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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
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Govt. asks hospitals to mitigate impact of medical professors' absence
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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S. Korea's working-age population to dip nearly 10m by 2044 amid low births
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Doggy patrol team on the move to protect their cities
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S. Korea ranks 2nd in GDP growth rate after China: OECD
South Korea’s economy declined 3.3 percent on-year during the second quarter, but it ranks second in terms of gross domestic product growth rate among major economies, data showed Sunday. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the nation’s second-quarter GDP growth rate was the second-highest among 14 major economies. China clinched the first place as its economy grew 11.5 percent during the same period. The OECD -- a forum of 37 mostly
Aug. 2, 2020
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S. Koreans' nonessential spending plummets amid coronavirus
South Korean consumers purchased far fewer nonessential items in the first quarter than normal due to economic uncertainty sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Sunday. The combined essential spending came to 84.81 trillion won ($71 billion) in the January-March period, accounting for 40.56 percent of total household expenditures, according to the data released by the Bank of Korea. It is the first time that the proportion of essential spending in total household expenditures surpa
Aug. 2, 2020
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S. Korea's growth rate second highest among 14 major countries
South Korea's economy contracted 3.3 percent in the second quarter from a quarter earlier, but it fared well compared with other major economies, data showed Sunday. South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was the second highest among the 14 countries that included the United States, China, Germany and France, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a group of 36 mostly rich and advanced nations. The OECD has released GDP growth rates for
Aug. 2, 2020
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Export slump eases due to reopenings, chips on recovery track
South Korea's exports extended their slump to a fifth consecutive month in July amid the fallout of the new coronavirus, but the pace of decline slowed sharply due to reopenings, data showed Saturday. Outbound shipments came to $42.8 billion last month, down 7 percent from $46 billion posted a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The latest figures were better than what the market had expected. According to a poll by Yonhap Infomax, the f
Aug. 1, 2020
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S. Korea’s industrial output recovers in June
South Korea’s industrial output gained 4.2 percent on-month in June, showing signs of recovery from the contractions prompted by the coronavirus pandemic in recent months, data from Statistics Korea showed Friday. Along with industrial output -- which had rebounded from a 1.2 percent on-month drop in May and a consistent five-month slide -- retail sales and facility investment inched up 2.4 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, in the same period. This put the key indicators of the nati
July 31, 2020
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NPS to raise overseas investment ratio to 50% by 2024
South Korea’s public pension fund National Pension Service said that it will expand its overseas investment proportion to over 50 percent during the next five years, seeking for higher returns amid market uncertainties caused by COVID-19. The NPS’ decision-making Investment Management Committee met Friday at The Plaza Seoul Hotel under the chairmanship of Health Minister Park Neung-hoo to discuss the organization’s mid-term overseas investment blueprint. “As a long-ter
July 31, 2020
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S. Korea to deliver $5.15m in ODA via World Bank
South Korea will provide over $5 million through the World Bank to assist emerging economies amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Friday. “We will deliver $5.15 million, which is around 6 billion won, to six emerging economies to help them deal with COVID-19 and (to pursue) digital and green (development) projects,” the ministry said in a release. “This latest approval for official development assistance will enhance international cooperatio
July 31, 2020
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S. Korea's industrial output rebounds in June
SEJONG -- South Korea's industrial output rebounded in June, possibly indicating that the nation's economy hit bottom amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Friday. The nation's overall industrial production gained 4.2 percent on-month in June, following a 1.2 percent on-month decline in May, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. Compared with a year earlier, overall industrial production also rose 0.7 percent in June. Retail sales rose 2.4 percent from a month earlier as the n
July 31, 2020
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S. Korea to inject W40tr into ‘innovative’ champion firms
South Korea on Thursday unveiled a financial package to inject some 40 trillion won ($33.48 billion) into 1,000 selected innovative businesses over the next three years. The plan seeks to promote synergies between the financial sector and actual industries, and to ultimately shore up the so-called “Korean New Deal” -- the country’s midterm economic stimulus program worth 160 trillion won. “(The government) will designate 1,000 innovative business pioneers from various
July 30, 2020
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S. Korea holds hearing on potential FTA with Uzbekistan
South Korea said Thursday it will hold a public hearing on the envisioned free trade pact with Uzbekistan, as the country aims to boost exports in the face of the new coronavirus pandemic. The meeting will be held Friday by inviting representatives from business, energy and agricultural groups, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea and Uzbekistan have already completed a feasibility study on the proposed free trade agreement. Earlier this month, Finance Minist
