[THE INVESTOR South Korean corporates appear to be spearheading change in the local hospitality culture now that a controversial anti-corruption law has taken effect. Companies are bent on providing workers, especially those in charge of dealing with the government, the National Assembly and the press, with detailed legal information on the so-called Kim Young-ran Act. The legislation affects millions of South Korean civil servants, journalists and school teachers. According to the law, they can

[THE INVESTOR] Major department stores sales increased in August compared to last year, according to government data on Sept. 29. The combined sales of three department stores -- Hyundai, Lotte and Shinsegae -- gained 4.1 percent on-year last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Their sales of groceries jumped 14.5 percent on-year as a number of people purchased foodstuffs as gifts ahead of Chuseok that fell on Sept. 15.However, those of major disco

[THE INVESTOR]  South Korea’s economy is likely to grow 2.3 percent this year, slightly falling from last year’s 2.6 percent growth, a private think tank said on Sept. 29. According to the Korea Economic Research Institute, the economy will see its growth further decelerate to 2.2 percent next year.“Amid a slowdown in the global economy, a recovery in domestic demand is weakening in the face of ongoing corporate restructuring,” said the institute.The South Korean economy is faced with post-Brexi

[THE INVESTOR]  A light source facility that emits X-ray lasers that are 10 billion times brighter than before, was launched in the southeastern city of Pohang on Sept. 29.Technically known as synchrotron radiation, the light source can measure and analyze compositions in femto and nano units of a second. South Korea is the third country to have the light source facility. The facility was built at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory of the Pohang University of Science and Technology, located in th

[THE INVESTOR] The average salary at small and medium enterprises in South Korea was 60 percent that of bigger conglomerates in 2015, according to records on Sept. 29. Statistics provided by the Small and Medium Business Administration to the parliamentary trade committee said the monthly average last year at smaller firms was 2.93 million won (US$2,674), approximately 60.6 percent of the 4.85 million won for their colleagues at conglomerates.The wage gap between them has not changed much for fi

[THE INVESTOR]  Tesla Motors has requested certifications on emissions and noise from the Environment Ministry, prior to its launch in the country, industry officials said on Sept. 29. The US electric vehicle maker filed the applications on Sept. 27 for the 90D version of the Model S sedans. Because they are EVs, emissions certification is unnecessary, cutting the process time considerably, the officials said. The real hurdles will probably be with the transport ministry with whom it must regist

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean companies’ business sentiment for October edged up from a month earlier, according to the Federation of Korean Industries on Sept. 29.The business survey index (BSI) for October came to 96, up from 95 posted the previous month, The monthly index is based on a survey of 600 of the largest companies here. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists, while a reading above the benchmark means the opposite.The index has remained below the 100 mark for four con

[THE INVESTOR]  The government has provided 84 percent of state funds -- 438.5 billion won (US$399.80 million) out of about 500 billion -- to South Korean companies that operated at the Kaesong Industrial Park, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry on Sept. 28.Seoul shut down the factory zone in the North’s border city of Kaesong on Feb. 10 in response to the latter’s nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch the following month.The shutdown of the complex may have caused 1.5 tril

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean construction firms are preparing restructuring plans amid the decreasing number of global construction orders, according to company officials on Sept. 28. POSCO E&C, a construction arm of steelmaker POSCO, plans to cut 500 jobs by the end of this year via a voluntary retirement program. In the first half of the year, the company reported a loss of 177.1 billion won (US$161.6 million). POSCO E&C saw sales fall by more than 1 trillion won in the first six months of the

[THE INVESTOR]  More than 3 trillion won (US$2.73 billion) worth counterfeit brand-name products, were caught over the past five years, according to the customs agency on Sept. 28. Records given to the parliamentary finance committee by the Korea Customs Service said the agency nabbed 3,088 smuggling cases involving fake goods, amounting to 3.24 trillion won, with watches replacing handbags as the most popular items,Fake watches accounted for 987.7 billion won. Handbags came next at 718.4 billio

