Despite still-unresolved political and economic tensions over an anti-missile system deployment, Seoul and Beijing have agreed to renew their currency swap deal worth 64 trillion won ($56.9 billion) for another three years, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon told reporters in Washington on Friday. 　The two finance officials are currently in Washington to attend a meeting of G-20 finance ministers and the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the Wor

Market Oct. 13, 2017

Amid Korea’s continued strive for increased transparency and regulatory business reforms, the Fair Player Club and US Embassy Seoul hosted a joint seminar on better regulatory compliance in Seoul on Thursday. 　The seminar invited keynote speaker Aaron Szabo, senior adviser for International Regulatory Cooperation of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in Washington, who shared the US’ approach for establishing analytic tools for regulatory design and review. 　“The

Economy Oct. 13, 2017

Korean and American business leaders met in Washington on Tuesday to voice concerns over pending modifications and revisions to the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, as per the US Trump administration’s move to tackle the US’ growing trade deficit.    　During the 29th Joint Conference of Korea-US Business Councils, 30 leaders from Korea and 40 from the US gathered to discuss potential bilateral relationship damages that may result from FTA revisions, as well as voicing di

Economy Oct. 11, 2017

Following the decision to begin talks of amending the Korea-US free trade agreement last week, South Korea’s political parties are bracing for a full-fledged debate during an audit beginning this week, with the opposition lambasting the government for “failing to dodge” the US’ calls.　The National Assembly’s Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee is set to open its audit and inspection session Friday, focusing on the overall effects of the now five-yea

Economy Oct. 10, 2017

Domestic branches of limited-liability companies such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Apple and Microsoft will no longer be exempt from external audits, the Financial Services Commission and the National Tax Service said. 　According to the government agencies’ latest LLC data released Monday, the number of limited-liability companies as of the end of 2015 was 26,858, up 122.1 percent compared to 10 years ago. 　Last month, the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies was amended after years of debate to

Industry Oct. 9, 2017

Apple’s latest iPhone 8 series is expected to be released in South Korea on Nov. 3, with reservations starting at the end of the month, according to industry insiders Sunday. 　Apple Korea is expected to open reservations for the new iPhone 8 via the country’s top three mobile carriers on Oct. 27, they added.　Korea will be among the iPhone’s third installment of international releases, following its global debut on Sept. 22.  iPhone 8 (Apple)　The new iPhone 8 is Apple’s first phone series to be e

Industry Oct. 8, 2017

The number of self-employed South Koreans who run businesses without any employees is the fourth-largest among the world’s major nations, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Sunday. 　According to the OECD’s Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2017 report, the number of self-employed workers in Korea was 3.98 million, the fourth-highest among all 35 OECD member countries as well as Lithuania, Romania and South Africa. 　The country’s numbe

Economy Oct. 8, 2017

The economic outlook of the nation’s auto industry has plunged to its worst level in eight years due to concerns over continued labor strikes and THADD reprisals, according to a report by the Bank of Korea released Friday. 　The bank’s data showed that the Business Survey Index for the economic outlook for the automobile industry in the month of October was expected to fall by 13 points compared to the previous month’s 59. The figure marks the lowest outlook level since July 2009.　The BSI is an e

Industry Sept. 29, 2017

Despite three consecutive quarters of the export business survey index exceeding scores of 100, Korea’s fourth-quarter export growth is expected to drop off, according to a report from the Korea International Trade Association on Thursday. 　The local trade agency announced that its export business survey index of 801 exporting companies hit 100.3 for the fourth quarter, a 16.3-point drop compared to this quarter’s 116.6 and a 5.7 slide from the second quarter’s 106. 　Despite the slowdown, next q

Industry Sept. 28, 2017

The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than 4 billion people, or roughly 60 percent of the entire world population, and 17 megacities. Although these economic hubs have helped lift millions of people out of poverty, the current era of rapid urbanization is leading to the depletion of natural resources, diminishing water quality, increased air pollution and adverse climate change effects, according to a report by Asia-Pacific Urban Forestry Meeting. 　Representatives from 17 countries gathered in

Economy Sept. 27, 2017

Standard Chartered Bank Korea, a subsidiary of British banking service Standard Chartered PLC, has launched two new banking cards in partnership with Samsung Card, the company said. 　Earlier this month, the two companies unveiled the “Standard Chartered Daily Samsung Card” and the “Standard Chartered Life Samsung Card,” their first collaborative products since signing a comprehensive partnership agreement last year. The two companies have come up with the new lineup by jointly making consistent

Industry Sept. 21, 2017

President Moon Jae-in urged the US to actively invest in the Korean economy during his meeting with prominent businessmen in New York, as he attends the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly this week. 　In a meeting with American financial heads including the chairman of Goldman Sachs at the New York Intercontinental Hotel, Moon assured international business leaders that the fundamentals of the Korean economy are excellent despite ongoing concerns regarding the “North Korea

Economy Sept. 21, 2017

Technology and investments related to Korea’s competitiveness in the “fourth industrial revolution” is far behind other advanced countries such as the United States, Japan and Europe, according to the Hyundai Research Institute. 　The institute released a report on the international comparison of the research and development status of industries based on the fourth industrial revolution Monday, revealing that Korea’s total score for industrial technology evaluation was 77.

Economy Sept. 20, 2017

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon is scheduled to meet with foreign investors in New York on Wednesday (local time) and intends to reassure the international financial community that the South Korean economy remains solid despite heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. 　Kim has joined President Moon Jae-in on his visit to New York for the annual UN General Assembly this week. 　Amid continuing provocations by North Korea, including the ballistic missile fired over

Market Sept. 19, 2017

The government is looking to gradually push its nuclear-free energy policy over the next six decades in an effort to establish a future of greener and safer energy, said Paik Un-gyu, minister of trade, industry and energy, on Friday. 　“Now is a good time to start transitioning our energy sources to be safer and cleaner,” said Paik during his keynote speech at the 57th Energy Forum at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Friday. 　“We need to steer away from our past energy production models that focused on pr

Industry Sept. 15, 2017