SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) — About half of South Koreans are against President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan to move the presidential office out of Cheong Wa Dae, while some 44 percent support the idea, a poll showed Wednesday. According to the poll of 1,004 adults, conducted by pollster Embrain Public on Sunday and Monday, 51.9 [...]
SEJONG, March 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Debt held by wage workers in South Korea grew at a much faster pace in 2020 from a year earlier amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Bank and non-bank loans extended to paid workers in Asia’s fourth-largest economy averaged 48.6 million won (US$39,800) per person [...]
SEOUL, March 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea rose 4.7 percent in February from a year earlier on the back of growing online consumption amid the worst COVID-19 wave, the industry ministry said Tuesday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 12.19 trillion won (US$9.99 billion) last month, [...]
SEOUL, March 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly three in 10 South Korean exporting companies have seen their financial situation worsen this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and other negatives, a poll showed Monday. The survey on 102 manufacturing exporters out of the country’s top 1,000 firms by sales showed 31.4 percent of the respondents [...]
SEJONG, March 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s energy imports spiked more than 85 percent this year on soaring international prices, government data showed Monday, burdening the country’s trade balance and consumer inflation. The country’s imports of oil, natural gas and coal came to US$38.49 billion from Jan. 1-March 20, up 85.4 percent from a [...]
SEOUL, March 27 (Korea Bizwire) — A total of 70 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or stronger were detected on the Korean Peninsula and its surrounding waters last year, a level similar to the yearly average over the past 20 years, the state weather agency said Sunday. The 2021 figure is up from 68 [...]
SEOUL, March 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Fifty-five percent of South Koreans expect President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will do a good job after taking office, a survey showed Friday, though his predecessors had approval ratings of about 80 percent around the same time after the election. The Gallup Korea survey of 1,000 adults conducted between Tuesday and [...]
SEOUL, March 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s deficit in the trade of intellectual property rights touched a record low in 2021 on increased exports of cultural content, central bank data showed Friday. The nation’s deficit in the intellectual property account stood at US$30 million last year, compared with a $2.02 billion shortfall in 2020, [...]
SEOUL, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The smoking rate of South Koreans aged 19 and older fell below 20 percent for the first time in 2020 amid growing public awareness of health and the government’s anti-smoking drive, a report showed Thursday. The smoking rate of Korean adults came to a record low of 19.2 percent [...]
SEOUL, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s exports of snacks hit a record high last year on the back of demand by stay-at-home consumers amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the popularity of the Korean pop culture, customs data showed Thursday. Exports of snacks came to an all-time high of US$466 million last year, up [...]