SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea risks falling short on hotel capacity as the number of foreign visitors is set to surpass 20 million this year, a national audit has found. The Board of Audit and Inspection said Wednesday that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had failed to establish clear standards [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s government has designated nearly 100 new transmission and substation projects as “national backbone power grid facilities,” clearing the way for streamlined approvals and fast-tracked construction under a special power grid law that took effect last month. The move, officials said Wednesday, is part of an ambitious plan [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite a sharp nationwide drop in the use of coal briquettes for home heating, pockets of households in Seoul, Daegu and parts of Gyeonggi Province continue to rely on the fuel at nearly steady levels, underscoring the strain of rising utility costs and the persistence of aging housing stock. [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading association of listed firms has voiced opposition to a proposed across-the-board corporate tax hike, arguing it would further burden businesses already struggling with weak global demand and a downturn in the semiconductor sector. The Korea Listed Companies Association (KLCA) said Tuesday it had submitted a formal [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly four in ten foreign companies operating in South Korea view the new government’s labor policies unfavorably, with particular concern over the recently enacted “Yellow Envelope Law,” a survey shows. According to a poll released Wednesday by the Korea Foreign Enterprises Association (KOFA), 41 percent of the 100 foreign-invested [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s government said Wednesday it will roll out more than 500 projects over the next five years to weave artificial intelligence into the nation’s industrial base, part of President Lee Jae-myung’s bid to build what he calls a “super-innovation economy.” Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan outlined the plan at [...]
GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Less than a month after emergency shipments of bottled water were distributed to residents during one of Gangneung’s worst droughts in decades, some of those supplies are now showing up for sale on secondhand trading platforms, sparking public criticism. The city, which declared a disaster in September [...]
LONDON, Oct. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Visitors to the Palace of Westminster, home to the British Parliament and one of London’s most iconic landmarks, can now explore its historic halls with the help of a Korean-language multimedia guide. From Oct. 1, the Parliament’s visitor booking website has offered Korean, alongside Japanese and Polish, as new [...]
JEJU, Oct. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Jeju Province’s pilot program encouraging food delivery in reusable containers has surpassed 2,000 orders in less than two months, signaling strong public support for the island’s ambitious campaign to curb single-use plastics. Launched on Aug. 13 in Jeju City’s Yeon-dong and Nohyeong-dong districts, the “Yonggi-inneun Jumun” (“Courageous Order”) service allows [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans in their 20s have seen the weakest real income growth of any generation over the past decade, according to a new analysis, underscoring concerns over job quality and rising living costs that continue to weigh heavily on the country’s youth. The Korea Economic Association (HanKyungHyup) reported on [...]