SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Approximately 1 out of 10 franchised stores selling coffee and beverages shut down last year due to sluggish sales and other factors. Experts cite heightened competition within the saturated franchise market as the main issue, resulting in a wider polarization between successful and unsuccessful franchise business outlets. According to [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign visitors to South Korea will soon have access to tourist information in multiple languages, 24 hours a day, at major tourist destinations, starting in Seoul. The government has revealed the launch of a 24-hour multilingual automated “smart help desk,” catering to the convenience of international visitors. The first [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – South Chungcheong Province announced plans on Wednesday to prevent trash from entering the ocean and recycle accumulated marine debris. The fishing industry sustains yearly losses of 380 billion won due to waste that kills marine animals. Marine debris like fishing gear can damage ships, accounting for 11 percent of [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — WeWork, a leading provider of shared workspaces, plans to open a new office in Busan, South Korea early next year. Matthew Shampine, director of WeWork Asia-Pacific, met with Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don on Tuesday to discuss the opening of the company’s Busan office and the creation of jobs for [...]
CHUNCHEON, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s northeastern mountainous region observed the first snowfall of the season on Thursday, with a torrential rain warning issued for parts of the east coast, the Gangwon Local Meteorological Administration said. Four centimeters of snow had accumulated by 9:00 a.m. in most parts of the high mountainous region, [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employ 88 percent of the country’s workforce, but their labor productivity stops at a third of that of large companies, a working paper from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday. Titled “Enhancing dynamism in SMEs and entrepreneurship in [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The ruling party and its opposition clashed once again regarding President Moon Jae-in’s “nuclear power phase out” plan during the national audit regarding the issue by lawmakers within the National Assembly’s Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee. Ruling party lawmakers lauded President Moon’s policy on phasing out nuclear [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — An increasing number of taxi drivers are joining action to oppose a newly proposed carpooling venture from Kakao Mobility. The drivers of nearly 70,000 taxis in Seoul announced that they would stop all operations to participate in a rally to be held in the capital city’s Gwanghwamun district at [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – There has been a rise, in recent years, of the number of South Koreans who pay national health insurance premiums, required for people to benefit from subsidized hospital bills, but yet do not pay into the national pension plan. According to data submitted by the National Health Insurance Service [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The Citizen’s Coalition for Safety (CCS) has argued that the elderly show clearer signs of wanting to commit suicide compared to other demographic groups, making it easier to intervene in any suicide attempts. Yang Du-seok, the director of the Center for Suicide Prevention at the CCS, said Tuesday at [...]