SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly half of South Korean hospitality companies were unable to service their debts with earnings in 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Monday. The report from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the lobby for South Korea’s family-controlled conglomerates, showed 45.4 percent of firms [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — As people continue to stay indoors in the pandemic era, South Koreans have increasingly become used to so-called homewear, home cooking and going to convenience stores near home. Shinhan Card Co., a major credit card company, compared the monthly usage of cards in early 2019, prior to the pandemic [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Depression has spread by a factor of five due to the pandemic, a study showed Monday. A research team from Chonnam National University Hospital conducted a survey of 1,492 general participants who had not been infected with COVID-19 and 646 nurses from university hospitals. Among the general participants, 20.9 [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 8 in 10 South Koreans engaged in online consumption following the coronavirus outbreak, a consumer watchdog said Tuesday. The Korea Consumer Agency conducted a survey of 10,000 South Korean men and women over 20 years of age, 82.1 percent of whom (8,207 respondents) had engaged in online [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of travel agencies in South Korea has declined nearly 6 percent over the past two years in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed Tuesday. There were 21,231 tour agencies in Asia’s fourth-largest economy as of end-September, down 6.1 percent from two years earlier, according [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — About 90 percent of firms in South Korea are undecided on their investment plans for next year amid lingering uncertainty despite the country’s move back to normalcy under the “living with COVID-19″ scheme, a poll showed Sunday. According to the poll conducted on 316 firms by the Korea Chamber [...]
SEJONG, Nov. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of nonwage workers, such as the self-employed, in South Korea inched down 0.4 percent in 2021 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Thursday. There were 6.61 million unsalaried workers as of August, down 292,000 from the same period in 2018, according to [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — As the public’s interest in health and weight control increased following the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘low food’ that has been regarded as a niche product is emerging as a main product for the South Korean food industry. Low food refers to food that has reduced levels of specific ingredients such [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – City centers in Seoul welcomed back the return of rush hour crowds Monday morning as office workers and students resumed their in-person lives under the government’s “living with COVID-19″ scheme aimed at bringing the nation gradually back to pre-pandemic normalcy. South Korea activated on Monday the first of the [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Consumption inequality in South Korea worsened last year as the coronavirus pandemic undercut “discretionary” spending by lower-income earners due to toughened curbs on gatherings and business operation, a central bank report showed Friday. According to the report by the Bank of Korea, the consumption inequality index — a major [...]