SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a revision to the rule on the designation of large business groups and their chiefs for a watch list subject to stricter filing and other antitrust regulations, the regulator said. Under current law, conglomerates with total assets exceeding 5 trillion won (US$3.68 billion) are [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) – A smoker fined for lighting up in a designated non-smoking area has failed in a constitutional challenge after the country’s highest courts upheld the citation, ruling that public health interests outweigh individual freedom to smoke outdoors. On April 25, the Constitutional Court unanimously dismissed a petition filed by a [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) – A special loan program in South Korea offering rock-bottom interest rates for newlywed couples and new parents has drawn more than 5 trillion won in applications just three months since its launch, data showed on May 5. The “New Baby” loan program, introduced on January 29 by the Ministry [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) – One in three South Korean workers rated the labor and employment policies of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration 20 points or below out of 100, according to a survey released on May 5 by a civic group. The group, Gabjil 119, said its poll of 1,000 workers found Yoon’s labor [...]
SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Companies will be fined for reducing packet contents while maintaining retail prices without notice in South Korea as the government seeks to eradicate “shrinkflation” practices to better ensure consumer rights, the antitrust regulator said Friday. Under the envisioned revision of relevant regulations, manufacturers of daily necessities, including milk, coffee, [...]
UIJONGBU, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Gyeonggi Province, South Korea’s most populous province that surrounds the capital Seoul, has unveiled a new initiative aimed at promoting a work-life balance and addressing the country’s chronically low birth rate. The provincial government announced on April 30 that it will provide low-interest loans of up to 200 million won [...]
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) – The Supreme Court will seek to set new sentencing guidelines on crimes related to voice phishing and insurance fraud in a move to toughen punishment for fraud crimes for the first time in 13 years. The Sentencing Commission, affiliated with the top court, made the decision to newly include [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will impose a travel ban on Haiti next month due to increasing safety concerns as gang violence is escalating in the Caribbean nation, the foreign ministry has said. The Level 4 travel advisory, the highest of the four-scale system, will go into effect Wednesday, and it will [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Mandatory emission tests last year on 189,000 motorcycles in South Korea prevented the release of 98.5 metric tons of air pollutants, the government’s transportation safety agency reported on April 29. The reductions included 63 metric tons of carbon monoxide, 19.3 tons of particulate matter, 10.5 tons of nitrogen oxides and [...]
BORYEONG, Apr. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – In an effort to increase the city’s birthrate, officials in Boryeong, a coastal municipality in South Chungcheong Province, announced on April 29 that they would subsidize frozen egg fertility treatments for couples trying to conceive. The program will cover the costs of thawing frozen eggs and in vitro fertilization using [...]