SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — On a bitterly cold January afternoon in central Seoul, the narrow corridors of Jongno’s famed jewelry district were unusually warm — not from heaters, but from the steady flow of customers drawn by soaring gold prices. Inside the tightly packed shops near Jongno 3-ga Station, clerks tapped calculators and weighed [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea plans to encourage more active investment by its public funds, which collectively manage an estimated 1,400 trillion won (US$981.5 billion), in the country’s secondary KOSDAQ stock market, the budget ministry said Thursday. Under a plan finalized by acting Budget Minister Lim Ki-geun, the government aims to expand [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — A surge in global gold prices is prompting South Korean pharmaceutical companies to rethink a long-standing workplace tradition: rewarding long-serving employees with gold. As bullion prices climb to record highs, several drugmakers have begun replacing gold gifts with cash bonuses, citing sharply rising costs. Industry officials said the shift reflects [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s retail investors are piling into exchange-traded funds tied to the Kosdaq market as the tech-heavy index pushes into what traders have dubbed the “1,000 era,” fueling sharp gains in leveraged products and reshaping short-term market flows. According to data released Wednesday by Koscom’s ETF Check, the top five [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s central bank has slipped another place in the global rankings of official gold holdings, underscoring its long-standing reluctance to add bullion even as prices surge to record highs. According to a report released Tuesday by the World Gold Council, the Bank of Korea held 104.4 metric tons of [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean government said Tuesday that it had received a formal letter from the United States urging swift implementation of a bilateral tariff agreement, a move that comes as President Donald Trump signaled a tougher trade stance toward one of Washington’s closest Asian allies. The confirmation followed Mr. [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s housing market grew sharply more polarized last year, as soaring apartment prices in Seoul collided with prolonged stagnation in regional cities, pushing the price gap between the nation’s most expensive and cheapest homes to its widest level in years. According to data released Monday by the Korea Real [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — President Lee Jae Myung’s decision not to automatically extend a temporary tax break for owners of multiple homes reflects an effort to restore policy normalcy and curb speculative investment in the housing market, a senior presidential aide said Monday, as opposition from property owners continues to mount. Lee Kyu-yeon, the [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s trade with Vietnam continued to deepen last year, with the Southeast Asian nation holding its position as Korea’s third-largest trading partner for a fourth consecutive year, underscoring the growing importance of export diversification beyond China and the United States. According to data released Monday by the Ministry of [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s appetite for coffee is proving increasingly costly. The country’s coffee import bill jumped sharply last year, surpassing 2 trillion won for the first time, as global bean prices climbed to record levels amid climate-related supply disruptions, government data showed Sunday. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade [...]