Incheon Port Authority (IPA) announced on Feb. 23 that it successfully held port sales events in Singapore and Thailand for five days from Feb. 18 to 22, which were led by Lee Jeong-haeng, vice president of the Operations Division.The IPA sales team visited global shipping companies’ Asian headquart

Domestic banks’ payment networks will be opened to outside non-bank financial companies to facilitate the creation of innovative financial products such as the simple money transfer app “Toss.” The fee for using the inter-bank payment networks will also be lowered by 90 percent.The Financial Service

National Tax Service Commissioner Han Sung-hee met with his Indian counterpart Ajay Bhushan Pandey in New Delhi on Feb. 26. They agreed with each other to address the issue of double taxation in a more effective way. The two countries’ first meeting regarding the issue was held in November 2018. Thi

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on Feb. 26 that a new manpower training project would be launched to cover the fields of Industry 4.0 such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, big data, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), blockchain and fintech.A total of 7.9 billion

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on Feb. 26 that it would work on a technological roadmap for the hydrogen economy with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the M

South Korea’s household debt increased nearly 6 percent on-year last year, hitting a new high. It showed a slower pace of growth due to government policies aimed at easing the household debt problem, such as the introduction of stricter loan screening. However, it still increased at a faster pace th

Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government is considering lowering the securities transaction tax, stressing that abolishing it is out of the question.Hong made the remarks during an interview with Yonhap News at the Government Complex Seoul on Feb. 22

The National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and Korea Intellectual Property Strategy Agency (KISTA) announced on Feb. 24 that the United States led global patent applications from 2012 to 2016 in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing

Growth in South Korea’s labor productivity per worker in the manufacturing sector dropped from 7 percent to 2.8 percent a year between the periods preceding and following the global financial crisis of 2009. The latter figure is lower than China’s 8.6 percent, Japan’s 4.1 percent, Germany’s 4 percen

South Korea’s exports are showing signs of declining due to a decrease in semiconductor exports and a drop in exports to China, the largest export destination for South Korea.The Korea Customs Service announced on Feb. 21 that the exports for the first 20 days of this month totaled US$23.3 billion,

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is staying in South Korea, is scheduled to meet with the South Korean entrepreneurs including Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun on Feb. 22.The prime minister visited South Korea and attended the

The South Korean government has released its plan to popularize 5G mobile services which will be launched in Korea next month.“5G mobile services will contribute greatly to enhancing people’s living standards,” said Hong Nam-ki, South Korean deputy prime minister and minister of strategy and finance

The Cobre Panama mine in Panama, which is 10 percent owned by Korea Resources Corp. (KORES), has started its test production. The test production started in the 10th year of the project and its commercial production is going to start within one year, yet the corporation cannot gain profits from the

Iran’s Dayyani group started a procedure to seize the South Korean government’s assets in the Netherlands after winning its investor-state dispute (ISD) against it. This is the first time that such a procedure has been initiated against the South Korean government.The Financial Services Commission (

Inchon Port Authority announced on Feb. 20 that it has signed an agreement with Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority to establish a cooperative relationship.The two agencies have pledged to form a consultative body to jointly address pending issues at Incheon Port and the Incheon Free Economic Zone

A private domestic research institute called for a fundamental review of South Korea’s new 52-hour workweek system as it will wreak havoc on the Korean economy.Pi-touch Institute released a report on the economic ripple effects of the shortened workweek on Feb. 19. The report said that the new workw

The Economic, Social and Labor Council of South Korea announced on Feb. 19 that an agreement has been reached on extending the unit period of flexible working hours to up to six months from the current unit period of up to three months. Once the new unit period becomes effective, the working hours o

The South Korean government will invest a total of 2.93 trillion won (US$2.60 billion) in the biotech sector this year, up 2.9 percent from a year ago. The Ministry of Science and ICT finalized the “2019 Biotechnology Promotion Plan” at a biotechnology policy council meeting held at Korea Bio Park i

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sent a team to South Korea in six years to check the country’s macroeconomic soundness and systems for financial stability. The team stayed in South Korea from Feb. 12 to 14, looking into the country’s household debts exceeding 1,500 trillion won as well as

The South Korean government has begun to respond to the U.S. Commerce Department’s report for tariff imposition on automobiles and auto parts exported to the United States. The Commerce Department submitted the report to President Donald Trump on Feb. 17 in accordance with Section 232 of the Trade E