SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — From free tickets to discounted travel, and to advantages in hiring, local governments are offering various incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. As of Tuesday, 25.7 percent of South Koreans have received their first dose of a vaccine and 6.8 percent have been fully vaccinated, health [...]
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) — With BTS fever sweeping across the globe, a major smartphone manufacturer in China is under fire for the unauthorized use of seven-piece act’s name to promote a new smartphone. China’s Vivo sparked controversy after releasing the company’s newest smartphone V21 which uses a slogan in its advertisement that makes [...]
SEOUL, June 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major T-commerce (television-based shopping) operators are launching live broadcasting programs to sell their products through TV channels. Among the top three firms — K-shopping, SK Stoa and Shinsegae TV Shopping — the latter two introduced live broadcasting through their TV channels. Featuring a combination of TV home [...]
SEOUL, June 13 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s insects industry grew 2 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, amid growing popularity of insects-based foodstuffs. The combined sales of local insect-related companies reached 41.4 billion won (US$37.1 million) in 2020, up from 40.5 billion won a year earlier, according to the data [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Lee Jun-seok, a 36-year-old politician with no experience as a lawmaker, won a victory Friday to take the helm of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) as the youngest-ever leader of a mainstream party in modern South Korean politics. Lee was announced the victor in the party’s convention [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Restaurants, cafes and entertainment facilities in the greater Seoul area will be able to open until midnight starting next month as the country is moving to gradually ease virus curbs in line with an accelerating vaccination rate, the health ministry said Friday. Starting in July, restaurants, cafes, karaoke businesses [...]
SEOUL, June 10 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study has revealed that South Korea’s financial support for foreigners tends to focus on multicultural families, and is inciting an unfriendly sentiment among South Koreans against foreigners. Kim Mi-young, a researcher at Kyung Hee University’s Center for Cross Cultural Studies reported in her recently published thesis that [...]
SEOUL, June 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Unionized delivery workers began a general strike Wednesday, saying logistics firms have stalled implementing an agreement on preventing their overwork. The Parcel Delivery Workers’ Solidarity Union said the indefinite walkout was approved by 4,910, or 92.3 percent, of 5,310 members who took part in a vote earlier in the [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The e-commerce industry is scrambling to bolster over-the-top (OTT) platforms or create web video series to attract customers. South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. has recently been focusing on securing exclusive video content for new streaming service Coupang Play for its Wow Membership subscribers. In addition to sports, the [...]
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Reports of ransomware attacks in South Korea have surged in the past year, shutting down hospitals to shopping malls as the coronavirus pandemic led to increased online activities. On Thursday, a major plastic surgery hospital in southern Seoul posted on its website that its servers had been breached by [...]