• Trade News
  
  EXPORTS TO
  CONTINUE TO
  DRIVE S.KOREA'S
  GROWTH IN H2
•    South Korea's exports rose for the eighth consecutive month in June helped by surging oil prices and recovery in worldwide trade. This is a turnaround following two years of minus growth in 2015 and 2016, when oil prices fell dramatically.
     Outbound shipments rose 15.8 per-
  cent to USD 279.4 billion for the first six months this year from a year earl-
  ier, while imports soared 21 percent to USD 233.6 billion during the same time span.
     Buoyed by surging exports, which
• account for over 40 percent of South Korea's gross domestic product, the Bank of Korea recently upgraded its growth forecast for the country to 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent.
     Barclays, HSBC and Nomura Securi-
  ties Co. expected in separate reports that South Korea's exports will conti-
  nue to grow in the second half of the year despite slowing exports in ships and the receding of the low base effect, according to the Korea Center for International Finance (KCIF).

• LEADERS OF S.KOREA
  AND VIETNAM AGREE
  TO BOOST BILATERAL
  TRADE
•    South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed to further expand the countries' bilateral trade and economic relations while also developing their strategic partnership.
     In a meeting held on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg on July 7, both Moon and Phuc noted that the countries' bilateral trade and investment continued to expand with the trade volume between the two countries coming to USD 45 billion. The leaders also agreed to work together to achieve a goal of USD 100 bil- lion in trade by 2020.
     Moon expressed hope for increased opportunities for South Korean firms
• to take part in Vietnam's infrastructure projects, especially in the energy and construc- tion sectors, while proposing joint efforts to develop Vietnam's industrial materials and parts industry.
     The Vietnamese leader expressed hope for increased cooperation in the infrastructure sector, noting increased exchanges between the countries' small and medium sized firms will be in line with his coun try's policy to build a modernized, indus trial nation. Phuc also expressed hope to meet Moon again at the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Vietnam in November.

• Government & Policy
  
  S.KOREA TO BOOST
  PUBLIC SECTOR HIRING
  OF YOUNG PEOPLE
•    President Moon Jae-in's policy advisory panel announced on July 4 the government will expand hiring of young people in the public sector, the latest in a series of efforts to create jobs.
     Currently, public companies and other public agencies are required by law to employ a set number of unem-ployed youths each year. The gover-nment will raise the mandatory ratio of hiring of unemployed youths in the public sector to 5 percent, beginning
• next year, according to the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee. The unemployment rate for young people, aged between 15 and 29, was 9.3 percent in May, much higher than the overall jobless rate of 3.6 percent, according to government data.
     Most notably, government will provide up to KRW 60 million (USD 52,000) to a small firm in promising sectors so they can pay for the wages of their employees for three years.

• NEW ICT MINISTER
  VOWS TO PUSH
  FORWARD TOUGH
  REFORM
•    During his inauguration ceremony on July 11, South Korea's new chief ICT policymaker You Young-min said that he will push forward tough reforms as the country meets challenges under the fourth industrial revolution.
     "The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) should be reborn so that it can prepare for the future amid the changes," said You. He also noted that the ministry will work with other related agencies while operating the budget for research and develop- ment (R&D) in the science and technology field.
     Earlier, the State Affairs Planning
• Advisory Committee announced that the MSIP will be the main government body to coordinate plans for the next five years.
     The ministry also stated that it will spend KRW 1.52 trillion (USD 1.3 billion) in 2018 on various science and technology R&D projects, subject to parliamentary endorsement later this year.
     You, with nearly 30 years of exper-
  ience in the software sector, said he plans to transform the country so it will become a leader in this critical field.