SEOUL, June 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s household debts stood at nearly 1.7 times their disposable income, data showed Sunday, with the pressure for loan repayment driving down consumer spending, potentially triggering an economic recession. The debt-to-income ratio for South Korean households and nonprofit organizations came to 174.7 percent as of end-2024, according to [...]
SEOUL, June 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s tobacco market is undergoing a seismic shift, with traditional cigarettes giving way to e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products that promise less smoke and odor — but are raising fresh public health concerns. A government-commissioned report released Thursday by the Korean Society for Smoking Cessation, titled “2024 In-Depth [...]
SEOUL, June 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean consumers ranked the dawn delivery market as the most consumer-friendly, while wedding services received the lowest score in a nationwide survey released Tuesday by the Korea Consumer Agency. The findings are part of the agency’s “2024 Consumer Market Evaluation Index,” which assesses how consumer-oriented various markets are [...]
SEOUL, June 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Elderly South Koreans with lower incomes are significantly more likely to eat meals alone—and that isolation is closely linked to higher levels of depression, a new academic study has found. Published in the latest issue of the Korean Journal of Gerontology, the study titled “A Path Analysis of Income, [...]
SEOUL, June 9 (Korea Bizwire) — More South Korean men are taking paternity leave, but the majority continue to come from large companies, highlighting persistent disparities in access to parental benefits based on workplace size, a new study has found. According to a report released Sunday by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, [...]
SEOUL, June 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Just days into his presidency, Lee Jae-myung is facing a cautiously optimistic public. According to a new Realmeter survey released Monday, nearly 6 in 10 South Koreans believe the newly inaugurated leader will perform well in managing state affairs. Yet the number reflects a more tempered confidence compared to [...]
SEOUL, June 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s rapidly aging population is reshaping the country’s most common reasons for hospitalization, overtaking once-dominant childbirth-related admissions, according to newly released health data. The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) announced on June 8 that the most common cause of hospitalization covered by the national health insurance system [...]
SEOUL, June 9 (Korea Bizwire) — While the overall incidence of sexual harassment in South Korean workplaces has declined slightly, a new government report reveals a troubling surge in online abuse—a shift attributed to the rise in remote and hybrid work settings. According to a triennial survey released Monday by the Ministry of Gender Equality [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Air travel between South Korea and Japan reached an all-time high in the first five months of 2025, surpassing 11 million passengers despite a strengthening Japanese yen, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced Sunday. A total of 11.25 million travelers flew between the two countries from January to [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) — For the first time in years, Seoul has recorded a sustained increase in both births and marriages, signaling a potential turning point in the city’s demographic challenges. According to data released on June 8 by Statistics Korea and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the number of births in March 2025 reached [...]