The Korean bond market continues to see an outflow of funds for a third month as investors flee to capture rising yields elsewhere and tab on bullish equities. The investor exodus is led by foreigners who were fast to exit the market to avoid a revived tax of as much as 14 percent on interest income which Seoul imposed in January to limit capital inflows. Analysts attributed the continued price de

The National Tax Service will launch a forensic investigation center Tuesday to fight increasingly sophisticated tax evasion.The Forensic & Anti Tax Evasion Center will be headquartered in Seoul with regional teams working in the agency’s Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu and Busan offices. Each team will have about 30 officials. “There are limits to the probe with our traditional enforcement tools as tax o

Brewers say trade barriers must go to add color to Korean beer marketThink Korean beer. Now think of a Korean beer that’s not Hite or OB.That blank right there shows the space smaller breweries have been trying to fill in a market where the share between the big two is split nearly fifty-fifty. Many beer lovers crave diversity, finding local products “watery” and of lower quality when compared to

The antitrust regulator is investigating Korean Air and Mongolian Airlines for possible price fixing for their services between Incheon and Ulaanbaatar, sources said Wednesday.Since October, the Fair Trade Commission has been looking into their ticket prices which are about 30 percent higher than those on routes of a similar distance, they said.Only the two airliners have been running the service

About 20 large businesses will face hefty fines for mistreating their suppliers over the next six months, Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Dong-soo said.The antitrust regulator has been conducting an extensive inquiry into 40 large companies since last year. In a media interview, he said about half of them were found to have been involved in wrongdoings including unfair pricing and arbitrary can

Consumer price hikes are showing no signs of let-up, two weeks after the government embarked on a sweeping campaign to fight inflation. Crop damage from extreme weather conditions combined with the country’s worst animal disease outbreak sent food prices to record high levels, hurting low-and middle-income households preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week.Pork prices jumped more than 2

South Korea posted a $28.21 billion current account surplus last year, the fourth largest in its history, due to robust exports of electronics, chips and automobiles despite the won’s gain and high oil prices, the central bank said Thursday.The figure was lower than the $32.8 billion recorded in 2009 and fell short of the Bank of Korea’s earlier forecast of $29 billion. The country posted a surplu

The Korean economy grew rate at an eight-year high of 6.1 percent last year, rounding out a strong year buoyed by public stimulus and resilient exports under record low borrowing costs, the central bank said on Wednesday.Growth was slower in the final three months of 2010 at 0.5 percent, down from the third quarter when the economy grew 0.7 percent. On an annual basis, Asia’s fourth-largest econom

40 large firms and suppliers face investigation over price collusion, unfair trade, abuse of market powerThe Fair Trade Commission is conducting an extensive investigation into about 40 large firms and its suppliers to root out business malpractices including price collusion and abuse of market power, officials said Monday. The antitrust regulator launched the largest-ever probe into their pricing

The International Monetary Fund approved a two-year contingent credit line to the Republic of Macedonia in the first use of newly launched insurance program guided by the Group of 20 last year. The former Yugoslavian republic became the IMF’s first recipient of the Precautionary Credit Line, securing 476 million euros ($642 million) for this year and next.The measure is part of the international l

Move prompted by Lee’s comments on oil pricesThe antitrust regulator is investigating four major oil refiners for possible price rigging and cartel activities, sources said Thursday.The probe comes amid growing government pressure on them over surging fuel prices. The Fair Trade Commission this week conducted on-site investigations of GS Caltex, S-Oil, Hyundai Oil Bank and SK Energy to see if ther

Financial groups may avoid taking on bad assets of savings banksThe government-led restructuring of savings banks may end up injecting a sizable amount of taxpayers’ money into troubled secondary financial institutions, industry watchers said. The Financial Supervisory Commission is in talks with potential investors including Woori Financial Group to arrange a sweeping rescue scheme for distressed

Gangwon Province is hosting a team of Vietnamese government officials on a week-long trip here to study Korea’s housing policies for low-income earners.The program, requested by Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction, is co-organized by the International Urban Training Center, a state-run training center for policymakers in Gangwon Province and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in Vietnam

NTS to focus on paper companies being used to evade tax, hide moneyThe National Tax Service on Monday vowed to toughen its crackdown on offshore tax evasion by wealthy persons and large businesses as one of its priorities this year.The tax authority said it will step up curbs on borrowed-name financial transactions often used by companies to manipulate their incomes. It will also enhance the inqui

The government is placing the Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit into the Finance ministry as a task force during February to coordinate follow-ups of agendas with France, the G20 chair for this year.“The G20 preparation body was created to organize the G20 Seoul summit last year and we are readying to move them to the Finance Ministry,” the government said.The committee will be comprised o

Seoul’s fresh plans to control inflation announced Thursday would provide only temporary relief to the market as authorities could do only so much to stabilize price volatilities aroused by overseas supplies, economists said. A pan-government task force headed by the Finance Ministry unveiled a package of action plans mobilizing all administrative power to secure supply of crops and freeze public

Measures include tariff cuts, crop and housing suppliesThe government plans to cut food tariffs, increase crop supplies and freeze public service costs in what it calls a “war against inflation.” A pan-government task force headed by the Finance Ministry on Thursday reported to President Lee Myung-bak a package of measures to rein in skyrocketing food, energy and home rental costs that are threate

Government to announce price control steps next weekRising consumer prices led by food and fuel costs alarmed policymakers prompting President Lee Myung-bak to declare “a war against inflation” Tuesday. The government is working on measures to stabilize prices before the country scrambles to buy food and gifts for the Feb. 3 Lunar New Year celebrations. Food companies are rushing to raise prices f

President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that his economic policies will focus on strong economic growth, job creation and a firmer middle class. “This year, our goals in running the economy are: a high economic growth rate of over 5 percent, inflation of under 3 percent, the creation of good jobs and improvement in quality of life of middle- and low-income families,” Lee said in his New Year’s address