KakaoBank said it completed agreements to launch interest-support guaranteed loans with regional credit guarantee foundations across South Korea’s 17 cities and provinces, concluding with Gyeonggi and Jeju. The accumulated supply of the loans reached about 1.2 trillion won through the end of July, it said. Small merchants using the product saved an accumulated 23.6 billion won in interest, with an average rate cut of 1.99 percentage points.

As the influence of global platforms such as YouTube and Spotify spreads into South Korea’s audio market, participants at a National Assembly seminar called for an integrated platform to unify radio content and data that are currently split by broadcaster. They urged integrating production and digital capabilities and building a data-driven industry base to improve listener access. Speakers also called for legalising digital radio access rights and overhauling advertising rules.