Purchases to be finalized before year is over, according to top officials

The historic peak could be 51.851 million in Nov. 2019

South Korea's won currency surged to a 30-month high against the US dollar Thursday and broke a key psychological level, buoyed by optimism over US stimulus talks and developments of coronavirus vaccines. The won was quoted at 1,097.00 won per US dollar at Thursday's closing, up 3.8 won from the previous session's close. It was the strongest level since June 14, 2018, when the risk-sensitive currency closed at 1,083.10 won against the US dollar. The won also broke the key psychological leve

Government, industry collaborated on monitoring up to the last hour

China is renewing efforts toward concluding a free trade agreement with South Korea and Japan in an apparent attempt to erode US influence in the region by forming a framework encompassing the three Northeast Asian economic powers in its favor. During his visit to Seoul and Tokyo last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised the need to make an active push for the trilateral FTA. Negotiations on the envisioned deal among the three countries have made little progress since kicking off in 20

The projects that the Moon Jae-in administration has pushed through without preliminary feasibility studies since it was launched in 2017 cost about 88 trillion won ($79.5 billion) total, according to data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The figure exceeds the 84 trillion won combined cost of all the projects exempted from feasibility surveys by the two previous administrations under Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. In 2015, projects exempted from feasibility studies colle