More South Korean conglomerates have been registering subsidiaries in offshore tax havens, according to corporate researcher Chaebul.com.The number of South Korean companies established in the top 10 offshore tax havens last year jumped nearly 60 percent on-year from 54 to 86, indicating more conglomerates taking advantage of lower tax rates. The companies included on the list are affiliates of the top 40 family-run conglomerates.The most popular destination for South Korean companies was the Ca

The number of dormant credit cards in South Korea dropped for the third straight year in March, according to Financial Supervisory Service data released Sunday. About 10.56 million credit cards were idle for more than a year, down more than half from 23.72 million a year earlier, due in part to more issuers closing inactive accounts.According to industry watchers, local banks and card firms have been cleaning up dormant accounts since a massive data leak earlier this year. A series of accidents

 

The U.S. is considering deploying an advanced missile defense system to the Korean Peninsula to better counter North Korea’s missile threats. But the possible deployment is raising concerns that it could cause friction with China, which perceives the MD system as targeting it.U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti has confirmed that Washington was considering sending the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, one of the core assets of the multilayered U.S. MD program, to the pe

The number of elderly parents living separately from their children has increased dramatically over the past 20 years, according to a report released by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Services.The report says the number of senior citizens who live alone with their spouse increased from 26.8 percent in 1994 to 48.6 percent in 2011. The number who live with their children, on the other hand, decreased from 54.7 percent in 1994 to 27.3 percent in 2011.The number of seniors who live alone

Voter participation in the May 30-31 advance voting came in at 11.49 percent, surpassing projections and raising expectations for the overall voting rate for the June 4 local elections. Advance voting for the April 24 parliamentary by-elections brought in 4.78 percent of voters, while that on Oct. 30 attracted 5.45 percent of the voters. The advance voting system was introduced last year, and implemented for the first time in the April by-elections. By region, South Jeolla Province recorded the

The U.S. is considering deploying more missile defense assets to Asia to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, said Adm. James Winnefeld, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a speech during a security forum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.Describing North Korea, along with Iran, as the “chief threats” to the U.S., Winnefeld underscored the need to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in South Korea. He said Washington was in talks with Seoul over the

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have crossed a new threshold, the U.N.’s weather agency said Monday, highlighting the urgency of curbing manmade, climate-altering greenhouse gases.In April, for the first time, the mean monthly CO2 concentration in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million throughout the Northern Hemisphere, which is more polluted more than the south, the World Meteorological Organization said. Spring values in the Northern Hemisphere had previously spiked past the 40

Euroskeptic and right-wing parties made strong showings in the European elections last week, according to provisional results. In France, the far-right National Front stormed to victory with 25 percent of the vote, while the anti-EU mood also swept Britain where the Euroskeptic U.K Independence Party came first with 27 percent support of the domestic vote. Germany, on the other hand, saw its Chancellor Angela Merkel’s pro-EU camp celebrate winning 36 percent of the vote. The projections for the

Apple and Samsung dominated the global market for mobile phones in the first quarter of this year, while LG Electronics reached a distant third for the first time, data showed on Monday.According to Strategy Analytics, Apple held a 34.2 percent global mobile phone market share based on sales, followed by two South Korean companies ― Samsung with 30.4 percent and LG Electronics with 4.2 percent. Sony was ranked fourth with 3.3 percent, narrowly ahead of Nokia. Chinese phone makers Xiaomi and Huaw

Both disposable income and consumption of South Korean households increased in the first quarter on-year, a data from Statistics Korea said. However, the outlook for the continued growth in household spending is not clear, given weakening consumer sentiment in the wake of the deadly ferry accident last month. The income of households consisting of two members or more averaged 4.4 million won ($4,300) per month during the January-March period, up 5 percent from 4.2 million won a year earlier. Whe

Korea’s global competitiveness ranking fell by four notches this year as government and business efficiency received lower points than in the previous year, an international institute said Thursday.According to the 2014 report by the International Institute for Management Development, Korea ranked 26th in terms of global competitiveness among 60 countries surveyed. This marked the first time in four years that the country’s ranking fell. Korea had stayed at 22nd for the past three years after it

The number of foreigners getting medical treatment in Korea rose by 36.9 percent in 2013 from the year before, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.More than 210,000 foreign patients from 191 countries were treated in Korea in 2013, spending nearly 393 billion won ($384 million). Chinese patients spent 101.6 billion won last year, bringing the largest amount of money to the Korean medical industry. Patients from Russia spent the second-largest amount ― 87.9 billion won.Some 630,000 pa

In 2013, South Korea’s market share of global trade fell for the first time since the 1998 financial crisis, according to data from the Bank of Korea and the Korea International Trade Association on Tuesday.Among the World Trade Organization members, the country took ninth place, falling one notch from 2012, the figures showed. Topping the list was China, followed by the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Hong Kong. In 1998, South Korea fell to 14th place from 12th place