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Global investors reconsider Korea's rental market amid tighter regulations

Global institutional investors, including Morgan Stanley and major private equity firms, which have entered or were planning to enter Korea’s rental housing market, are reportedly reassessing their investments, with some even preparing to exit the market entirely, industry sources said Wednesday. The reassessment comes amid rising business uncertainty following the government’s Oct. 15 housing market stabilization measures, which significantly tightened regulations. Under the new rules, all of Seoul and 12 areas in Gyeonggi Province are designated as regulated zones, where new rental property acquisitions face higher acquisition taxes and are excluded from comprehensive real estate tax aggregation, among other restrictions. Global institutional investors have increasingly focused on the country’s rental housing market over the past three years. KKR, a leading global private equity firm, has secured prime sites in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo and Dongdaemun districts, while London-listed Intermediate Capital Group holds strategic plots in the Gangnam and Jung districts. Morgan Stanley has

Nov 26, 2025By Jun Ji-hye
Global investors reconsider Korea's rental market amid tighter regulations

Salaried workers dismayed social welfare benefits exceed NPS payouts

Kim Ji-hoon, 41, an office worker in Seoul, says he couldn’t help but feel speechless at the news about the country’s state-paid monthly subsidy for the poorest households exceeding the National Pension Service (NPS)'s average monthly payout. “I’ve been paying a monthly NPS premium for 17 years, since I began my job at a company in Seoul,” he said. “The news I might receive less than someone who paid nothing at all was unsettling to put it mildly.” Kim said he has nothing against government welfare programs designed to protect society’s most vulnerable. However, he expressed surprise that low-income groups could receive more in monthly income than him, since decades of his contributions to the state-run pension system do not guarantee his post-retirement well-being. “I mean, the monthly premium is taken from salaried workers in the form of withholding tax, meaning I cannot refuse to subscribe to it even when I don’t want to. The fact that vulnerable groups that have not made any contribution at all may receive more than me is just not right.” He said he is not demoni

Nov 26, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Salaried workers dismayed social welfare benefits exceed NPS payouts

Leveraged borrowers face higher interest burdens as market rates inch up

An increasing number of leveraged borrowers are struggling with rising debt repayment costs, pressured by market rates inching up due to fading expectations for the central bank's monetary easing amid a rapidly weakening Korean currency and elevated housing prices, market watchers said Monday. Even high-credit borrowers are now finding it difficult to secure credit at rates below the mid-5 percent range. Overdraft accounts, widely used for short-term financing, have also become more costly. Many say financing costs are likely to tick up, influenced by more lenders tightening lines of credit amid the government drive to curb household debt. According to financial market data, borrowing rates on unsecured loans at Korea’s five major banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — stood at a range of between 3.79 percent to 5.31 percent as of Friday, up by as high as 0.25 percentage points from the first week of this month. Overdraft loans, which charge about 0.5 percentage points higher than unsecured loans, charge at least 4 percent. This has led to a rapid increase in in

Nov 24, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Leveraged borrowers face higher interest burdens as market rates inch up

Knife-cut noodle soup tops list of biggest price hikes in Seoul’s dining-out staples

Kalguksu, a Korean noodle soup made with knife-cut noodles, recorded the steepest price increase among the popular dining-out menu items last month, data showed Sunday. Some have taken to characterize this as “noodle-flation,” a portmanteau of noodles and inflation, reflecting how the rising cost of living is hitting consumers through a dish long considered one of the most affordable options. According to data by the Korea Consumer Agency, as of last month, the average price of eight major restaurant menu items in Seoul rose 3.44 percent from December last year. Kalguksu showed the largest increase, climbing nearly 5 percent to 9,846 won ($6.7), up from 9,385 won during the same period. Some popular restaurants charge 11,000 won or more for a bowl. This is a more than 50 percent jump from October 2015, when the average cost of the dish was 6,545 won. The price hike is explained by the spike in global wheat costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Samgyetang, a traditional Korean ginseng chicken soup, recorded the second-largest jump in dining-out prices. Its avera

Nov 23, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Knife-cut noodle soup tops list of biggest price hikes in Seoul’s dining-out staples

InterviewCurrency designer holds 1st solo exhibition inspired by artistry, security

Kim Jae-min, a senior designer at Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. (KOMSCO), is presenting a solo exhibition that highlights the delicate balance between artistry and security in currency design. Titled “Portraits of Objects: Stories of Silent Beings,” the exhibition runs from Nov. 4 to 23 at the Currency Museum of Korea in Daejeon, operated by KOMSCO. This marks Kim’s first solo exhibition after more than 22 years at the state-run KOMSCO — Korea’s sole manufacturer of banknotes and coins — where he has mastered the art of blending aesthetic expression with advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies. “This exhibition originated from my work exploring the shapes, materials and security features of money,” Kim, KOMSCO design project manager, said in an interview with The Korea Times. He added, “I wanted to show how art and technical precision can exist together in something we use every day but rarely notice,” briefly referencing his extensive public and commemorative projects, including the coins designed for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ec

