SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will relax a regulation on the capital ratio of local banks this week in a move to reduce their financial burden, the country’s finance regulator said Monday. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) will allow them to designate their loan-loss reserves as common capital stock under the revised [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – In 2010, the South Korean government announced plans to cut sodium intake by 20 percent by 2020. The initiative has made impressive progress since, so far bringing down the daily intake level to 3,871mg in 2015 – a 19.1 percent reduction – according to the Korea Health Promotion Foundation. [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean government announced Sunday that it will invest 15 billion won ($12.65 million) to develop technology that can help to quickly and efficiently realize indoor maps, by 2021. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the move is aimed at generating indoor spatial information, which [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Koreans pride themselves on the world’s highest smartphone penetration rate at 96 percent. So which social networking platforms are most popular among Korean smartphone users? According to a recent study by market research firm Nielsen Koreanclick, 91.7 percent of mobile device users (Android smartphones only) made regular use [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – The Seoul city government said Monday that contaminants detected in underground water tables near a U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) garrison in the capital city were 500 times higher than normal standards. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said an average of 0.532 milligrams per liter of benzene was found around Noksapyeong [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – Kia Motors Corp., South Korea’s No. 2 automaker, saw its sales in Mexico more than double in November despite rising concerns over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s trade policy, industry data showed Monday. Kia sold 5,460 vehicles in November, up a whopping 143 percent from the same month a year [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s consumer spending sank to a “seriously” low level in the third quarter of the year, government data showed Monday, as most households tightened their purse strings amid slowing economic growth. Slumping household consumption is widely feared to come as a further drag on Asia’s fourth-largest economy struggling [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s air passenger traffic has reached a new high on a sharp increase in international passengers to and from the country, the transportation ministry said Monday. Air passenger traffic has already reached over 100 million as of Monday, breaching the 100 million mark for the first time in [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – A different type of avian influenza (AI) has been discovered in the country, the government said Sunday, as it intensifies efforts to contain its spread. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said a new H5N8 strain of the bird flu was detected at a chicken farm located [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Korea Bizwire) – The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is considering a revision to the Passenger Transport Service Act that would oblige cab drivers aged 65 and above to have their driving competence periodically tested as a condition for license renewal. The move, which was announced Thursday during a safety management [...]