For KT&G, the nation’s top tobacco maker, this year will be a turning point in its growth as the company’s overseas sales are expected to surpass its domestic sales for the first time.“As the domestic market has taken its toll due to various reasons, including the falling number of smokers, (we) are seeking stronger overseas sales,” KT&G said in an email interview with The Korea Herald. “The experts inside and outside KT&G agree that this year will be KT&G’s turning point for its overseas sales

South Korea’s economic growth lagged behind the average of the G20 member countries for four consecutive years, data showed Sunday. Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its gross domestic product grow by 3.3 percent in 2014, lower than the G20’s 3.4 percent average, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported in its quarterly national accounts of GDP. South Korea’s GDP growth has come short of the G20 average since 2011, when the growth rate reached 3.7 percent, and stayed at

The country’s top financial regulator designate vowed on Tuesday stronger protection of consumers and market stability by bringing high household debt under control.Yim Jong-yong, the nominee for the chairman of the Financial Services Commission, picked household debt as the most pressing issue that is weighing on the economy.“The household debt problem requires tremendous responsibility (from the regulator) and risk management,” he said at a confirmation hearing. The FSC needs to further streng

The Korean won and stocks tumbled Monday as strong U.S. job data increased expectations that the U.S. central bank would raise its interest rate sooner than projected.The won-dollar exchange rose 13.4 won to 1,112.1 won as investors offloaded their Korean won holdings for the dollar, making the won weaker. This is the first time that the won-dollar exchange rose above the 1,110 mark since Dec. 8, 2014, at 1,117.7 won. U.S. job data showed Friday that its unemployment rate reached 5.5 percent las

The number of self-hired workers declined to all-time low last year, as the economic slowdown struck harder on start-ups than salaried workers, data showed Friday. The percentage of self-hired workers fell to 22.1 percent in 2014, down 0.4 percent from a year ago, according to data revealed by Statistics Korea and KB Financial Group’s management research institute.While the number of all workers grew 550,000 to 18.7 million on-year, the total number of self-hired workers rose only 1,000. The gro

The government and the ruling Saenuri Party have agreed to raise the minimum wage and begun preparations to discuss the legislation with opposition parties.“We will put in our utmost effort to find common ground between the ruling and opposing parties over the minimum wage increase,” Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min said in the party’s supreme council meeting Thursday.Yoo’s remarks came after Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan, who also serves as deputy prime minister, stressed the ne

Retail industries are expressing concerns about the new tough anticorruption law that was passed in the National Assembly on Tuesday, on fears of revenue falling.In particular, golf clubs, department stores and high-end restaurant industries voiced discontent with the so-called Kim Young-ran bill, claiming that the law would likely drag down domestic consumption by incriminating even businesspeople and civil servants who attend casual business gatherings.The bill, to go into effect September 201

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index recovered to the 2,000 mark for the first time in five months on expectations of growing tech business and stronger quantitative easing in the eurozone and the U.S.The benchmark KOSPI closed at 2,001.38, up 4.57, or 0.23 percent, on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations index, or KOSDAQ, also finished higher at 625.64, up 3.83, or 0.62 percent. The KOSPI started at 2,000.26, thanks to the overnight Wall Street gains of the KO

Korean food exporters plan to lure Japan, the world’s largest importer of Korean food, at the annual international food expo in Tokyo, the Agriculture Ministry said Monday. A total of 56 Korean food exporters will set up booths at the Korean segment of the 40th Foodex Japan, in Makuhari Messe, from March 3-6. The event will host 2,977 exhibitors from 79 countries and is expected to draw some 80,000 trade professionals.“In recent years, Japanese food suppliers have been relying more on imports th

The nation’s private education spending per child in 2014 edged up 1.2 percent on-year from a year earlier, Statistics Korea said on Sunday. Officials attributed the increase to a sharp rise in spending on private tutoring for art, music and physical education, from 47,000 won in 2013 to 50,000 won in 2014. The agency suveyed 78,000 students and parents of 1,189 elementary, middle and high school students nationwide. Despite the fall in consumption last year, high-income parents turned out to ha

