South Korea will delay implementing its low-carbon vehicle incentive system until 2020 to minimize the fallout for customers and the automobile industry, government policymakers said Tuesday.The announcement, reached at a meeting of economic ministers, indicated that while the government would avoid burdening carmakers and consumers, it would encourage people to buy green cars by offering various incentives.The move will help improve the average greenhouse gas emission mileage standard for the c

South Korea’s household debt is increasing on account of the government’s latest push to boost the housing market and due to a rate cut, according to industry watchers. The total mortgage loans issued by the nation’s seven major banks rose to 301 trillion won ($296 billion) last month, marking a 4 trillion won increase from 297 trillion won in July, according to data from the banking sector. This was more than a twofold increase, compared to an average monthly increase of 1.6 trillion won since

Shin Myung-soo. (Yonhap)Former Shindongbang Group chairman Shin Myung-soo, 73, died last Saturday from colorectal cancer. Shin was a well-known entrepreneur who contributed to the growth of South Korea’s food processing industry. He started his career at Shindongbang Corp. in 1967 and served as a chief executive of the company until 1999. Hit by the Asian currency crisis, the company faced financial difficulties and units of the company were merged into Sajo Haepyo in 1999 and CJ Group in 2002.B

The Korean government is advised to push for the growth of the mobile payment market, not to hold back on security concerns. “Too many concerns over security online may hamper the mobile massenger payment market in an infant stage of growth,” Kim Yeong-rin, president of the Financial Security Agency, told The Korea Herald in a recent interview.His remark came amid growing security concerns over the financial services to be offered by the nation’s most-used mobile messenger, Kakao Talk.Kim Yeong-

The state-run Korea Development Bank is actively promoting technology financing in a bid to keep up with the government’s latest efforts to boost high-tech start-ups that have trouble securing funds. Technology financing involves loans secured on a borrower’s technology. Despite South Korea’s reputation as an IT powerhouse, start-ups still find it difficult to raise capital. To provide better support, the Financial Services Commission, the local financial watchdog, announced a plan in April to s

The duty-free allowance for travelers entering South Korea will be raised to $600 from the current $400 on Sept. 5, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Wednesday. This is the first time that the ceiling has been raised since 1988. The government also plans to reduce taxes on travelers who voluntarily report items they are bringing in. They are expected to have a 30 percent tax deduction of up to 150,000 won ($147). However, those who report untruthfully will have to pay additional tax. The

South Korea’s iconic community development movement ― Saemaul Undong ― is to be expanded to developing countries in a joint effort with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, according to a top banker on Tuesday. “The global spread of the Saemaul Movement in partnership with the IFAD is very meaningful for South Korea, the only nation to have transformed into an aid donor from a recipient,” Seop Shim, senior executive director of Korea Eximbank, told The Korea Herald at the bank’s

The nation's governing body of professional football on Friday approved a proposal by a local business conglomerate to found a new club for next season.In its board meeting, the K League gave the green light to Eland to launch a new team to be based in Seoul.     Eland, which operates about 250 affiliates in retail, apparels and food service, had first declared its intention to get into professional football in April.Eland will use the Jamsil Olympic Stadium in southern Seoul as its home base, a

South Korea’s state-run utility giant Korea Electric Power Corp. is pushing ahead with an undersea power grid project between South Korea and Japan in an effort to export electricity to the neighboring country, according to a local media report on Friday. The project aims to connect South Korea’s second-largest metropolis of Busan via Tsushima (Daemado Island), a Japanese island situated between Korea and Japan, to Japan’s Kyushu Island, with a 200-kilometer undersea cable. A KEPCO official said

Unidentified hackers, suspected to be based in China, have been caught trying to steal data from media reporters covering South Korea's Ministry of National Defense, ministry officials said Friday."We've confirmed that a handful of reporters covering the ministry have received an e-mail which carries the malicious code this week," a ministry official said, explaining that once the email is opened, it automatically imbeds the virus code into the computer."The code embedded into the computer is me

