SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of South Korea’s service industry increased 10.5 percent on-year in 2021 on the back of leisure and communication businesses, data showed Friday. Service sector sales came to 2,814 trillion won (US$2.2 trillion) last year, compared with 2,547 trillion won tallied in 2020, the data compiled by Statistics Korea [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in South Korea moved up 6.8 percent in 2021 from a year earlier, led by gains in the manufacturing industry, data showed Thursday. The GRDP was tallied at 2,076 trillion won (US$1.63 trillion) in 2021, up 132 trillion won from a year earlier, [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of newly established companies in South Korea decreased 3.4 percent on-year in 2021 amid weak business sentiment sparked by the pandemic, data showed Thursday. Last year, the number of newly created firms came to 1.02 million, down 36,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean webtoon industry continued to post strong growth last year on the back of growing popularity at home and abroad and successful adaptations into dramas and films, industry data showed Thursday. The total sales of the local web-based comic market amounted to 1.57 trillion won ($1.23 billion) [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Theater admissions sharply recovered in the first 11 months of the year compared with the deep slump a year ago but remained below half of the pre-pandemic level, industry data showed Thursday. A total of 986.3 million tickets were sold in the January-November period, up 89.3 percent from a [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of South Korean workers who took time off to take care of their children rose 1 percent in 2021 from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday. A total of 173,631 workers took parental leave to care for their children last year, up 1,682 from 2020, according [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Loan guarantees among affiliates of South Korea’s top 30 conglomerates surged nearly 21 percent in the first nine months of the year due to a credit crunch stemming from high interest rates, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. The debt payment guarantees among 207 out of the groups’ affiliates totaled [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of immigrants, including naturalized citizens, in South Korea fell around 2 percent on-year in 2022 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the government data showed Tuesday. The number of immigrants here reached 1.35 million as of May 2022, down from 1.38 million tallied a year earlier, according to the [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly 60 percent of South Koreans aged between 40 and 64 held debt in 2021 as more people took out loans to purchase houses amid soaring property costs, data showed Tuesday. The proportion of middle-aged South Koreans who borrowed money from banks or other financial institutes came to 57.3 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean large companies operated below 80 percent of their capacity in the third quarter of the year due to the global economic downturn, a corporate tracker said Tuesday. The average capacity utilization rate of 200 out of the country’s top 500 firms by sales came to 78.4 percent [...]