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 [...]
HWASUN, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has shipped its first domestically manufactured anthrax vaccine, marking a major milestone in strengthening national preparedness against bioterrorism and infectious disease emergencies, health authorities said Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced that GC Biopharma began initial shipment of Baritrax, the world’s first genetically engineered [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Coupang, South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, is experiencing a significant drop in user traffic following a major personal data breach that triggered widespread consumer anxiety and scrutiny, new industry data shows. According to Mobile Index, a data analytics platform owned by IGAWorks, Coupang’s daily active users (DAU) stood at 16.18 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — A nationwide charity running campaign jointly organized by KakaoPay and singer Sean has concluded with record participation, underscoring the rapid rise of digital philanthropy and community fundraising in South Korea. The “2025 Long Run” campaign — designed as an online and offline donation marathon — drew a combined 265,000 participants, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Shares of South Korea’s two largest memory chipmakers rose sharply on Monday amid mounting expectations for robust fourth-quarter earnings, reflecting renewed investor confidence in the artificial intelligence–driven semiconductor cycle. SK hynix closed 6.07 percent higher at 577,000 won on the Korea Exchange, recovering the 570,000-won level for the first time [...]
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 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean police have reassigned an investigator specializing in medical crimes to reexamine allegations that resident doctors at a major Seoul hospital received illicit kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies, signaling renewed scrutiny of a case long criticized for lackluster enforcement. According to officials and reporting by Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Following the disclosure that personal information belonging to more than 30 million Coupang users had been leaked, South Korea’s leading digital platforms are moving to strengthen cybersecurity, conduct internal audits and guard against potential secondary fraud, industry officials said Sunday. Major players — including Naver, Kakao and financial platform Toss [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Chinese manufacturers have sustained a sweeping low-price export strategy for more than two years, intensifying competitive pressure on South Korean exporters across a range of sectors, a new study shows. According to a report released Sunday by Jih Man-soo, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance, Chinese export [...]