SEOUL, June 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea had the highest household debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio among 36 major economies in the first quarter, a global finance report said Monday. The country’s household debt-to-GDP ratio came to 104.3 percent in the January-March period, followed by Lebanon with 97.8 percent, Hong Kong with 95.3 percent, [...]
SEOUL, June 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Online shopping in South Korea continued to grow in April as eased virus curbs and the economic recovery boosted demand for travel services and foodstuffs, data showed Thursday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 16.5 trillion won (US$13.2 billion) in April, up 11.9 percent from the previous [...]
SEOUL, June 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean film attendance numbers nearly shot back up to the pre-pandemic level in May, data showed Wednesday, with a couple of big hits leading the charge. According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), movies screened in the country amassed a combined 14.55 million admissions in May, the highest [...]
SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s trade of computers and related goods soared nearly 40 percent to reach a new all-time high in the first four months of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The country’s exports and imports of computers and peripherals stood at US$13.3 billion in the January-April [...]
SEJONG, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Monthly lease contracts exceeded half of South Korea’s home rentals for the first time in April, government data showed Tuesday, due mainly to the impact of new laws that took effect two years earlier meant to protect tenants. The number of monthly home lease contracts, called “weolse” in Korea, [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea rose 10.6 percent on-year in April on the back of growing demand for fashion-related items and luxury goods amid eased antivirus curbs to support people’s return to normalcy, the industry ministry said Monday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The amount of electricity generated from renewable energy in South Korea touched an all-time high in 2021 on government efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, data showed Monday. Electricity produced from renewable energy sources came to 43,085 gigawatt hours last year, accounting for 7.5 percent of the country’s total [...]
SEOUL, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 170 employees from banks and other financial firms have embezzled more than a combined 100 billion won (US$79.62 million) over the past five years, but about a mere 11 percent has been retrieved, data showed Sunday. Calls have grown recently for financial firms and authorities to strengthen [...]
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Major card firm Hyundai Card Corp. said Friday its credit card users’ payments soared in April amid eased anti-virus restrictions. Hyundai Card said users spent a total of 8.69 trillion won (US$6.92 billion) for travel, flight, hotel and other reopening-related expenses last month, up 15 percent from a year [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Employment of wage workers in South Korea grew at a slower clip in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with three months earlier amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of paid employee jobs came to 19.97 million in the fourth quarter, up 376,000, from a [...]