The European Parliament approved a free trade pact with South Korea on Thursday, bringing it one step closer to coming into force this July, diplomatic sources said. The trade accord, adopted in Strasbourg, France, during the European Parliament's plenary session, is the most ambitious free trade pact the European Union (EU) has so far negotiated, and the first of its kind with an Asian country....

Korea’s population mobility fell in 2010 as people were discouraged from moving amid slumping property market conditions, a government report showed Thursday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, a total of 8.23 million people changed their legal residence last year, down 3.1 percent from a year earlier. This marked the fourth consecutive year with less movement since 2007 when the mobil...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The Obama administration is committed to pass through Congress pending free trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia this year, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday. "We would like to pass all of them, alongside trade adjustment assistance, and we want to do it this year," Geithner told a Senate Finance Committee hearing. "They're overwhelmingly in o...

South Korea's air traffic grew last month from a year earlier as the global economic recovery boosted flight demand, the transportation ministry said Wednesday. South Korean air authorities controlled a total of 41,845 airplanes flying in and out of the country last month, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. This marked the 19th...

South Korea's life and non-life insurers are expected to post a combined net income of more than 6 trillion won (US$5.3 billion) in fiscal 2010 on strong sales and big players' impressive performances, data showed Wednesday. The combined earnings of the country's 16 life insurers and 15 non-life insurers in the first three quarters of fiscal 2010 totaled 4.54 trillion won, according to the data ...

South Korea's jobless rate fell in January from a year earlier as the non-farm private sector expanded recruitment amid the economic recovery, a government report showed Wednesday. The jobless rate was 3.8 percent last month, down from 5 percent from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. But it was up from the previous month's 3.5 percent. The number of working people sto...

Korea aims to become the fourth-largest fisheries exporter in the world by 2020 through better marine resources management and creation of large, globally competitive fishing companies, the government said Tuesday. The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said that the country will move to push up exports to $5.5 billion in the target year from around $1.8 billion shipped out i...

Korea retained its status as the world’s fifth-largest automaking nation last year with over 4.2 million vehicles produced, a local industry body said Tuesday. The country’s five automakers produced some 4,272,000 cars in 2010, up 21.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA). China, the world’s largest market for automobiles, became the wo...

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Shares of Korean telecom giant KT Corp. are seen as undervalued among foreign investors, as Korea’s telecom industry is expected to further expand, boosted by smartphones, financial sources here said Monday. “Institutional investors in Hong Kong as well as in Singapore are looking into opportunities to buy KT shares, as they consider those shares are substantially under...

Korea posted a trade surplus for 12 straight months in January, driven by robust exports of ships and vehicles, the nation’s customs office said Tuesday. The trade surplus amounted to $2.92 billion last month, according to data provided by the Korea Customs Service. This marked the 12th consecutive month of surplus since February 2010. Exports totaled $44.68 billion, up 45.4 percent from a year...

Korea’s imports of crude and refined oil products surged in 2010 from a year earlier, fueled by greater local and export demand, a government report showed Tuesday. According to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the country brought in $89.6 billion worth of crude and refined oil products last year, compared with $65.5 billion the previous year. Crude imports jumped 35.4 percent o...

Korea’s economy could face a “burden” from growing inflationary pressure, the nation’s top economic policymaker said Tuesday, stressing that the government will push to head off price instability. “If raw material prices continue to rise, it could pose a burden on our economic recovery,” Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun was quoted as saying during a meeting with other key policymakers. “In the ...