation bloc in March 2019.South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Britain's Department of International Trade formed a trade working group in December a

South Korea will strengthen oversight of local financial groups as part of its effort to better check the sector, the state regulator said Sunday.The Financial Services Commission said it will set a so-called financial group innovation body that will begin work on Monday. The special body will be made up of two teams that will be tasked with monitoring such matters as ownership structure risks, capital adequacy, internal trading bans and emergency contingency plans.The newly formed entity, which

South Korea's economy is expected to expand 3.1 percent this year on the back of solid worldwide growth, a local think tank said Sunday.The forecast marks a 0.4 percentage-point increase from estimates made two months earlier, Hyundai Research Institute said.The leading private think tank said it has marked up growth forecasts for 2018 by 0.3 percentage point to 2.8 percent."Growth is being fueled by a general economic recovery taking place all over the world," HRI said. It said expect

South Korea maintains the second-largest coal subsidies in the world, as other countries move to cut state support for such energy programs, a report by an autonomous intergovernmental organization said Sunday.The latest findings released in the 2017 World Energy Outlook by the Paris-based International Energy Agency showed Seoul spent $150 million to subsidize the coal sector in 2016.Energy-related subsidies are paid by the state to producers and consumers to bolster industries and make energy

Ahead of trade revision talks between Seoul and Washington over the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, the US Chamber of Commerce has launched a website highlighting the benefits of the KORUS deal. 　Since the Donald Trump administration announced its intent to amend the five-year-old bilateral trade deal earlier this year, representatives of the US Chamber of Commerce have publicly voiced opposition against altering terms of the FTA, saying, “The KORUS agreement is working.” 　&ldquo

South Korea will engage in constant, pre-emptive, market-centered corporate restructuring going forward, breaking away from government-spearheaded responses to developments that have been the norm in the past, the country's chief economic policymaker sad Friday."The government will reshape its corporate restructuring paradigm in a way that can prod existing companies to seek innovation and strengthen their competitiveness," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said at an economy-related mini