The number of travel agencies in South Korea has declined nearly 6 percent over the past two years in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed Tuesday. There were 21,231 tour agencies in Asia's fourth-largest economy as of end-September, down 6.1 percent from two years earlier, according to the data from the Korea Tourism Association. The number fell to 21,540 a year earlier from 22,609 in September 2019 and continued to go south this year. The decrease came as pandemic-indu

South Korea’s Industry and Trade Minister Moon Sung-wook will discuss measures to strengthen the country’s cooperation with the United States on ongoing supply chain issues, at a time when the US is asking chipmakers to reveal their trade secrets. Minister Moon is scheduled to depart for Washington, DC, on Tuesday, to meet with his US counterpart, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the government said Monday. The list of agenda items includes issues like supply chains, reduction

AI will decode education, just like medicine decoded human genome: KidsLoop CTO

　A consumer group said on Monday that large automakers should be allowed to enter the secondhand car market where consumers are suffering due to opaque pricing and insufficient after-sales maintenance service. 　Nearly 2.52 million used cars are sold annually in South Korea -- 1.32 times the sales volume of new cars -- and over 55 percent of those sales are direct transactions between individuals. 　The reason direct sales account for a huge chunk of the market is because there is no competitive

Some three-quarters of restaurants say they are experiencing a labor shortage, as young people continue to shun jobs in the service industry while COVID-19 has limited foreign workers from entering the country. According to a report on the labor shortage in the restaurant industry by the Korea Foodservice Industry Research Institute on Monday, 74.9 percent of 207 restaurant owners polled in a September survey said the worker crunch has worsened. Only 4.8 percent said the situation had improved

In Korea, wage goes sharply up between the 10th year to the 20th year in employment, due to a widespread seniority-based salary system, a report said Monday. According to an analysis by professor Lee Sang-hee of Korea Polytechnic University, South Korea saw the sharpest hike in one’s salary of 15.1 percent in the 10-year period, compared to other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  The OECD average was a 5.9 percent increase.  Professor Lee

The automotive semiconductor shortage is expected to continue until 2023, and the government and related industries should be prepared to handle rising demand, an automotive think tank said Monday. According to the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, or Katech, the global shortage of automotive semiconductors that started around the end of 2020 will continue to affect the global car industry for the first half of 2022. Even after 2023, some companies may still feel its effects. This year

Major South Korean brokerage house Meritz Securities Co. said Monday its third-quarter earnings rose nearly 18 percent from a year ago on increased fee income. Net profit stood at 191.2 billion won ($161.3 million) in the July-September period, up 17.7 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its operating income expanded 15.4 percent on-year to 240.2 billion won in the quarter, and revenue soared 81.4 percent to 6.14 trillion won. Meritz Securities said its third

Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI), South Korea's sole aircraft manufacturer, said Monday it has received a US$360 million repair and maintenance deal for trainer jets in Iraq. In the three-year deal signed with the Iraqi defense ministry, KAI will provide repair and maintenance services for the T-50IQ advanced trainer jets operated by the Iraqi air force as well as training programs for pilots and engineers, the company said in a statement. KAI exported 24 T-50IQ trainer jets to Iraq in 201

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-biggest airline, said Monday it will increase the number of flights to Singapore starting this month as the two countries recently signed a travel bubble agreement. A travel bubble refers to a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases. Asiana has been operating three flights a week -- on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays -- on the Singapore route, and passengers are required to unde

As artificial intelligence, big data and digital technologies emerge as the forces driving change in many traditional industries, companies that previously did not need many IT workers are hiring tech talent. But digital skills are in such a short supply nationwide there is a war for talent. One company feeling the talent crunch is Ably, a fast-growing online fashion platform that currently consists of more than 200 employees among which some 20 percent are software engineers or developers.

South Korean electronics giant LG Electronics said Sunday that its premium OLED TV lineup had aced recent evaluations conducted by consumer magazines from 14 countries. In particular, the OLED evo introduced this year was recognized for its outstanding performance, earning the best score from consumer outlets in seven European countries, it said. French consumer magazine Que Choisir gave LG’s OLED evo a score of 16.2, the best among the 264 TVs it reviewed. The magazine said the prod

As overseas tourism slowly resumes with travel bubble programs and a rise in vaccination rates, travel to Saipan logged a sharp increase last month, data showed Sunday. According to the Transport Ministry data, passengers going to Saipan from Incheon surged 178.5 percent in October to 3,900 passengers from 1,400 passengers in September. Travel to Saipan also spiked in July when South Korea launched the travel bubble with the country, exempting fully vaccinated people from mandatory quarantin

A senior official of General Motors will visit South Korea this week, sources said Sunday, raising expectations he could unveil new production plans for the Korean unit of the US carmaker. Steven Kiefer, president of General Motors' international operations, will arrive in South Korea on Monday for a five-day stay, according to the sources from the labor union of GM Korea. Kiefer is expected to visit GM Korea's plants, including those in Bupyeong and Changwon, and meet officials of the state-

Seoul struggles to find alternative source of diesel exhaust fluid, but no immediate solution in sight