SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s dependence on large companies for economic growth deepened in 2017, with global tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. alone accounting for nearly 15 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), a corporate tracker said Wednesday. The combined sales of Samsung and the nine other largest companies by turnover [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A series of new insurance coverage plans that offer additional discounts for health-conscious walking enthusiasts have been launched recently. Heungkuk Life Insurance Co. revealed today that it was offering a plan titled “Vari-Good” that refunds a maximum of 10 percent of a subscriber’s insurance premium depending on the distance [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A new measure is being put forth that would allow for the immediate split of pension funds between spouses upon divorce. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Pension Service, a committee created by the ministry to overlook the use of funds by the National [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean market for so-called target date funds (TDFs) has been growing fast this year amid growing worries over post-retirement life, a market tracker said Friday. According to FnGuide, 70 TDF products with a net asset value of 1 billion won (US$890,000) or more had a combined 1.21 [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The richest people in South Korea earned nearly 1,000 times more than the lowest wage earners last year, a parliamentary report said Sunday, highlighting the country’s widening income disparity. The average earned income of the top 0.1 percent bracket reached 660 million won (US$590,000) per person last year, according [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Consumer sentiment has turned pessimistic in South Korea, hitting a new 17-month low. The Composite Consumer Sentiment Index (CCSI) for August plunged to 99.2, down 1.8 points from the previous month, according to a survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Aug. 28. This marks the lowest CCSI score [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea appears to have tried to mine cryptocurrencies on a small scale as transactions of such coins are hard to trace and could be easily used to launder real money, a local report showed Monday. The report, compiled by a research unit of South Korea’s state-run Korea Development [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The nominal income of South Koreans belonging to the lower 40 percent of income earners in the second quarter of the year indicated the worst-ever drop recorded in the nation’s history when considering all previous second quarter data. Meanwhile, the nominal income belonging to the top 20 percent of [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The amount of foreign securities held by major South Korean institutions fell for the first time in more than three years in the second quarter due to a drop in holdings of foreign currency-denominated bonds, central bank data showed Thursday. As of the end of June, the value of [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Applicants looking to receive government aid to help offset long-term debts amounting to 10 million won or less per individual will be given an extended deadline, which is now scheduled for the end of February. The Financial Services Commission held a meeting yesterday during which the application window to [...]