The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) held a seminar on investment in the UAE Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) at the Trade Tower in Samseong-dong, Seoul, on June 11.The seminar, co-hosted by KIZAD, introduced the UAE industrial zone and Abu Dhabi, exemplary companies that have e

South Korean companies need to increase their investment in China as the Chinese market is expected to be further opened to foreign investors once U.S.-China trade negotiations are eventually concluded, a China expert asserted in a seminar on June 12.“South Korea’s investment in China is in a mature

The ongoing U.S.-China trade war is benefiting Korea's exports to the United States, according to a report released by the Institute for International Trade of the Korea International Trade Association on June 13.The report says South Korean and Chinese goods imports respectively rose 20.5 perce

The Japanese government is trying to increase the number of nuclear engineers working for Japanese companies as the nuclear power industry of Japan is going through a crisis triggered by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the companies’ slump in overseas markets.Hitachi was planning to build

South Korea and the United Kingdom have agreed in principle on a bilateral free trade agreement in view of the possibility of a no-deal Brexit in late October this year.South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and U.K. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox met with each other in Seoul on June 10 a

The National Development & Reform Commission of China told Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix on June 4 and 5 to continue to supply their components to Chinese companies. Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China put the same pressure on South Korea as well. Likewise, U.S. Ambassador to the Re

Russian Far East Development Minister Alexander Kozlov met with DPRK Minister of External Economic Relations Kim Young-Jae in Pyongyang on June 7. The former visited Pyongyang to discuss economic and trade cooperation issues in relation to the two countries’ summit in Vladivostok in April this year.

The Bank for International Settlement announced on June 8 that South Korea’s household debt-to-GDP ratio increased 2.9 percentage points to 97.7 percent in 2018. In the bank’s recent survey covering 43 countries, the rate of increase is second only to that of China at 3.8 percentage points.In South

Korea’s major industries are beleaguered. Externally, exports of semiconductors, displays, and petrochemicals, which are the backbones of the Korean economy, have been on the decline due to a drop in demand stemming from the U.S.-China trade dispute. Internally, labor unions’ hard lines and excessiv

The Brussels office of the Korea International Trade Association said in its report on June 6 that the result of the recent European Parliament elections can have a negative impact on South Korea’s export of machinery, consumer electronics, transportation equipment and chemical products by leading t

The United States and China are putting pressure on South Korea to take sides in their ongoing trade war. In other words, both the South Korean government and South Korean companies are exposed to the risk of retaliation on the economy side as well as national security.U.S. Ambassador to the Republi

The Bank of Korea announced on June 5 that South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$401.97 billion as of the end of last month, showing a month-on-month decrease of US$2.06 billion.Its foreign exchange reserves fell in April and last month, with the U.S. dollar appreciating, after having d

The Bank of Korea announced on June 5 that South Korea posted a current account deficit of US$660 million in April for the first time since April 2012, when multiple European countries’ fiscal crises affected South Korea’s exports to Europe.The current account deficit in April this year was led by t

The number of new patent applications in South Korea, which had been 141,116 in 2011, continued to rise and reached 161,698 in 2015. However, the overseas patent application ratio remained slightly over 10 percent during the same period. Specifically, it was 10.4 percent in 2011, 12.2 percent in 201

The ongoing trade war between the United States and China is adversely affecting more and more South Korean industries, which are already suffering from a global economic downturn. South Korea is one of the countries most seriously hit by the trade war in that it relies heavily on exports to the two

South Korea posted the steepest decline in exports among the G20 countries in the first quarter of this year. The Korea Economic Research Institute adjusted its domestic economic growth forecast for this year from 2.4 percent to 2.2 percent.The OECD announced on June 3 that South Korea’s exports tot

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on June 1 that South Korea’s exports totaled US$45.91 billion in May, down 9.4 percent from a year ago. Korea's monthly exports fell for the sixth consecutive month and the rate of decrease rose from 8.3 percent of March and 2 percent of April

South Korea and the Philippines are working on a free trade agreement (FTA). The two countries established their diplomatic relations 70 years ago.South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee met with Filipino Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez in Manila on April 17 and issued a joint statement on the issue.

South Korea has taken the first step towards exporting its R&D information portal system to Belarus.The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) announced on May 29 that it concluded an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) on May 28 (local time) to j

Statistics Korea recently announced that the number of population in the age group of nine to 24 fell from 14,209,000 to 8,765,000 from 1982 to this year and the number of population in the group of six to 21 is estimated to fall from 8,047,000 to 6,249,000 from this year to 2029.According to the Ko