SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 90 percent of small merchants plan to lay off workers because of the expected minimum wage increase next year that is disapproved by nearly all of them, a survey showed Wednesday. In the survey carried out by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise from July 21-28, 92.4 [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — A business lobby representing small-sized businesses on Friday filed a complaint against the government’s decision on next year’s minimum wage hike. Earlier this month, a tripartite commission of the government, labor and management reached an agreement to increase the minimum hourly wage to 7,530 won (US$6.68) in 2018, up [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — The government plans to raise 500 billion won (US$447.5 million) in funds to help entrepreneurs at venture startups restart business when they fail, officials said Thursday. In South Korea, a failure in a venture startup often leads to ruin, prompting young entrepreneurs to shun risk-taking, which has been cited [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — An increasing number of companies providing a platform business — a service that connects users on two or more sides of a market — has changed the landscape of the global labor market, government and industry officials here said. The comments were made during an open forum hosted by [...]
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) – A ‘walking delivery service’ in which elderly individuals buy products themselves and then deliver them to their destination via metro trains and buses has recently been gaining popularity. The ‘walking delivery service’, which began in 2006 in Songpa-gu, Seoul, tallied over 10,000 deliveries last year – a whopping 25 [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korean government will spend 5 billion won (US$ 4.48 million) on Korean SMEs to develop three-wheeled mini EVs until 2016, according to an announcement on June 14. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) already initiated a 7 billion won (US$ 6.28 million) project last year to develop [...]
SEOUL, May 14 (Korea Bizwire) — A laundry detergent that cleans clothes with micro bubbles and a small amount of surfactant has attracted US$ 60,000 in funding through two international crowdfunding sites, Kickstarter and Indiegogo. JnK Science, the company behind the new type of detergent called SMACLE, said that it took in US$ 47,560 through [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top financial regulator said Wednesday that it will pave the way for local banks to invest in financial technology firms as part of its efforts to boost the integration of the two industries. According to current financial laws, financial institutions are allowed to buy stakes in or [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — A promotional event for small and medium businesses will be held on a national scale from May 1 to 14, said the Korea Foundation for Medium Enterprises (KFME) on April 22. A variety of businesses from bakeries to automobile repair shops will offer discounts or free gifts. For instance, [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Loans extended by South Korean banks to companies using their high-level technologies as collateral have soared 70-fold in the past seven months on a strong drive by the government, industry data showed Wednesday, spawning concerns that a huge chunk of such loans could turn sour, thus undermining lenders’ financial [...]