July 30, 2020
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S. Korea, US extend $60b currency swap deal by 6 months amid pandemic
South Korea and the United States have agreed to extend a $60 billion bilateral currency swap agreement by six months in an effort to help ease lingering market uncertainties amid the new coronavirus outbreak, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Thursday. In late March, the BOK and the US Federal Reserve signed the bilateral currency swap facility to help ease financial market jitters caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The swap agreement, initially set to end on Sept. 30, will be extended until March 3
July 30, 2020
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Corporate loans lead liquidity jump this year
South Korea's corporate loans have risen sharply this year amid the coronavirus outbreak, leading the overall surge in the country's money supply, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2 money supply came to 3,065.8 trillion won ($2.56 trillion) at the end of May, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marks the largest amount ever, and the on-year growth rate also represents a record high. Corporate lending contributed more t
July 29, 2020
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Corporate bond sales increase 3.8 in H1
South Korean companies' bond sales rose nearly 4 percent in the first half, but their share offerings went south, data showed Wednesday. Local businesses raised 89.4 trillion won ($74.5 billion) by selling bonds in the January-June period, up 3.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Increased sales of debt by nonfinancial companies and asset-backed securities led the overall rise, offsetting a fall of 965 billion won in the issuance
July 29, 2020
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Korea's consumer sentiment soars to 5-month high in July
South Korea's consumer sentiment continued to improve this month from a month earlier, reaching the second-highest point since the country reported its first confirmed case of the new coronavirus six months earlier, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's composite consumer sentiment index came to 84.2 in July, up 2.4 points from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marks the highest since 96.9 posted February. South Korea reported its
July 29, 2020
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Older Koreans hope to work until age 73: survey
Nearly 67 percent of South Koreans between the ages of 55 and 79 want to keep working, a survey showed Tuesday. Their preferred retirement age is 73 on average. According to a survey conducted by Statistics Korea, some 9.62 million respondents, or 67 percent of the 14.27 million citizens surveyed, said they want to keep working, up 2.5 percentage point from the previous year. They hoped to earn a monthly wage between 1.5 million won ($1,270) and 2 million won. Nearly 60 percent of the
July 28, 2020
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(Edited) #Virus brings 69% surge in payouts for jobless in Korea
Virus brings 69% surge in payouts for jobless in Korea Deck: Benefit recipients up 58,000 in Seoul in 6 months [News Focus] By Kim Yon-se SEJONG -- The tally of recipients of unemployment benefits surged by 69 percent for the first six months of the year, when the novel coronavirus hit the nation. In June, the government provided benefits to 718,921 people who lost their jobs, according to the Korea Employment Information Service. This marked an increase of more than 290,000, compared to 42
July 28, 2020
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S. Korea's trade terms sharply up in June
South Korea's terms of trade sharply improved from a year earlier in June with its import prices falling at a faster rate than export prices, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's terms of trade index for products came to 98.03 last month, up 9 percent from 94.32 in the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index measures the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports, showing how the country's exports are doing
July 28, 2020
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S. Korea's July exports tipped to drop 9% amid pandemic: poll
South Korea's exports are expected to fall 9 percent on-year in July, possibly extending a slump to the fifth consecutive month, a poll showed Tuesday, but their pace of decline is predicted to slow on the back of economic reopenings. The country's outbound shipments are estimated at $41.8 billion this month, compared with $46.14 billion from a year earlier, according to the poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The survey was conducted on nine local brokerage h
July 28, 2020
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Delayed tax payments soar in H1 amid COVID-19 impact
Delayed tax payments during the first half of this year surged by 28 times from a year earlier, reflecting the cash-strapped reality of local taxpayers amid the COVID-19 pandemic fallout, government data showed Sunday. The number of people who have applied for their due tax payments to be put off came to 5.79 million as of end-June, which was 28.1 times higher than 206,054 cases observed a year earlier, according to data submitted by the National Tax Service to the parliamentary finance comm
July 26, 2020
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Only one-third of disabled people in S. Korea had jobs in 2019
SEJONG -- Only one-third of people with disabilities had jobs last year, data showed Friday, underscoring the employment challenges facing disabled people. The employment rate of disabled people stood at 34.9 percent in 2019, compared with the rate of 60.9 percent for the total population, according to the data from Statistics Korea. By age, the employment rate of disabled people from 15 and 29 stood at 30.6 percent while that for people aged 30 to 39 stood at 53.4 percent. As of 2018, 2.
July 24, 2020