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Lee Kyung-min

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Economy

Foreign professionals leaving Korea due to hefty taxes

gettyimagesbankGreater tax incentives needed to attract more skilled foreignersBy Lee Kyung-min A growing number of foreign professionals are leaving Korea due to hefty taxes on their income and capital gains, which are much higher than in Hong Kong or Singapore.Heavy taxation aside, frequent policy changes and arbitrary implementation of tax codes are among many reasons why foreigners find Korea increasingly unattractive to work.The failure to draw and retain competitive foreign human resources adds to the country's “brain drain” concerns, a decades-long problem in high-tech, research-intensive sectors where success is determined by a highly educated workforce. “Many top executive and foreign employees should make a significant decision after staying here for five years,” American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) Chairman and CEO James Kim told The Korea Times.The tax rate on earned income for foreigners stays at 19 percent for the first five years of employment here, a form of tax incentive put in place to attract skilled foreigners.If they are under co

Dec 11, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
Foreign professionals leaving Korea due to hefty taxes
Economy

Korean business owners concerned about expanded union powers

The Environment and Labor Committee is in session at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Dec. 1. Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-minKorea is expected to see growing labor influence, after a standing committee passed a bill that will allow expanded membership of a company union to include dismissed workers as well as those not employed by the firm. The bill also extends legal recognition for the Korea Teachers' and Education Workers' Union (KTU), a group of left-leaning educators outlawed in 2013 for including nine dismissed teachers in its membership.The National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee passed a bill, Wednesday, revised after combining bills submitted by the government in June and ones proposed by ruling and opposition lawmakers.Most of the government-pushed revisions were put through. In addition to the revision granting union membership to dismissed workers or non-employees, firms must also give a monthly paycheck to the union members whose job description only concerns union work and not company work.Specifics outlined and finalized following a collective bargai

Dec 10, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
Korean business owners concerned about expanded union powers
Banking & Finance

Shinhan recognized for green leadership 7 years in a row

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung'By Lee Kyung-min Shinhan Financial Group has topped the 2020 list compiled by a global not-for-profit carbon-neutral advocacy group that recognizes firms with a vision for sustainable growth, for the seventh consecutive year.This will help the group solidify its leadership in environment, social and corporate governance (ESG), a set of criteria prioritized among many leading international firms for green, sustainable growth.The group said Thursday that it retained Leadership A, a score determined by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) that runs a carbon disclosure system to manage environmental impacts for investors, companies, cities, states and regions. Some 270 firms from around the world are on the list.The CDP's annual report is among the most respected independent sustainability ranking systems alongside the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). The organization gives scores ranging from D- to A to ?take firms “on a journey?through disclosure to awareness, management and finally to leadership,” according to its web

Dec 10, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
Shinhan recognized for green leadership 7 years in a row
Economy

Contribution Innovation procurement, a robust stepping stone for growth

Public Procurement Service Administrator Kim Chung-wooBy Kim Chung-woo In the era of digitization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution which usher in new values created by technological convergence, we are constantly nudged to replace the old and familiar with a totally different paradigm as a new economic engine. Thus, attention is now increasingly revolving around innovative solutions. Economic players including the government, businesses and the public are all seeking out fitful solutions to adapt to the new economic system in which boundaries between online and offline are vague. So, in that sense, public procurement furnished with inventive solutions is becoming ever more significant, in that it can bolster the industry fueled by innovative ideas and technologies by making strategic use of the government's purchasing power, and it can also encourage technological novelty to lead the rapidly transforming economy. Riding this trend, the Public Procurement Service (PPS) has been committed to policies of innovation procurement, as a bridge between supply and demand in the area for m

Dec 8, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
[Contribution] Innovation procurement, a robust stepping stone for growth
Trends

No. of multicultural households on steady increase in Korea

Single-person households top 30% in 2019By Lee Kyung-min The number of multicultural households has been on the steady increase here, reaching 354,000 in 2019, up from 335,000 in 2018, Statistics Korea said Tuesday. This was a further jump from 319,000 in 2017 and 316,000 in 2016. Of them, the number of single-person households with multiracial background reached 42,000 in 2019, accounting for 11.9 percent of total multicultural households in Korea, and down from 43,000 in 2018.The number of two-person and three-person multicultural households have been on a steady rise over the past few years, contrasted by a decline in the number of single-person households and households with four members or more. Overall, the number of multiracial families is climbing. The statistics agency said that this can be attributed to an increase in the number of divorces and separation of family members and children leaving after reaching a certain age for reasons including education and marriage.About 98,000 were two-person households in 2019, accounting for 27.7 percent of the total. This was up from 9

Dec 8, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
No. of multicultural households on steady increase in Korea
Economy

