The Korea Forest Service successfully reinforced its partnership with ASEAN countries in the forestry sector at a two-day Korea-ASEAN Special Ministerial Meeting on Forestry that started Wednesday in Busan. “It was a good opportunity for Korea to share its forestry experiences with ASEAN countries, Korea’s important economic and trading partners,” Shin Won-sop, minister of the Korea Forest Service, told The Korea Herald in an email interview. ASEAN countries together make up Korea’s second-large

Korea’s outbound shipments to China are likely to post a negative growth in 2014 for the first time in five years, according to government data released on Sunday. Industry watchers said this downward trend may continue with the Chinese economic slowdown deepening and even worse, the country is slowly reducing its reliance on Korea’s intermediate goods. Shipments to China slipped 0.5 percent on-year through November this year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and

Citing the nation’s continuously falling consumer prices, local experts are raising concerns that the Korean economy may suffer deflation.South Korea’s consumer price growth has been at the 1 percent level over the past two years. In November, the figure dropped to a solid 1 percent ― the lowest in nine months ― according to Statistics Korea. “The Korean economy has already fallen into a de-facto deflation considering that consumer prices tend to be set about 1 percent higher than real prices,”

The Korean government said Monday it would crack down on stores selling tobacco in bulk this month in the lead up to the Jan. 1 price hike. Proprietors caught selling large volumes of cigarettes will face up to two years in prison or a 50 million won ($45,000) fine. The announcement came after the ruling and opposition parties agreed last Friday to raise tobacco prices by 2,000 won. This was the first hike since the government raised the price by 500 won in 2004. A memo on a store window in Cheo

Kim Yoo-jin, a high school teacher, has been eagerly waiting for America’s Thanksgiving holiday, definitely not to eat turkey but to shop online on Black Friday, the day following America’s biggest national holiday. Most major American retailers offer big discounts to kick off the holiday shopping season on that day. Kim has been expecting to buy some electronic devices as high-end gadgets are 50 percent cheaper than those in the local market on the big sales day. Sam’s Club, a retail company ow

캡션 에릭 가세티 LA 시장에릭 가세티 로스앤젤레스(LA) 시장에 의하면 삼성 측이 미국 태양광 사업 프로젝트 (Solar Farm)등 수주를 위해 LA시와 협력 확대를 위한 MOU를 체결하고 매달 실무진 회의도 갖기로 했다. 23일부터 사흘간 우리나라를 방문한 가세티 시장은 방한 기간 중 김신 삼성물산 상사부문 사장을 만나 “삼성이 LA에서 진행되는 태양광 사업에 관심이 많지만 미국 내 건설 경험이 부족해 협조를 요청했다”고 24일 코리아헤럴드와의 인터뷰에서 전했다. 그는 “삼성이 LA에서 진행하는 지하철 확장공사와 노후화된 공항 현대화 사업 수주에도 참여할 예정이다“라고 전하며, 이미 지난해 9월 최치훈 삼성물산 건설부문 사장이 LA를 방문해 지하철과 공항 수주 건으로 협조를 요청했다고 밝혔다.에너지사업과 더불어 삼성물산 측은 LA에서 진행하는 지하철 확장공사와 노후화된 공항 현대화 사업 수주에도 참여할 예정이다. 캘리포니아 주는 현재 2020년까지 전기의 33%를 신재생에너지로

A slew of top Korean companies including Samsung are looking at investment opportunities in Los Angeles, according to the city mayor, who is in Seoul this week. “We talked with some Korean firms about plans to invest in infrastructure in Los Angeles in the airport, public transportation and hotel areas,” said LA Mayor Eric Garcetti in an interview with The Korea Herald on Monday. Samsung C&T, for instance, is looking into opportunities to invest in solar power projects, and railway and airport c

An economist from the Asia Development Bank urged Korea to consider levying more taxes on the rich to create a more balanced wealth distribution. “Korea, which was considered a success story in generating growth with equity in the 1970s and 1980s, has seen rising income inequality in recent years,” said Juzhong Zhuang, a deputy chief economist at the Asian Development Bank, in an interview with The Korea Herald. The latest OECD data showed Korea’s Gini coefficient ― a scale with zero being perfe

The nation’s top financial regulatory body this week estimated a cost of at least $500 billion to cover the financing the development of North Korea if the two Koreas are reunited.“It would take at least $500 billion to develop North Korea (after reunification), which includes economic development and costs for educating North Koreans,” said Shin Je-yoon, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, at a conference on inter-Korean unification and finance held in Seoul on Wednesday. Some $17 bi

The Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect scheme ― touted as a milestone in the liberalization of China’s capital markets ― launched Monday, with very little impact on the Korean bourse. Korea’s stock market dipped only slightly as investors appeared to be taking a wait-and-see attitude. The government too said it would watch for further developments before taking any actions.“As we do not expect the trading scheme to lead to an immediate surge in capital outflows from Korea’s stock market in the sho