South Korea and Sudan held a high-level policy consultation meeting on Thursday to discuss strengthening economic cooperation in the wake of the lifting of American sanctions on Sudan last year, the foreign ministry here said. Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon welcomed the lifting of 20-year-old sanctions and discussed cooperation with Sudan's Undersecretary Abdel-ghani...

Economic policymaker also stresses Seoul’s entitlement for market intervention when necessary

South Korean public institutions signed a deal to buy some 43 billion won ($40 million) worth of products made by small and medium-sized enterprises this year as part of Seoul's efforts to encourage the growth of smaller companies, the government said. Six public organizations, including the Korea Land & Housing Corp. and the Korea Electric Power Co., signed a memorandum of understanding with th...

South Korea's central bank on Thursday held its key rate steady for April as Asia's fourth-largest economy is experiencing low inflationary pressure and a weaker pace of economic recovery. In a widely expected move, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea voted to keep the policy rate unchanged at 1.5 percent, extending its wait-and-see stance to five months. In November last year, South...

A slump in private consumption and worsening unemployment are raising questions about the relevance of the Moon Jae-in administration’s income-led growth policy. According to data released by the Bank of Korea last week, the ratio of personal consumption expenditures to the country’s gross domestic product stood at 48.1 percent last year, the lowest since related data began being compiled in 197...

South Korea’s unemployment rate in March hit is highest level in 17 years, amid a persisting slump in the construction industry and slowdown in population, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 26.55 million last month, up 112,000 from a year earlier, according to the report released by Statistics Korea. The on-month climb, though slightly higher from the previous month’s ...

South Korea's household lending by banks rose at the fastest clip in four months in March on increased home transactions ahead of the implementation of government-led measures to cool down the overheated real estate market, central bank data showed Wednesday. Outstanding household loans from lenders came to 776.3 trillion won ($728.6 billion) as of the end of March, according to the data by the ...

South Korea's national pension operator reported losses in its stock investment in the first quarter of this year, due mainly to the poor performance by major local equities amid unfavorable external conditions, a market research firm said Wednesday. The value of 302 company stocks in which the National Pension Service holds more than a 5 percent stake came to 121.22 trillion won ($113.92 billio...

SEJONG -- South Korea's jobless rate moved up slightly in March due to a rise in unemployment in the retail and educational service sectors, government data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate stood at 4.5 percent last month, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate also rose to 4 percent in March...

The head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Tuesday called for brokerages to strengthen protection for investors and internal control, in the wake of chaos over a dividend payment error at Samsung Securities Co. At a meeting with the heads of 17 brokerages, FSS Gov. Kim Ki-sik said they must conduct reviews of their internal control mechanisms to prevent such errors from happening aga...

About 16 percent of apartments bought and sold in Seoul during the first quarter of the year were expensive real estate. Out of the 24,606 Seoul apartments traded between January and March, 3,921 units were worth over 900 million won ($841,000), according to statistics released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Monday. It posted a rapid on-year increase. During the same peri...

Cheong Wa Dae turns down calls for Kim’s dismissal

Concerns are growing over the negative impact of the strengthening won on Korea’s exports, with expectations also being raised that a rise in the value of the currency will help boost investment and consumption. The value of the won gained 1.16 percent against the US dollar over the past two weeks to close at 1,069.6 won per dollar in the Seoul foreign exchange market Friday. It marked the seco...

South Korea's chief economic policy maker on Monday sought cooperation from smaller firms to create quality jobs to reduce the country's high youth unemployment rate. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon made the remark during a meeting with executives of small and medium-sized enterprises held in Seoul. "We hope the planned support for SMEs will lead to job creation beyond the current level of emplo...

The sharp rise in the country's minimum wage this year is fueling inflationary pressure and concerns of public charge hikes going forward that can increase the burden on ordinary people, market watchers said Sunday. The government marked up the minimum wage for all workers by 16.4 percent in 2018 to 7,530 won ($7.04) from 6,470 in 2017 as part of a broader move by the incumbent Moon Jae-in admin...