Oil-related tax revenue in South Korea reached a record high last year as low oil prices fueled demand for petroleum goods, government data showed Monday.The country's oil tax revenue totaled a record 23.7 trillion won ($20.6 billion) in 2016, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data. (Yonhap)The figure has been on the rise since 2014 when global oil prices started to fall. It rose to 20.8 trillion won in 2014 and 21.8 trillion won in 2015 from 20.4 trillion won in 2013.The upti

Bondholders of Hanjin Shipping Co., declared bankrupt last week, are feared to face up to 1.2 trillion won ($1.05 billion) in losses, industry sources said Monday.According to the sources, Hanjin Shipping's privately placed debt offerings were tallied at 939 billion won, while its publicly placed debt sale amounts to 250 billion won. (Yonhap)The state-run Korea Development Bank, other state-run debt guarantee agencies, and retail investors are feared to shoulder up to 1.2 trillion won worth of l

Less than one in five South Korean manufacturers of medical supplies and equipment said they plan to increase new research and development (R&D) jobs, a survey showed Monday, despite the government's push to become a global biotech and medical industry hub.According to the survey by the Korea Medical Devices Industrial Coop. Association of 267 medical device manufacturers, only 17 percent said they have decided to add R&D positions over the next two years. The survey showed that 52 percent of th

Some 800,000 small businesses open shop annually, but about half of them go bankrupt within two years, statistics showed Monday.A report released by Statistics Korea said that among businesses that started in 2013, 62.4 percent were still in operation a year later. The rate fell to 47.5 percent two years later, and further dipped to 38.8 percent after three years.  (Yonhap)The third-year tally placed South Korea 25th among the 26 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Dev

More than half of exporters in South Korea are against a proposed revision to the commercial law aimed at limiting the power of large shareholders in their respective firms that often comes at the expense of smaller shareholders, a survey showed Monday.In a recent survey conducted by the Korea International Trade Association, 50.5 percent of heads of 791 local export companies said they were against the revision currently sought by opposition parties. Rep. Jeong Kap-yoon (third from R, independe

South Korea‘s self-sufficiency rate of grain, beef and seafood sharply fell last year as imported food items appealed to consumer tastes with their lower prices and variety of flavors, according to government data on Sunday.The nation’s self-sufficiency rate of grain, excluding feed for animals, dropped to 48.4 percent in 2016, from 55.6 percent in 2010, showed the data by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.  (Yonhap)South Korea imports most of its animal feed. Including animal

South Korea’s media content production grew at a pace faster than the growth rate recorded in the global market in 2015, securing the country a status as the world‘s seventh largest content creator, a state agency said Sunday.South Korea’s media content market stood at $52 billion as of 2015, up 6.1 percent from the previous year, according to a recent report by the Korea Creative Content Agency. A global webtoon show in Busan in 2016. (Yonhap file photo)During the same period, the global conten

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, said Sunday it will build a network for the so-called Internet of Things in Bangkok and Phuket. Under a contract with Thailand's state-owned CAT Telecom, signed last Friday, SK Telecom plans to build the network and start a trial service of IoT in April, the company said in a statement.  Cha In-hyeok (2nd from L), head of SK Telecom's IoT business shakes hands with CAT Telecom's chief executive, Sanpachai Huvanandana, after signing a contract in

The global market for automotive semiconductors is expected to grow 7.1 percent annually by 2020, fueled by strong investment by carmakers into electric and self-driving cars, according to a market estimate on Sunday. With semiconductor demand for cars growing, Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. have expanded their automotive semiconductor businesses.  (Yonhap)Research firm Gartner recently predicted that the global market for automotive chips would grow to $42.4 billion in 2020 from $32.

