SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Air traffic volume in South Korea halved year-on-year in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Sunday. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the number of flight operations last year totaled 421,000, down 50 percent from 2019. The volume on domestic routes fell 10.4 percent [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Local retail sales of processed rice products shot up nearly 11 percent in 2019 from a year earlier due to the growing demand from single-member households while more people opt for convenient meals, data showed Thursday. Retail sales of processed rice products, including ready-to-eat steamed rice, porridge, and noodles, [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of registered vehicles in South Korea grew nearly 3 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, with that of green cars exceeding the 800,000 mark, government data showed Wednesday. The total number of car registrations came to 24,365,979 units at the end of last year, up 2.9 [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea dropped sharply last year apparently due to the North’s border closure to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus, government data showed Wednesday. According to the data provided by the unification ministry, a total of 229 North Koreans settled down in [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans are estimated to have spent over 500 billion won (US$454 million) on global video streaming service Netflix last year, doubling the amount tallied the previous year, data showed Tuesday. Local credit card payments on the video streaming service are estimated to have reached 517.3 billion won last [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly 135,000 terminally ill South Koreans have chosen to forgo life-prolonging treatment since the legalization of the right to die with dignity three years ago, government data showed Monday. The number of patients who opted to die with dignity stood at 134,945 at the end of December last year, [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s exports of rechargeable batteries rose for the fifth consecutive year in 2020 despite the coronavirus impact, data showed Monday. Overseas shipments of rechargeable batteries came to 7.2 trillion won (US$6.6 billion) last year, up 2.9 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the industry [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) sold by South Korean automakers sharply rose to exceed 600,000 units for the first time in 2020 on the back of the rising popularity of car camping and new lineups, industry data showed Sunday. Five companies — Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – The popularity of “hallyu,” or the Korean Wave, seems to have continued unabated across the world despite yearlong coronavirus restrictions, as the number of global hallyu fans topped the 100 million milestone last year, a public foundation said Friday. The number of members of hallyu fan clubs in 109 [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s auto exports sank 21.4 percent on-year in 2020 as the new coronavirus pandemic disrupted global supply chains and sapped demand, data showed on Thursday. The country’s shipments of cars reached 1.89 million units last year, compared with 2.4 million units posted in 2019, according to the data [...]