A government report showed Friday a steep deterioration in household finances, citing a much faster rate of debt growth than asset increases.A joint report by the Statistics Korea, the Bank of Korea, and the Financial Supervisory Services said the average household debt expanded 12.7 percent to 52.05 million won ($46,143) for a year ending March, outgrowing the 7.5 percent expansion of total assets to 297.65 million won per household on average.People with mortgages saw a particularly tight sque

Voter registration for next year’s general elections will kick off Sunday for Koreans living abroad, the National Election Commission said Friday. Registration will end on Feb. 11.Overseas residents with Korean nationality or those living abroad temporarily though they have registered resident addresses in Korea, aged 19 and older, are eligible to register by visiting local designated diplomatic offices.Based on information supplied, the commission will confirm the list of voters in March next y

The first-ever classical music concert was held on Dokdo on Friday, under the sponsorship of the parliamentary Dokdo Guardians, a group of lawmakers devoted to advocating Korea’s sovereignty over the disputed islet.Rep. Park Sun-young, lawmaker of the Liberty Forward Party and co-chairperson of the panel, together with other members, attended the concert held on the dock of the islet located in the East Sea neighboring Japan.The afternoon event started with a performance by the Heart Blind Chamb

Kim Jin-suk, a labor activist who staged a sit-in protest for 309 days atop a giant tower crane at a local shipyard, faces arrest on charges of trespassing and obstruction of business.The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said Friday that they plan to seek an arrest warrant for the female activist and three others who participated in the crane-top rally to protest massive layoffs by Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Kim climbed down from the 35-meter-high crane on Thursday after Hanjin w

South Korean stocks finished 2.77 percent higher on Friday as investor sentiment was boosted by eased Italian debt woes, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index jumped 50.2 points to 1,863.45, rebounding from a massive 94-point fall on the previous session. Trading volume was light at 291.7 million shares worth 5.15 trillion won ($4.57 billion) with gainers leading losers 682 to 170.“The European Central Bank bought Italian b

Prosecutors said Friday they have opened an investigation into several executives of the state-run Korea Development Bank, including former chairman Min Euoo-sung, on suspicion of incurring massive losses to the bank in a 2009 acquisition of a life insurance firm.Min and several other incumbent and former KDB executives are under suspicion of taking over Kumho Life Insurance Co. for an above-market price, inflicting losses to the bank run with taxpayers’ money, the financial sector bureau of the

Hynix Semiconductor Inc. shareholders on Friday named SK Telecom Co. as the preferred bidder, a day after the mobile carrier submitted a final bid for a controlling stake in the chipmaker.The stake in Hynix on the block is estimated at around 3 trillion won ($2.64 billion).Hynix shareholders had extended the bidding deadline twice to attract more bidders with STX Group pulling out of the race that resulted in a solo bid by SK Telecom. The stake sale contract will be signed on Nov. 14 after Hynix

Insurance firms saw their loans grow at the fastest pace in two years as a result of the authorities’ tight control on bank loans, data showed on Friday. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea’s insurers lent a combined 95.5 trillion won ($84.2 billion) to companies and households as of the end of the third quarter, up 4.1 trillion won, or 4.45 percent from the previous quarter. The rapid growth marked the highest level since September 2009, when the figure reached 4.75 percent. T

The Fair Trade Commission has launched a probe into allegations that some bakery businesses run by heiresses of conglomerate families have received preferential treatment from those business groups’ affiliates.Industry sources said Friday that antitrust authorities raided the head office of Bliss, owned by Jang Sun-yoon, daughter of Lotte Shopping president Shin Yong-ja, on Oct. 16 and probed transaction details. The Korean license of the French gourmet food company Fauchon has opened 12 shops a

WASHINGTON (AP) ― After countless new rules designed to make Wall Street safer, it’s come to this: Another securities firm has collapsed from risky, poorly disclosed bets.Not enough, in other words, has changed since the U.S. financial system nearly toppled three years ago. The bankruptcy filing last week by MF Global Holdings Ltd. didn’t freeze lending and panic investors around the world, as Lehman Brothers’ did in 2008. But the rapid fall of the firm run by former Goldman Sachs chief Jon Corz

HONOLULU (AFP) ― The United States on Thursday urged China to allow the yuan to appreciate faster, saying stronger Asian currencies were vital to restoring global financial stability amid a European debt crisis.U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said after chairing a meeting of Asia Pacific finance ministers that a main focus of their talks was on how to help strengthen global economic growth and make it more balanced.“This process of rebalancing will be aided by exchange rate policies in Chin