The majority of pet foods ordered from overseas by Korean online shoppers last year were seized and trashed at the quarantine service for phytosanitary reasons, the Food Ministry said Sunday.The National Plant Quarantine Service confiscated 2,231 packages, or 93.3 percent of the total pet foods and animal feeds that entered the country via airmail in 2014, the ministry said.According to the ministry data, pet foods take up about 82.4 percent of all airmailed packages that failed the quarantine i

Global food manufacturers find the Chinese market a tough nut to crack.The U.S. government recently complained about China’s subsidies to enterprises including food manufacturers. Last year, E-mart, Korea’s largest supermarket chain, pulled out of China after 17 years of operations there.Despite such difficulties, the Chinese food market, with its 1.4 billion customers, is still enticing to exporters. “We cannot miss out on the food export market,” said Lee Ju-myeung, director general of the Foo

Financial authorities said Thursday that local lenders would launch a massive program to cut the cost of loans for borrowers next month as a way to curb rising household debts.Under the new loan-transfer program, the money will go to help households seeking to refinance their mortgage lending at cheaper rates.The Financial Services Commission said the debt-refinancing program will start on March 24 and run until the sales reaches 20 trillion won.The measure came amid reports that the nation’s ho

Shinhan Financial Group tapped CEO Cho Yong-byoung of Shinhan BNP Paribas as the new head of Shinhan Bank, group officials said Tuesday. Cho, 58, will replace outgoing president Suh Jin-won, 64, who offered to resign in January citing health reasons. Cho’s nomination will get final approval at soon-to-be-held meetings of board of directors and shareholders, bank officials said. Recognized as being neutral among different power groups in Shinhan, the new bank chief secured the position after comp

Korean companies paid a record-high $10 billion in dividends to foreign shareholders last year, the central bank said Monday. The Bank of Korea said a total of $10.28 billion was paid to nonresident investors in 2014, exceeding the previous record of $7 billion in 2006. This is the highest figure since 1980, when the nation’s financial authorities began keeping track of foreign dividend payouts, a move to monitor the outflow of national wealth. “The Korean companies’ (earnings to) foreign divide

Fixed indemnity health plans, or reimbursement-backed medical insurance, was the first type of health coverage in the U.S. Under South Korean regulations on indemnity health plans, patients are eligible for reimbursement of 90 percent of medical costs not covered by state medical insurance. These plans typically require enrollment fees and monthly premiums, which are raised every three to five years. “I signed up for an IHP because I needed periodic treatment for my atopic dermatitis,” said Song

South Korean quarantine authorities are examining Canadian beef imports, following a recent notification from the Canadian government of an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Sunday that Canadian beef imports here could be categorically banned if found to pose a substantial threat to public health.“We were notified by the Canadian Embassy to Korea on Feb. 11, Canada time, that a full-grown cow at a ranch in Al

Korea’s emissions rights exchange has remained dormant since its launch last month, as companies refrained from trading, data showed on Wednesday. Since its opening on Jan. 12, total trading volume stood at just 11.5 million won ($10,500), or 1,380 tons of carbon credits, Korea Exchange reported.Actual trading occurred on only four days, the main bourse operator said. The trading volume was the largest on the first day at 9.74 million won, or 1,190 tons. For the next two days, however, the volum

Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan urged the G20 countries to carry out the reform plans that were mutually agreed on last year in order to reap real growth in coming years. “The G20 countries collaborated on more than 1,000 reform plans in 2014, and it is crucial that these agreements are actually met to yield real growth,” Choi said in a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan in Istanbul.Choi arrived in Turkey to attend a series of bilateral meetings, and the G20 Finance Ministe

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to invest 84 billion won ($76.6 million) in a “MAFRA Fund of Funds” this year to foster the nation’s food and farm industries, officials said Monday.The ministry said that it would use 50 billion won from state funds and collect the remainder from the private sector. It plans to invest the money in investors’ cooperatives or private equity funds. Ministry officials said the corpus would be invested in six funds, yet to be created within t