SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s ratio of private debt to gross domestic product (GDP) grew at the second-fastest click among major economies in the third quarter of 2019, data showed Monday. Household debt in Asia’s fourth-largest economy accounted for 95.1 percent of the country’s GDP as of end-September last year, up 3.9 [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s stock market has plummeted nearly 6 percent since the first new coronavirus case was confirmed in the country, data showed Sunday, as the deadly virus is increasingly feared to pose downside risks to the global financial market and economic growth. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — More than six out of every ten South Koreans continue to work after retirement, which is high compared to other developed countries. The Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI) conducted an online survey in September last year of 1,000 people with voting rights in 16 countries, including South Korea, the [...]
JEJU, Jan. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The proportion of multicultural marriages on Jeju Island is the highest in the country, a recent report showed. According to data from the Jeju Branch of the Honam Regional Statistical Office, Jeju accounted for 6.6 percent (881 couples) of first-time newly married couples as of 2018. This figure is [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s per capita annual rice consumption fell to a record low in 2019 amid changes in diet and eating habits, data showed Thursday. Per capita average annual rice consumption hit a fresh low of 59.2 kilograms last year, down 3 percent from a year earlier, according to the [...]
SEJONG, Jan. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Almost half of South Koreans were found to have experienced agricultural tourism, mainly to escape from everyday life and relax. The Rural Development Administration conducted a survey of 10,264 citizens over 15 years of age, 41.1 percent of whom said they had been on an agricultural tour program. The [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of female soldiers in the South Korean military stood at 12,602 last year, accounting for 6.8 percent of the total forces, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The tally is up from 5.5 percent in 2017, according to the ministry. South Korea aims to expand the number to [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s air passenger traffic rose 5 percent last year from a year earlier on higher travel demand, the transport ministry said Wednesday. For the whole of 2019, 123 million passengers, including 90 million on international routes, flew with full-service and low-cost carriers, according to the Ministry of Land, [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea moved up 4.8 percent last year on the back of brisk sales at online malls, while revenue from offline stores lost ground, data showed Wednesday. The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 132.9 trillion won (US$113 billion) last year, according [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Seven in 10 Seoul citizens find South Korea “severely” unequal, a poll has suggested. According to the city government’s survey unveiled Monday, 26.5 percent said inequality in the society is “very severe” and 42.3 percent “severe.” As the areas with the worst inequality, 41.1 percent picked “building assets, such as real [...]