SEOUL, March 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Spending on private after-school classes hit a record high of 23.4 trillion won (US$18.9 billion) last year amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic that restricted in-person school education, according to a survey released by the education ministry Friday. The 2021 expenditures, based on a survey of some 74,000 elementary to [...]
SEOUL, March. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreigners withdrew more money from the stock market in South Korea than their investments last month as a risk-averse attitude grew amid heightened geopolitical risks from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, central bank data showed Friday. Foreigners unloaded a net US$1.86 billion worth of local stocks in February, marking the [...]
GWANGJU, March 7 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of registered surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor in Japan decreased by 585 for the past year, data showed Monday. A civic group unveiled government statistics on medical assistance provided to people who were conscripted to work in Japan during World War II. The data [...]
SEOUL, March 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Female workers account for nearly a quarter of all employees with major South Korean companies, with their pay amounting to nearly 70 percent of that for male counterparts, data showed Monday. The country’s 150 key companies hired about 199,700 women workers as of end-2020, or 24 percent of their [...]
SEOUL, March 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea fell 13 percent in February from a year earlier as chip shortages continued to disrupt vehicle production, an industry association said Friday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles fell to 19,454 units last month from 22,290 units a year ago, the [...]
SEOUL, March 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Online shopping in South Korea rose 11.5 percent in January from a year earlier, with the proportion of transactions via mobile devices reaching a record high, amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 16.54 trillion won (US$13.74 billion) in January, [...]
SEOUL, March 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly seven in 10 South Koreans saw their income fall in the wake of COVID-19, a survey showed Thursday. In the online survey of 2,016 people aged 18 or above by the Korea Institute of Public Administration from Nov. 15-22, 68 percent said their average monthly income was lower [...]
SEOUL, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans’ use of internet banking services soared 18 percent on-year in 2021 as customers preferred non-contact services amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Monday. The daily use of online banking services, including mobile banking, reached 17.32 million cases last year, up from 14.68 million a year [...]
SEOUL, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean institutions’ investment in foreign securities touched a new all-time high in 2021 amid bullish overseas stock markets, central bank data showed Wednesday. The outstanding value of foreign securities held by local institutional investors stood at US$402.72 billion as of end-December last year, up $29.97 billion, or 8 [...]
SEOUL, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Two-thirds of South Korea’s listed firms have sharply increased their 2021 dividends in an apparent bid to appease shareholders amid a bearish stock market, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. About 67 percent of 853 companies, which have announced their 2021 dividends as of Monday, have decided to raise their [...]