NEWS BRIEF

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Global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has maintained South Korea's credit rating at "AA-" with a stable outlook. The rating for South Korea is the fourth-highest level of the agency's sovereign ratings and the same as that of the U.K., Belgium and Taiwan. The Finance Ministry said Fitch has downgraded ratings since March last year for 18 countries including Britain, France, Canada and the U.S., reflecting the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rating agency also maintained its outlook that the South Korean economy will grow 4.5 percent this year and three percent next year.
Naver has announced record-setting business results for the second quarter of this year. The nation’s biggest search engine said Thursday it earned roughly 1.66 trillion won in sales, up 30.4 percent from a year earlier and continuing an upward trajectory for five straight quarters. Naver’s s operating profit grew nearly nine percent year on year to over 335 billion won.
The Ministry of Transport said air traffic dropped five percent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year. But it jumped 12 percent from the second half of 2020. April saw the largest monthly air traffic with 42,000 planes operated. On a daily basis, the largest number of 1,559 planes flew on April 23, while January 7 witnessed the lowest number of planes at 577. The operation of international flight dropped 28.5 percent with 93,000 planes in operation. Planes flying on domestic flights increased 25.8 percent to 124,000.