Internet firm reports ‘job-training’ sales

Hmall, a home shopping channel, yesterday reported selling 2 billion won ($1.7 million) of job-training programs.

The programs were sold durin a 100-minute program, which translates into a sale of 20 million won per minute, 10 times the amount of sales for other home shopping items.

The most popular program was a job-training course offered by Global Pal. Inc., a human resource management company based in the United States, which said it will help trainees find internship programs at U.S. companies.

More than 120 television viewers applied for the program, paying11 million won each. The requirement for applicants was having more than one-year job experience.

Hmall said most of the applicants were highly educated specialists.

On June 15, Hmall said it sold 650 million won of language training programs for university students.

An associate of Hmall attributed the popularity of such “expensive” internship programs to the rising unemployment rate and job instabilities in Korea.

by Koh Han-sun