The Bank of Korea announced on Oct. 20 that residents’ foreign currency deposits increased by US$1.23 billion to US$89.5 billion last month. The deposits consist of those owned by local individuals and companies, foreigners staying for at least six months in South Korea, and foreign companies doing
Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho announced on Oct. 14 that non-taxation on non-residents’ and foreign corporations’ interest income and transfer income derived from government and monetary stabilization bond investment would become effective on Oct. 17.The measure was scheduled to take effect nex
People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-seong remarked on Oct. 11 that the number of national health insurance subscribers who are dependents decreased from more than 20.06 million to 18.09 million from 2017 to 2021 and to 17,937,000 until July this year.“However, the number of foreign dependents incre
The total amount of tax in default by foreigners exceeds 160 billion won, but the Korean government has virtually given up on collecting about 130 billion won of the total for such reasons as taxpayers’ departures. In addition, some 600 foreigners had tax in default exceeding 50 million won, with 34
People Power Party lawmaker Yu Eui-dong remarked on Oct. 6 that a total of 127 cases of illegal short selling have been detected since the implementation of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, including 119 caused by foreign investors.“According to current laws, domestic secur
SK Group announced on Sept. 26 that it offered free surgery for Vietnamese children with facial deformities at 108 Military Central Hospital in Hanoi from Sept. 19 to 23, in cooperation with Seoul National University Bundang Hospital and Smile for Children, a Korean medical volunteer organization. T
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held an Industrial Technology Protection Committee meeting on Sept. 14 and announced that it would pursue a revision of the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology for more effective technology protection.According to the min
Foreigners’ investment in Korean securities turned into a net inflow in July. During the same period, the won/dollar exchange rate rose and interest rates in major advanced countries plunged.Foreign investment in Korean stocks switched to a net inflow of US$160 million in July as investor sentiment
The Korea Financial Investment Association announced on Aug. 10 that foreigners’ bond holdings in the South Korean market increased by 4.6 trillion won and hit an all-time high of 233.5341 trillion won last month.In July this year, their net bond purchase was 5.8 trillion won, consisting of 2.4 tril
Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho and Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong had a meeting on July 28 after the Fed’s key rate exceeded South Korea’s for the first time in 2.5 years.Hours before the meeting, the Fed raised its key rate from 1.5 to 1.75 percent to 2.25 to 2.5 percent. The current ke
The Korea Fair Trade Commission is planning to amend the enforcement decree of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act so that a foreigner can be designated as the head of a large business group.The pre-announcement of legislation is anticipated within a month. The purpose is to enable the design
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on July 21 that foreigners’ interest income and capital gains derived from investment in government and monetary stabilization bonds would become tax-free and the introduction of financial investment income tax and cryptocurrency taxation would be postpo
The South Korean government is considering applying non-taxation to foreigners’ investment in the South Korean bond market. Although the government is mentioning global standards as its reason, this implies that the depreciation of the won and inflation are already beyond a tolerable level.Deputy Pr
The amount of Korean bonds held by foreign investors reached a new high in June.Foreigners net bought 11.4 trillion won worth of Korean bonds in June -- 7.3 trillion won in government bonds, 2.6 trillion won in monetary stabilization bonds and 1.2 trillion won in bank bonds. Analysts say that foreig
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on July 5 that the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act would be revised so that foreign exchange transactions can be made much more convenient.“The mandatory prior notice on the transactions will be repealed except for those having a critical economic impa
KT announced on July 3 that it would strengthen its services for foreign customers.KT has opened the KT Mini Program on WeChat for Chinese customers residing in Korea and started operating it in earnest at the beginning of July. Chinese customers can use the KT Mini Program immediately by searching
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport initiated investigations into speculative real estate transactions by foreigners together with the Ministry of Justice, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service.From January 2020 to May this year, a total of 20,038 housing transactions
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. With social distancing rules being eased, and with travel restrictions being lifted, accessibility to casinos should improve, leading to the normalization of casino industry conditions. In particul
The Bank of Korea announced on May 25 that South Korea’s net international investment position (IIP) increased by US$36.4 billion to US$696 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, when the IIP increased US$10.9 billion to US$2.1893 trillion.In that quarter, overseas securities investment decreas
Samsung Electronics’ market capitalization fell to 387 trillion won on May 12, going below the 390 trillion won range four days after the 400 trillion won mark was broken on May 6. This means that the company lost one quarter of its market capitalization in a year and a half.Samsung Electronics clos