SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s household credit shrank at the sharpest pace in 13 years in the fourth quarter of 2022 amid high interest rates driven by the central bank’s monetary tightening to bring down inflation, data showed Tuesday. Outstanding household loans reached 1,867.0 trillion won (US$1.44 trillion) at the end of [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s suicide rate slightly increased in 2021 amid the pandemic, data showed Monday, led by people in their 20s and those aged 70 and above. The number of suicides for every 100,000 South Koreans came to 26 in 2021, up 0.3 from a year earlier, according to the [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s car exports jumped 21.9 percent in January on-year, driven by record-high global sales of eco-friendly cars, data showed Monday. The value of outbound shipments of automobiles came to US$4.98 billion last month, up from 4.09 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of [...]
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Shipments of American agricultural products to South Korea reached a record high of over US$10 billion last year, U.S. data showed Wednesday. U.S. exports of agricultural products to South Korea came to $10.05 billion in 2022, up 2 percent from $9.85 billion a year before, according to the data from [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of South Korean college students majoring in nuclear energy-related studies turned upward last year amid the incumbent government’s policy to reverse the nuclear phase-out policy of the previous administration, a government report said Wednesday. According to the report by the Ministry of Science and ICT, 2,229 students [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea added the lowest number of additional jobs in nearly two years in January, with the growth slowing for the eighth consecutive month amid economic uncertainties and higher borrowing costs, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people stood at 27.36 million last month, up some 411,000 from [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Major listed companies in South Korea cut their dividends by nearly 14 percent in 2022 from a year earlier amid an economic slump, a corporate tracker said Tuesday. Combined dividends paid out by 50 of South Korea’s top 100 firms in terms of market capitalization came to 15.7 trillion [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Group’s accumulated electric vehicle (EV) sales in the United States exceeded 100,000 units last month, industry sources said Monday. Hyundai Motor Co., its independent Genesis brand and Hyundai’s smaller affiliate Kia Corp. had sold a cumulative 104,326 EVs in the U.S. market as of the end of [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign investors’ net selling of South Korean securities slowed sharply in January as they increased holdings of stocks amid expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve would slow monetary tightening and China’s economy would recover, central bank data showed Thursday. The value of their combined investment in local securities — stocks [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s exports of solar panels and other related parts jumped 38 percent on-year in 2022 on the back of major nations’ push to expand renewable energy development, the industry ministry said Thursday. Outbound shipments of solar panels, solar cells, solar wafers and other items combined came to US$1.64 [...]