The government is seeking to alleviate the fallout of local oil refiners’ move to raise product prices that were temporarily lowered to help stem inflationary pressure, sources said Thursday.The Ministry of Knowledge Economy recently held talks with local oil companies and called for a “soft landing” approach when they move to mark up gasoline and diesel fuel after July 6, they said.In April, SK I

The worldwide semiconductor market is forecast to expand 7.2 percent in 2011 from last year, driven by robust demand for smartphones and tablet PCs, a market researcher said Thursday.Revising up its earlier forecast, IHS iSuppli estimated that global semiconductor revenues will reach $325.9 billion this year, compared with $304.1 billion in 2010. It previously estimated 7 percent annual growth.The

Korea’s financial watchdog plans to curb excessive growth of household debt by tightening banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios and requiring non-bank institutions to raise loan-loss reserves, its head said Thursday.Korea is grappling with snowballing household debt as heavy indebtedness is feared to crimp economic growth by putting restraints consumer spending. The government plans to unveil a set of mea

Korean exports are expected to surpass the $500 billion mark for the first time ever this year, helped by the steady pace of global economic growth, a private think tank said Wednesday.The Samsung Economic Research Institute report said South Korea is expected to ship out a total of $555.7 billion worth of goods this year, up 19.2 percent from $466.4 billion worth of products exported in 2010.It s

Global investment index provider MSCI Inc. retained Korea’s emerging market status on its global equities index, citing problems stemming from its market rigidity and lack of accessibility.The move represents another setback for Korea. MSCI left Korea’s status unchanged in 2009 and 2010 due to the “rigidity” of its investor identification system and lack of an active offshore market for the Korean

Huh had secret meeting with ex-P.M. Chung over ‘profit-sharing’The head of the Federation of Korean Industries has expressed his opposition to a ruling party move to scrap the tax reduction plan.Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, FKI chairman Huh Chang-soo, who is also GS Group chairman, said he opposes the plan because he believes companies can invest more when they have the means to do so.B

Creditors of Daewoo Electronics Corp. are seeking to sell the third-largest electronics firm in Korea to a Swedish company following their failed sale efforts with the initial preferred bidder from Iran, sources said Tuesday.Creditors including Korea Asset Management Corp. sealed a contract in last November with Iranian electronics firm Entekhab Industrial Group to sell their combined 97.5 percent

Korea’s overall corporate profitability worsened in the first quarter from a year ago as oil costs rose and the local currency’s gain dented prices of export goods, the central bank said Tuesday.The average ratio of operating profit to sales, a key barometer of profitability, reached 6.3 percent in the January-March period, down from 7.2 percent from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a rep

Korea may be hard pressed to meet an expected hike in summer power use as demand growth is likely to exceed the country’s supply capabilities, the government said Monday.The country’s maximum power demand from June through August is forecast to rise 7 percent on-year to 74.77 million kilowatts, while supply will likely go up 6.2 percent to 78.97 million kilowatts, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy

The heads of Korea’s major think tanks Monday emphasized the importance of the nation’s continued efforts to “normalize” macroeconomic policies, citing a sufficient amount of liquidity unleashed in the domestic market.In their meeting with Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan in central Seoul, they also shared the view that Korea’s economy is faced with growing external risks from slowing recovery in adv

The Korean stock market is expected to face volatility this week as eurozone countries are still mired in a deadlock over solutions to the worsening Greek debt crisis, analysts said.The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, shed 0.72 percent, or 14.74 points, to close at 2,031.93 on Friday. Losses in tech and large cap shares led the market declines.Last week, the local share market suffered a sev

Korean imports of U.S. pork and beef rose at a far faster pace than those of other overseas meat products this year following the outbreak of a contagious animal disease here, government data showed Sunday.Imports of U.S. pork spiked about 2.5-fold from a year ago to 82,569 tons in the January-May period, with overall pork imports rising 121 percent to 179,985 tons, according to the data by a gove

Asiana Airlines Inc. said Friday that it will buy three Korea Express Co. units ― Aas Airport Service, Asiana Airport Development Co. and Kumho Terminal Co. In its regulatory filing, the nation’s second-largest air carrier said it will purchase Kumho Terminal for 255.5 billion won ($235.3 million), Asiana Airport Development for 67.7 billion won and Aas Airport Service for 38.3 billion won. With t

Three are among 11 who received lowest grades in evaluationA government’s evaluation committee has called for the dismissal of the chiefs of three public corporations and institutions over their poor performance.Announcing the results of its assessment on Friday, the panel under the Finance Ministry also said the chiefs of local state-run corporations and institutions were better managers and ramp

Korea will expand the “differentiated rate system” for public services as part of its ongoing efforts to tame inflation, a senior Finance Ministry official said Friday.The differentiated rate system will be applied to such services as electricity and highway toll fees by offering diverse rates based on time, amount of usage and other factors, Vice Finance Minister Yim Jong-yong said at a weekly an

Korea and China have agreed to make efforts for a bilateral free trade agreement to boost trade and further deepen economic ties, the Trade Ministry in Seoul said Thursday.The agreement came at Wednesday’s high-level talks held on Korea’s southernmost resort island of Jeju, in which both sides shared views that a bilateral free trade pact will solidify their economic and trade relations, according

Woori Finance Holdings Co.’s deal to buy a Los Angeles-based bank has fallen through due to regulatory hurdles, sources said Thursday, casting a shadow on its ambition to strengthen its footing in the United States.In May last year, Woori Finance, Korea’s No. 2 banking group, agreed to buy a controlling stake in Hanmi Bank, the flagship of Hanmi Financial Corp., for $240 million in a bid to expand

Korean stocks ended 1.91 percent lower on Thursday as investor sentiment was frozen by concerns about the escalating Greece debt crisis and the pace of the global recovery, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI tumbled 39.9 points to 2,046.63. Trading volume was light at 231.1 million shares worth 5.76 trillion won ($5.28 billion) with losers outpacing

Household loans extended by Korean financial firms grew by the largest amount in four months in April on a sustained increase in home-backed lending, the central bank said Thursday.Household lending handled by local banks and non-bank institutions totaled an outstanding 606.9 trillion won ($558.2 billion) as of the end of April, up 4.6 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of

Robert Taylor, an American entrepreneur living in Seoul, clearly remembers one of his earliest attempts to pitch his life coaching services to a marketing director at a big Korean firm. “For 45 minutes, we sat there while he told me why my business wouldn’t work,” said Taylor. “He assured me that cold calling simply couldn’t succeed in Korea, because everything is based on relationships.”Fortunate