SEOUL, Apr. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Yoon Hwan was on cloud nine last year when his girlfriend said “yes” after he popped the question. He envisioned a happy future full of precious moments with his wife and children. But that euphoria quickly gave way to a heavy heart when his dream was deflated by a [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The value of cosmetics and clothes purchased with credit cards continues to decline. The decrease in spending has been seen by some as a clear sign that consumers are weighing the cost-effectiveness of their options when making purchasing decisions. According to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, credit card [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Loans and the loan default rate both rose for the self-employed last year, the regulator’s data showed Monday. The loans extended to the self-employed totaled 389.8 trillion won (US$342.83 billion) at the end of the third quarter last year, up 13.9 percent from the same period of the previous [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent report has revealed that Seoul is the seventh most expensive city in the world. According to the Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on Monday, Seoul shared seventh place with New York and Copenhagen, Denmark, among 133 cities surveyed. The result is [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The polarization of the South Korean economy has been accelerating ever since the country was stricken by the so-called IMF Crisis in 1997, which led to the introduction of neoliberal policies. The income gap among households has further widened over the last 20 years and is now ranked as [...]
SEJONG, Feb. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s household income inequality hit a record high in the fourth quarter of 2018, government data showed Thursday. An average household earned 4.6 million won (US$4,000) per month in the October-December period, up 3.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Growth in income for the generation of workers who came into the job market after the 1997 Asian financial crisis is slower than in the past, which will hurt overall earnings during their lifetimes, a research report said Tuesday. The study by Shim Hye-jung, head of the income and [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s finance minister said Thursday that Seoul will push for talks with Britain on forging a bilateral free trade deal, citing London’s imminent departure from the European Union. The comments by Hong Nam-ki, the minister of economy and finance, underscored South Korea’s efforts to keep intact its economic [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Inventory of South Korean manufacturers has increased to its highest point in 10 years, data showed Monday, a likely sign of a dulled economy. Figures obtained from the Korea Center for International Finance and Statistics Korea put the inventory-to-sales ratio in December last year at 116 percent. The number [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Major foreign investment banks (IBs) revised down their forecasts for South Korea’s economic growth for this year citing sluggish exports and slowing global demand, a report showed Sunday. The average growth forecast for 2019 by nine major global IBs stood at 2.5 percent as of end-January, down 0.1 percentage [...]