A handful of large companies in South Korea continued to dominate the country’s exports and imports, according to data released by the Korea Customs Service and Statistics Korea.As per the export data, 805 large companies -- just 0.8 percent of total exporting firms -- accounted for 66.6 percent in 2018, an on-year increase of 0.3 percentage point.The value of imports by 1,092 large businesses increased by 0.2 percentage point to reach $323 billion, having a 61 percent share of all imports

Top trade officials from South Korea, China and Japan agreed Sunday to accelerate their trilateral free trade talks and ramp up efforts to conclude a mega Asia-Pacific trade deal, Seoul's trade ministry said.South Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo met China's Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and Japan's Economy and Trade Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama for talks in Beijing on how to accelerate regional free trade negotiations, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.T

Oaxaca, a state in Mexico, hopes to learn from South Korea‘s economic miracle and is eager to boost economic ties with the country, its economic secretary told The Korea Herald Thursday. Mario Jesus Rodriguez, the secretary of economy of Oaxaca, and his team, are on a four-day visit to Korea where they hope to learn from the country’s economic development model, he said. “South Korea is important because we know the success of South Korea,” Rodriguez said. “The

South Korea’s consumption remained sluggish in January, in a sign of downward pressure on the country’s economy despite a recovery in exports and industrial output, according to the country’s statistics office Thursday. While industrial production rose for three consecutive months backed by an upturn in exports, consumption saw three straight months of decline due to weak spending during the national holidays in January and a waning of the effects of consumption-boosting meas

Experts criticize measures as lacking detail, focus and quality

South Korea’s exports, the backbone of the country’s economy, seem on course to end their two-year losing streak this year. If they do, it will be a relief for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, whose exports plunged 5.9 percent on-year in 2016 and 7.9 percent in 2015, the country’s first two straight years of decline.  Export data for the first several weeks of the year suggested a rosy start. In the first 20 days of February, exports soared 26.2 percent from a year

Two months after leaders of the two Koreas -- the South’s Kim Dae-jung and North’s Kim Jong-il -- had a historic submit in 2000, a project to launch an economic zone in Kaesong, a North Korean city near the borders of the two Koreas, began. The idea was to create economic synergy by combing South Korea’s capital and technology and North Korea’s cheap labor and land. The South-North joint Kaesong industrial park, a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, produced its firs

South Korea’s current-account surplus narrowed in 2016 from a year ago, central data showed on Friday. The country‘s current account surplus stood at $98.68 billion in 2016, down from a surplus of $105.94 billion a year earlier.  The surplus was the second-largest since the government started to compile the data, but came as a decline in imports is greater than a decrease in exports, an official at the central bank said. “The exports declined last year but imports fel

Downward risks remain amid sluggish consumption

Former Finance Minister Kang Bong-kyun, who led the ministry at the heart of the financial crisis in the late 1990s, passed away Tuesday. Kang suffered from pancreatic cancer for three years before he died at the age of 74.  Kang led the finance ministry for two years after the nation asked the International Monetary Fund to borrow $58 billion in a bailout package in late 1997. He led the reform of conglomerates and financial institutes alike. After heading the ministry under the Kim Dae

When it comes to bequeathing a fortune, South Korea’s superrich prefer stocks over real estate or cash, according to the country’s tax agency on Tuesday. The superrich who transferred at least 5 billion won ($4.3 million) in assets between 2011 and 2015 made combined taxable transfers of assets worth 8.3 trillion won to their children or spouses, the National Tax Service said. The most preferred form of their wealth transfer was in stocks, followed by cash and real estate. Nearly

With US President Donald Trump exuberating execution of controversial policies in the first two weeks in office, his “America First” goal would hurt emerging markets including South Korea, financial service company Nomura said in a report published on Friday. Rising US trade protectionism, tougher immigration rules and a reassessment of US foreign policy positions, which seem to be at the heart of President Trump’s “America First” goal, would make emerging markets

One day before South Korea and China are scheduled to hold the first meeting of the free trade agreement joint committee, the trade minister here said Thursday that he is considering discussing about recent trade issues with China over Seoul’s decision to deploy a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile battery. “We will raise the relation between issues raised by Korean companies and the deployment of THAAD during the meeting of the Korea-China FTA joint

South Korea’s number of jobless hit 1 million for the first time last year, with young job seekers suffering the most, the latest data from the national statistics bureau showed Wednesday.  The unemployment rate for last year was 3.7 percent, the highest since 2010, inching up 0.1 percentage point from the previous year, with the number of jobless reaching 1.01 million, Statistics Korea data showed. It was the first time the tally had exceeded 1 million since the statistics agency ad

As the monetary policy committee of the country’s central bank is set to have its first meeting of the year on Friday, eyes are fixed on their decisions on benchmark interest rates and economic growth projection. At the meeting, the committee will unveil its revised growth target and decide on the interest rate.  The meeting is likely to cut the forecast for economic growth. In the previous projection in October, the Bank of Korea had set its gross domestic product forecast at a 2.8