SEJONG -- South Korea’s national debt is projected to surpass 800 trillion won ($682 billion) in the coming weeks, marking the first time in its history. The growth pace is proving serious in the wake of the government’s active allocation of supplementary budgets. The national debt is a core indicator for fiscal soundness, reflecting liabilities held by the central and local governments at home and abroad. According to the National Assembly Budget Office, the sovereign debt was es

Economy Sept. 17, 2020

SEJONG -- The average annual wage for South Korean workers was found to have reached $42,285 last year, according to calculation by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The level placed Korea at No. 19 among 35 members of the OECD. Two member countries, Colombia and Turkey, were not in included in the 2019 comparison. Though the figure fell short of the OECD average, $48,587, Korea ranked above Israel (21st), Italy (22nd), Spain (23rd) and Japan (24th), all of which saw

Economy Sept. 15, 2020

SEJONG -- The balance for credit-based stock purchases has shot up about 120 percent in South Korean capital market over the past five months to reach an all-time high. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the outstanding credit for stock buying offered by brokerages came to 17.21 trillion won ($14.49 billion) as of Sept. 10. By market, investors, including individual investors, owe brokerages for stocks worth 8.61 trillion on the first-tier Kospi and worth 8.51 trillion w

Market Sept. 13, 2020

SEJONG -- The number of foreigners staying in South Korea, both short-term and long-term inbound visitors, declined by 388,967 in only six months in the wake of the novel coronavirus. According to the Korea Immigration Service, the number of foreigners staying in the nation stood at 2.13 million as of June. This marked a 15.4 percent drop compared to six months earlier in December 2019, when the figure reached 2.52 million. By nationality, Japanese posted the steepest slide, as they posted mi

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2020

SEJONG -- For the first time in history, last year consumer demand for mobile broadband services in South Korea fell short of the average level for members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the Paris-based organization, subscriptions to mobile broadband, also called wireless high-speed internet, stood at 113.6 per 100 people in Korea as of December 2019, having inched up from 113.5 per 100 people the previous June. In contrast, the average for the 37-m

Industry Sept. 8, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea posted 21,960 in the number of births in August, which marked a record low since the government began compiling the data on a monthly basis. It is also the first time that the monthly figure for newborns fell below the 22,000 mark, the data from the Ministry of Interior and Safety showed. The figure for August 2020 contrasts with 31,291, posted three years earlier in August 2017 and 35,868, five years earlier in August 2015. Further, Korea saw the number of deaths outst

Social Affairs Sept. 6, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea ranked 33rd in the proportion of graduates from medical schools to the general population among the 35 surveyed members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The France-based OECD compared the numbers of medical graduates per 100,000 inhabitants in its latest research for 2017, 2018 or 2019 data, according to that available for each. The organization defined medical graduates as students who have graduated from medical schools or similar institutio

Social Affairs Sept. 3, 2020

SEJONG -- Some apartment complexes in Seoul were found to have renewed all-time high prices despite the measures introduced by the government on June 17 to cool the market. The record-breaking prices are have risen particularly in the wealthy Gangnam area, which comprises Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, two of the 25 administrative districts in Seoul. According to the data held by the Land Ministry, an 84-square-meter apartment in the Acro Riverpark complex in Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, traded at 3.57

Economy Aug. 20, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea lagged behind Japan, Russia and some Western countries this year in terms of employment among working-age people. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Korea posted a 65.4 percent employment rate for those aged 15-64 during the April-June period of 2020. In contrast, Japan -- also an OECD member -- saw the employment rate for its working-age population reach 77 percent over the corresponding period, though the country was also hit hard b

Economy Aug. 17, 2020

SEJONG -- It has been found that residents in Gyeonggi Province outnumbered those in Seoul plus Busan for a year with the gap continuously widening each month. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the population of Gyeonggi Province overtook the collective figure for the nation’s largest and second-largest cities in August 2019, which marked the first time in history since the nation began compiling the data. The figures were 13.19 million vs. 13.16 million. Further, the ga

Social Affairs Aug. 11, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea was found to have fallen short of the average of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries in consumer sentiment for the 25th consecutive month. OECD data showed that Korea’s consumer confidence index stood at 96.4 as of June 2020. Figures below 100 indicate a pessimistic attitude towards future developments in the economy, possibly resulting in a tendency to save more and consume less, according to its definition. For the Korean defini

Economy Aug. 10, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea’s tax revenue was found to have increased fastest among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Korean government’s tax revenue -- the state’s income from taxation -- was equivalent to 28.42 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2018 (the latest available), according to OECD comparison data. The figure posted an increase of 2.18 percentage points in only two years, compared to 26.24 percent of GDP

Economy Aug. 9, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea’s population posted a positive growth for the first time in eight months in July, after it suffered a continuous negative growth during the December 2019-June 2020 period. But the men’s population fell for the 12th consecutive month. This is leading the nation’s population decline, which de facto started in late 2019. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, Korea saw the population inch up 444 (minus 1,141 for men and plus 1,585 for women), co

Social Affairs Aug. 4, 2020

SEJONG -- The gulf between the haves and have-nots is wider in South Korea than in almost any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a recent analysis suggests, with only the US showing greater inequality. The OECD measured income disparities by analyzing the poverty rates of 35 of its 37 members as of 2019. (Colombia and New Zealand were excluded.) The poverty rate is the percentage of people whose income is less than half the median household income, acco

Social Affairs Aug. 2, 2020