[THE INVESTOR] A legislative research body urged the South Korean government on Sept. 28 to tighten restrictions on corporate internal trading. The current law forbids inter-affiliate trading within a business group whose owner and family hold more than 30 percent of the shares in an affiliate. Such trading is blamed for allowing owner families easy and high profits by having subsidiaries award lucrative contracts to each other, undermining the principle of fair competition. The National Assembl

[THE INVESTOR] The World Bank reappointed Jim Yong Kim, its Korean-American president, to a second five-year term on Sept. 28Kim, a renowned health expert and educator, took office as head of the 187-nation organization in July 2012. His second-term, which begins in July next year, has been considered certain as no other candidates have come forward.Born in Seoul in 1959, Kim moved to the U.S. with his family when he was 5 years old. Kim had served as the president of Dartmouth College since 200

[THE INVESTOR] A two-day Foreign Investment Week to attract investors has opened on Sept. 28 in Seoul.FIW, the biggest government-led investment relation events in the country, includes business forums, person-to-person consulting sessions and on-site visiting, with 291 foreign firms attending, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Some 70 Chinese investors are participating in the event, up from last year‘s 34, on the back of the free trade deal between Seoul and Beijing that

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea retained last year’s 26th rank out of 138 countries surveyed on global competitiveness in 2016, according to the World Economic Forum on Sept. 28. The ranking in the macroeconomic conditions improved to third from fifth, and that in infrastructure also bumped up to 10th from 13th, the report showed.However, in the health and primary education part, it lost six grades to finish 29th, and the ranking in the higher education and training part also dropped to 25th from 23r

[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Group’s founder Shin Kyuk-ho’s third wife, who failed to comply to prosecutors’ summons, has been indicted on charges of tax evasion, authorities said on Sept. 27.Seo Mi-kyung, 57, is suspected of evading some hundreds of billions of won in gift taxes, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.Shin’s common-law wife became the second member of the owner family to stand trial after his daughter Young-ja. The 74-year-old daughter was indicted in July on charg

[THE INVESTOR] An increasing number of South Korean households face the risk of defaulting on their debts, a lawmaker said on Sept. 27. The number of “marginal” households came to 1.34 million as of March last year, a sharp increase from 1.12 million three years earlier, according to Rep. Lee Un-ju of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea.Their combined debts totaled 234.5 trillion won (US$210 billion).Marginal households refer to families with more financial liabilities than their financial

[THE INVESTOR] China’s leading social commerce site will pick popular restaurants in Seoul for Chinese travelers here, according to the state-run tourism agency said on Sept. 27.The state-run Korea Tourism Organization said it has signed an agreement with Meituan Dianping, China’s No. 1 restaurant and entertainment review and daily deals website, to share big data related to Chinese travelers.The first joint project will be selecting the best restaurants and gourmet streets in Seoul based on rev

[THE INVESTOR] A total of 23 South Korean companies have racked up profits for the past 66 consecutive quarters, according to industry data on Sept. 27.The companies, which include Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis, SK Telecom and POSCO, have posted net profit from 2000 to the second quarter of the year, according to the data compiled by industry tracker CEO Score.Of the tallied firms, Naver, Hyundai Glovis and 17 others have not reported losses after they began to unveil quarterly business results,

[THE INVESTOR] The low pension subscription rate in South Korea poses a serious challenge in managing the growing elderly population, according to a local research institute on Sept. 27. According to the Hana Institute of Finance, the subscription rate for personal and retirement pensions in South Korea is 23.4 percent. By comparison, this is less than one-third the rate in Germany (71.3 percent) and falls far behind other countries like the United States (47.1 percent) and Britain (43.3 percent

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean refiners may see better earnings than expected for the third quarter on the back of rebounded refining margins in August, according to industry sources on Sept. 27. The benchmark Singapore complex gross refining margin hovered above US$7 per barrel this month, sharply up from US$3.9 in August, according to the sources. Singapore is the regional trading hub of the benchmark Dubai crude.The margin is the difference between the total value of petroleum products from oil