SEOUL, March 31 (Korea Bizwire) — A wave of closures and voluntary retirements has swept across South Korea’s movie theater industry over the past year, as the sector continues to grapple with a prolonged slump in attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic. Once-thriving multiplexes now face a stark new reality—one marked by falling ticket prices, rising [...]
SEOUL, March 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s energy consumption grew at a sharply slower pace in 2022 than in previous years mainly due to limited transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic and lower demand from households, the industry ministry said Wednesday. The country’s overall energy consumption stood at 230 million tons of oil equivalent (TOE) [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of visitors to South Korea traveling on cruises nearly tripled in 2024 from a year earlier, driven by post-pandemic travel demand, data showed Thursday. Around 810,000 tourists visited South Korea on cruise ships in 2024, compared with 273,000 a year earlier, according to data compiled by the [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – The percentage of South Koreans who play video games has dropped below 60% for the first time in a decade, marking a significant decline from its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic when nearly three-quarters of the population were gaming. According to a new survey released on December 16 by the [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – A South Korean court has ruled that an airline’s decision to lay off pilots during the COVID-19 pandemic was justified, given the severe economic challenges faced by the aviation industry. The Seoul Administrative Court recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by 29 pilots who were laid off from Airline A in [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) – With the Covid-19 pandemic waning in South Korea, a government survey has found that most aspects of teenagers’ daily lives, including relationships with friends and family as well as school experiences, are undergoing positive changes. Adolescents have reported spending significantly more time confiding in their parents about their concerns, sharing [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s industrial makeup grew more service-driven during the Covid-19 pandemic as the healthcare and remote service sectors expanded while manufacturing contracted, central bank data has revealed. The share of services in the country’s total output climbed 4.4 percentage points to 49.3% in 2020 from 44.9% five years earlier, according [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, South Korean women in their 30s experienced suicidal impulses at a rate twice that of their male counterparts, a recent survey has revealed. Despite awareness of government mental health support projects, over 80% of these individuals hesitated to use services like suicide [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Amidst the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea stood out as an exemplary nation in its approach to combating the novel coronavirus. In a May 2020 article focused on global health policy, CNN highlighted South Korea and Germany as shining examples of how to navigate a world transformed by [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has lifted an entry ban imposed on its citizens staying abroad over COVID-19 concerns, state media reported Sunday, reopening its border following more than three years of its stringent virus restrictions. The North’s national emergency epidemic prevention headquarters announced that North Korean “citizens abroad have been allowed [...]