S. Korea removed from EU blacklist of tax havens

The EU has removed South Korea from a blacklist of tax havens, lifting the concerns of punitive economic measures and reputational damage, the finance ministry said Tuesday.

EU finance ministers agreed to remove South Korea and seven other countries from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement. 

The seven countries are Panama, Mongolia, Barbados, Macau, Tunisia, Grenada and the United Arab Emirates.

In December, EU finance ministers put 17 countries on the blacklist, calling their taxation systems unfair and discriminative.

Back then, they branded the Korean government's tax benefits only given to foreign companies that have invested in Korean businesses as a "harmful" system for foreign firms that have not invested, a ministry official said.

The government will consult with related departments when revising the tax law this year to improve the taxation system for foreign businesses here, the statement said.

With the EU's decision, South Korea will remain on a gray list of 55 countries that will be monitored by the EU for compliance.