SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Delinquency rates at South Korea’s major credit card companies hit an 11-year high in the first quarter amid an economic slowdown, the central bank said Thursday. The delinquency rate on loan assets at the major card firms came to 2.3 percent as of end-March, the highest since 2014, according [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The likelihood of South Korea facing a debt problem as seen in some European economies remains “limited,” a local analyst said Thursday, dismissing concerns that President Lee Jae Myung’s expansionary fiscal policy may strain the local economy. Ahn Jae-kyun, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities Co., made the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s widening gap between retirement and pension eligibility is fueling structural imbalances in middle-aged employment, with Seoul turning to data-driven policymaking to address the challenge. According to a new survey of 10,000 job seekers and 450 companies released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul 50 Plus [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday its Ioniq 9 electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) has received the highest safety rating of five stars from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP). The Ioniq 9 earned praise for maintaining a stable passenger compartment in crash tests and for its advanced [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s economy is expected to rebound in 2026, driven by easing uncertainties and accommodative policies, an official from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday, calling on the country to put in efforts to revitalize domestic consumption and accelerate structural reforms to further boost growth. “Prolonged domestic political [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Samyang Foods Inc. said Wednesday cumulative sales of its popular Buldak spicy ramyeon series have surpassed 8 billion units in the first half of 2025 on rising global demand. Sales of the Buldak brand have surged in recent years, reaching 5 billion units in 2023, 7 billion in 2024 [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — As South Korea heads into what could be its longest Chuseok holiday in decades — stretching up to ten days from October 3 to 12 — the country’s top business leaders are preparing to use the break less for rest than for recalibration. With U.S. tariffs, revisions to Korea’s [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean regulators said Tuesday they had broken up a sophisticated stock manipulation scheme involving some of the country’s wealthiest business operators and financial insiders, in what is being billed as the first major case under President Lee Jae-myung’s new crackdown on market abuses. The Financial Services Commission, the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — As South Korea’s major conglomerates approach annual reshuffling season, a new survey has revealed that only a small fraction of the country’s largest corporations have established independent CEO succession committees. According to corporate research firm Leaders Index, just 14 of the nation’s top 500 companies by revenue — or [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is revisiting an ambitious plan to transform a small island into a showcase of renewable power, seeking lessons from past failures as the government doubles down on clean energy to meet surging demand from carbon neutrality goals and AI-powered data centers. The Ministry of Environment said this [...]