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  • Economy

    Seoul to continue push for MSCI developed market status bid after remaining in emerging category

    South Korea will continue its push for inclusion in the developed-market category under the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index after the provider decided to keep Asia's No. 4 economy in the emerging-market category, the finance ministry said Wednesday. Overnight, MSCI said South Korea will remain in the emerging-market category despite Seoul's efforts to be placed on the watch list for inclusion in the developed-market category, citing the limited convertibility of the Korean won in offshore currency markets. "MSCI acknowledged the government's efforts to advance the foreign exchange and capital markets, but for some of the remaining tasks, efforts to improve the system are still under way," the Ministry of Finance and Economy said in a statement in response to the announcement. The finance ministry added that South Korea was not included in the developed-market category this year as the market also needed time to fully reflect the impact of the completed reforms. "If we continue to implement reforms in the foreign exchange and capital markets on our own schedule, we belie

    2 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Seoul to continue push for MSCI developed market status bid after remaining in emerging category
  • Economy

    Retail sales rise 9% in May amid improving consumer sentiment

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Retail sales rise 9% in May amid improving consumer sentiment
  • Economy

    Korean won slumps against US dollar on expectations of Fed rate hike

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Korean won slumps against US dollar on expectations of Fed rate hike
  • Others

    Foreign sell-off in Samsung Electronics, SK hynix drags KOSPI down 10%

    2 MIN READBy Jun Ji-hye
    Foreign sell-off in Samsung Electronics, SK hynix drags KOSPI down 10%
  • Economy

    Mirae Asset likely to face fines, disciplinary action over SpaceX allocation fallout: experts

    3 MIN READBy Park Han-sol
    Mirae Asset likely to face fines, disciplinary action over SpaceX allocation fallout: experts
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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

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Economy

Korea's economy grows faster than expected in Q1

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea's economy expanded at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter, buoyed by a modest recovery of exports and fiscal policy support, amid signs that the economy is inching closer to pre-pandemic levels, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday.Gross domestic product expanded 1.8 percent in the three months ended March 31 from a year ago, the BOK said. On a quarterly basis, Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded 1.6 percent, accelerating from a 1.2 percent expansion in the final quarter of last year. The annual growth was higher than a market consensus. A recent poll by Yonhap Infomax, financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, expected the nation's economy to grow 1.23 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. The growth was partly supported by a recovery in private consumption in the first quarter, the BOK said in the statement.South Korea's economy contracted 1.3 percent and 3.2 percent in the first and second quarter of last year, respectively, before expanding 2.1 percent in the third quarter and 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter.Facility investment

Apr 27, 2021
Korea's economy grows faster than expected in Q1
Economy

Will cryptocurrency investments become another LH fiasco?

Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Eun Sung-soo, right, speaks during a National Assembly National Policy Committee meeting, April 22. Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Eun Sung-soo has ordered FSC officials handling cryptocurrency policies, Monday, to file a report on the volume of their virtual currency investments by May 7, drawing attention to whether another slew of employee misconduct allegations might be unearthed, concerning public servants abusing insider information for illicit personal gains.This rushed move by the country's top financial regulator seeks to prevent a scenario like the real estate speculation fiasco sparked by state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH). LH is an organization supervised by the land ministry, in which many of its employees are suspected of having abused government-managed data.Those subject to the May 7 report include FSC employees whose work involves drafting and applying virtual currency policies or laws; those investigating and monitoring the virtual currency; and those responsible for

Apr 26, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Will cryptocurrency investments become another LH fiasco?
Economy

Danggeun Market's valuation soars rapidly to 2 trillion won

Logo of Danggeun MarketBy Anna J. Park Danggeun Market, Korea's popular secondhand marketplace application, is seeing its corporate value grow rapidly, currently exceeding over 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion).According to the investment banking industry, the valuation of the country's largest secondhand goods trading services platform was estimated at around 1.2 trillion won at the start of the year, when the startup attempted to attract investment. However, heated interest from venture capital firms ended up boosting the application's valuation to 2 trillion won this month, doubling its estimated value in less than four months.Market insiders believe Danggeun Market's value could easily rise to around five trillion won, considering that it ultimately aims to expand its services to global markets. Bearing this in mind, the company is said to be reviewing ways to seek investment only from foreign investors. Danggeun Market's rising valuation was also affected positively by Coupang's recent successful NYSE listing. Given that the company's value was assessed at 200 billion won in Se

Apr 26, 2021By Anna J. Park
Danggeun Market's valuation soars rapidly to 2 trillion won
Economy

More venture capital firms target listing amid IPO boom

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkAmid the continued global initial public offering (IPO) frenzy with ample liquidity flowing into the equity market, some local venture capital firms are also planning to go public.KTB Network, owned by KTB Investment & Securities and one of the first venture capital firms in Korea, is planning to pursue its own IPO on the tech-heavy Kosdaq within the year. Based on its impressive track record of hundreds of successful investments over the past four decades, including massive returns from Viva Republica, the operator of Toss, and Woowa Brothers, KTB Network's net profit reached 35.8 billion won ($32.1 million) last year, the second-highest when compared to that of listed firms and just behind Aju IB Investment. LB Investment is another leading firm that's known to be thinking about going public in the near future. According to industry sources, the company has been finalizing the specifics of its financial statements since the start of the year to ensure they satisfy the new IFRS global accounting standard.The company had aimed to list itself in late

Apr 26, 2021By Anna J. Park
More venture capital firms target listing amid IPO boom
Economy

