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Yoon Ja-young

Korea Times AI content 1 team Reporter

Yoon Ja-young is in charge of articles translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times. She is interested in improving the newspaper through AI.

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Economy

K-Water, KOICA to tackle water shortage abroad

By Yoon Ja-youngK-water and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) are holding a seminar today to tackle the issue of water shortages in developing countries.The state-run water resources management company and the government agency operating the country’s grant aid programs for developing countries said they are jointly holding a seminar on how official development assistance (ODA) programs should be designed to help solve the water issue.Water shortage has been one of the biggest hindrances for sustainable growth in developing economies. As such, the two organizations have been cooperating in water resource development in developing economies, successfully accomplishing 41 ODA projects in 20 countries so far.  Attending the seminar will be former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, who was appointed as special envoy for disaster risk reduction and water by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as well as around 200 experts on water resources.“Due to climate change, developing countries are facing bigger problems in water management. We hope this joint

Feb 11, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Taxes collected from conglomerates to drop

By Yoon Ja-young The 2014 corporate tax by conglomerates will drop at least 15 percent, an analysis by Chaebul.com showed, Monday.According to analysis of financial statements of the top 30 conglomerates by the business information provider Chaebol.com, corporate taxes for 2014 will total 15.23 trillion won, a 15.4 percent dip from 2013.Samsung Electronics’ portion is about 4.5 trillion won, 43.2 percent less than the previous year, while Hyundai Motors will shoulder 2.3 trillion won, down 14.8 percent.Total sales of the top 30 companies fell 1 percent last year to 1092.6 trillion won, operating profit plunged 18.5 percent to 65.6 trillion won, and net profit slumped 18.6 percent to 49.5 trillion won.S-Oil, KT, SK Networks, Doosan and Doosan Heavy Industries all recorded losses and received an exemption from corporate taxes.“The government’s corporate tax income falls when the economy is in bad shape,” said Cho Gyeong-lyeob of the Korea Economic Research Institute. “Many businesses had minus growth last year due to the sluggish economy.”He sai

Feb 9, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Corporate tax hike gaining support

By Yoon Ja-young Corporations are emerging as the next target for a bigger tax burden after the government’s effort to tax salaried people backfired.  Some lawmakers of the governing Saenuri Party are talking about a corporate tax hike, a taboo issue among members of the conservative party.Their rationale for raising the corporate tax is based on National Tax Service data.In 2014, income tax collection is expected to increase by 6.9 trillion won from the previous year through a 3 percentage-point tax increase on the wealthy and adjustment of tax returns for wage-earners.The corporate tax is expected to remain at around 46 trillion won for the second consecutive year.The effective corporate tax rate went down by 3.58 percent from 2008 to 2013, while the rate for the salaried workers rose by 0.46 percent during the same period.The previous Lee Myung-bak administration cut the corporate rate to 22 percent from 25 percent in 2009.Twelve of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations lowered their corporate rates after the global financial cris

Feb 6, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Korea's welfare spending lowest among OECD

By Yoon Ja-youngThe country is spending little on social welfare compared with other developed economies. Still, experts advise that the country should be cautious in expanding social welfare programs as it is doomed to snowball with the aging of society.According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Korea’s social expenditure took 10.4 percent of its gross domestic production (GDP) as of 2014, marking the lowest among the OECD member countries.It falls far short of the OECD average of 21.6 percent, not to mention social welfare states like France at 31.9 percent or Finland at 31 percent. Estonia, which ranked just above Korea, was spending 16.3 percent of GDP. The data shows that Korea’s welfare level is low.However, economists say the government should still be careful in expanding welfare. Park Jong-kyu, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance, said Korea’s social expenditure ratio is doomed to increase.“The ratio of social expenditure to GDP is low because the system hasn’t matured yet. As

Feb 5, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Korea moving to adopt 'Google Tax'

By Yoon Ja-young Google was estimated to have recorded 1.6 trillion won sales in Korea last year, and Apple 955.8 billion won, according to the Korea Mobile Internet Business Association. While they take up most of the mobile content market, they aren’t paying much tax here.At a forum organized by Rep. Hong Ji-man of the governing Saenuri Party, Tuesday, there was heated discussion over how to deal with global ICT companies that are avoiding taxes.  The so-called “Google Tax” has become a global issue, with a number of European countries pondering over ways to raise tax from companies reaping huge profits but avoiding taxes.In the United Kingdom, for instance, Google has been avoiding paying taxes to the U.K. government by making Google Ireland collect most of its profits. The business in Ireland doesn’t pay much tax either by using tax havens such as Bermuda.In Korea applications traded at foreign app markets like Google Play and Apple’s AppStore will be subject to 10 percent value added tax from July, following a tax revision last year.Howeve

