SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Travelers to South Korea will now be able to purchase products at urban duty-free shops using a smartphone authentication service, without having to show their actual passports, the customs agency said Wednesday. The Korea Customs Service announced that the revised notice on the operation of bonded outlets was put [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Online shopping in South Korea reached a new record in 2022 following firm demand for travel services amid eased concerns over the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 206.4 trillion won (US$167.3 billion) in 2022, up 10.4 percent from the previous year, according [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Young South Koreans in their 20s use different social media platforms based on their political sentiment, a survey showed Tuesday. The National Youth Policy Institute conducted a survey of 2,214 people from 19 to 24 years of age, in which there were more progressives (52.5 percent) than conservatives (23.8 [...]
SEOUL/BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — China resumed mandatory COVID-19 tests for arrivals from South Korea only Wednesday, in its latest tit-for-tat response over Seoul’s strengthened antivirus curbs against travelers from the neighboring nation. In a notice sent Tuesday to airlines operating between the two neighbors, Chinese aviation authorities said all passengers on board direct [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — The basic taxi fare in Seoul rose by 1,000 won (US$0.8) to 4,800 won on Wednesday, marking the first hike in nearly four years. The Seoul metropolitan government raised the base rate for midsized sedan cabs operating in the capital city starting 4 a.m. The last hike was carried [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — A nurse who committed suicide after struggling with an excessive workload caused by COVID-19 has been recognized by the court as having died on duty. The Seoul Administrative Court recently ruled in favor of the family of the late nurse, who sued the Minister of Personnel Management. The nurse, [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The so-called “eco-wakening effect,” which refers to the rising interest in environmental issues, is spreading in South Korea, an analytics firm said Monday. Ars Praxia conducted an analysis upon request by the South Korean unit of the international non-governmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature, which showed that 108,324 [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The government plans to establish an on-site crowd management system that uses public transportation or mobile network traffic information to monitor crowd density in efforts to prevent a repeat of last year’s deadly crowd crush, officials said Tuesday. The plan was part of a series of measures announced by [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s imports of coffee beans hit a new record in 2022, data showed Tuesday, in the latest sign of the drink’s growing popularity in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Imports of coffee beans, including both raw and roasted products, reached US$1.3 billion last year, soaring 42.4 percent from $920 million [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Seven out of 10 South Koreans see the need for Seoul to independently pursue its own nuclear weapons development program, a survey showed Monday, amid concerns over escalating military threats from Pyongyang and a lack of trust in denuclearization negotiations with North Korea. According to the Gallup Korea poll [...]