[Graphic News] Bum deal for Korean fans of sparkling water

Imported sparkling water brands are being sold in the Korean market at almost eight times their original domestic price, data showed Wednesday.According to the Korean Women’s Federation for Consumers, Italian brand San Pellegrino had the highest price gap between its domestic price and consumer price in Korea. A portion of 100 milliliters of San Pellegrino in Korea sold at 738 won (62 cents), 7.9 times higher than its domestic price in Italy (93 won per 100 ml).Moreover, Czech brand Mattoni sold

IndustryAug. 20, 2015

[Graphic News] Korea moves up in entrepreneurship index, but still low in OECD

Korea’s overall entrepreneurship mentality improved this year, but still fell behind most member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to a report.The Global Entrepreneurship Development Institute said in its annual report that Korea ranked 28th among 130 countries with 54.1 in its Global Entrepreneurship Index, or GEI. It was up four slots from 2014.GEI measures a country’s overall attitude and conditions for business practices, including the people’s

Aug. 19, 2015

[Graphic News] Hyundai Motor Group chairman earns highest salary in H1

Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo posted the highest salary among South Korean conglomerate tycoons in the first half of the year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service’s data. Chung received a total of 4.2 billion won ($3.55 million) -- down 740 million won on-year -- from Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Mobis, the group’s auto parts maker. The decline in his salary was attributed to his resignation from the board of Hyundai Steel, where his remuneration was 740 million won last ye

IndustryAug. 18, 2015

[Graphic News] Students in remote regions less fit: study

South Korean schoolchildren living in remote areas are significantly less fit than those living in cities, a study showed on Monday.According to the study released by Saenuri Party Rep. Yeom Dong-yeol, 18 percent of the students living in Gangwon Province, a mountainous region, and attending small-sized schools belonged to either level 4 or 5, the lowest of the five fitness levels.Gangwon was followed by North Jeolla Province -- a region with many remote fishing, farming and mountain villages --

Social AffairsAug. 17, 2015

[Graphic News] Perception of public safety falls after MERS

The percentage of people who say they feel safe living in Korea has fallen again after the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in June, government data showed Wednesday.According to the survey conducted and released by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, about 22 percent of respondents said they felt secure between April and June this year, a 2.4 percentage-point decrease from the previous three months. The MERS crisis appears to have inflicted a decline in Koreans’ perceptions

Social AffairsAug. 13, 2015

[Graphic News] Jobless rate down in July for third month

Korea’s unemployment rate decreased from 3.9 percent in June to 3.7 percent in July as more people were hired, data showed Wednesday.According to Statistics Korea, the number of employed people reached slightly more than 26.30 million last month, with 326,000 new jobs being created on-year.July marked the third month in a row that more than 300,000 jobs have been created in the country.Officials said most of new jobs were created in the manufacturing and services sector as the government and the

IndustryAug. 12, 2015

[Graphic News] Korea tops in ratio of enterprises to GDP

Korea is overflowing with small-scale and self-employed businesses amid a shortage of high-quality jobs, data showed Tuesday.According to a report released by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the ratio between the number of Korean enterprises and gross domestic product was higher than other OECD members. Korea had 3,300 enterprises per $1 billion of GDP, far higher than Spain’s 0.5, Turkey’s 1.8 and Canada’s 1.54. Experts attributed Korea’s high number of enterprises to

Aug. 11, 2015

[Graphic News] Number of self-employed businesspeople lowest in 20 years

The number of self-employed people are at a record low due to the Middle East respiratory syndrome and the economic recession, data showed Monday.According to Statistics Korea, the number of self-employed businesspeople for the first half of this year was 3.98 million, a decrease of 107,000 people compared to the same period last year.This is the lowest number since 1995, when there were 3.97 million self-employed businesspeople.Those who were hit the worst were owners of manufacturing and food

IndustryAug. 10, 2015

[Graphic News] Hyundai, Samsung top in workers' salary

Hyundai Motor Group employees earned the highest salaries among the nation’s 10 biggest conglomerates, data showed Sunday.According to a report released by market researcher CEO Score, the average annual wage of workers at Hyundai Motor Group affiliates was 91.7 million won ($78,700) last year. The conglomerate was followed by Samsung (87.5 million won), Hyundai Heavy Industries (75.9 million won), SK (74.8 million won) and POSCO (73.7 million).Hyundai Department Store Group among conglomerates

Latest NewsAug. 10, 2015

[Graphic News] Apple stocks hit 6-month low

Shares of Apple, one of the world’s top companies in terms of market capitalization, dropped to their lowest price in six months, data showed Wednesday.According to Bloomberg, Apple’s stock price closed at $114.64 on Nasdaq Tuesday local time, a 3,2 percent decline from the previous day, and a 13.2 percent decrease from July 20, when the stock price was $132.07.Apple’s market cap at that point was $760.8 billion, and has since dropped to $657.6 billion, its valuation falling by $103.2 billion.Ap