Feb 4, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Workers encouraged to buy own corporate shares

By Yoon Ja-youngNew government plans announced Monday to encourage stock ownership mean that workers who purchase shares of their own companies will get tax deductions. Businesses allowing employees to hold company shares will also receive incentives.The country adopted the employee stock ownership program back in 1968, but it has not been popular ― only 0.6 percent of companies adopted the program, with workers holding only 1.29 percent of all stakes, on average.  Song Hong-sun, a research fellow at the Korea Capital Market Institute, explained in a report that employees fear that they can sustain losses in case the stock prices fall. “If the company falls into trouble, the workers have to sustain double the risk of losing a job and the financial loss from corporate stock ownership,” he said.Employees also doubt whether they would be able to cash the stocks immediately when they need money.The government is planning to encourage the program by displaying that it can be a win-win for both employees and businesses, increasing the income of the workers, as we

Feb 2, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Google, Apple face tighter monitoring

By Yoon Ja-youngThe country’s antitrust watchdog plans to tighten monitoring of global IT giants this year, apparently targeting Google and Apple.The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said in its 2015 plan announced Sunday that it would focus monitoring global monopolistic companies abusing their dominance in the market. It cited as examples excluding competitors by abusing market dominance based on patents or demanding excessively high royalty from users.“As it requires extreme professionalism to prove unfair practices, we will set up a special task force dedicated to the ICT sector comprising experts and veteran investigators,” the FTC said.The regulator didn’t specify company names, but mobile operating system (OS) or platform businesses, such as Apple and Google, could be targets.There has been increasing concern that a few players can abuse their power. For instance, when a platform company tries to start its own content business, it may disrupt fair competition by interfering with small contents businesses that have been using the platform.“The top two c

Feb 1, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Chinese, Japanese capital buying into Korean firms

By Yoon Ja-young Foreign capital, especially from China and Japan, is increasing in the Korean financial industry, leading to the purchase of diverse financial companies.This contrasts with Korean investors which are shunning the financial industry due to tough regulations.The most notable of these is the acquisition by Japanese investors of Korean savings banks. SBI Holdings, for instance, bought Hyundai Swiss Savings Bank back in 2013, to set up SBI Savings Bank. It is the biggest player in the industry with assets of 3.8 trillion won, accounting for 10 percent of the market.J Trust, a Japanese consumer lender, also acquired Mirae Savings Bank in 2012 to launch Chinae Savings Bank. It ranked fifth in the industry with assets of 1.1 trillion won. It considered taking over SC Savings Bank, in which case the Japanese lender could rise to become the second highest in industry rankings, with the assets of the two savings banks surpassing 2.3 trillion won.Orix, a Japanese financial service company, also acquired a couple of savings banks to launch OSB Savings Bank with assets of 1.1

Feb 1, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

Hanwha, Koryo slapped with W64 billion in fine

By Yoon Ja-youngHanwha and Koryo Nobel Explosives, the country’s only explosive companies, were fined 64.4 billion won by the antitrust watchdog for collusion.They will also be referred to the prosecution.The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Thursday it levied a 51.7 billion won fine on Hanwha and 12.7 billion won fine on Koryo Nobel Explosives, for rigging prices and colluding to share the market between them, hampering new players from entering into the market.The two companies manufacture industrial explosives, which are used for the construction of tunnels and mining. The domestic market had been monopolized by Hanwha which was set in 1952, and since the entry of Koryo in 1993 there have only been two players. The explosives market reached a peak in 2010 with 80,000 tons, but the market decreased to 76,000 tons in 2013.The FTC explained that the two companies colluded on price and market share to avoid price competition and maximize their profits, as well as hampering the entry of new players.Since the first collusion in 1999 when the two companies raised prices by around 1

Jan 29, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
Economy

IFEZ aims to be the deregulation hub

High-rise buildings in Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) symbolize its aim to become a new global business hub in Asia. / Courtesy of IFEZBy Yoon Ja-young Since its launch, the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) has become a symbol of Korea’s globalization. It is aiming to lead Korea’s deregulation efforts this year, on top of improving surroundings for corporate investment.Statistics last year show that the IFEZ has fulfilled its role as part of the country’s economic forefront. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to IFEZ last year totaled $1.7 bil., which is 95.7 percent of the total FDI in the country’s eight FEZs, taking 9 percent of the whole FDI to the country.It also attracted major businesses, including Daewoo International, ADT Caps, POSCO Engineering and POSCO A&C, as well as campuses by the University of Utah in the United States and Ghent University in Belgium.Paradise City, a casino project LOCZ that passed review at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is now set for construction. CTF Group of Hong Kong has also handed in a letter

Jan 29, 2015By Yoon Ja-young
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