The number of companies which went public this year on the main KOSPI and tech-heavy KOSDAQ markets reached the highest in 13 years, data showed on Wednesday.As of Tuesday, a total of 119 companies have listed on the stock markets, 17 on the benchmark KOSPI and 102 on the secondary KOSDAQ, according to Korea Exchange. By the end of this year, nine more companies will join the IPO march, two on the KOSPI and seven on the KOSDAQ.This 2015 figure is the largest since 2002 when 178 firms went public

About 5 percent of all sexual abuse victims reported in South Korea last year were male, with the number of male victims having significantly increased since 2011, a government report showed Thursday.According to the report released by the Ministry of Gender Equality, the number of reported male victims increased from 749 in 2011 to 1,066 in 2014. In 2011, they accounted for 3.8 percent of all Korean victims, but the proportion increased to 5.1 percent last year. This was the first time the Kore

Contrary to initial predictions, the pay gap between regular and nonregular workers widened after the enactment of a law aimed at protecting job security of temporary workers in 2007.According to analysis released by the private Korea Economic Research Institute on Monday, nonregular workers received 74.5 percent of regular employees’ wages on average in 2005.But the ratio decreased to 65.5 percent in 2009 when the law was applied to all workplaces before a slight uptick to 67.8 percent last yea

The average Korean households will need 2.26 million won ($1,900) per month for essential costs of living after retirement, but what they are saving now comes to less than half of that, a recent study has revealed. According to a Seoul think tank under KB Financial Group, Korean households’ average postretirement income from savings, pensions and other sources is projected at an average 1.1 million won, about 48 percent of the amount needed. The deficit is largest for households with children, w

Brent crude oil prices slid below $40 per barrel Tuesday for the first time in almost seven years after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to reach an agreement to restrain production, leaving members to continue pumping crude into an already oversupplied market.West Texas Intermediate fell 0.4 percent to $37.51 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Market experts including Goldman Sachs have predicted that the oil prices would further drop to $20 per barrel a