South Korea’s card spending stood at around 50 trillion won ($48 billion) last month, up by 2.4 trillion won ― or 5.1 percent ― from the same period last year, according to the Credit Finance Association of Korea on Thursday. Though the spending rose, the on-year growth rate was still below the 7.2 percent recorded in July last year. The association said this was due to the nation’s prolonged economic downturn. “In recent months, consumers’ disposable income dropped because of rising apartment r

Chinese tourists are expected to spend over 30 trillion won ($29 billion) in the domestic market in 2020, according to industry data. According to a report published by Hana Daetoo Securities, the number of Chinese tourists in South Korea will reach 15 million by 2020 based on an annual average growth rate of 20 percent. They are predicted to spend around 30 trillion won in that year to record a five-fold increase from last year’s 6 trillion won. The 30-trillion-won figure corresponds to around

The Myanmarese economic deputy minister is expected to meet with Lotte Group’s vice chairman Lee In-won in early September when he visits here. The two are expected to discuss business opportunities centering on calls from Myanmar to Lotte to invest more in Myanmar’s food and hotel businesses, according to industry sources. Lee Jae-hyuk, chief executive of Lotte Chilsung Beverage, a unit of Lotte Group, will also reportedly accompany the Lotte vice chairman to the meeting. “We believe Myanmar’s

South Korea aims to bolster its forest partnership with Central Asia by sharing its forest expertise and boosting cooperation in restoring the region’s damaged forest ecosystem, the national forestry chief said.“Central Asia is becoming an important region to South Korea as a growing number of Korean companies have been making inroads into the countries, which have abundant natural resources and high growth potential,” said Shin Won-sop, minister of the Korea Forest Service, in an interview with

The government is expected to unveil an improved corporate pension plan at the end of this year with an extension of corporate pension plans and deregulation on the of their operations.Under the proposed revision of the corporate pension system, Korean companies with over 300 employees will be obliged to run a retirement pension plan for their employees by 2016, and this will be expanded to all companies by 2024.State-run think tank Korea Development Institute proposed the improvements at the po

A former CEO of LIG Insurance is expected to become the new head of the General Insurance Association of Korea, according to industry sources Thursday. The sources said that one of the two candidates selected by the nomination committee ― Kim Woo-Jin, former vice chairman of LIG Insurance ― stepped down, leaving only Jang Nam-sik, former chief executive of LIG Insurance in the race.Jang holds a bachelor’s degree in social science from Seoul National University. He has worked for LIG Insurance fo

South Korea’s trade volume with Japan has seen a decline recently on the back of a weak yen and Seoul’s reduced reliance on importing industrial parts and materials from the country, according to the Korea International Trade Association. KITA said trade volume between the two nations had reached $42.9 billion in the first half of this year to record a 9.8 percent drop from the same period last year. The figure is the lowest since 2009, in the midst of the global financial crisis, when trade vol

Choi Kyung-hwan, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs and finance minister, urged economic ministers Friday to step up their efforts to help pass economic stimulus bills pending in the National Assembly. “Legislative support is needed from the National Assembly in order to revive the economy. However, many of the economic stimulus bills are still pending, dragging down the government’s push to jumpstart the slowing economy,” Choi said in an emergency meeting with economy-related minist

Global agricultural leaders and professionals are to gather next month at the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage Congress hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Korea Rural Community Corporation. The ICID Congress ― the largest international conference on irrigation and drainage ― will bring together up to 1,200 government officials and specialists from 60 countries who will share their knowledge and research in Gwangju from Sept. 14-20.

KB Financial Group, the nation’s largest financial group, expects its persistent efforts toward business diversification to help it overcome a recent crisis involving extensive data leaks. The diversification scheme is mainly focused on weaning the group off its traditional banking businesses to branch out into non-banking sectors, such as insurance and loan brokering.One example is its launch of KB Capital in March, following its acquisition of Woori Financial.Only five months in, KB Capital ha