Hit by the Hanjin Shipping crisis, the damage of cargo transportation has escalated. According to the Korea International Trade Association, a total of 161 export damage cases have been reported as of late Wednesday. The number is five times higher than when the association started to receive damage reports on Sept. 1. The financial losses are estimated to have reached about $70 million so far, the agency said. By types of damage, ship arrest accounted for the most, with 58 cases, followed by do

Korean households spent 13.61 trillion won ($12.27 billion) overseas in the first half of the year, 10.7 percent higher than the same period last year, the central bank said Wednesday.The figure compiled by the Bank of Korea excludes the money spent by Koreans on online overseas shopping or on business trips. The steep increase in overseas consumption appears to be correlated to the rise in the number of Koreans leaving the country for holidays, according to reports.The number of overseas travel

Women in their 20s and 30s who make up single households in Seoul voluntarily decided to live alone, mostly because they sought freedom and convenient commutes. However, they often find themselves weighed down by housing expenses, data showed Tuesday. According to a survey by the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family in June, 87.8 percent of respondents in the 20-39 age group said they chose independent lifestyles out of their own free will, while 65.1 percent cited the need to shorten commutes.

Despite the economic depression, a majority of Korean companies plan to increase bonuses for the upcoming Chuseok, or Korean thanksgiving. According to a survey of 373 Korean companies conducted by the Korea Employer Federation, there will be a slight increase of 3 percent in bonuses and 0.5 days in allowed holidays for this year’s Chuseok, which falls on Sept. 15. Many Korean companies give cash bonuses or gifts to their employees on Chuseok, which is one of the two biggest traditional holidays

The monthly average data usage of fourth-generation Long Term Evolution surpassed 5 gigabytes for the first time last July, according to data by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. The overall data usage per person has rapidly grown due to the advancements of mobile technology and services such as live video-streaming and instant messaging.Industry experts say the increase is attributable to a growing number of consumers subscribing to unlimited monthly data plans and watching vide

Japanese shipbuilder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is mulling an alliance with three other shipbuilders to revive the sluggish sector and give it an edge over its rivals South Korea and China, Nikkei reported Wednesday. A successful alliance with Oshima, Namura and Imabari is expected to create the second-largest tonnages, behind the world’s No.1 shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries. Hyundai tops the global shipbuilding market with 6.2 million tons of ships in 2015, according to a Nikkei report ba

The 2017 budget proposed by the government has surpassed 400 trillion won ($358 billion) for the first time.Officials said the government increased the budget by 3.7 percent to spend more on job creation, welfare benefits, education and defense.As a result, a large portion of the spending was allocated to the health, welfare and labor sectors, with about 130 trillion won set aside for these areas. In particular, 17.5 trillion won was earmarked for job creation projects. The requested budget for