SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Group, a South Korean telecom-to-chemicals conglomerate, ranked first in first-half net profit, beating Samsung Group on equity gains from its affiliates, a local market data provider said Sunday. In the six months that ended in June, SK Group’s consolidated net profit jumped 32 percent to 6.19 trillion won [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s population on the government’s database of residents register rose slightly and became older in 2019 from a year before, data showed Saturday. The country reported a total increase of 23,902, or 0.05 percent, in population to 51.8 million, and its average age rose to 42.6 from 42.1, [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — One in four parents who took parental leave in the first half of the year were fathers, data showed Thursday, as more of them opted to stay home for child care as schools closed amid the new coronavirus outbreak. The number of men who went on parental leave in [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Homegrown summer blockbusters like the zombie apocalypse film “Peninsula” helped South Korean movies see their combined admissions jump nearly 70 percent in July from a month earlier, data showed Thursday. The number of moviegoers who watched South Korean films reached 4.69 million last month, up 68.4 percent from 2.78 [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s electronics industry shrank in 2019 for the first time in 10 years as domestic and overseas demand weakened on a U.S.-China trade war and other negatives, a report showed Thursday. The industry’s output came to 321.9 trillion won (US$272 billion) last year, down 12.5 percent from the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — The daily turnover of South Korea’s gold market hit a record high in July amid a surge in trade in the precious metal, the local exchange said Wednesday. The market’s daily turnover averaged 13.1 billion won (US$11.1 million) in July, more than double the amount of 5.2 billion won [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea lost about 277,000 jobs in July, marking a decline in the number of the employed for a fifth consecutive month, as the new coronavirus pandemic strained business activities, data showed Wednesday. The country’s jobless rate rose by 0.1 percentage point on-year to 4 percent in July, with [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean households scrambled to pile up cash in the first quarter of the year amid growing uncertainty stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. Cash held by households and nonprofit organizations stood at 90.1 trillion won (US$75.9 billion) as of the end of March, up [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of foreigners who traveled to South Korea slumped 97.5 percent on-year in June, data showed Monday, highlighting the drastic impact the new coronavirus is having on the local tourism sector. The number of foreigners who visited the country came in at 36,943 in June, compared with 1.48 [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The total value of unemployment benefits paid out by the government set a new record for the sixth consecutive month in July, data showed Monday, due largely to the persistent negative economic impact from the coronavirus outbreak. The amount of state allowances paid to those unemployed or seeking jobs [...]