SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean carmakers’ sales jumped 77 percent last month from a year earlier driven by robust overseas demand for SUVs amid the extended COVID-19 pandemic, industry data showed Monday. The five carmakers — Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. [...]
SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) — More than half of South Koreans support taxing capital gains from the trading of cryptocurrencies, a poll showed Monday. The government plans to impose taxes on gains from investment in virtual assets starting next year. A poll by Realmeter showed 53.7 percent of respondents back the plan while 38.3 [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s homegrown craft beer has increasingly gained popularity over recent years, industry data showed Sunday, as local brewers offer a wide range of flavors at competitive prices. The local craft beer market was valued at 118 billion won (US$105.6 million) as of 2020, sharply up from 43.3 billion [...]
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — One-person households accounted for the largest proportion of all households in Seoul at 33.3 percent, the city government said Saturday. Of 4,041 households surveyed between November and January, single-member households were the most common, followed by two members (25.8 percent), three members (20.6 percent) and four members (19.2 percent), [...]
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of 5G users in South Korea stood at over 14 million last month, two years after the networks first went live in the country, data showed Friday, as the country pushes to accelerate adoption of the latest generation networks. As of the end of March, 5G subscriptions [...]
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean market of functional foods is growing fast amid greater awareness of health amid the coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Friday. Sales of red ginseng and other health functional foods came to 4.9 trillion won (US$4.42 billion) in 2020, up 40 percent from four years earlier, according [...]
SEOUL, April 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of babies born in South Korea fell to a record low in February, data showed Wednesday, underscoring the country’s chronically low birth rate. A total of 21,461 babies were born in February, down 5.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. [...]
SEOUL, April 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s exports of autos grew 31.4 percent on-year in the first quarter on the back of brisk shipments of sedans and eco-friendly vehicles, data showed Wednesday. The country’s outbound shipments of cars came to $11 billion in the January-March period, compared with $8.37 billion the previous year, according [...]
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s investment in startups spiked nearly 61 percent in the first quarter of the year amid hopes of high returns, government data showed Tuesday. A total of 1.25 trillion won (US$1.12 billion) was invested in promising venture firms and startups in the January-March period, up 61.1 percent from [...]
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea jumped 18.5 percent in March from a year earlier on the back of seasonal promotions by offline stores, with local consumers also turning to “revenge shopping” amid the prolonged virus pandemic. The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 13.1 trillion [...]