Korea Technology Finance Corp. announced on May 11 that it had signed a business agreement with the Busan Bankruptcy Court to support the utilization of intellectual property (IP) held by bankrupt companies and to promote technology transactions among small and medium-sized enterprises, The Asia Business Daily reported. This agreement was established in response to the increasing number of corporate bankruptcies due to prolonged high interest rates and inflation.
Read more
The United Arab Emirates signed a new trade agreement with South Korea the day after it left OPEC, cutting tariffs on most traded goods, seeking an increase in trade exchanges and cementing economic ties between the two countries, as part of a wider push by the Gulf states towards Asia, EuroNews.com reported. The agreement marks South Korea’s first trade pact with a country in the Gulf Cooperation Council and the wider Middle East and North Africa region, at a time when supply chains and wider geopolitical dynamics are reshaping global trade.
South Korea’s exports surged again in April, driven by semiconductor shipments, signaling resilience in the trade-dependent economy despite geopolitical risks stemming from the Middle East conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported. Semiconductor shipments, which account for about a quarter of the country’s total exports, nearly tripled from a year earlier on strong demand from global technology companies building artificial-intelligence infrastructure.
Read more
South Korean and Vietnamese companies signed 73 business deals on tech, energy and infrastructure on Thursday as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visited Hanoi, a list seen by Reuters showed. The agreements, which were mostly non-binding with no value mentioned, followed the signing a day earlier of 12 cooperation pacts at a meeting between Lee and Vietnam's top leader To Lam, including on Korean possible investment in a new nuclear plant in southern Vietnam.
Read more
The Middle East crisis and prolonged U.S. interest rate hikes are squeezing Korea's construction sector, triggering massive job cuts at major companies and a surge in bankruptcies among smaller contractors, The Korea Times reported. Cost pressures have deepened due to the conflict in the Middle East, which has caused severe supply disruptions of naphtha, a key petrochemical feedstock, heightening the financial strain on builders. The broader economic downturn is driving the industry to downsize rapidly.
Read more
Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song, who began his four-year term Tuesday, delivered his first address in office prioritizing central bank digital currencies and bank-issued deposit tokens while omitting any mention of stablecoins, Decrypt.com reported.
Read more
This content is reserved for Global Insolvency Members or members of the American Bankruptcy Institute. Create an account now to gain access. Enjoy free membership for a limited time.
Already a member? Login here.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has nominated Shin Hyun-song, a senior Bank for International Settlements official, as the country’s next central bank governor, the Wall Street Journal reported. Shin will replace departing Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong, whose four-year term ends on April 20, Lee’s office said in a statement on Sunday. The nominee joined the BIS in 2014 and currently serves as economic adviser and head of the monetary and economic department at the Switzerland-based institution, often known as a bank for central banks.
Read more
A growing number of residents in Seoul are falling into irrecoverable debt, with new city data showing that people in their 60s and older now make up the majority of personal bankruptcy applicants, The Korea Herald reported. Six out of every 10 individuals who sought personal bankruptcy assistance through the Seoul Financial Welfare Counseling Center last year were aged 60 or above, according to a report released Tuesday. The center analyzed 1,192 valid bankruptcy applications filed in 2025 as part of its annual review of bankruptcy counseling cases.
Read more
Courts in South Korea will use a new set of guidelines in rehabilitation hearings to write off people’s crypto debts in an attempt to stop citizens from going bankrupt, DLNews.com reported. The new rules will see three courts, opened this month in the cities of Daejeon, Daegu, and Gwangju, exclude debts incurred from stock or cryptocurrency investments from liquidation calculations. And this, in turn, will reduce the overall amount debtors need to pay their creditors in personal rehabilitation proceedings, South Korean media outlet EToday reported.
Read more