The Korea Herald

Kim Yon-se

안녕하세요 Kim Yon-se 기자입니다.

Articles by Kim Yon-se

Finance Ministry pressured to reduce growth target

May 14, 2014

Economic policymakers could eventually choose to lower their projection on the yearly growth of gross domestic product in the wake of several negative factors that are simultaneously undermining indices and sentiment, industry watchers said Wednesday.Some state-controlled think tanks have already revised down ― or seek to reduce ― their GDP outlook in reflection of the sagging private consumption after the April 16 ferry disaster and the recent difficulties for exporters due to the Korean curren
Watchdog to force insurers to pay suicide benefits

May 14, 2014

The South Korean financial watchdog will reprimand a local insurance firm for not giving insurance money in cases of suicide, officials said Wednesday, prompting concerns that the move will promote suicide across the nation.The Financial Supervisory Service discovered in an inspection last year that ING Life Insurance had sold a special disaster insurance policy that covers disaster-caused deaths as well as suicide between 2003 and 2010 when it changed the term to omit the suicide condition.Howe
Samsung Engineering wins quality awards in Middle East

IndustryMay 14, 2014

Samsung Engineering Co., one of South Korea’s leading builders, said Wednesday it won the Middle East Economic Digest’s Quality Awards for Projects for the third year in a row.The company said it secured the recognition for its FERTIL-2 Ammonia and Urea Plant in the United Arab Emirates. Samsung was given the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in 2009.The plant is in the Ruwais Industrial Zone about 250 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi Cit
Life insurance firms push for payroll cut

May 13, 2014

Fears of massive layoffs are looming high over the nation’s life insurance industry in the wake of worsening profitability due mainly to the protracted era of low interest rates and lackluster performance in attracting new policyholders.While the nation’s top three insurance firms are initiating the full-fledged manpower restructuring, small and mid-sized players are expected to follow suit, industry watchers said Tuesday. The big three insurers are Samsung Life, Hanwha Life and Kyobo Life.Kyobo
Cheap dollar may fall below 1,000 won

May 12, 2014

Some global investment banks have forecast that the Korean currency will increase in value to triple digits against the U.S. dollar, as the won sits in its strongest position in five years.U.S.-based Wells Fargo said in its report that the dollar, currently traded at between 1,020 won and 1,030 won, is projected to reach 990 won in the second half of the year. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ predicted that the won could appreciate to 975 won by the end of 2014.Many other IBs also share the view tha
Suspended card firms lose 3 million customers

May 11, 2014

Financial regulators will lift an operating ban on the three credit card firms that leaked the private information of a total of more than 100 million customers in January, on May 17.The three card issuers ― KB Kookmin, NongHyup and Lotte ― have been under the supervisory sanction of a partial business suspension for three months.While the firms will be allowed to resume full operations in a week, the three-month-long suspension has dealt a blow in terms of earnings and credibility, according to
Financial consumer protection body delayed

May 2, 2014

The Park Geun-hye administration’s state agenda for setting up an independent board for financial consumer protection has faced a deadlock as the National Assembly chose not to pass the relevant bill during its plenary session in April, opting for further deliberation with government officials.The state-led plan, aimed at bolstering consumers’ rights in the financial market, is designed to split the consumer protection department from the Financial Supervisory Service.Policymakers had expected t
[Newsmaker] Citibank Korea union may strike

May 1, 2014

The labor-management dispute at Citibank Korea appears to be deepening.The union has now voted for a strike to protest the bank’s restructuring plans that would inevitably include layoffs. The walkout would mark the first in three years for local banks, since the union of Standard Chartered Bank Korea went on strike in 2011. It seems to be an indication that the situation has reached breaking point.The last strike at Citibank Korea was in 2004 when the U.S.-based citibank took over KorAm bank.Ci
Share of middle-income households decreases

May 1, 2014

The nation’s income gap appears to have widened, touching off concerns over a further thinning of the middle-income bracket, according to data from Statistics Korea on Thursday.The state-run Statistics Korea recently announced a research report on national income distribution calculated using the Wolfson Index, which is a barometer for income level of middle-income earners.The index climbed from 0.254 in 2011 to 0.256 in 2012. The Wolfson Index is a common measure of inequality in which a number
Workers at Korean state firms paid W67m

Apr 30, 2014

The Finance Ministry said Wednesday that the average annual salary for the staff at 304 state-controlled firms came to 67 million won ($63,800) in 2013, up 1.7 percent or 1.13 million won from the previous year.Heads of the public firms were paid 163 million won on average, up 0.8 percent from a year earlier, it added.“The salary level stays above the average at firms such as the Korea Exchange, the Korea Securities Depository and the Korea Development Bank,” an official said. “Considering the u
Seoul to cut red tape for start-up stimulus

Apr 30, 2014

Policymakers on Wednesday vowed to simplify the regulatory procedures for venture start-ups to set up business as part of the administration’s three-year plan for market renovation.During a meeting of economy-related ministers, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok pointed out that the business start-up segment stood at 34th, even as Korea ranked seventh in the World Bank Group’s 2013 overall Ease of Doing Business report.“Those seeking to set up their own businesses will benef
Shinhan Financial overhauls to maximize profitability

Apr 29, 2014

Shinhan Financial Group is actively expanding its overseas business to diversify its profit-taking sources and benchmarking high-end skills in advanced markets under its vision to become the No. 1 first-tier financial services firm in Korea.Its renovation in a variety of segments over the past few years has been linked to marked profitability.In its regulatory filing on Tuesday, Shinhan Financial reported a net profit of 558.4 billion won ($531 million) during the first quarter, up 16.1 percent
Credit card use falls 4% after ferry disaster

Apr 27, 2014

The recent ferry sinking that claimed the lives of at least 188 people is damaging the consumer sentiment, as many Koreans remain shocked by the tragedy.A variety of data showed that a huge of number of people have canceled social and personal gatherings and trips after April 16, when the ferry capsized.According to a major credit card company, its customers’ average daily credit card use dropped by 4.4 percent, or 8.7 billion won ($8.2 million), from April 16-22, compared to the same period a m
Korea fifth-largest supplier of high-tech goods to U.S.

Apr 27, 2014

South Korea was the fifth-largest supplier of high-tech goods to the United States in 2013, up two notches from the year before, a report by an international trade organization said Sunday.According to the Korea International Trade Association, locally manufactured goods made the top 10 list in seven of the 10 high-tech fields.The fields examined were broken down by the harmonized system code used to track products traded between countries and covered information technology, electronic parts, fl
SMEs downbeat on their business conditions for May

IndustryApr 27, 2014

Most South Korean small and mid-sized companies predict their business conditions will remain weak in May due to faltering consumer sentiment, a poll showed Sunday.The poll of 1,373 such firms taken by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business found that the small business health index for May reached 96.3, down 0.3 point from the previous month.A reading below 100 indicates that more respondents had negative outlooks than positive expectations about their business conditions.The surveye