SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s economy is showing signs of a modest recovery in industrial activity, supported by improving domestic consumption, even as a prolonged construction slump continues to weigh on output, the Korea Development Institute said Monday. “Construction has remained subdued for an extended period, but consumption has strengthened as interest-rate reductions [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Chinese manufacturers have sustained a sweeping low-price export strategy for more than two years, intensifying competitive pressure on South Korean exporters across a range of sectors, a new study shows. According to a report released Sunday by Jih Man-soo, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance, Chinese export [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul’s apartment market has slipped into a sharp slowdown following the government’s October 15 real estate policy, with transaction volume dropping steeply and demand in key Han River districts all but evaporating, government data show. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s real transaction system, there were 2,372 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Four major financial firms will likely see their interest income decrease for the first time since 2020 this year due to tighter lending rules aimed at curbing surging housing prices, data showed Sunday. KB Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group, Hana Financial Group and Woori Financial Group are expected to [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Woori Bank has begun displaying Bitcoin price data alongside exchange rates and stock indexes on the electronic board inside its main dealing room in central Seoul, the bank said Friday — a first among South Korea’s commercial banks and a notable sign of the industry’s growing embrace of digital assets. [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s household wealth gap widened last year, driven largely by sharp gains in real estate values, according to a nationwide financial welfare survey released on Thursday by the Bank of Korea, the National Data Policy Office, and the Financial Supervisory Service. As of March 2025, the average household’s net [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Tax authorities said Thursday they will investigate more than 2,000 cases involving the transfer of high-value properties in upscale areas of Seoul over suspected tax evasion, amid tighter government regulations on real estate lending. A total of 2,077 property-transfer cases in the districts of Gangnam, Mapo, Yongsan and Seongsu [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s stock market has endured a stretch of whiplash in recent weeks, but low-volatility and high-dividend investment products have emerged as rare winners amid the turbulence. According to data released Wednesday by the Korea Exchange, the TIGER Low Volatility ETF rose 7.1 percent from Nov. 3 to Dec. [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major business lobby warned that companies may face nearly 27 trillion won (US$20.4 billion) in carbon-credit purchasing costs over the next five years under the government’s newly announced emissions trading allocation plan. The climate ministry swiftly rejected the estimate, calling it an exaggerated projection based on flawed assumptions. [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid heightened foreign-exchange volatility this year, South Korea’s major banks have taken markedly different approaches to managing currency risk, newly released filings show. According to third-quarter disclosures from the country’s four largest lenders — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — all maintained “long” positions in foreign currency, meaning they [...]