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest carmaker, saw its sales in China last month plunge 38.9 percent on month, amid a dispute with some of its Chinese dealers over inventory, according to company and industry sources on Sunday. Kia's sales fell to 30,080 units in January in China, from 49,259 units in December last year.  This photo shows Kia Motors Corp.'s KX7 sport-utility vehicle. (Kia Motors)Industry sources suggested that Kia may seek to reduce its unsold cars before it begins sel

PARIS (AFP) -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Sunday that if US President-elect Donald Trump moves the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem it would have "extremely serious consequences".Speaking as 70 countries gather in Paris to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, Ayrault told French TV he believed Trump would find it "impossible" to carry out his threat to transfer the embassy.

PARIS (Yonhap) -- The French equivalent to the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) has added Korean as one of its formal foreign language subjects, the Korean Embassy to France said Sunday.Korean became the 23rd foreign language of the Baccalaureat, an academic test that French students take at the end of high school.Anyone who passes the national exam can advance to tertiary education. Asian languages that are already included on the test include Chinese and Japanese.The French govern

ELLENTON, Florida (AP) -- After 146 years, the curtain is coming down on "The Greatest Show on Earth." The owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus told The Associated Press that the show will close forever in May. The iconic American spectacle was felled by a variety of factors, company executives say. Declining attendance combined with high operating costs, along with changing public tastes and prolonged battles with animal rights groups all contributed to its demise."There isn't

BAGHDAD (AP) -- An Iraqi military spokesman says government troops have fully liberated the sprawling complex of Mosul University, a major step in the massive operation to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul.The spokesman of the Joint Military Command, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, declared Sunday that the campus was under the full control of Iraqi special forces, officially known as the Counter Terrorism Service, who raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings.Iraqi forces entered the universit

Two South Korean women said they were sexually attacked by a taxi driver while traveling to a night market in Taipei, according to local reports and the Korean foreign ministry on Sunday.According to the reports, three Korean women hired a taxi around 6 p.m. on Thursday to visit the popular Shilin Night Market.The taxi driver, identified only by his surname Chan, was said to have given them a soft drink while heading to the market. Two of them, sitting at the back, passed out after drinking it w

A South Korean financial regulator will attend an international forum in Hong Kong this week to discuss ways to deal with external uncertainties, his office said Sunday.Jeong Eun-bo, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, plans to join the 10th Asian Financial Forum to be held on Monday and Tuesday. Jeong Eun-bo, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, in a file photo (Yonhap)He is scheduled to deliver a speech on South Korea's financial system and efforts to effectively

South Korea's financial authorities are increasingly concerned about the debt risk of self-employed people, striving to address the chronic household debt problem, officials said Sunday.Household credit in the major Asian economy totaled 1,295.8 trillion won ($1,098 billion) as of end-September last year, up 11.2 percent from a year earlier. The volume has apparently exceeded 1,300 trillion won, given the trend of monthly growth. Doh Kyu-sang, head of the financial policy bureau at the Financial

Bank loans extended to self-employed people in South Korea have grown sharply amid an economic slump and weak demand for workers in the corporate sector, data showed Sunday.Outstanding loans for self-employed people by the country's five major banks -- Shinhan, KB Kookim, Woori, KEB Hana and NH -- nearly doubled to 180.4 trillion won ($153 billion) from 96.6 trillion won in 2010, according to the banking data. Clothing is on sale at a Seoul store in this undated file photo. (Yonhap)The total gre

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. has developed a virtual reality (VR) program on road safety in partnership with Austria's automobile association, company officials said Sunday.The Samsung Drive is designed to provide applicants for driving tests and inexperienced drivers with more skills to deal with various traffic conditions, they added. The Samsung Drive virtual reality device in a photo provided by Samsung Electronics Co. (Yonhap)It will be used at driving training sites across Austria

South Korea‘s job market is under strain from not only a rising unemployment rate but also an increasing number of people who have been jobless for a long time, data showed Sunday.The number of jobseekers surpassed 1 million in 2016 for the first time since 2000, according to Statistics Korea.Of the total, 133,000 were unemployed for more than half a year, accounting for 13.1 percent of the unemployed.It marks the highest number since 13.8 percent was posted in 2002.The rate reached double digit