[Graphic News] Koreans spend $3,000 annually on insurance

South Koreans paid more than 3.4 million won ($3,000) in insurance premiums per policy for the year that ended in March, a market researcher said Wednesday.South Koreans’ insurance density stood at $3,034 in the financial year 2015-16, compared with $2,332 in 2010, referring to per capita premiums, according to Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer based in Switzerland, in its sigma report. It said South Korea’s premium per person is the 18th-highest in the world, ranking five places hi

IndustryJuly 20, 2016

[Graphic News] Short-term floating capital hits record high

The volume of short-term “floating” capital in Korea is set to surpass 1,000 trillion won ($870 billion) due to record-low interest rates and increased uncertainties, data indicated Monday.According to the Bank of Korea and the Korea Financial Investment Association, the idle cash and other short-term capital hit an all-time high of 958.9 trillion won as of end-May, up 15.1 trillion won from a month earlier. It stood at 866.3 trillion won in May last year.By asset type, cash came to 80.1 trillio

July 19, 2016

[Graphic News] Global oil consumption on steady increase

Despite global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, the world’s oil consumption is steadily increasing, according to an energy review by British Petroleum.The report said the global oil consumption per day on average stood at 95 million barrels last year, a 2 percent increase from the previous year and 3.2 percent higher than 2013.The U.S. and China took a combined share of nearly one-third of global oil consumption. South Korea ranked eighth in the world. Analysts said some advanced countries in

July 18, 2016

[Graphic News] ‘Pokemon Go’, global sensation among smartphone users

“Pokemon Go” developed by mobile game maker Nintendo has become a global sensation since its release in early July. Although the popular augmented reality game has not been released in South Korea yet, an estimated 1 million South Koreans have downloaded “Pokemon Go,” according to market research firm WiseApp. Players of “Pokemon Go” spend more time on average on the game then social media platforms. As of July 11, the average time spent on the mobile game was 33 minutes 25 seconds per day, long

TechnologyJuly 17, 2016

[Graphic News] Mortgage lending increasing steadily

Home-backed loans extended by banks continued to show a steady increase in step with a rise in home transactions, the central bank said Wednesday.The number of home transactions involving Seoul in June spiked 20 percent on-month to 12,000, the Bank of Korea said.Home-backed loans came to 500.9 trillion won ($439 billion) as of end-June, up 4.8 trillion won from the previous month, while credit borrowing by households gained 1.7 trillion won to 165.8 trillion won.The rise in household lending fol

July 14, 2016

[Graphic News] Korea-China FTA boosts cross-border investment

Cross-border investment between South Korea and China has risen sharply this year, fanned by the Korea-China free trade agreement, which took effect in December 2015, industry data showed Tuesday. According to the Kora International Trade Association, South Korean entities invested $2.2 billion in China during the first five months of the year. The figure is 12.2 percent higher than that recorded during the same period last year. At the rate recorded in the January-May period, South Korean inves

July 13, 2016

[Graphic News] From iron ore to semiconductors - 70 years of Korean exports

In the early 1960s, Korea’s top export product was iron ore, but this eventually changed over the decades to apparel and then to semiconductors, data from the Korea International Trade Association showed Tuesday.Over the same period, Korea’s biggest export market also changed from Japan to the U.S. and then to China, which bought 26 percent of all Korean exports last year. When KITA was established in 1946, Korea had just four countries as trade partners, but this has since grown to 240, as of l

IndustryJuly 12, 2016

[Graphic News] Korea‘s tourism deficit edges up this year

Korea has seen its deficit from tourism inch up in the first five months of the year, central bank data showed Sunday.The tourism deficit reached $1.49 billion in the January-May period, up 1.3 percent from the $1.47 billion from the same period last year, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.The BOK attributed the continued deficit of the industry to an increasing number of Koreans going abroad on vacation due to cheap airfare. The number of Koreans who traveled abroad came to 8.85 millio

July 11, 2016

[Graphic News] Samsung heir’s stock assets tumbled 20% this year

Stock assets owned by Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong suffered the biggest decline among the country’s 50 richest people this year, according to Seoul-based corporate tracker Chaebul.com.Lee‘s stock assets were worth 6.39 trillion won as of this month, down about 20 percent from 7.61 trillion won in January. The sluggish performance of major Samsung affiliates was the primary cause of the fall. The stock assets of Lee’s two sisters -- Boo-jin, CEO of Hotel Shilla and Seo-hyeon, CE

July 10, 2016

[Graphic News] College graduates’ top choice in job hunt: Naver

For the second consecutive year, college graduates who are seeking jobs have picked the nation’s Internet portal giant Naver as the employer they most want to work for, according to a survey by Internet recruiting service Incruit on Thursday.Naver was followed by food giant CJ Cheiljedang, cosmetics maker AmorePacific and Samsung Electronics.Incruit officials said respondents seem to think that when it comes to job seeking, a company’s vision and job stability are more important than high wages.

July 7, 2016

[Graphic News] Traditional low-cost foods see price spike again in Q2

Food and beverage products that are traditionally considered to be low-cost choices when eating out have seen a price spike in the second quarter of this year, according to Statistics Korea.The largest increase was in the price of soju, which leaped 12.5 percent relative to last year. This is the second consecutive quarter in which soju has seen the biggest on-year price jump.Other popular foods when eating out such as gimbap and ramen have also risen significantly. Gimbap prices rose 5.2 percen

IndustryJuly 6, 2016