SEOUL, Jun. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Tower crane workers belonging to two major labor umbrella groups kicked off a nationwide strike Tuesday, calling for a pay raise and prohibition of the use of smaller tower cranes. The operation of around 2,500 tower cranes was suspended at construction sites, with the same number of unionized workers [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s per capital income reached a record level of over US$33,000 last year, an increase of more than $2,000 from an earlier estimate, due to a revision of the benchmark year aimed at better aligning the country’s statistics with those of other countries, the central bank said Tuesday. [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The market value of pharmaceuticals traded on South Korea’s minor bourse has plunged over the past two months due to a gene therapy drug scandal, data showed Thursday. The pharmaceutical industry index of the KOSDAQ market closed at 8,558.65 Wednesday, down 11.8 percent from two months earlier when the [...]
SEOUL, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s bourse operator said Wednesday that a tax cut for stock trading will come into effect later this week, with analysts expecting the reduction to revitalize stock transactions, although there may be no sharp rise in trading volume in the long term. Starting Thursday, the transaction tax for [...]
SEOUL, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s state pension operator cut the number of listed firms in which it has a stake of 5 percent or more in the first quarter of the year in an apparent bid to boost its investment returns, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. The National Pension Service (NPS) owned [...]
SEJONG, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s global competitiveness ranking fell by one notch this year as exports and facility investments slowed down, an international institute said Wednesday. The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) said in its annual report that South Korea ranked 28th in terms of world competitiveness among 63 countries surveyed, [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — In an unexpected turn of events, South Korea’s financial regulator on Sunday rejected applications by two consortia to set up the nation’s third and fourth Internet-only banks. One consortium is backed by financial technology firm Viva Republica and the other is led by brokerage Kiwoom Securities. The Financial Services [...]
SEOUL, May 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Insurtech, a combination of insurance and technology, is known as an underdeveloped sector despite its potential. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), in its analysis on how Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and other new technologies are being used in the South Korean insurance market, [...]
SEOUL, May 22 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s financial regulator is expected to give preliminary approval next week to a consortium to set up the nation’s third Internet-only bank, senior officials at financial authorities said Wednesday. Two consortia, one led by fintech firm Viva Republica and another by brokerage Kiwoom Securities, have been short-listed for [...]
SEOUL, May 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The labor ministry said Tuesday some small business owners responded to steep hikes in the minimum wage by firing workers, in its first official statement about the impact of the recent wage raises on employment. Between November 2018 and April, the government conducted an in-depth interview survey on four [...]