SEOUL, June 13 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean companies’ sales growth slowed and their profitability narrowed last year, central bank data showed Tuesday, as higher borrowing costs and increased prices of raw materials ate into their bottom line. Corporate sales increased 16.9 percent last year from a year earlier, slowing from 17.7 percent growth the [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. was the most preferred stock as gifts among domestic investors last month, a local brokerage analysis showed Sunday. Shares in Samsung Electronics topped gifting stock services of the home trading and mobile trading systems operated by the country’s seven securities companies in [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Approximately 16,000 elderly South Koreans are presumed to have died over the past five years while awaiting reunions with family members in North Korea who were separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, data showed Sunday. According to data from the unification ministry, around 3,400 to 3,700 people have died [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) — More than one out of three South Koreans who changed jobs in 2021 experienced a wage decline amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of registered employees who were eligible for state insurance programs came to 25.49 million in 2021, up 2.7 percent from the previous year, [...]
SEOUL, June 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Prices of clothes and shoes in South Korea rose at the fastest pace in 31 years last month as a growing number of people enjoyed outdoor activities after the yearslong pandemic, government data showed Tuesday. The price index for clothing and shoes rose 8 percent in May from a [...]
SEOUL, June 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Three indigenous streaming platforms in South Korea saw a rise in their users in May while global streaming giant Netflix suffered a slight fall. Tving, the nation’s largest streaming platform run by CJ ENM, saw the number of its monthly active users reach some 5.15 million in May, up [...]
SEOUL, June 6 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of smartphone users on 5G mobile networks had topped 30 million as of April for the first time since the service was commercialized in 2019, data showed Tuesday. The total number of 5G users reached 30.02 million in April, accounting for 38.1 percent of the total 78.79 [...]
SEOUL, June 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of flight passengers using Korean flag air carriers rose nearly 24 percent in May from a year earlier amid a nationwide move to return to pre-pandemic normalcy, government data showed Tuesday. Korean airlines carried a total of 9.32 million people on international and domestic routes last month, [...]
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea fell 9.2 percent last month from a year earlier due mainly to lack of supplies in some brands, an industry association said Monday. The number of newly registered imported vehicles came to 21,339 units in May, down from 23,512 units a year [...]
SEOUL, June 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Friday their combined sales in the United States rose 21 percent in May from a year earlier on strong demand for their sport utility vehicles. Last month, Hyundai and Kia sold 141,498 vehicles in the world’s most important automobile market, [...]