The new contract ratio of domestic life insurance companies has fallen below 10 percent. The ratio indicates the share of new policyholders in a life insurer’s total subscribers.The metric has continued to drop since 2010 when it fell below 20 percent for the first time. The steady decline is attrib
Teachers around the world are undergoing a truly challenging time as they have to prepare their students for the future that is getting increasingly difficult to define. Technological innovation is so rapid that by the time their students graduate, they will face a world of work that is totally diff
The Korean government will lower import fees on liquefied natural gas (LNG) for power generation beginning on April 1. Prices of gas for combined heat and power plants with a capacity of less than 100 megawatts will go down 6.9 percent. LNG-fired power plants emit less air pollutants such as fine du
Global rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has warned that the credit ratings of South Korean companies can be downgraded this year.S&P released a report on South Korean companies on March 19. “The credit ratings of South Korean companies seem to have entered a cycle of gradual decline from th
The Financial Supervisory Service announced on March 19 that the current net income of South Korean banks’ overseas branches totaled US$983 million in 2018 with a year-on-year growth of 22.2 percent. The amount is equivalent to 8 percent of the banks’ net income for the same period. The total credit
The OECD and the Ministry of Employment and Labor of South Korea announced on March 19 that only 10.7 percent of South Korean workers belonged to trade unions in 2017 whereas the ratio was as high as 52 percent in Norway, 65 percent in Finland and 66 percent in Sweden.During the same period, the rat
Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and Chungcheongbuk-do (south Chungcheong Province) announced that they will hold the 14th Bio Korea 2019 in COEX, Seoul from April 17 to 19.It is Asia’s largest biotechnology convention, where pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, hospitals,
The top 10 percent income brackets in South Korea took up 50.6 percent of the total income in the nation as of 2017, according to a recent report on the ratio of the highest income released by the Korea Labor Institute (KLI).The institute analyzed 41.82 million of a population aged over 20 as of 201
Hyundai Motor Co. is developing an electrification platform which turn commercial vehicles, including large trucks, into environmentally friendly cars. This is part of its preemptive response strategy to brace for a higher demand of green commercial vehicles worldwide. The electrification platform i
Korean employers are protesting against the Economic, Social and Labor Council for social dialogues, saying that the council is discussing the ratification of the ILO Basic Agreement in favor of the labor.The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) became furious as members of the Labor-Management Relation
Korea is expected to have bragging rights as the first country to successfully commercialize 5G telecommunications in the world. Korea’s launch of 5G telecommunication services is schedule for April 5. Korea will launch 5G services with a 5G smartphone and a 5G monthly plan about a week earlier than
China’s scheme to foster its semiconductor industry has been going awry. The Chinese semiconductor industry is having trouble reaching its goals in both the memory sector, which is dominated by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix of Korea, and the non-memory sector where the United States has begun to
The United States has requested a bilateral consultation with the Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC), saying that the fair trade watchdog failed to guarantee U.S. companies sufficient defense rights when investigating them for alleged unfair conducts.The United States did not explicitly state the re
The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) told Google Korea on March 14 to amend an article in YouTube’s terms of service that allows it to unilaterally remove YouTube users' content or accounts. The FTC has become the first fair trade watchdog in the world to tell Google to revise its "unfair" ter
South Korean e-commerce company Coupang announced on March 15 that it has appointed Jay Jorgensen, a former vice president at Walmart, as its new chief compliance officer (CCO) and general counsel.Jorgensen is an expert in ethical management, compliance and risk management with diverse working exper
South Korean money market funds (MMFs) attracted more than 20 trillion won (US$17.60 billion) this year.The amount of capital that flew into the MMFs totaled 23.98 trillion won (US$21.10 billion) from Jan. 1 to March 13 this year, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) on Ma
Mercedes-Benz Korea has become the last importer of foreign cars in Korea to join the Takata airbag recall movement. The company has decided to carry out the first recall for Takata airbags, yet market experts point out that it is still slow to respond as it is recalling only 742 out of the 18,274 c
South Korea’s information technology (IT) exports have continuously decreased over the last five years when semiconductors are excluded.The amount of IT exports, except for semiconductors, peaked in 2013 and then fell for five years in a row, according to the data on IT industry exports between 1996
Global investment banking (IB) companies headquartered in Hong Kong, including J.P. Morgan, are visiting South Korea for talks with South Korean financial companies before the official auction for NXC Corp. starts. They are discussing a financing structure with local financial companies as the sale
As Samsung Electronics ushered in the era of foldable phones by unveiling the Galaxy Fold, global smartphone makers are pushing to develop more advanced foldable phones.For instance, Samsung Electronics has patented a smartphone that can be worn on the wrist like a watch, and Apple is said to be pre