The Korea Times

Foreign workers should file year-end taxes

gettyimagesbankBy Yoon Ja-youngWage-earning workers of foreign nationality should file a year-end tax settlement just as workers of Korean nationality do, the tax agency said Sunday. The agency provides various services to support foreign employees in filing their taxes in the country.According to the National Tax Service (NTS), all foreign employees, excluding day laborers, should file their year-end taxes for 2021 by the day on which wages for February this year are paid, regardless of their nationality, length of residency or amount of income. If the salary for February is not paid until the last day of February, the year-end tax settlement should be done by that day. The method and deadline for foreign workers to file their year-end taxes are identical to those for Korean workers. They should submit their income deduction and tax deduction reports, as well as the related supporting documents, to their employers, instead of submitting them to the tax office. Depending on the results of the year-end settlement, employees will either pay more or be refunded for income taxes overpaid

Feb 6, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

Foreign workers should file year-end taxes

Economy

Guidelines for financial platform businesses

FSS Governor Jeong Eun-bo speaks at a meeting with representatives of financial platform businesses held in Seoul, Wednesday. Jeong said that supervision guidelines for financial platform businesses will be set up under the principle that the same regulations should apply to both IT companies and traditional financial businesses, as long as they are engaged in the same functions. Yonhap

Jan 26, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

Guidelines for financial platform businesses

Economy

IMF revises down economic growth outlook for Korea to 3 percent in 2022

In this September 2018 file photo, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is displayed outside their headquarters building in Washington, U.S. Reuters-YonhapBy Yoon Ja-youngThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its growth outlook for Korea this year by 0.3 of a percentage point to 3 percent, from its previous estimate, citing the impact of the spread of the Omicron variant and the pessimistic outlook for the U.S. and China, which are Korea's key trade partners.In its World Economic Outlook Update released Tuesday, the Washington-based IMF expected the global economy to grow 4.4 percent this year, which is down 0.5 of a percentage point from its previous estimate released in October 2021. “The global economy enters 2022 in a weaker position than previously expected. As the new Omicron COVID-19 variant spreads, countries have reimposed mobility restrictions. Rising energy prices and supply disruptions have resulted in higher and more broad-based inflation than anticipated, notably in the United States and many emerging markets and developing economies,” it noted

Jan 25, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

IMF revises down economic growth outlook for Korea to 3 percent in 2022

People & Events

400th contribution

Robert Neff, right, who has been contributing articles on Korean history in the “About the Past” section of The Korea Times, receives a plaque of gratitude from The Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin for his 400th contribution, at the newspapers' headquarters in downtown Seoul, Jan. 7. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Jan 7, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

Travel & Food

Koreans drawn to unhealthy bread

gettyimagesbank By Yoon Ja-youngWhile Koreans are increasing their consumption of bread, they seem to be drawn too often to “unhealthy” types rather than healthy ones, according to a research paper that especially warned against Ang-Butter and croissants.A research team led by Kim Byung-hee, a professor at the Department of Food and Nutrition of Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, analyzed the fat, sugar and sodium content of 13 types of commonly consumed bakery items in Korea. Among them, nine including sweet red bean bread, croissants, plain bread, castella (Japanese sponge cake), muffins and choux cream pastries were on the government's list of 728 “key foods,” while the remaining four were frequently searched for by consumers using online search engines. They include “mammoth bread,” or a sweet bun with a streusel-like crust stuffed with jam and Ang-Butter, which has layers of sweet red bean paste and chunks of butter in between. The research noted that the r

Jan 3, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

Society

Korea's demographic crisis: Local towns face extinction

By Yoon Ja-youngWith 0.64 babies born per woman, the city of Seoul has the lowest birth rate in the country, and the number of deaths here has already surpassed the number of births. But the population of the capital area is not decreasing, as it continually absorbs more people ― especially young people ― migrating in from other parts of the country. Meanwhile, an increasing number of small towns are now on the verge of “disappearing.”One Seoul resident, identified only by her surname Park, has been working at a small design company in the capital after leaving her hometown of Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2015. In recent decades, countless other young people have made the same decision to leave their smaller regional cities for Seoul. Miryang had more than 250,000 residents in the 1960s. Today, it only has 103,600, with the number decreasing by around 100 people each month. Life in Seoul is not easy. Park said she doesn't have much money left after paying for rent and other necessities.“I sometimes think that life would have been easier if I lived with my

