Manila, July 6 -- More than 1 million shop owners in South Korea have closed their businesses in 2024, marking the first time in the country's history, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported on Sunday, citing official data.

The retail and restaurant industries made up nearly half of all businesses that shut down last year, according to data from the National Tax Service.

In 2024, a total of 1,008,282 individual and corporate businesses filed for closure, an increase of 21,795 from the previous year.

It is the first time that business closures have surpassed 1 million since record-keeping began in 1995.

Business closures have been on the rise since 2023, with data indicating that the increase was caused in part by an "accumulated slump" duri...