The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that it has revised up its growth outlook for South Korea's economy this year to 3.2 percent.The upward revision came a month after the IMF adjusted South Korea's gross domestic product growth to 3 percent."The cyclical recovery is expected to continue. GDP growth is projected at 3.2 percent in 2017 as the momentum in the first three quarters continues," the IMF said in a statement after wrapping up a visit to Seoul by its officials. The IMF

South Korea and Japan have discussed ways to provide Koreans with more job opportunities in Japan where employment rates rose speedily, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. During his three-day trip to Japan till Tuesday, Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama, other senior government officials and heads of main business associations to discuss the issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. In the meetings, both the South Korean and Japanese side

More than half of South Korean people think the 1997 Asian financial crisis had an adverse impact on the economy, society and their daily lives, a survey showed Tuesday.Twenty years ago, Asia's fourth-largest economy experienced a slump in its currency and a sharp devaluation in its stock markets and asset prices along with other countries in the region. The country was forced to turn to a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, which demanded that the Seoul government tighten its

Parliament is to reinstate the reduced budget for anti-smoking programs, sources said Tuesday, following public criticism that the country is neglecting its responsibility despite a rise in revenue brought on by higher cigarette prices.The assembly's budgeting subcommittee on Monday set next year's anti-smoking assistance budget at 146.7 billion won ($131 million), up 13.5 billion won from the prior proposal so as to meet this year's level. The budget needs to pass the health and welfare committ

With South Korea‘s exports rallying, its global market share is to touch a record high at 3.33 percent this year, a report by the Institute for International Trade, Korea International Trade Association, showed Monday.This is beyond 3.19 percent, the most recent record high, marked in 2015.The buoyant export trend is also expected to significantly help the local economy, with the contribution rate of exports reaching 78.5 percent as of the first nine months this year, the highest mark in f

South Korea's economy is expected to grow in the mid-2 percent range in 2018, slowing down from the 3 percent estimated for this year due to market uncertainties, economists said Monday.In a seminar arranged by the Korea Economic Research Institute, economists from KERI and the LG Economic Research Institute forecast that South Korea's economic growth will dip slightly in the new year. The slower pace of growth is due mainly to external uncertainties such as possible US rate increases and the pl

South Korea has raised issues with China's strict cyber security regulations at a recent meeting of the World Trade Organization, citing concerns of potential trade secret infringement, a trade agency said Monday. The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards said it has discussed 33 technical issues with representatives of 16 nations in the WTO's technical barriers to trade committee meeting held from Nov. 7-9 in Geneva. The state agency under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it

South Koreans give themselves low scores on overseas travel etiquette and are most ashamed of being noisy in public places, a survey said Monday.A poll conducted by Hankook Research on behalf of the Korea National Tourism Organization said South Koreans rated themselves 2.75 out of five on their trip manners, with 37.4 percent saying they lack appropriate etiquette. The survey covered 1,000 people aged 18 or over who had gone overseas between January and September this year. Only 17.6 percent an

South Korea's jobless rate is expected to have reached 3.7 percent in October, compared to 3.4 percent a month earlier, according to a forecast by credit appraiser Moody's Investors Services on Saturday. However, the unemployment rate is down from 4 percent tallied in April, Moody's said in a report.  September's unemployment rate declined 0.2 percentage point from the same month last year. Falling unemployment may help lift consumer confidence with the economy showing signs of modest recov

South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged efforts to promote free trade in the Asia-Pacific region Friday, voicing support for the early conclusion of a regional trade deal known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.He made the call during a meeting with a group of economic advisers to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation."Over the past 30 years, APEC realized outstanding development. It has become the focal point of economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region while the re

A group of protesting local farmers took over Seoul’s public hearing on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement on Friday morning, demanding the Seoul government terminate the agreement.　Ahead of trade revision talks on the Korea-US FTA, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy was to hold the public hearing at Coex in Seoul, in accordance with the FTA amendment negotiation procedures to collect public opinion on the trade deal.　The hearing was intended to include a short government presentati

The South Korean economy will likely maintain its current recovery pace going forward on the back of strong overseas sales and rebounding private consumption, a government report said Friday."The South Korean economy has been maintaining an upturned pace on the back of brisk exports and recovering global demand, while private consumption made a turnaround from a long slump," the finance ministry said in its monthly economy assessment report. "Thanks to a rally in exports and incre

The Bank of Korea said Thursday that the government’s full-fledged anti-speculative measures on real estate to curb household debt is expected to successfully put a dent on the growth of household loans.In a report submitted to the National Assembly, the central bank said it expects the increase in the volume of debt to slow, as the housing market shows slower price hikes in heated regions and transaction volume has been falling since September.

Negotiations between Seoul and Washington regarding the revision of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement are expected to begin next month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 　The timeline for the FTA revision process still needs to be determined because the US has yet to officially announce whether it intends to push forward with a full or partial revision of the agreement, said a Trade Ministry official. However, if the two nation’s push for a speedy process, negotiatio

The Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday it will reform its hiring practices after a series of irregularities emerged of new employees having ties with influential figures. The FSS has been under fire after state auditors found in September that senior FSS officials gave special favors to some job candidates who are relatives of politicians and senior financial executives. To eliminate influence-peddling in hiring, the FSS will abolish the process of screening resumes and cover letters an