GOYANG, South Korea, Sept. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A South Korean court has ruled that members of a virtual idol group are entitled to damages over defamatory online comments, marking a significant precedent in how the law treats avatars in the digital age. On May 17, the Uijeongbu District Court’s Goyang branch ordered an individual, [...]
UIJEONGBU, South Korea, Sept. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – Migrant workers in South Korea without bank accounts will now be able to receive workplace injury compensation in cash, following a policy shift by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The ministry adopted the change earlier this month after a recommendation from Gyeonggi Province, officials said Thursday. [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s biggest business families stand to see their dividend tax bills fall by more than 12 percent under the government’s new tax reform, which grants breaks to shareholders of companies classified as “high-dividend.” According to a study released Wednesday by corporate research firm CEO Score, 87 out of [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to lower its benchmark interest rate for the first time under President Donald Trump is fueling cautious optimism in Seoul’s financial markets, with analysts predicting improved liquidity and renewed foreign inflows — but also warning of lingering risks tied to trade negotiations. On Wednesday [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Hanwha Aerospace Co. is poised to sign an additional contract with Norway to supply 24 K9 self-propelled howitzers, defense industry sources said Thursday. The South Korean defense giant is expected to finalize the agreement soon with the Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency, according to the sources. A company official declined [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea and the United States have begun working-level discussions aimed at overhauling the visa system for Korean workers, following the mass detention of more than 300 South Koreans at a Georgia construction site earlier this year — an episode that rattled both industry and diplomacy. The Ministry of [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea could soon face a tipping point where traditional monetary policy loses its potency, Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong warned Friday, citing the country’s rapid demographic decline as a structural risk that could push interest rates toward their effective floor. Speaking in Washington at the International Monetary [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — More than nine in 10 South Korean small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employing foreign workers say they do so because it is nearly impossible to hire locals, according to a survey released Tuesday. The Korea Federation of SMEs said it polled 503 firms with more than 50 employees in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is rolling out an ambitious blueprint to transform its manufacturing base with artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors, and clean energy infrastructure, part of President Lee Jae-myung’s drive to position the country among the world’s top four manufacturing powers by the end of the decade. The Ministry of Trade, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stormed a battery plant construction site in Bryan County, Georgia, earlier this month, hundreds of South Korean workers found themselves in shackles, held in freezing rooms with moldy mattresses and little explanation of what crime they had committed. The episode, now reverberating across [...]