SEJONG, Dec. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s government on Tuesday approved a sweeping consumer protection plan aimed at preventing harm before it occurs, stepping up scrutiny of deceptive digital marketing practices known as “dark patterns” and tightening safety standards for everyday products, officials said. The Consumer Policy Committee, chaired by Kim Sung-sook, approved the 2026 [...]
BUSAN & SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s oceans ministry said on Tuesday that it would begin preparing trial voyages along the Arctic shipping route next year, positioning the country to take advantage of new maritime pathways opening as climate change reshapes global trade and fishing conditions. At a presidential policy briefing in Busan, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The families of Koreans who were forcibly conscripted by Imperial Japan during World War II and later enshrined at Japan’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine have filed a lawsuit in a South Korean court, seeking the removal of their relatives’ names and damages for what they describe as an ongoing violation of [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial watchdog on Monday unveiled an ambitious roadmap to overhaul consumer protection, signaling a shift away from after-the-fact remedies toward preemptive intervention across the life cycle of financial products. The Financial Supervisory Service said it aims to make 2025 a “foundational year” for substantive consumer protection by embedding [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — A record share of North Korean defectors living in South Korea say they are satisfied with their lives, reflecting steady gains in employment and income that are narrowing long-standing economic gaps with the broader population, according to a government-affiliated survey released Tuesday. About 81 percent of respondents said they [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government on Tuesday laid out a five-year strategy aimed at overhauling the country’s chemical industry, betting that a shift toward high-value and environmentally friendly products will help it fend off mounting competition and chronic oversupply from China. Under the plan, announced by the Ministry of Trade, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s Constitutional Court has upheld provisions of the Road Traffic Act requiring users of electric scooters and other personal mobility devices to hold a driver’s license and wear protective gear, ruling that the measures do not violate the Constitution. According to legal officials on Monday, the court unanimously dismissed [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s homegrown KF-21 fighter jets under development will be fitted with air-to-ground capabilities starting in 2027, ahead of schedule, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday. The plan comes as authorities plan to spend around 700 billion won (US$472 million) to conduct a series of tests involving 10 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Senior South Korean officials on Monday pledged to speed the adoption of artificial intelligence across the agriculture and food sectors, positioning so-called “physical A.I.” as a key response to rural labor shortages and an aging farming population. Bae Kyung-hoon, the deputy prime minister and minister of science and information and [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial watchdog warned on Monday that bonus systems at banks and other financial institutions remain overly focused on short-term performance, even as incentive pay surged more than 30 percent last year. The Financial Supervisory Service said total performance-based compensation paid to employees at financial companies reached 1.396 trillion [...]