SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Free cash flow at South Korea’s 500 largest listed companies rose sharply over the past year, lifted by a rebound in the semiconductor market that strengthened liquidity at major chipmakers, according to industry data released Wednesday. The companies — excluding financial institutions — generated a combined 69.6 trillion won ($47.3 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Cigarette smoking among South Korean adults has fallen over the past year, but the use of e-cigarettes has increased, underscoring shifting consumption habits amid persistent public health concerns, according to new national survey data released Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) analyzed findings from its 2025 Community [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean artificial intelligence startups are facing significant challenges, with fewer than six in ten surviving beyond three years, according to a new analysis released Sunday by the Korea Industrial Technology Association. The report examined more than 38,000 companies with in-house research institutes or dedicated R&D divisions, comparing young startups [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is quietly becoming more diverse. New census data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Data show that people with a migration background accounted for more than 5 percent of the country’s population in 2024 — a modest but meaningful increase in a nation long assumed to be [...]
BUSAN, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — More than half of Busan residents say they feel heavily burdened by their children’s education expenses, which now average 860,000 won (about $660) per month, according to the city’s latest annual social survey. The 2025 Busan Social Survey, released Friday and based on responses from 31,774 residents, paints a detailed [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s household wealth gap widened last year, driven largely by sharp gains in real estate values, according to a nationwide financial welfare survey released on Thursday by the Bank of Korea, the National Data Policy Office, and the Financial Supervisory Service. As of March 2025, the average household’s net [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — More than half of South Koreans watch news on YouTube every day, and a growing share now views content produced by non-traditional creators — individuals and small businesses — as legitimate news media, according to new research presented at a national policy forum on Thursday. The survey, conducted in August [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s newest generation is expected to live longer than any before it. Government data released Wednesday show that babies born in 2024 can expect an average lifespan of 83.7 years — a modest increase from the year prior, but another step in a long arc of rising longevity. [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s five major automakers reported another month of declining global sales in November, underscoring continued weakness in both domestic demand and overseas markets amid a broader economic slowdown. Hyundai Motor, Kia, GM Korea, Renault Korea and KG Mobility sold a combined 668,991 vehicles worldwide last month, down 3.9 percent [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s average household income rose for the ninth consecutive quarter in the third quarter of this year, partly driven by a sharp increase in transfer income, government data showed Thursday. The average monthly income of households came to 5.44 million won (US$3,699) in the July-September period, up 3.5 [...]