SEOUL, April 25, (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading non-life insurers are scaling back coverage for caregiver expense riders as soaring loss ratios threaten profitability. On April 24, 2025, industry officials confirmed that companies including Samsung Fire & Marine and Meritz Fire & Marine have reduced the daily coverage limit for caregiver expenses tied to [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top central banker has said global trade tensions sparked by the United States’ sweeping tariff policy are a major headwind for the country’s export-driven economy, and the issue will likely accelerate its efforts to diversify supply chains. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Rhee Chang-yong made the assessment [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s domestic consumption has entered a prolonged downward trend, driven not by short-term disruptions like COVID-19 or inflation, but by deep-rooted structural issues such as demographic aging, employment patterns, and industrial shifts, according to a new report released on April 23, 2025, by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean economy posted negative growth for the first time in about a year in the first quarter of 2025, central bank data showed Thursday, amid a domestic political crisis and uncertainties stemming from the Donald Trump administration’s sweeping tariff scheme. The country’s real gross domestic product (GDP) [...]
SEOUL, April 23, (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly one-third of insurance policies in South Korea are canceled within two years, with long-term contract retention rates significantly trailing those of major global markets, according to a report released April 22, 2025, by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The report, titled “2024 Insurance Sales Channel Performance and Supervision [...]
SEOUL, April 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday sharply downgraded its growth forecast for South Korea’s economy to 1 percent for 2025, citing heightened global economic uncertainty stemming from newly imposed U.S. tariff measures. In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the IMF cut its projection for Asia’s fourth-largest economy [...]
SEJONG, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s national debt without available payment resources is projected to near 900 trillion won (US$634 billion) this year, the government said Sunday. The country’s national debt is expected to reach 885.4 trillion won in 2025, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy [...]
SEOUL, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of unsold new homes in South Korea has reached the highest level in 11 years and five months, data showed Sunday, due mainly to weak demand for new homes in provincial regions. There were 23,722 unsold new apartments nationwide as of the end of February, doubling from [...]
SEOUL, April 18, (Korea Bizwire) — Woori Bank has officially entered South Korea’s budget telecom market with the launch of its new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service, WooriWON Mobile, which began operations on April 18, 2025. To mark the launch, Woori Bank is offering promotional benefits worth up to 300,000 won for new customers [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top central banker will attend meetings of the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bank chiefs, as well as the International Monetary Fund–World Bank Group (IMF-WBG) meetings, to be held in the United States, his office said Friday. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Rhee Chang-yong [...]