The South Korean government has rolled up its sleeves once again to help virus-battered small businesses. Next Wednesday it plans to expand its ongoing emergency loan program for merchants and entrepreneurs, and a Finance Ministry representative said it will also try to minimize the impact of the lockdown measures on the economy. 　 “The government has raised the credit limit on the second round of its emergency lending program, from the previous 10 million won ($8,620) to 20 million won

SEJONG -- The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating digital transformation and the world needs to prepare for this structural change in a post-pandemic era, South Korea's finance minister has said. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks at an online meeting of the Group of 20 Finance and Health Ministers on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement. Hong said the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and contactless solutions in businesses and society, while increasing the

Hong reiterates need for expansionary fiscal move amid COVID-19

Debt per capita climbs to W15.4m in 2020, from W11.5m in 2015

Users of Toss, a local financial services app operated by Viva Republica, spent 65 percent of their disaster relief funds in less than a month, the company said Thursday, referring to its data analysis. According to the estimate, 65 percent of the total 395.2 billion won ($336.5 million) in spending by 778,000 recipients was spent before end-May, after the Korean government started to dole out some 14 trillion won to every Korean household that month. Viva Republica compiled the data from use

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, said Thursday it has suspended two of its domestic plants as at least eight workers have been confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus. Kia halted the operations of two plants in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, from late Wednesday and sent all of the 6,000 plant workers home, a company spokesman said over the phone. "As of 3:30 p.m., nine assembly line workers were confirmed to have been infected with the virus," he sai

South Korea and China on Thursday began to operate irregular flights to allow Korean residents in China who returned here due to the coronavirus outbreak to go back, the transport ministry said. Korean Air Lines Co. and Xiamen Airlines will offer a total of seven flights from Incheon, west of Seoul, to Qingdao, Zhengzhou and Xiamen from Thursday until Oct. 15, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. All passengers are required to submit the results of a coronavirus te

SEJONG -- Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Thursday asked the National Assembly to approve a fourth supplementary budget by early next week, in order to give emergency handouts to small merchants ahead of the Chuseok holiday season. The ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition People Power Party reached an agreement earlier this week to vote on the fourth extra budget bill this coming Tuesday. That day is a potential deadline for the government to provide relief handouts to small mercha

South Korean retail investors have poured nearly 100 trillion won ($85.2 billion) into domestic and overseas stocks this year amid ample liquidity and low interest rates, data showed Thursday. Individual investors' net buying of shares traded on the country's main KOSPI and secondary KOSDAQ markets came to 55.9 trillion won as of Wednesday this year, according to the data from the Korea Exchange. Investor deposits at brokerage houses for stock investment stood at 56.7 trillion won as of Tuesd

Acknowledging South Korea’s relatively effective control of COVID-19 and its appropriate fiscal response, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently increased its outlook for Asia’s fourth-largest economy this year, officials said Wednesday. It also reiterated the need to sustain expansionary fiscal policies, warning that hasty belt-tightening as the economy is slowly recovering could dampen growth prospects for next year. In its biannual Interim Economic

Market feels prolonged impact from record-long monsoon rains, typhoons

South Korean entertainment giant CJ Group executive Lee Mie-kyung, widely known as Miky Lee, has been chosen as vice chairwoman of the board of the Academy Museum opening next year in Los Angeles. According to the homepage of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wednesday, its board of trustees has appointed Netflix's CEO Ted Sarandos as chair and Miky Lee as vice-chair. Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos was named treasurer, while producer Kimberly Steward was reelected as secretary.

KB Financial Group said Wednesday it has selected chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo as the final candidate for the post of chief of the South Korean banking giant. Yoon, who has been leading KB Financial since 2014, will begin a third three-year term as KB Financial chairman if approved at the KB Financial's extraordinary shareholders' meeting in November. Under his leadership, KB Financial has been racing to expand non-banking business in a bid to diversify its revenue sources. (Yonhap)

South Korean airlines will not impose fuel surcharges on international routes in October on low oil prices caused by the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Wednesday. The surcharge for one-way tickets on international routes will remain at zero next month, unchanged from a month earlier, according to the sources. Local air carriers' fuel surcharges on international routes will stay at zero for the seventh consecutive month, raising expectations that the zero rate may last down the ro

South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. said Wednesday it has delivered the world's first container ship powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a Singaporean shipping company. The LNG-powered container ship with a capacity of 14,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) is one of six ships to be built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries for Singapore's Eastern Pacific Shipping in a 2018 deal. The other ships will be delivered by the third quarter of 2022, the company said