A farmer plows a cabbage field at a farm in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, on July 2.YONHAP
Good evening! Here are the stories you need to know in Korea.
In today's news, a U.S. House report accuses the Korean government of "discriminatory treatment" toward American companies. Korean travelers continue to go abroad but now do so on a budget. Authorities issue a warning on weight-loss drugs as reports rise of adverse effects.
What has happened? The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee released a report on Tuesday saying that the Korean government has been engaging in discriminatory actions against U.S. companies, including Coupang. It adds that these actions violate the Korea-U.S. trade agreement. "While South Korea has been targeting American-owned companies for decades, its discriminatory treatment has escalated considerably in recent years,” said the report.
How has the Korean government been "discriminatory"? According to the report, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has played a major role in discriminatory action, with U.S. businesses reporting it as having a "lack of due process and procedural fairness." The report also cited aggressive enforcement practices, early morning raids, multi-day interrogations and the threat of criminal charges as being reported by American companies operating in Korea.
What does this mean? The report is likely to cause tensions between the United States and Korea at a time when the Trump administration continues to criticize Korea's digital regulations. It could also negatively affect ongoing negotiations between Seoul and Washington over bilateral security agreements, as well as trade talks.
How are Koreans choosing to travel now that the won is in trouble? Even with the won hovering near historic lows, Koreans aren't stopping themselves from traveling — they're just changing how they do it. The average spend per outbound traveler fell for the third consecutive month in April this year, dropping 11 percent from a year earlier to $982. Korean travelers are looking for all kinds of ways to save money, from leaving out souvenir purchases and lowering spending on snacks.
What else are travelers doing to save on costs? One of the major shifts is travelers booking more all-inclusive packages to minimize out-of-pocket expenses. The costs are set and are not always immediately adjusted to account for currency fluctuations. Travelers are also swapping out hotel stays for lower-cost options, like Airbnb, in order to save money.
Japan bucks the trend While Koreans have tended to be more frugal at other destinations, Japan remains the exception. While the yen experiences weakness, travel and spending by Koreans in the neighboring country has increased. According to statistics, 10.86 million Korean tourists visited Japan in the first quarter of the year, up 1.4 percent from the same period last year.
What is happening? Korea's Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) issued a an alert on Thursday in response to a rise in reports of adverse effects while taking weight-loss medications. A total of 210 reports regarding injectable weight-loss medications were filed between January 2023 and April this year.
What types of adverse effects did they report? Effects linked to digestive pain were most common, including abdominal pain. These accounted for 59 percent. Meanwhile, vomiting complaints made up 25.7 percent and dizziness accounted for 3.8 percent of cases. Most of the incidents occurred in the home, said authorities. What do authorities advise? An official from the KCA advised people taking the medication to "pay close attention to proper storage, dosage and the recommended duration of use for injectable medications."
