SEOUL, April 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Excess funds held by South Korean households and nonprofit organizations fell last year from a year earlier as private spending increased amid the economic recovery, central bank data showed Thursday. Net financial funds — the value of financial assets minus financial liabilities — held by local households and nonprofit [...]
SEOUL, April 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea jumped 14.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to reach the highest first-quarter figure ever, data showed Thursday. The country received US$5.45 billion worth of FDI commitments in the January-March period, compared with $4.74 billion logged a year [...]
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean online banks’ household loans grew nearly 8 percent in the first three months of this year amid decreased lending by offline rivals, industry sources said Tuesday. Outstanding household lending by the three online banks — Kakao Bank, K-Bank and Toss Bank — came to 36.14 trillion won [...]
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Jet fuel consumption in South Korea tumbled to a 17-year low in 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Jet fuel consumption in Asia’s fourth-largest economy came to 21.17 million barrels last year, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of male victims of digital sex crimes compiled by a state support agency doubled last year from the previous year, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Monday. The Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Center extended assistance to 1,843 male victims in 2021, marking a near [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The net profits of listed firms on South Korea’s main bourse hit an all-time high last year, expanding 160.56 percent on-year despite the pandemic, the bourse operator said Monday. The consolidated net profit of 595 firms listed on the benchmark KOSPI totaled 156.6 trillion won (US$128.6 billion) in 2021, [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Prices of South Korea’s agricultural, livestock and fisheries imports jumped nearly 32 percent in February from a year earlier, data showed Monday, putting upward pressure on the country’s inflation. The import price index for farm, livestock and fisheries products came to 112.6 in February, up 31.7 percent from a [...]
SEOUL, April 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Online shopping in South Korea rose 13.7 percent on-year in February, led by solid demand for food delivery services, electronics goods and travel services amid the pandemic, data showed Friday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 15.4 trillion won (US$12.6 billion) in February, compared with 13.6 trillion [...]
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Almost half of call center workers have thought about taking their own lives due to poor labor conditions and extreme emotional labor, a state human rights watchdog survey showed Wednesday. In the survey of 1,996 call center people conducted by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea from August [...]
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Rice farmers in South Korea posted the largest net profit in 20 years in 2021 thanks mainly to favorable weather conditions, data showed Wednesday. Rice farmers’ net income reached some 502,000 won (US$414.2) per 1,000-square-meter paddy last year, up 13.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data [...]