Nov 12, 2025By Yi Whan-woo
Currency designer holds 1st solo exhibition inspired by artistry, security

Prospective mobility startups concerned about IPO plans over proposed e-scooter ban

Mobility startups valued at hundreds of billions of won could face challenges in going public, as a proposed bill seeks to completely ban electric scooters — the core of their shared transportation business, industry officials said Thursday. The bill, proposed by Rep. Kim So-hee of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), aims to remove electric scooters from the legally recognized list of personal mobility devices and prohibit their operation entirely. The proposal, submitted on Oct. 31, comes amid a surge in accidents involving electric scooters. According to data from the Korea Road Traffic Authority, the number of such accidents increased more than 20-fold in six years — from 117 cases in 2017 to over 2,300 in 2023 — resulting in 24 deaths and around 2,600 injuries. Notably, 34 percent of the accidents involved unlicensed drivers, and among those cases, 67 percent of the offenders were under the age of 20, prompting calls for stricter safety regulations. However, industry officials warn that the ban could jeopardize mobility startups’ plans for initial public offerings (I

Nov 6, 2025By Yi Whan-woo
Prospective mobility startups concerned about IPO plans over proposed e-scooter ban

More than half of Koreans distrust national pension amid backlash over premium hike plan

More than half of Koreans distrust the national pension system, with most respondents viewing current contribution levels as burdensome and opposing planned premium increases, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Korea Employers Federation (KEF). In the survey, 55.7 percent of respondents said they do not trust the National Pension Service, exceeding the 44.3 percent who said they do by 11.4 percentage points. Distrust was particularly pronounced among younger generations, with 69.2 percent of respondents in their 20s and 74.7 percent in their 30s saying they do not trust the national pension system. Only those in their 50s and older showed higher levels of trust than distrust. When asked about the financial burden of pension contributions, 69.7 percent said the payments were burdensome relative to their income, including 19.7 percent who found them “very burdensome” and 50 percent who said “somewhat burdensome.” Another 25.6 percent described the level as “moderate,” while just 4.7 percent said they felt no burden. Regarding the pension reform plan that would rais

Nov 6, 2025By Jun Ji-hye
More than half of Koreans distrust national pension amid backlash over premium hike plan

News-based economic sentiment hits 4-year high on optimism over US tariff deal

Public sentiment toward the economy, as measured through economic news reports, has climbed to its most positive level in more than four years, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK) Tuesday. The improvement is largely attributed to optimism surrounding the recent Korea-U.S. summit held during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, where the two nations finalized a tariff agreement. Data from the central bank showed that the news sentiment index (NSI) reached 142.62 as of Friday, the highest level since July 29, 2021, when it stood at 125.25. The index is produced by analyzing sample sentences from economic news articles, which are classified through machine learning as positive, negative or neutral. It is calculated based on the difference between the number of positive and negative sentences, with a score above 100 indicating that overall economic sentiment is more optimistic than the historical average. The index plunged to 77.08 on Dec. 10 last year following former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law fiasco, but has gradually rebounded since then. It approached the 1

Nov 4, 2025By Jun Ji-hye
News-based economic sentiment hits 4-year high on optimism over US tariff deal

KOSPI boom drives sharp rise in trading accounts

Korea’s stock market rally, marked by a 76 percent surge in the benchmark KOSPI this year, has driven a sharp increase in active stock trading accounts, data from the Korea Financial Investment Association showed Tuesday. As of Oct. 31, the number of active stock trading accounts stood at 95.33 million, up 8.76 million from 86.57 million at the end of last year. Unlike simple account openings, active accounts refer to those actually used for trading, defined as brokerage or investment savings accounts with deposits exceeding 100,000 won ($69) and at least one transaction in the past six months. Since inactive accounts are excluded, the figure reflects genuine investor participation. The total number of active stock trading accounts surpasses Korea’s population of 51.75 million by more than 80 percent, indicating an average of around two trading accounts per person. The surge in stock trading accounts appears to reflect rising optimism over President Lee Jae Myung’s campaign pledge to usher in the “KOSPI 5,000 era,” as the index continues to reach new record highs. The KOSPI clim

Nov 4, 2025By Jun Ji-hye
KOSPI boom drives sharp rise in trading accounts

National pension fund posts decent return through August on stock rally

Korea's state pension fund said Monday that it has logged a decent investment return in the first eight months of the year, driven by solid profits from investments in stocks amid a rally. The National Pension Service (NPS) posted an 8.22 percent return through August, higher than the three-year annual average return of 6.98 percent. In 2014, the pension fund racked up a 15.32 percent return on its investments in 2024, the highest mark since 2000. The NPS attributed the robust performance to a rally in the local stock market. The fund enjoyed a 36.4 percent return from investments in local stocks, and an 8.6 percent gain from overseas stocks. But its investments in bonds and alternative assets remained weak, according to the NPS. As of end-June, it held 1,269.1 trillion won ($888 billion) in assets, around 50 percent of which have been invested in stocks.

Nov 3, 2025By Yonhap
National pension fund posts decent return through August on stock rally
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