IndustryAug. 6, 2015

[Graphic News] Over 90% of Koreans own cellphones

Nine of 10 Koreans own a cell phone, a poll showed Wednesday.According to a survey by Korea Information Society Development Institute, 92.4 percent of respondents, or 9,413 people, replied that they owned a cell phone (including smartphone).The results also showed that people in their 10s, 20s and 30s had the highest ratio of smartphone ownership. A total of 91.6 percent of all cell phones owned by teenagers were smartphones, while the ratio was 99.3 percent for people in their 20s and 97.2 perc

IndustryAug. 5, 2015

[Graphic News] Online shopping sales reach all-time high

The number of online shoppers in South Korea saw a sharp increase in June, largely as the recent outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome drove people away from visiting large retail outlets.Online shopping volume reached roughly 4.43 trillion won ($3.78 billion) in June, up 26.6 percent over the same period last year, according to Statistics Korea on Monday.Online shopping sales took up 15.1 percent of the country’s total retail sales in June of this year, the highest recorded since off

IndustryAug. 4, 2015

[Graphic News] Korea sees current account surplus for 40th consecutive month

South Korea posted a surplus in its current account for the 40th consecutive month, data from the Bank of Korea showed Monday.The surplus was estimated at $12.9 billion in June, a 41.5 percent increase from the previous month.In the first half of 2015, the surplus was the highest recorded for the January-June period, at $52.3 billion.Experts, however, noted that the recent current account surplus is due to a higher rate of decline in imports as compared to exports.

IndustryAug. 4, 2015

[Graphic News] Samsung remains No.1 in global cell phone market

Samsung Electronics retained its title of the world’s largest smartphone seller in the second half of this year despite offensive from Chinese mobile phone makers, data showed last week.Samsung sold 89 million smartphones and other mobile handsets in the April-June period, taking up 20.5 percent of the global market, according to the data compiled by industry tracker Strategy Analytics. Samsung’s second-quarter shipments fell 6.6 percent on-year, and its global market share was also down 1.8 per

TechnologyAug. 2, 2015

[Graphic News] Banks to discontinue new account books

Bank account books, which have been used in Korea since 1897, will stop being issued starting September, financial officials said Thursday.The suspension is mainly due to financial systems being computerized and bank account books costing money to print and maintain.The Financial Supervisory Service said that starting this September, financial incentives will be offered to customers who do not want bank books and will stop providing them from September 2017.Incentives will include favorable inte

IndustryJuly 30, 2015

[Graphic News] Car export prices continue slide

The nation’s five major automobile companies exported 809,642 units in the second quarter this year, down 0.2 percent from a year ago, according to data released Wednesday.The report by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association said their combined income from car exports during the period reached $11.5 billion, a 3.9 percent drop.The average export price per car stood at $14,200, a 3.7 percent decrease on-year, the KAMA report said.The export unit price of cars has decreased since the third

IndustryJuly 29, 2015

[Graphic News] Investments in start-ups increase 40 percent this year

 Investments in start-ups increased by 40 percent after the government announced various support policies last year, data showed Tuesday.　The Small and Medium Business Association said that investments amounting to 956.9 billion won were made for venture funds from January to June in 2015, a 38.4 percent increase from the same period last year.　The number of venture capital firms also increased to 517 in the first half of this year, a 23.7 percent increase from a year ago.　An SMBA official said

IndustryJuly 28, 2015

[Graphic News] Korea's per capita income to top $40,000 in 2023

South Korea will reach a per capita gross national income of $40,000 in 2023 if Korea continues low growth, data showed Monday.According to the Korea Economic Research Institute, the OECD predicted that if South Korea’s potential growth rate falls to 2.9 percent, it would take 17 years for the per capita GNI to rise from $20,000 to $40,000. South Korea reached $20,000 in 2006.This is longer than the OECD average, which was 13.6 years. Among the G7 nations, Japan, Italy and Britain took eight, 13

IndustryJuly 27, 2015

[Graphic News] Korea reports no additional MERS cases for 21st day

South Korea looks to be finally approaching an end to its spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome as it reported no additional cases for the 21st consecutive day on Sunday, with the number of patients remaining unchanged at 186.No additional fatalities from the disease were reported for the past 14 days, leaving the country’s death toll unchanged at 36, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.Of the 186 people who have contracted the disease, 12 are still being treated while the remaining 138

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2015

[Graphic News] Highway accidents rise as sobriety tests decrease

The number of those killed in car accidents on highways surged last month, police said Thursday, suggesting that the decrease in sobriety testing conducted in the month due to the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak appears to have affected the rise.The National Police Agency said 25 people were killed on Korean roads in June, a 50 percent increase from 18 deaths a year ago. The number of overall casualties during the first half of this year, however, decreased, with 109 people having been

Social AffairsJuly 23, 2015