SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 64GB is now available at bargain-bin prices, it it hasn’t already sold out, that is. According to reports from within the mobile communications industry, telecommunications giant SK Telecom upped its total subsidy offer for the phone to 616,000 won irrespective of users’ data plans. [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign currency deposits held by banks operating in South Korea rose in July from a month earlier as exporters increased their deposits of dollar-denominated earnings, central bank data showed Thursday. Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by local lenders, domestic and foreign, reached US$69.11 billion in July, up $5.5 billion [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Korea Bizwire) - Citibank will face disciplinary action after a leak of its “A+ Check Card” security data caused domestic card holders to suffer losses. The leak was traced to online payments service Paypal, which was hit by a BIN attack. Denoting the first six numbers of a check or credit card’s number, the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Sales of gold bars, regarded as a safe haven for investors, are increasing in South Korea amid escalating tensionwith North Korea, industry sources said Saturday. The Korea Gold Exchange, a local trader, said the average daily sales of100-gram gold bars reached 250 units since Wednesday, rising sharply from 50 units on average. Industry watchers said the demand for smaller gold bars is increasing as they are easier to carry compared [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean stocks ended lower Friday as foreign investors sold local stocks amid escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 39.76 points, or 1.69 percent, to 2,319.71. Foreign investors offloaded shares [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A new report from the Bank of Korea claims South Korea will begin facing labor force shortages in 10 years in the face of an aging population, with the economically active population expected to plunge 13 percent by 2050. According to the report released by Lee Cheol-hee, an economics professor [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — With less than 200 days remaining before the start of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, South Korea is going all-out to make the event a successful endeavor for the host country, with the economic benefits being at the forefront of things being keenly considered. Earlier, Lee Hee-beom, the chief [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s per capita gross domestic (GDP) is expected to edge past Italy’s in 2018, the government predicted Sunday, based on growth forecast data. The prediction, if it is met, will place the country’s per capita GDP at slightly more than US$30,000 and just over that of the European [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – Credit-card spending by individuals rose 11.2 percent on-year in the second quarter, as a long holiday and hot weather boosted demand for air conditioners and other consumer goods, industry data showed Friday. According to the data by the Credit Finance Association, credit-card spending by individuals stood at 150 trillion [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Small business owners in South Korea are making moves to adapt to the country’s new minimum wage hike, as a new survey shows nine in ten will downsize to offset the expected economic impact. The surprising findings from a survey conducted by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise last month [...]