Uncertainty in South Korea’s financial markets has widened due to the recent inter-Korean tension and a variety of bearish economic indexes in the U.S. and China.　 An electronic board installed at Korea Exchange Bank in Seoul shows KOSPI and foreign exchange rates on Monday. (Ahn Hoon/The Korea Herald)Stock prices on the main bourse dropped to their lowest level in 25 months. The won-dollar exchange rate touched the 1,200 mark during the session with the Korean currency value falling to a 61-mon

South Korea’s currency has begun to lose ground against the euro and the Japanese yen, as its slide against the U.S. dollar continues.The Korean won held strong against the two currencies during the first half, amid uncertainty over Greece’s financial woes and Japan’s aggressive quantitative easing. The euro, after trading at a 100-month low of 1,198.59 won on March 17, dipped further to 1,155.86 won on April 14.While the euro usually ranged between 1,170 won and 1,260 won between January and Ju

Growing uncertainty from external factors further undermined South Korean stocks Thursday, pulling down its main index below 1,920 amid continued net-selling by foreign investors.The KOSPI lost 1.28 percent, or 24.83 points, to close at 1,914.55. It recorded its lowest mark in seven months since the benchmark index dipped to 1,902.62 on Jan. 19.Foreign investors dumped equities worth 294.5 billion won ($248.5 million), maintaining their net-seller stance for the 11th consecutive day of trading.

South Korea’s benchmark stock index dipped below the 1,950 mark amid growing concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as early as next month.The KOSPI fell by 16.88 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 1,939.38 on Wednesday. It recorded the lowest in about six months since it touched 1,935.86 on Feb. 10.The plunge was attributable to speculation that foreign investors could massively pull out their investment in the coming weeks or months due to the weakening value of th

South Korea’s financial regulator recently exercised its search and confiscation right for the first time in an alleged stock-rigging case, since it was given the authority in 2002 under the revised law on securities trading.Inspectors from the Financial Services Commission raided the residence of a certified public accountant working for a major accounting firm on June 1, a regulatory official said Tuesday.The alleged scammer is suspected of engaging in unfair stock trading with colleagues by e

Concerns that foreign investors may pull out from emerging markets hit the Korean financial market after China’s monetary policymakers conducted currency devaluation for the second consecutive day. A currency dealer at Korea Exchange Bank (Yonhap)The Chinese currency was cheaper by about 3.5 percent compared to only two days ago. It was set at 6.3306 yuan versus the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, compared to 6.1162 yuan on Monday.As for its impact on South Korea’s exports, the outlook from the govern

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a decree to allow foreign tourists tax reimbursements of up to 50,000 won ($42) in South Korea without visiting the customs office when they leave the country.The move is part of the government’s effort to revitalize the local tourism industry, which was seriously hit by the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in the second quarter.Formerly, inbound visitors had to apply to the customs office at the airport for a value-added tax refund of 10,000 won or mo

South Korea’s benchmark stock index fell below the 2,000 mark for the first time in about five months Tuesday, in the wake of China’s artificial currency depreciation as well as a selling streak led by foreign and institutional investors. The KOSPI lost 16.52 points, or 0.82 percent, from the previous trading session to close at 1,986.65.This marked the first time the index stayed below the 2,000 mark since it posted 1,987.33 on March 16. The closing price Tuesday was the lowest since it touched

 South Korea was the sixth-largest exporting nation accounting for 3.1 percent of total world exports in 2014, data showed Monday.According to a special edition published by Statistics Korea to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day, Korea’s exports increased from $25 million in 1956 to $572.7 billion in 2014.The nation recently overtook France in export volume, but continued to lag behind China, the U.S., Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. Korea ranked eighth in trade volume -- both

The number of self-employed workers in South Korea fell to its lowest level in 20 years in the first half of the year, in the wake of a protracted economic slowdown.The outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome between May and June, which seriously damaged consumer sentiment, is estimated to have fueled the shutdown of more self-employed individuals.According to Statistics Korea, the number of self-employed people who have no employees stood at 3.975 million as of June 2015, down 107,000

