South Korea’s state-owned enterprises are increasingly relying on nonregular workers hired through subcontractors, according to Alio, a state-run statistics website on public companies.Some 360 state-run agencies hired a total of 62,962 outsourced nonregular workers last year, up about 18.2 percent from 53,280 people in 2009.The rising trend is damaging to the Park Geun-hye administration’s pledge to reinforce job security and raise the country’s employment rate to 70 percent by the end of her t

South Korea’s household debt is increasing on account of the government’s latest push to boost the housing market and due to a rate cut, according to industry watchers. The total mortgage loans issued by the nation’s seven major banks rose to 301 trillion won ($296 billion) last month, marking a 4 trillion won increase from 297 trillion won in July, according to data from the banking sector. This was more than a twofold increase, compared to an average monthly increase of 1.6 trillion won since

Seoul is the top sender of foreign students to U.S. universities, followed by Beijing and Shanghai, according to a report by Brookings Institution released Friday. The South Korean capital sent 56,503 students to the United States on full-time student visas between 2008 and 2012. The Chinese cities ― Beijing and Shanghai ― ranked second and third, sending 49,946 and 29,145 students, respectively, over the same period. Hong Kong was the fourth-largest contributor, sending 12,406 students, followe

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday raised its forecast for the U.S. fiscal deficit this year, but said it would still be much lower than last year’s.The CBO also reiterated its medium-term view that the U.S. deficit would begin accelerating at the end of this decade, gaining size in real terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product.The agency’s new estimate for the deficit for the year ending Sept. 30 is $506 billion on a $3.5 trillion budget, slightly higher than the $492

More than half of criminal suspects who fled Korea to escape punishment are still at large, according to a Justice Ministry report released by Rep. Lee Sang-min of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.The report said 3,890 suspects fled overseas after perpetrating crimes in South Korea over the past five years. Of them, 2,175, or 55.8 percent, have yet to be apprehended.China was the most popular spot for the fugitives with 707 suspects having fled there, followed by the U.S.

Corporate loans to small and medium-sized companies have been increasing in amount but decreasing in their share of the total since 2009, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday.SME loans this year, as of the end of June, totaled 508.6 trillion won ($500 billion), which was 73.3 percent of the nation’s corporate loan total of 693.7 trillion won.The amount was a 37.5 percent rise from 370 trillion won in 2007 and a 14.7 percent rise from 443.5 trillion won in 2009.But the propor

South Koreans worked 2,163 hours in average last year, ranking second among the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to an OECD report on Monday. Ahead of Korea was Mexico, which ranked at No. 1 with 2,237 hours.Korea previously held the No. 1 position for eight consecutive years from 2000-2007, but slid a notch in 2008.The fall was largely attributed to the five-day workweek system that was introduced in 2004, according to industry sources. An

About 39 percent of Koreans said their society was unsafe, a government survey conducted earlier this year showed.Compared to the second half of 2013, the percentage surged roughly by 10 percentage points from 29.5 percent, according to the survey by the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The number of people that felt safe, on the other hand, dropped from 28.5 percent to 23.9 percent during the same period.This tendency was profound in April and May, after the fatal ferry sinking t

Global sales of hybrid and electric cars have more than tripled to 3.49 million in 2013 from 1 million in 2011. The eco-friendly car market is expected to continue the recent momentum in the coming years to sell 10.45 million units by 2020, according to market research firm B3. South Korea is also seeing an upward trend, with hybrids and electric cars selling 14,535 and 434 vehicles, respectively, in the first half of the year. Industry watchers’ combined annual sales would reach 30,000 sales th

The upcoming merger between Hana and Korea Exchange Bank is expected to put them at second in the banking sector in terms of loans in Korean currency, according to figures from the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday.On that day, the chiefs of the two banks agreed to push for an earlier completion of the long-planned merger. The FSS figures showed that KB Kookmin Bank would stand at first place with 189.7 trillion won ($186.1 billion) in outstanding loans. Following the merger, Hana and KEB

Low-income earners are more vulnerable to obesity than those in the middle or high-income brackets in South Korea, according to a study organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.According to the study, 35.2 percent of the poorest half of the nation’s population was suffering from obesity in 2012, while only 30.5 percent of the country’s wealthiest half were overweight.The study also found that more than one-third of the nation’s adult population was overweight in 2012.According to lawmaker

South Korea’s service industry has witnessed rapid growth in many aspects, including scale of economy and employment, over the past five years, outperforming the manufacturing sector.The number of employees working for 330 listed companies in the country’s seven major service industries like tourism, education, medical service, finance, and software, surpassed 274,760 last year, up 46.5 percent from 197,500 in 2009, according to corporate researcher chaebul.com.The income of service industry wor

State-run railroad operator KORAIL is set to mark the 40th anniversary of the opening of Seoul’s subway system Friday. As of August 2014, KORAIL operates 12 subway lines that speed through 228 stations, up from just three subway lines and 29 stations when it started its service in 1974. KORAIL’s subway trains run 2,454 times a day, carrying more than 3 million passengers. The total travel distance is estimated at 109,223 km, equal to approximately 2.7 times the circumference of the Earth. The bu