[THE INVESTOR] After the five-day Chuseok holiday, the South Korean economy and financial markets will face significant external influence from the US in the form of a decision to be publicized here Sept. 22. If the US Federal Reserve keeps its base rate untouched again during the gathering of the Federal Open Market Committee, slated for Sept. 20-21, South Korea’s policymakers might be given more time to boost the economy in the fourth quarter.Some foreign investment banks even predict the Bank

[THE INVESTOR] This year’s parliamentary audit, which will mark the first conducted under the 20th National Assembly, is scheduled to begin Sept. 26 for a three-week run.Wordy warfare between the ruling and opposition parties will likely intensify over the issue of the US and Korean governments’ accord to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense on the peninsula and North Korea’s fifth nuclear test earlier this month.Rival parties have also been at loggerheads over whether to question Woo

[THE INVESTOR] Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that South Korea is one of Russia’s outstanding partners in the Asia-Pacific region. He acknowledged the direction of comprehensive economic cooperation between the two countries right after his summit with President Park Geun-hye on Saturday.Their statement on future economic partnership comes after Seoul and Moscow reiterated their concerted efforts against North Korea’s nuclear development program.Though the two leaders have not clarifi

[THE INVESTOR] Earlier this year, global investment banks predicted that the US Federal Reserve would raise its base rate two to three times out of the eight scheduled meetings of the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee in 2016.Their projections were based on the hawkish monetary stance of the Fed with the possibility of hikes significantly affecting the global capital market — particularly emerging economies involving South Korea.But the US central bank has yet to conduct a hike after it raised

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea‘s two major opposition parties have jointly proposed a bill on setting up a new state agency that would specialize in investigating corruption cases involving senior government officials.While the probe targets include former presidents, incumbent prime ministers, lawmakers, ministers and judges, the bill on launching an independent entity has come after a series of scandals involving incumbent and former prosecutors.As the Justice Ministry and prosecutors’ office had

[THE INVESTOR] The U.S. government continues to impose heavy penalties on Korean steel exporters.Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would impose duties of a staggering 61 percent on hot-rolled flat steel products from South Korea’s POSCO.The penalties broke down into 3.89 percent in anti-dumping duties and 57.04 percent in countervailing duties. If the department’s decision is endorsed by the U.S. International Trade Commission, it will deal a harsh blow to Korea’s leading

[THE INVESTOR] A South Korean think tank has warned that South Korea will suffer deterioration of growth potential in the coming decade, predicting a 1 percentage point drop or more by 2030.The nation’s potential growth rate posted 3.2 percent per annum between 2011 and 2015. Hyundai Research Institute projected that the rate will continue to fall to 2.7 percent between 2016 and 2020, 2.3 percent between 2021 and 2025 and 2 percent between 2026 and 2030.Korea’s potential growth rate was 3.9 perc