The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at msbond@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Base rate cut in May meeting and likely to be kept low for long timeThe Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) decided at the May meeting to lower the base rate by 25bp to 0.50%. The Board

Korea Ginseng Corp (KGC) announced that “Cheong Kwan Jang Red Ginseng Extract Every Time” broke through a milestone of 200 million bags in cumulative sales –- about four bags per a Korean citizen.Cheong Kwan Jang Red Ginseng Extract Every Time is very portable and easy to have by adding only purifie

The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) said in its report on Feb. 18 that Covid-19’s adverse impact on South Korea will be second only to that on the United States unless the spread of the virus is contained in the near future, this is because South Korea and China are very clo

Although Japanese companies earned nearly 48 trillion won in sales in Korea in the past four years, they paid only 300 billion won in taxes.According to the data the National Tax Service submitted to lawmaker Kim Doo-kwan of the ruling Democratic Party on Oct. 28, Japanese companies operating in Kor

U.S. President Donald Trump recently made an issue of South Korea’s developing country status in the WTO. Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister candidate Kim Hyun-soo said on Aug. 28 that the U.S. president’s remarks can be a chance for South Korea to change the framework of its agricultural

David Sehyeon Baek is a columnist -- Ed. “Where is Bus 9000 coming by now? I should be in a meeting by 7 p.m.!” My colleague took out her phone and showed me where our bus was. In her app, we could see all the movements of the buses and the estimated arrival time. Subways were easier. At least here

South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, who returned from the visit to the United States, told reporters on July 29 that she proposed to Japan's Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko that they meet on the sidelines of the ministerial conference of the 8th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (

Japan’s export restrictions cover photoresists, hydrogen fluoride and fluorine polyimide. Among them, hydrogen fluoride or etching gas from Japan accounts for 43.9 percent of South Korea’s total hydrogen fluoride imports, and South Korea’s dependence on Japan is close to 100 percent when it comes to

Concerns are growing that Japan's economic retaliation against Korea, which started in the semiconductor and display sectors, may expand and hit the Korean industry as a whole.As Japan is expected to remove South Korea from a "whitelist" of trusted importers, Korean companies that import the 1,1

The Japanese government announced on July 1 that it would start to restrict the export of semiconductor and display materials to South Korea from July 4, causing many South Korean companies to be nervous.“Japanese companies now must obtain a permission from the Japanese government to export resist,

The Sankei Shimbun reported on June 30 that the Japanese government would restrict exports of three chemical materials to South Korea starting from July 4 in response to the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling regarding compensation for forced labor victims during Japanese colonial rule.The three ma

David Sehyeon Baek is a columnist -- Ed. In Korea, KFC is not doing too well these days. There was a time when KFC was hugely popular. Now in the list of the best 10 chicken brands, KFC is not included at all. People say the total number of chicken restaurants in Korea exceeds the total number of Mc

Robert Rosenstein is chairman and founder of Agoda and strategic advisor to the CEO of Booking Holdings. Peter L. Allen is the managing director of Agoda Outside, Agoda’s public affairs division. Agoda is the Asia-based subsidiary of Booking Holdings, the world’s leader in online travel. Allen can b

The top 10 percent income brackets in South Korea took up 50.6 percent of the total income in the nation as of 2017, according to a recent report on the ratio of the highest income released by the Korea Labor Institute (KLI).The institute analyzed 41.82 million of a population aged over 20 as of 201

During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called upon the South Korean government to make the local labor market more flexible before anything else. In response, the government prepared the Act on the Protection of Dispatched Workers in February 1998.Still, the

The stock price of Samsung BioLogics dropped by more than 17% after the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) made an announcement on Samsung BioLogics’ accounting fraud allegations.On May 2, the stock price fell 17.21% or 84,000 won per share and closed at 404,000 won with the daily trading volume sk

Google Korea CEO John Lee, who has been summoned to the National Assembly’s audit this year held at the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee’s conference room in the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on October 30, is questioned by lawmakersNaver and Google, which have been ri

South Korean President Moon Jae-in remarked on October 22 that the South Korean government would resume the construction of the fifth and sixth units of the Singori Nuclear Power Plant without delay while adhering to its policy for zero nuclear power generation.He made the remarks in response to the

Kaher Kazem, CEO of GM Korea did not expressly deny a rumor about GM Korea’s withdrawal from Korea and repeatedly answered, "I will do my best to normalize the management.""GM Korea executives are doing its best to normalize the management of GM Korea," CEO Kazem said to a question about GM’s withdr

As a Seoul District Court has ruled that the controversial merger of Samsung's two affiliated companies – Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries – in 2015 is valid, the appeal for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is also expected to take a new turn. In particular, the argument that Vice Chai