Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter
Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Korea Customs Service Commissioner Roh Suk-hwan, fifth from left, poses with customs officials and local online platform operators at the Global Distribution Center in Incheon International Airport, Monday. They discussed ways to bolster exports and create jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Courtesy of KCS
gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min The government is being urged to ease rules on the building of manufacturing facilities in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province. These areas are favored by businesses for their easy access to a highly skilled workforce and operational efficiency due to the close proximity of related industries' factories and research bodies.The call to relax decades-long regulations long cited as major hurdle to corporate growth come amid the government initiative to speed up reshoring, a process of returning production and manufacturing facilities back to Korea, amid elevated concerns of global value chain disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.The top priority is the easing of the current restriction under which firms are not allowed to build or expand manufacturing facilities that take up more than 500 square meters in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.Firms can move facilities every three years but the limit on the land size cannot be raised. This “hurdle” has long frustrated businesses needing to expand manufacturing capacity or buil
A street is seen busy with shoppers and merchants in Namdaemun market, Seoul, April 14. Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Starting today, 6,500 branches of 14 banks will begin accepting applications to receive disaster relief funds via private card firms, the cash-equivalent benefit given as part of an emergency initiative to spur consumption hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, banks said Sunday.Under the plan, the government is giving 1 million won ($811) to four-person households, 800,000 won to three-person households, 600,000 won to two-person households and 400,000 won to single-person households.The financial assistance is offered in the form of gift coupons or a government-issued debit card with a balance of a certain amount. Holders of cards issued by private card firms can use the amount with their debit or credit cards after submitting a related request. Korea's five financial groups with card subsidiaries said they are having their banks process the requests given the high number of branches nationwide, which gives the widest access to their customers even in remote and rural are
JB Financial Group Chairman Kim Ki-hong. Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-minJB Financial Group Chairman Kim Ki-hong is in the spotlight for his “unrivaled” business acumen following outstanding earnings results amid the COVID-19 pandemic.The regional financial group has set a target of 354 billion won ($288 million) in net profit for this year, a figure that would see the group's earnings hit a record high for the second consecutive year.The goal seems attainable given strong earnings figures over the past year, backed by Kim's management decisions since March 2019, when he became group chairman.Under his leadership, the group's departments were streamlined, while 30 percent of managerial staff were put back into sales work. This was designed to remind the senior group that the true meaning of holding a title should be associated with their ability to make money.The efforts, among others, led to a 96.5 billion won net profit in the first quarter, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier.The better-than-expected figure beat the market consensus that the group's net profit would fal
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, speaks during a meeting at the Government Complex in Gwanghwamun, Thursday. YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min The government said Thursday that it plans to create over 1.56 million jobs in the public sector as part of emergency measures to fight the rapid increase in unemployment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement comes on the heels of the biggest year-on-year job losses in April for two decades, suffered mostly by low-income, temporary workers who are not subscribed to the state-run Employment Insurance plan.Of greater concern is the number of those experiencing temporary layoffs ― people who are statistically considered employed ― hovering at over 1 million for a second consecutive month, meaning those currently receiving unemployment benefits could lose their jobs altogether if the economy fails to pick up quickly.Yet experts question the efficacy of short-term, low quality jobs created with taxpayers' money, saying the measures will have little to no desired outcome without creating the environment to help resume muc
By Lee Kyung-min The rapid increase in government debt over the past few years is raising concerns on fiscal soundness, an issue that requires greater attention in a country whose treasuries denominated in Korean currency could quickly lose buyers amid increased “risk-off” sentiment, experts said Monday.A slew of relief packages designed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic aside, absent-mindedly resorting to debt issuance to finance welfare initiatives would significantly erode the resilience of the financial system in the long term, they noted. The Ministry of Economy and Finance is downplaying such concerns, saying that the country's debt-to-GDP ratio, hovering around 40 percent, is well below the OECD average of 109 percent.Yet clearly lacking in the assertion is the steep rise ― as sharp as 20 percent year-on-year ― in state/government debt, a major red flag to most global investors. Government debt includes debt owed by both central and regional administrations.A tailspin in the foreign exchange market could ensue, for example, if they ditch won-denominated debt for othe
Lee Byung-rhae / Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Former Korea Securities Depository (KSD) CEO Lee Byung-rhae has been named standing vice president of the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants (KICPA), the organization said Wednesday.KICPA said Lee has led its external communications affairs following approval from the board and a general committee meeting in April.Lee graduated from Daejeon High School and Seoul National University. He holds a master's degree in economics from the Graduate School of Public Administration of Seoul National University and a doctoral degree in economics from Missouri State University.Lee started his career as a public servant at the Ministry of Economy and Finance after passing the state-administered civil service exam.He served as a spokesman for the Financial Services Commission and head of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit. Lee's three-year term ends April 2023.
Self-employed, temporary workers hit hardest By Lee Kyung-min Korea suffered its biggest monthly job loss in over 21 years in April, with the country losing more than 470,000 jobs last month as a result of businesses hiring being slashed due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.Temporary and irregular workers were hardest hit, while job losses were most pronounced in wholesale, retail, lodgings, tourism and education services, the sectors hit directly by social distancing and lockdowns.More worrisome is a sharp decline in exports over the past few months, a major indication of rapid job losses in the manufacturing industry, which had been showing signs of recovery in early 2020 before the outbreak of the coronavirus. According to data released by Statistics Korea Wednesday, 476,000 lost their jobs in April from a year earlier, the highest number since 658,000 in February 1999 when the country was reeling from the fallout of the Asian financial crisis.Of the total, about half, or 245,000, were aged between 15 and 29, pushing down the youth employment rate to 40.9 percent, down 2 pe
The National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Businesses are calling on the National Assembly for the swift passage of a series of proposed bills to reinvigorate the economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly concerning digitization, the removal of barriers to corporate investment and telemedicine. They say it is most important the bills be passed before the end of May when the Assembly's regular session is scheduled to end. Once the 20th session expires, 11 pending bills will be discarded, leading to a waste of time and resources given lawmakers of the newly formed 21st Assembly must repeat the same drafting process all over again.According to the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), bills concerning digitization include ways to set up infrastructure and foster industries that do not involve in-person transactions.They are part of the “Korean New Deal,” a government-led initiative to identify key sustainable growth engines to help the country turn the virus-sparked economic crisis into an opportunity.Chief among them is abol
By Lee Kyung-min Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) forecast, Tuesday, the global economy will contract 2.6 percent in 2020, down 5.8 percentage points from 3.2 percent growth in an earlier forecast made in November 2019.The revised-down figure is different by 0.4 percentage points from 3 percent contraction made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April, an estimation reflecting higher projected growth of China, the state think tank said. The IMF said China will grow 1.2 percent in 2020, whereas KIEP expects 2.2 percent growth.“China's services sector has greatly expanded over the past few years, but it still accounts for a relatively smaller portion of the country's GDP compared to other countries. This means China remained relatively isolated from the pandemic-caused deterioration in the sector,” a KIEP official said.Also advancing the rosy outlook is the world's second-largest economy's scheduled large investment in new infrastructure including 5G telecommunication technologies and artificial technologies.This together with expected