SEOUL, May 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Roughly 230,000 foreign nationals worked in South Korea’s construction industry in 2024, accounting for 14.7% of the sector’s total workforce, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association. Of these, over 83% were ethnic Korean Chinese, or Joseonjok, highlighting their dominant role in [...]
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s automobile exports to the United States fell sharply in April 2025, as new U.S. tariffs and a temporary slowdown in electric vehicle demand took a toll on the country’s largest export market for cars. According to data released Tuesday by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, [...]
SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The value of South Korea’s virtual asset market nearly doubled in the second half of last year from six months earlier, on rising prices of cryptocurrencies, data showed Tuesday. The market capitalization of the virtual asset market had come to 107.7 trillion won (US$77.6 billion) as of end-2024, up [...]
SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) — For the first time in nearly two decades, nuclear power has surpassed coal to become South Korea’s largest source of electricity, signaling a broader shift in the country’s energy landscape toward cleaner and more sustainable sources. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s newly released 2024 Energy Supply [...]
SEOUL, May 8 (Korea Bizwire) — A new study has raised concerns about the limited diversity and expertise of outside directors at South Korean listed companies, warning that their heavy concentration in academia and the public sector may be undermining corporate governance compared to global standards. According to a report released Tuesday by the Korea Chamber [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s beauty industry continues its explosive global ascent, with overseas direct purchases of Korean cosmetics and perfumes — commonly referred to as K-beauty — nearly doubling in 2024 to approach $1 billion, according to newly released customs data. The Korea Customs Service, in data submitted to Rep. Park Sung-hoon [...]
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Only about half of businesses in 100 key service sectors closely tied to people’s daily lives — such as hair salons and grocery stores — survive after their first three years, government data showed Tuesday. According to data compiled by the National Tax Service (NTS), the three-year survival rate [...]
SEJONG, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s national debt without available payment resources is projected to near 900 trillion won (US$634 billion) this year, the government said Sunday. The country’s national debt is expected to reach 885.4 trillion won in 2025, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy [...]
SEOUL, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of unsold new homes in South Korea has reached the highest level in 11 years and five months, data showed Sunday, due mainly to weak demand for new homes in provincial regions. There were 23,722 unsold new apartments nationwide as of the end of February, doubling from [...]
SEOUL, April 17, (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics retained its position as the global leader in smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2025, according to multiple market research firms. However, a separate analysis based on sales volumes placed Apple in the top spot, raising questions about diverging metrics and the impact of U.S. trade [...]