Jan 2, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

Korea's demographic crisis: Local towns face extinction

North Korea

North Korea's leader looks slimmer than ever

In this photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, Dec. 29, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a plenary session of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang, Dec. 28. YonhapBy Yoon Ja-youngNorth Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, seems to be have reached his lowest weight in at least the past few years. In a photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, Dec. 29, Kim was wearing a black suit with a white button-down shirt and silver tie, while attending a plenary session of the Workers' Party. The photo immediately drew attention, as there was some space between his neck and the shirt. Previously, he has rarely worn button-down shirts and even if he has, they looked very tight around the neck.Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported in a parliamentary audit in October that Kim had shed around 20 kilograms compared to 2019, when he weighed 140 kilograms (308 pounds). However, he seems to be even slimmer, compared to in October, when there was no space between his neck and shirt. In fact, his neck even seemed to be covering part of the

Dec 30, 2021By Yoon Ja-young

North Korea's leader looks slimmer than ever

Travel & Food

While foreigners love Korean-style chicken, Koreans say it isn't really Korean: surveys

gettyimagesbankBy Yoon Ja-youngPeople overseas pick Korean-style fried chicken as their favorite Korean food, while more than half of the Koreans surveyed do not think it belongs in that category, according to recent polls.A survey of 1,500 Korean nationals by the Korean Food Promotion Institute shows that 63.9 percent believe that regular fried chicken is not Korean food, while 45.1 percent say that neither is marinated fried chicken. Respondents were asked whether they would consider each of thirty different kinds of food consumed here as Korean. The survey results showed that kimchi is the dish that most people (99.7 percent) consider Korean, followed by doenjang-jjigae, or soybean paste stew, at 99.3 percent, buchimgae, or savory pancakes, at 95.3 percent, japchae, or glass noodles with fried vegetables, at 94.3 percent, and gimbap, or seaweed rice rolls, at 90.8 percent. Koreans' perception of fried chicken as not Korean contrasts with another survey by the institute in which people living overseas picked fried chicken as their favorite Korean dish. In the survey conducted in Au

Dec 30, 2021By Yoon Ja-young

While foreigners love Korean-style chicken, Koreans say it isn't really Korean: surveys

Health

What makes people obese in Incheon's Ongjin County?

gettyimagesbankBy Yoon Ja-youngIncheon's Ongjin County is a collection of 100 islands known for their fishing villages and remote tourist getaways. But this region is becoming famous for something else: having the highest obesity rate in Korea.According to research led by Kim Bong-jeong, a professor in the Department of Nursing at Cheongju University, 45.2 percent of Ongjin residents are obese, double the 23.5-percent rate for Busan's Geumjeong District, the area with the lowest percentage of obese residents in the nation. The average obesity rate of the country's 229 cities, counties and districts stood at 34.1 percent according to the research. It is not the first time that Ongjin's elevated obesity rate has drawn attention. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency even started looking into what is behind the high number. According to the agency's interim report, submitted to Rep. Heo Jong-sik of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, it seems like it has to do with the high percentage of males and single-person households, where people usually eat alone. The area also had a

Dec 23, 2021By Yoon Ja-young

What makes people obese in Incheon's Ongjin County?

Trends

Singles frustrated by Korea's marriage-centric social norms

gettyimagesbankBy Yoon Ja-youngWhile an increasing number of Koreans are choosing the single life, they are irritated by social norms centered on married people. They are supposed to offer their married friends gifts for various life events, but without any chance of seeing the same come back to them.The Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, recently reported about people who intend to remain single for life. It cited the case of Kim, a 30-year-old office worker who has a group of high school friends, most of whom either are married or are planning to get married.When one of the married friends got pregnant, another friend suggested that they throw a “gender-reveal party” for the friend, which would cost around 300,000 won ($250). Usually prepared by an event company, the party comes with a cake, balloons and other decorations to announce the fetus' gender. Kim said that she already spent 200,000 won for a “bridal shower” and 100,000 won as wedding gift money for that friend. She pointed to endless events that she has to celebrate for the friend,

Dec 21, 2021By Yoon Ja-young

Yoon Ja-young

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