With the presidential election slated for December 2012, the Korean administration is likely to focus on firmer fiscal policy and welfare promotions rather than growth-oriented measures in a bid to appease the low-to-mid-income group, Morgan Stanley said. In a new research report titled “2012 Election Year: Market Implications,” Morgan Stanley forecast that the Korean government will not go for an

The weight of exports in the South Korean economy hit an all-time high in the second quarter, central bank data showed Thursday, underlining the country’s heavy dependence on overseas shipments for economic growth.Seasonally adjusted exports of goods and services amounted to 141.7 trillion won ($134.6 billion) in the April-June period, or 52.68 percent of the gross domestic product, according to t

SK Communications Co. said on Thursday that personal information of its 35 million online users has been hacked, marking South Korea’s worst online security breach and sparking fears that the leak could lead to massive online and voice scams in coming weeks.  (Yonhap News)“The company has confirmed that a leak of customers’ information has taken place due to hacking on July 26,” SK said in a state

Export growth eases, inventory tumbles amid rising pricesSouth Korea’s economic growth slowed down in the second quarter, hurt by lower-than-expected exports and a steep decline in inventory amid intensifying worries over rising prices at home and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Korea’s economy grew 0.8 percent in the April-June period, down from a 1.3 percent expansion in the previous quarte

The largest shareholders at Korea’s listed firms have reaped huge profits through gifted stocks in the past five years, taking advantage of fluctuations in the financial markets, a local source revealed Tuesday. According to Chaebul.com, which tracks news and data on Korea’s conglomerates, gifted stocks or inheritance by the largest shareholders amounted to 3.3 trillion won ($3.1 billion) in the p

With no immediate end in sight for a prolonged strike, the labor and management of SC First Bank appear to be playing a game of chicken over its pay system, which could end up in a no-win situation for both sides, analysts said Tuesday.Irked by a management plan to adopt a novel merit pay system, about 2,900 unionized workers at the seventh-largest lender in South Korea have been striking for the

Finance Ministry, central bank hold first consultation meetingSouth Korea’s Finance Ministry and the central bank held their first meeting to share views on macroeconomic policy on Monday in Seoul, pledging to help coordinate government initiatives to tame inflation, though skepticism lingers about the motive behind the meeting. “Inflation is a common issue confronting the whole world and it start

Mirae Asset Financial Group, Korea’s major mutual fund manager, on Monday formally denied a local report that it is seeking to take over an Italian luxury brand maker. “There is no truth in the news report,” a spokesman at the company’s fund management division told The Korea Herald. “Although our policy is not to comment on such deals, what I can say is that we are not considering such a takeover

Banks, major firms expand hiring of high school graduatesAll eyes are now trained on the corporate sector amid high expectations that South Korean companies at large would hire more high school graduates following an unprecedented move in the banking sector. Last week, Korea’s 18 banks said they would double their hiring quota for high school graduates, largely prompted by the government’s policy

NTS faces legal roadblock to getting portals to offer info about bloggersThe National Tax Service said Thursday it has requested that the country’s major Internet portals provide the personal information of some 1,300 power bloggers on concerns they might be evading taxes. “Early this week, we have asked five to six blog operators including Naver, Daum and SK Communications to offer information ab

False public disclosures surged on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ stock market this year, the Korea Exchange said on Wednesday. As unfair and misleading disclosures by the listed firms tend to increase volatility and distort stock prices, the KRX had toughened its crackdown on such irregularities last year, resulting in a decrease of incidences. But the practice seems to be returning. In the first half of

Overall job market still dominated by men, especially for workers in their 40s and 50sKorea’s overall job market is still dominated by male workers. But when it comes to new jobs for Koreans in their 20s, the opposite is true.The employment rate among women in their 20s hit 59.2 percent in the April-June period this year, slightly above men’s 58.5 percent, Statistics Korea said Wednesday. The late

Flawed recruitment methods render system virtually meaninglessOutside directors at South Korea’s banks and financial firms have been mostly nominated by their largest shareholders and chief executives, undercutting their roles as corporate watchdogs, financial regulators’ data showed on Sunday. Officially, a neutral committee is supposed to name eligible outside directors, whose primary function i

Total investment transactions per year surpass $18.9 trillionThe amount of investment circulating in the South Korean stock, bond and derivatives markets topped 20,000 trillion won ($18.9 trillion) per year, government data showed on Sunday.The Financial Supervisory Service said investment transactions between April 2010 and March 2011 totaled 22,378 trillion won, marking an increase of 500 percen

Korea’s central bank on Thursday froze the key interest rate as external factors such as the eurozone debt problem seemed to take precedence over worries of high inflation at home. The Bank of Korea said it kept the benchmark base rate at 3.25 percent at a monthly monetary policy committee meeting ― a move that was widely expected in the market following a surprise quarter percentage point hike la

Economists say debt may cool business sentiment in second halfEconomists expect inflation to cool with the arrival of harvest season but cautiously forecast that business sentiment will lose steam in the second half of the year on debt both at home and abroad.The central bank froze its policy rate at 3.25 percent Thursday even after having an inflation rate above its 3 percent target range for hal

Troubled companies to be shut downKorea’s creditor banks have singled out some 30 large firms that should either go through a workout program or be forced out of the market. The names of the companies in question, however, remain undisclosed.According to banking sources on Wednesday, local creditor banks completed the evaluation of companies whose loans exceed 50 billion won ($47 million) in late

Cooperative is in process of drastic restructuring to spin off financial operation into separate unitThe capital owned by South Korea’s state-run National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, or Nonghyup, stood at 16.1 trillion won ($15.22 billion) as of May, sparking fresh debate about how much the government should fork out to help it split up its units smoothly.Nonghyup is now drawing up a dras

Regulator pushes banks to improve capital adequacy ratiosKorea’s financial regulator said Monday it will further toughen the standards used to assess savings banks’ fiscal soundness in a bid to accelerate the cleanup of the troubled sector. “The planned assessment of 85 savings banks has started, and banks with BIS capital ratio of less than 8 percent as of late June are now required to submit sel

South Korea’s finance minister said Monday that the government could carry out smoothing operations if the local currency fluctuates sharply against the U.S. dollar.“If there are steep fluctuations in currency rates, our basic stance is that we could implement smoothing operations to ease the herd behavior in the market,” Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told reporters after a meeting with financial