Nearly 15 percent of professionals working as individual businesses made less than 2 million won ($1,765), or one-tenth of an average of income in these traditionally highly paid professions, suggesting growing competition in the professional market.While those in these professions, a total of 35,108, earned an average of 230.8 million won a year, 14.3 percent of the group made a monthly income of 2 million won or 24 million won a year, according to data provided by the National Tax Service requ

Trade representatives of China denied the existence of trade-restrictive measures in tourism and distribution services against South Korean companies, despite the United States and Japan voicing support for Korea, a report by the World Trade Organization showed Sunday.　According to the meeting minutes for a council meeting held in June by the Council for Trade in Services, the Korean government raised again the issue of China’s trade-restrictive measures seen as retaliatory actions against

South Korea is set to unveil another set of measures this week, the third of its kind, aimed at curbing rising household debts amid expectations that the central bank would raise its key rate in the coming months, industry sources said Sunday.The measures, due Tuesday, come as a rise in housing prices still does not show signs of abating despite a series of measures, including heightened financial regulations.Over the past few years, housing prices in South Korea have continued to rise on the ba

The government has started to buy up 370,000 tons of rice harvested this year to stabilize domestic prices of the staple grain, the agriculture ministry said Sunday.It said regional governments have been notified of Seoul's plans to "isolate" rice this year and details related to the purchase.Besides the rice to be bought from growers for the purpose of keeping market prices at certain levels, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it will set aside another 350,000 to

The government said Sunday it will set up a committee comprised of experts to review President Moon Jae-in's industrial technology-related state affairs and policy goals.Earlier, the Moon administration announced that finding new growth engines through the so-called fourth industrial revolution for the South Korean economy is one of its key policy objectives. Moon said the revolution will help create more jobs, develop cutting-edge technologies and eventually serve as a catalyst for the economy.

Professionals in jobs that traditionally enjoyed high pay like lawyers and accountants earned an average of 230.8 million won ($203,796) per individual last year but close to 15 percent of the people in these professions made less than one-tenth of the amount, data showed Sunday.Records provided by the National Tax Service for parliamentary audits said 35,108 people were registered to be in private practice as lawyers, accountants, customs agents, certified architects, appraisers, patent attorne

The total value of gift certificates issued in South Korea last year accounted for more than 50 percent of the country's money printed by the central bank, a report showed Sunday.Some 11.3 trillion won ($10 billion) worth of gift vouchers, mobile coupon and revenue stamps were issued in 2016, according to a report by Rep. Shim Ki-joon of the ruling Minjoo Party. This is equivalent to 56.2 percent of 20.2 trillion won worth of money printed by the Bank of Korea in the same one-year period. The re

South Korea's tax rate will rise to be the fifth highest among major economies if the incumbent Moon Jae-in administration follows through on its plans to collect more dues from very big companies, an opposition lawmaker said Friday.The government and the ruling Democratic Party have said they will increase the corporate tax rate for firms with annual net profits exceeding 200 billion won ($177 million) to 25 percent from 22 percent at present to help finance Moon's welfare and job creation agen

KIPO commissioner vows to expand role to prepare for rising technologies

South Korea‘s Korean Intellectual Property Office attended the World Intellectual Property Organization’s General Assembly meeting at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland this month, urging the member states to take pre-emptive measures for the anticipated changes in the intellectual property market with the advent of the “fourth industrial revolution” brought on by artificial intelligence and big data. 　The WIP is a self-funding agency of the United Nations for intell

The ratio of South Korea's financial debt to gross domestic product reached nearly 100 percent last year amid rapidly rising household lending, a report showed Thursday.South Korea's combined household financial credit and nonprofit organizations accounted for 95.6 percent of the country's GDP in 2016, up 4.6 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the report by Rep. Kim Du-kwan submitted to parliament. The country GDP was tallied at $1.64 trillion last year. The debt-to-GDP ratio ha

South Korea's central bank on Thursday revised up its growth outlook for Asia's fourth-largest economy this year to 3 percent as it held its key rate steady for October.In a widely expected move, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea voted to keep the key rate at 1.25 percent, extending its wait-and-see approach for the 16th consecutive month.In June last year, South Korea's central bank made a surprise rate cut, citing the need to stimulate the lackluster economy amid a prolonged econo

Korea’s policy to develop energy and other mineral resources abroad has been inconsistent, biased toward short-term achievement and swayed by political winds.As a result, the country’s state-run energy and resources firms have shown a pattern of acquiring overseas oil rigs and mining fields at high prices and disposing of them at low prices. Over the past several years, Korea has swung from an aggressive push for overseas resources development to a hasty withdrawal from it.Under the

The United States did not designate South Korea and four other major trading partners currency manipulators, but it has vowed to closely monitor their currency practices."No major trading partner of the United States met the standards... for currency manipulation in the first half of 2017," the Treasury Department said Tuesday in a report made to Congress.Still, the Treasury placed South Korea, China, Germany, Japan and Switzerland on its Monitoring List for special attention. Taiwan w

South Korea’s export prices increased slightly last month from August largely due to rising prices of oil and raw materials, the Bank of Korea said Wednesday.Based on local currency, the prices rose 0.9 percent in September from the previous month, driven by a rise in oil prices that raised petrochemical product prices.Export prices increased 10.9 percent on-year in September, marking the highest since March 2009.Meanwhile, import prices also rose 1.7 percent in September from a month earl