Tourism consumption hit hard by pandemic

gettyimagesbankConsumption expenditures in South Korea's tourism and leisure sector decreased by more than 20 percent last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a state-funded think tank said Monday.In particular, foreigners' spending in the domestic tourism and leisure sector plunged by nearly 80 percent and the travel industry was hit hardest among the relevant industries, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute said.Last year, consumption expenditures in the nation's tourism and leisure industries were estimated at 134.89 trillion won (US$121 billion), down 21.8 percent, or 37.68 trillion won, from the previous year, the institute said.Of the total expenditures, foreigners' spending plummeted 76.6 percent to 1.66 trillion won, while local people's spending fell 19.5 percent to 133.24 trillion won, it noted.By month, the tourism and leisure sector expenditures marked the steepest decline of 45.7 percent to 7.54 trillion won in December when the third wave of COVID-19 began here. In March, when the coronavirus began to spread in earnest nationwide, the decrease rate was 33.5 percent

Apr 26, 2021
Tourism consumption hit hard by pandemic
Economy

INTERVIEW 'ESG policies should be pursued as long journey'

Jun Kwang-woo, chairman of the Institute for Global Economics, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, April 20. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukThis article is the first in a series of interviews with ESG experts intended to make suggestions for Korea's financial, industrial and public sectors to come up with better ESG strategies for sustainable growth. ― ED.Government urged to guarantee independence of pension fund's managementBy Park Jae-hyukThe popularity of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) in the Korean market has been considered somewhat overheated lately, leading some skeptics to call it another passing fad, just as previous movements of emphasizing sustainability and inclusive capitalism vanished in the wake of past economic recoveries. The government policies that have been made hastily to catch up with the global trend of prioritizing ESG criteria have also been widely viewed as shortsighted measures that could impose heavy burdens on businesses.Institute for Global Economics (IGE) Chairman Jun Kwang-woo, who previously

Apr 26, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
[INTERVIEW] 'ESG policies should be pursued as long journey'
Economy

April exports estimated to jump 41%

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea's exports are expected to jump 41 percent in April from a year earlier, on the back of a base effect, and robust shipments of chips and autos, a poll showed Monday.The country's outbound shipments are forecast to reach $51.1 billion this month, according to the poll on five local brokerage houses by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.It would mark the sixth straight month of gains and the fastest on-year growth in more than 10 years, it showed.Imports are estimated to surge 28.8 percent on-year to $48.9 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.2 billion, according to the poll. The export data for April is scheduled to be released on May 1.The country's exports soared 45.4 percent in the first 20 days of April from a year earlier, according to data by the Korea Customs Service.Over the cited period, exports of semiconductors, a key export item, gained 38.2 percent on-year and those of vehicles jumped 54.9 percent.Experts said the bright outlook is attributable to a global economic recovery from the pandemic and the base effect fr

Apr 26, 2021
April exports estimated to jump 41%
Economy

Reporter's Notebook FSC head under fire for controversial comment on cryptocurrency

Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Eun Sung-soo, right, speaks during a parliamentary committee meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, last Thursday. YonhapBy Anna J. Park Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Eun Sung-soo's recent comments on the cryptocurrency investment frenzy not only triggered a backlash from investors, but also stupefied those who expected a more insightful perspective on cyber money from the chief financial regulator.“I don't think it is the right path to jump on the bandwagon of recklessly buying a digital asset that's fluctuating more than 20 percent a day. If the young generation takes the wrong path, it is elders' obligation to correct them and tell them it is wrong,” FSC head Eun said during a parliamentary committee meeting held last Thursday.The comments by the financial regulator were interpreted as sounding both condescending and preachy in tone by cryptocurrency investors here, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s and disillusioned by soaring apartment prices and the dearth of jobs. The comments also reflected his ow

Apr 25, 2021By Anna J. Park
[Reporter's Notebook] FSC head under fire for controversial comment on cryptocurrency
Economy

Slow vaccination may hamper economic recovery

A nursing home staff receives COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Daegu, April 19. YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooThe slow pace of COVID-19 vaccinations here is raising concern that it will stymie the country's much-anticipated economic recovery. This is highly likely to come in line with a rebound in global trade and consumption based on mass vaccination rollouts around the world. Economic experts are warning that if Korea fails to achieve herd immunity by November as planned, Asia's fourth-largest economy may decouple from the worldwide recovery and could ― in the worst case scenario ― suffer another contraction this year. The Bank of Korea, the IMF and OECD all expect Korea to grow in the mid-3 percent range in 2021.A total of 2.26 million people, or 4.3 percent of the country's population, have been vaccinated as of April 24, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).The current vaccination pace lags far behind the government's proposed timetable of inoculating 3 million people by the end of April, 12 million by June and 70 percent of the population by November, whic

Apr 25, 2021By Yi Whan-woo
Slow vaccination may hamper economic recovery
Economy

Seoul stocks likely to rebound next week on earnings surprise

KOSPI on rise is shown at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul's Jung District, April 20. YonhapSouth Korean stocks are likely to move upward next week on hope for an earnings surprise as more firms may deliver estimate-beating quarterly earnings.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 3,186.1 points on Friday, slipping 0.39 percent from a week before. Individuals bought a net 3.3 trillion won ($3 billion) while institutions sold 1.8 trillion won on the main local bourse this week. Foreigners sold 1.6 trillion won, largely influenced by a tax hike proposal in the United States that drove down U.S. stock indexes, as well as a surge in new coronavirus cases in India and Japan.The key stock index closed at a fresh record high of 3,220.7 points on Tuesday.The index took a breather Wednesday on increased valuation pressure but has rebounded since, helped by expectations of more companies with higher earnings reports. Local analysts said the KOSPI has more room for gains in the coming week."The KOSPI is likely to break away from a tight trading range and pull high

Apr 25, 2021
Seoul stocks likely to rebound next week on earnings surprise
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