SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major construction firms are banding together to address inter-floor noise, which has emerged as a major social problem in recent years. Samsung C&T Corp., the construction unit of Samsung Group, announced that it recently signed an agreement with POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. and Lotte Engineering & [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The monthly income of life and non-life insurance planners has declined due to the worsening of the sales environment and the deterioration of channel competitiveness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a research institute said. According to the latest report published by the Korea Insurance Research Institute, the average monthly [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial regulator said Monday state-run policy lenders plan to increase loans with low and fixed interest rates to small firms to help ease their financial burdens caused by high inflation and rising borrowing costs. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said in a policy briefing to President Yoon [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to sell state-owned unused and idle lands and buildings over the next five years in a bid to bolster public finances, the finance ministry said Monday. The government said it plans to push to sell assets worth 16 trillion won (US$12.3 billion) and more in the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — About one out of eight mid-aged people in South Korea has borrowed money due to economic challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a survey showed Sunday. According to the survey of 3,923 people by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 12.5 percent of people in their 40s [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A civic group filed a constitutional petition against the state minimum wage system Friday, arguing that enforcing a compulsory minimum wage on employers violates their freedom of contract and business. The petition by the public labor union minimum wage response committee was filed with the Constitutional Court hours after [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — As high inflation continues, an increasing number of South Koreans are turning to simple meals at discount stores. E-Mart Inc., a discount store chain under Shinsegae Group, saw the sales of simple meals such as sandwiches, salads and gimbap (seaweed rice rolls with vegetables) jump by 25 percent in [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Banks in South Korea have offered hefty bonuses to their executives on the back of the profits they chalked up by steadily raising interest rates over the past three years, a lawmaker said Wednesday. The aggregate value of bonuses given to the executives at the nation’s top four commercial [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Insurance companies in South Korea are increasingly competing over children’s insurance plans. About 60 percent of the children’s insurance market, currently sized at 4 trillion won (US$3.05 billion), is dominated by non-life insurer Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co., industry sources said. As of May, the company has sold [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Soaring consumer prices, a resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases being reported, and scorching weather are prompting more young South Koreans in their 20s and 30s to postpone their summer vacation. “I saved up 10 vacation days. I’m thinking of going on a trip to Europe in the [...]