The number of service businesses that defaulted on payments jumped last month.
The Bank of Korea said yesterday that 401 firms of all kinds were delinquent in payments last month, up 27 per cent from January.
Service businesses accounted for 173 of those defaulters in February, up 42 per cent from January.
There were about 2,800 new companies established in Seoul's eight major cities last month, up 10 per cent from the number of start-ups in January.
According to the central bank, the number of new businesses set up per month declined sharply to 2,790 on average in 2003 from 3,250 in 2002 and 3,300 in 2001.
Source: The JoongAng Daily