South Korea’s tax authority has decided to expand tax incentives for foreign companies, which would increase the workforce in the nation next year, said economic policymakers on Thursday.According to the 2015 tax code revision unveiled by the Finance Ministry, the ceiling of tax deduction for foreign firms operating here will be raised to 40 percent of their total inbound-investment from the current 20 percent -- when it comes to job creation.Currently, they are offered a corporate deduction of

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan urged public companies Wednesday to introduce the wage peak system as soon as possible, reiterating it would help widen employment opportunities for young job seekers.In his meeting with 40 chiefs from the state-run agencies and firms, Choi said that “large (public) firms such as LH and the Korea Railroad Corp. should take the initiative in inducing the labor-management agreement on the wage peak system in August.”Under this system pushe

Many analysts are cautioning against investing in stocks on the secondary KOSDAQ, which has been continuously bullish since early this year.Describing the rally of the market -- which mostly trades stocks of small and medium-sized companies -- as an extraordinary bubble, they warn it could pop later this year and bring about heavy losses to small investors.A research analyst on TV stressed Friday that some individuals are forced to dispose their stocks at low prices after investing in the market

Global investment banks recently revised down their outlook on South Korea’s economic growth, despite the favorable financial indexes for exporters compared to earlier this year.According to the Korea Center for International Finance, the projection of 10 major IBs since June on the nation’s 2015 gross domestic product growth is set at 2.6 percent on average.Though the IBs shared the view that Korea would see a recovery from the third quarter after bottoming out in the second quarter, they cut t

The executive boards of a majority of the Korean conglomerates continue to be dominated by male members despite the rising proportion of female workers over the past few decades. According to corporate assessment site CEO Score, seven out of 10 affiliates of the 30 biggest business groups had a male-only board of directors.About 73 percent, or 210 of the 284 surveyed units, of the 30 conglomerates did not have a single female executive on their board of directors as of the first quarter of 2015.

Regulators have decided to extend a set of deregulations on mortgages or housing-collateralized loans -- introduced on Aug.1, 2014 -- by a year from the scheduled expiry date of end-July.The Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday said in a statement that it would extend the eased home loan-application rules by another year until the end of July 2016.But the extension of eased rules is raising questions about the consistency in policies as only weeks ago authorities pledged to curb the record h

HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) - Authorities have released dashcam video of a white Texas police officer stopping a black motorist later found dead in a jail cell in what has become the latest case to cast national attention on the interactions between police and minorities in the United States.Authorities say Sandra Bland, 28, hanged herself in her cell three days after her arrest, a contention her family and supporters dispute. The video doesn't reveal what happened while she was in custody, but it dep

ISTANBUL (AP) - Turkey briefly blocked access to Twitter on Wednesday to prevent images of Monday's deadly bombing from being broadcast and to stop Twitter users from calling for protests against the government, which they blamed for not doing enough to prevent the attack, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.Access was restored a few hours later. A government official said Turkey had asked Twitter to remove 107 URLs with images of the aftermath of the bombing Monday in southeast Turkey, which

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom (AFP) - A Koran manuscript has been carbon dated to close to the time of the Prophet Mohammed, making it one of the oldest in the world, a British university said Wednesday.The two leaves of parchment, filled with "surprisingly legible" text from Islam's holy book, have been dated to around the early seventh century, the University of Birmingham said."The tests carried out on the parchment of the Birmingham folios yield the strong probability that the animal from which

LONDON (AFP) - Five Chelsea fans have been banned from all football matches for up to five years over an incident of racism in Paris in February, in court proceedings that concluded Wednesday.The men, including former police officer Richard Barklie, were involved in an incident in which a black Frenchman was repeatedly shoved off a metro train carriage ahead of Chelsea's Champions League match against Paris Saint Germain."This was an abhorrent, nasty, offensive, arrogant and utterly unacceptable