Photo=Samsung The family of late Lee Kun-hee is set to complete its roughly $9 billion inheritance tax payments this month, lifting a multiyear financial burden and positioning South Korea’s largest conglomerate for a renewed strategic push. The final installment, to be paid by Lee Jae-yong and family members including Hong Ra-hee, Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, will conclude one of

Photo=Motionelements Sales of low-cost sanitary pads are surging in South Korea, as retailers slash prices and policymakers increasingly frame access to menstrual products as a matter of basic rights rather than discretionary spending. The shift comes after Lee Jae-myung publicly criticized the higher cost of sanitary products in the domestic market compared with overseas earlier this year. His remarks intensified

Photo=Motionelements South Korea is mobilizing government and industry resources to safeguard crude oil supplies as prolonged instability in the Middle East threatens to disrupt global energy flows, officials and industry executives said. The effort underscores the vulnerability of one of Asia’s largest energy importers to geopolitical shocks in key maritime corridors, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for

(Photo=MotionElements) South Korea’s packaged food makers are accelerating their expansion beyond Southeast Asia, gaining shelf space in U.S. and European supermarkets as global demand for convenient, ready-to-eat meals continues to rise. Government data released Friday showed South Korea’s food exports rose 4% in the first quarter from a year earlier to $2.5 billion, driven largely by processed products such as

Photo=Motionelements South Korea’s foreign-exchange reserves posted a sharp decline in March, underscoring the pressure a stronger U.S. dollar is exerting on the country’s external buffers. Reserves fell by $3.97 billion from a month earlier to $423.66 billion at the end of March, according to data released by the Bank of Korea. The drop marked the steepest monthly decrease in nearly