April 01, 2021 10:09
The debts of small businesses have surpassed W800 trillion as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, the Bank of Korea said Wednesday (US$1=W1,130).
Their combined bank-loan balance stood at a record W803.5 trillion as of the end of December, up a whopping W118.6 trillion on-year.
Out of 5.42 million small businesses, 2.38 million have an average debt of W337.6 million each. Their combined debt grew by W50-60 trillion a year between 2013 and 2016 but surged by W68 trillion in 2017 and 2019.
Small business owners account for more than a quarter of all employed people in the country, so a sharp increase in their debt puts a serious burden on the country s economy.
April 01, 2021 11:15
Eight out of 10 medical staff in Korea who were given AstraZeneca s coronavirus vaccine report systemic side effects.
Ma Sang-hyuk of the Korean Vaccine Society on Wednesday said there were 7.2 times more adverse reactions from AstraZeneca than Pfizer jabs.
The KVS conducted an online survey from March 15 to 28 among 532 medical workers who recently received their injections. Some 501 were given AstraZeneca and 31 Pfizer, and 82.7 percent complained of local reactions and 75 percent of systemic reactions.
Local reactions are the most common side effects like swelling, skin redness and injection site pain, while systemic side effects include fevers, muscle pains, fatigue and anaphylaxis.
April 01, 2021 08:15
Microsoft won a nearly $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with its augmented reality headsets. Microsoft and the Army separately announced the deal Wednesday.
The technology is based on Microsoft s HoloLens headsets, which were originally intended for the video game and entertainment industries. Pentagon officials have described the futuristic technology which the Army calls its Integrated Visual Augmentation System as a way of boosting soldiers awareness of their surroundings and their ability to spot targets and dangers.
Microsoft s head-mounted HoloLens displays let people see virtual imagery superimposed over the physical world in front of them anything from holograms in virtual game worlds to repair instructions floating over a broken gadget. Users can control what they see using hand gestures or voice commands.
April 01, 2021 13:06
The U.S. State Department has expressed concern about a South Korean ban on floating propaganda leaflets across the border to North Korea.
The 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published Tuesday warns that criminalizing the act of disseminating or moving leaflets and other materials across the inter-Korean border to North Korea restricts freedom of expression.
Lisa Peterson, the acting assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said in a press briefing, In terms of the anti-leaflet bill, increasing the free flow of information into North Korea is a U.S. priority.
Seoul was flustered. A Unification Ministry spokesman vehemently defended the ban, though she said, We won t comment on the U.S. report.