219 Korean firms seek to enter global procurement market

A TV screen shows Public Procurement Service (PPS) Administrator Kim Chung-woo speak at the beginning of a public procurement fair held online, Nov. 23. Courtesy of PPSPublic Procurement Service (PPS) Administrator Kim Chung-wooBy Lee Kyung-min Over 200 Korean firms sought procurement opportunities around the world at a public procurement fair held online, organizers of the event said Monday.Local manufacturers of personal protective equipment (PPE) including facial masks were able to give presentations about their firms and their products with the authorities from bodies such as the United Nations (U.N.) and World Health Organization (WHO) as well as interested parties from the U.S., Canada and Ethiopia.Apart from virus containment-related products, the demand for which have soared amid the COVID-19 pandemic, other items presented included construction equipment needed for road safety, electronic goods needed for live broadcasting and malaria treatment.Among the participants were the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency that helps manage and support the

Dec 7, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
219 Korean firms seek to enter global procurement market
Economy

Korean businesses lukewarm about gov't carbon-free drive

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki speaks during a ministerial-level meeting at the Seoul Government Complex in Gwanghwamun, Monday. / YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min Industry insiders have expressed the hope that the government will take a cautious approach and reassess its ambitious “carbon-free” policy initiatives because Korea's economic growth still depends heavily on carbon-based energy sources.“A huge amount of energy is required to build and operate memory chip lines,” an official from the local semiconductor sector said Monday. “From that standpoint, it's very challenging for us to use renewable energy. For us, the possible magnitude of the carbon reduction would be quite dramatic because carbon is still the largest source of energy.” The reaction came immediately after the government unveiled its vision to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This would call for the country to kick its obsession with fossil fuels and accelerate investments into clean energy at a pace few dared believe possible.“If carbon neutrality is

Dec 7, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
Korean businesses lukewarm about gov't carbon-free drive
  • Korea unveils blueprints to attain carbon neutrality by 2050
Economy

Korea braces for drastic shift in US economic polices

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet announcement event in Wilmington, Delaware, Nov. 24. AFP-YonhapBiden set to adopt more stimulus, tougher regulationsBy Lee Kyung-min Korea should prepare for a drastic shift in U.S. economic policies as President-elect Joe Biden is set to reverse many of the Trump administration's policies by employing more stimulus, tougher regulations and large tax increases, according to experts. They believe that the presidency of Biden, who has vowed to pursue stricter rules to control big tech firms and to fight climate change, can bring both opportunities and challenges for the Korean economy, suggesting that the government and Korean firms keep a close watch on the development of U.S. policies.Korea is expected to have greater room to maneuver over fiscal policy as economic advisers to Biden seek to push for quick stimulus packages amid growing concerns that the world's largest economy is headed for a double-dip recession as early as next year.$2 trillion expected stimulus will spur the economy of not only the U.S. but economies around th

Dec 3, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
Korea braces for drastic shift in US economic polices
Economy

Foreigners granted equal housing tax incentives

Apartment complexes in Seoul. Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Foreigners with income earned in Korea will be able to seek greater deductions for monthly interest paid on mortgages, a measure that will help reduce housing costs for long-term residents and their families, a ruling party lawmaker said Thursday.This is in line with a previous ruling made by the Tax Tribunal which found that the law not granting foreigners who have lived in Korea for over five years the same benefits granted to Koreans undermines principles of equality, a decision that essentially recommended a revision to the relevant tax code.Under the bill proposed by Rep. Kim Ju-young of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, which passed the National Assembly Wednesday, foreigners with long-term mortgages will be able to receive a tax deduction based on a variety of conditions including the period of ownership and the value of the house at the year-end tax settlements.Currently the benefit is granted to Koreans if they have paid interest on a mortgage for over 15 years, and if the loan was inked within three months o

Dec 3, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
Foreigners granted equal housing tax incentives
  • Foreign ownership of Korean land rises 1.2% in H1
Economy

'Too early to talk about economic recovery'

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, second from right, speaks during a ministerial meeting at the Seoul Government Complex in Gwanghwamum, Wednesday. YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min Consumer prices jumped 0.6 percent in November, the second consecutive month of an increase below 1 percent, increasing concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic-triggered slowdown in local demand will not recover any time soon.The data released Wednesday, and indicative of sagging economic activity, undercut the confidence expressed by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki who played up an economic forecast released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) a day earlier, which said the Korean economy sustained the least contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) among the group of economically well-to-do countries.The top policymaker's optimism was further dented by a spike in the number of bankruptcy filings, mostly by low-income earners and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Experts say painting a rosy picture is premature since the OECD project

Dec 2, 2020By Lee Kyung-min
'Too early to talk about economic recovery'
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