SEJONG, June 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s national debt is growing at a rate of 3 million won (US$2,730) per second and stands at 17.6 million won per person, a parliamentary office said Saturday. The total debt by the central and provincial governments in Asia’s fourth-largest economy reached 912.5 trillion won as of 3:30 [...]
SEOUL, June 7 (Korea Bizwire) — The pandemic has reduced the popularity of large entertainment facilities such as theme parks in the greater Seoul areas, encouraging people to visit nature in the countryside. The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute reported that some 3.2 million people visited Gangu Port in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province, which was [...]
SEOUL, June 4 (Korea Bizwire) – Taking a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea has decided to strengthen its protection and transport service for overseas citizens in case they are exposed to dangers like infectious diseases and other threats to their safety. The government held a national pending review and coordination meeting on Thursday [...]
SEOUL, June 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Many South Korean students were found to have fallen behind in Korean, math and English, research showed Wednesday, confirming pandemic learning loss amid yearlong remote learning. The Ministry of Education unveiled the results of the educational achievement research, conducted together with the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation in [...]
SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of foreign visitors to South Korea surged by nearly 140 percent last month, a public corporation said Monday, attributing the explosive growth to a COVID-19-induced base effect. In April, 70,112 foreign nationals arrived here, up 138.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the government-invested Korea Tourism [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans’ overseas card spending dropped 28.8 percent on-year in the first quarter, due to a sharp decline in the number of outbound travelers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Sunday. The amount of money spent overseas by South Koreans with cards, including credit and debit cards, [...]
SEOUL, May 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The value of overseas direct purchases reached an all-time high in the first quarter of this year. As overseas travel remains restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local consumers purchased more through overseas direct purchase websites. The value of overseas direct purchase stood at 1.41 trillion won (US$1.26 billion) [...]
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea shot up 13.7 percent on-year in April on the back of an economic recovery amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 12.3 trillion won (US$11 billion) last month, up from 10.8 trillion [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of tourist hotels in Seoul decreased for the first time last year due to the outbreaks of COVID-19, government data showed Wednesday. As of the end of 2020, there were 331 tourist hotels in Seoul, down two from a year ago, according to the data from the [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it will run some of its shops in South Korea clerkless during nighttime as the home appliance maker tries to attract more consumers amid the pandemic-induced contactless trend. LG said its nine stores, including six shops in Seoul, will operate without clerks from 8:30 [...]