Women took up 22.6 percent of the entire workforce in South Korea‘s top 600 firms last year, data by the Korea Economic Research Institute showed Sunday. Among the 531 firms, those that were available for study out of the 600 non finance companies, a total of 254,452 employees were women, an increase of 27,424 from 2012. The proportion of women has gradually increased, rising by 0.1 percent fro...

South Korea’s five largest securities firms in net worth are expected to submit applications to start short-term financing businesses Friday. The firms -- Mirae Asset Daewoo, NH Investment & Securities, KB Securities, Samsung Securities and Korea Investment & Securities -- are planning to apply for eligibility reviews to start financing businesses from the third quarter of this year, according t...

Kakao, the operator of mobile messenger KakaoTalk and web portal Daum, will be relisted on the top-tier Kospi market Monday, after delisting itself from the second-tier Kosdaq, stock market operator Korea Exchange said Wednesday. The Kosdaq-listed information technology powerhouse was granted approval to move some 67.8 million ordinary shares from the Kosdaq to Kospi on Tuesday, 40 days after it...

South Korea’s main stock market rebounded Wednesday from a brief retreat after North Korea’s missile launch, but the foreign selling trend continued a second day. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Market Index rose 0.33 percent to close at 2,388.35 on Wednesday, after a 0.58 percent loss the previous day, the third-largest since May. Foreign investors net sold 8.9 billion won ($7.7 million)...

South Korea and the United States staged a massive combined ballistic missile exercise Wednesday, sending a warning message to North Korea, the allies' militaries said, a day after the communist country claimed a successful long-range missile test. They fired a barrage of missiles, including the South's Hyunmoo-2A and the US Eighth Army's ATACMS, into the East Sea, according to the Joint Chiefs ...

Emerging markets should brace for signs of monetary policy shifts in developed nations, and South Korea will remain vigilant to such signs that are moving toward ending a decade of fiscal stimulus, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Tuesday. “The massive amount of cash flow into global financial markets will be on the decrease at any rate,” Lee said, while presiding over a conference on economi...

Korea Exchange gave Kakao, which is listed on the second-tier stock market, a nod of approval for entry into the main bourse Monday, 40 days after the company applied for the change. Stocks of Kakao showed a tepid response Tuesday upon the news released after Monday’s market closing. Kakao closed at 98.300 won ($85.40) Tuesday, down 1.11 percent from the previous day. The operator of mobile mes...

Golf-loving South Koreans, estimated at over 6 million, according to the Korea Golf Association, have long had trouble booking the best golf course to enjoy a round. Finding the nearest golf course open for reservation, out of 522 across the nation, is often a hassle for players. Moreover, those booking a golf club have to bear the burden of paying deposits for reservations. In April, GOLFZON C...

Choi Jong-ku, CEO of the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea, has been nominated as the chairman of the Financial Services Commission. Cheong Wa Dae on Monday said it expected Choi to become a game changer in curbing household debt, tackling unemployment, stabilizing people‘s quality of life and seeking efficiency in corporate restructuring. “As a nominee of the FSC chief in charge of craftin...

A set of bills to give cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ethereum, legal grounds is being prepared by a South Korean lawmaker, a long-awaited move to protect South Koreans from potential risks in transactions. Rep. Park Yong-jin of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said in a release Monday he would introduce three revisions in July to build a set of regulatory frameworks for digital cur...

Foreign investors’ net purchase of South Korean stocks are estimated to go beyond 10 trillion won ($8.7 billion) in the first half of 2017, the highest since 2009, data showed Sunday. Their combined net purchase in the first-tier and second-tier stock markets reached 10.3 trillion won from January until Friday, according to data by Koscom, a market watcher launched by the Finance Ministry and th...

South Korea’s main bourse index touched 2,400 for the first time in its history in early morning trade Thursday, before closing at record-high. Opening at 2,396.81, up 0.6 percent from Wednesday’s close, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index surpassed 2,400 at around 9:50 a.m. Thursday. Following the historic touch, the Kospi closed at 2,395.66, up 0.55 percent from the day before. It...

Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn has been at the vanguard of fostering business cooperation with the United States, years before uncertainties emerged upon the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has expressed skepticism toward the two countries’ free trade agreement. Kim’s ties with leading business figures in the US, including Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner, has mad...

The Composite Consumer Sentiment Index in South Korea hit a new high for the last six years and five months, data showed Tuesday. The CCSI reached 111.1 in June, up 3.1 points from the previous month, according to data from the Bank of Korea. This marked the highest since it recorded 111.4 in January 2011. The index surged for five consecutive months after dropping for three straight months to ...