SEOUL, April 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Major South Korean companies’ spending on research and development (R&D) climbed nearly 8 percent in 2019 despite weaker performances, a market tracker said Tuesday. Combined R&D expenditures by 208 out of the top 500 companies by sales came to 53.5 trillion won (US$43.9 billion) last year, up 7.8 percent [...]
SEOUL, March 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Young South Korean students’ spending on private education spiked to a 10-year high in 2019, data from the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea showed Tuesday, reflecting undiminished parental enthusiasm for their children’s academic achievements. Elementary, middle and high school students spent 20.99 trillion won (US$17.6 billion) on private [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study has found that South Koreans in their 50s and older have cut spending due to anxiety over their income in their retirement years, contributing to the overall decline in the country’s propensity to consume. In a report released Monday, the Bank of Korea (BOK) analyzed the [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — With a historically low birth rate and rapidly aging society, a surge in single-person households has meant that household grocery expenditures have been slashed almost by half in South Korea. According to a recent report from the Hana Institute of Finance affiliated with KEB Hana Bank that analyzed public [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has long been one of the world’s largest ‘coffee republics,’ with a coffee market estimated at up to 12 trillion won (US$10.2 billion). Saramin, a South Korean job search portal, conducted a survey of 1,759 working adults, most of whom were found to drink at least two [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Daily credit card spending in South Korea continued to climb in the first half on increased online purchases, central bank data showed Monday. Credit card holders spent an average 1.9 trillion won (US$1.57 billion) a day in the January-June period, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, according to [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Average spending by foreign tourists visiting South Korea has decreased to a level last seen 10 years ago, data showed Tuesday. According to the data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, foreign tourists coming to South Korea spent an average of US$1,268 [...]
SEOUL, May 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Credit card spending by South Koreans in foreign countries declined in the first quarter of 2019, although the number of overseas travelers increased due to the winter vacation. The increase in foreign trips is attributed to an increase in the number of travelers who made short trips to Asian [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — On days when there is a lot of news about fine dust, card payments at resorts and condominiums typically decrease by more than 30 percent, according to a recent study. Hana Institute of Finance, a research unit of Hana Financial Group Inc., published a report on Wednesday titled “Changes [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans traveling overseas spent a record amount last year, but spending per person declined, central bank data showed Wednesday. The current account for last year showed travel expenditures of US$31.97 billion, the highest since recordkeeping began in 2006. Past figures show increases from $15 billion in 2009 to [...]