Number of new companies dips in Jan.-Sept.

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- The number of newly established firms in South Korea fell nearly 7 percent in the first nine months of the year on a one-off factor, data showed Monday.

A total of 945,322 new businesses were set up in the January-September period, down 6.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups.

The number of tech startups, however, climbed 5.5 percent on-year to 166,326 during the nine-month period.

The ministry attributed the overall decline to a correction in the number of real estate rental firms, which surged a year ago thanks to government measures to boost the rental house sector.

The data also showed the number of new businesses rose 13.2 percent on-year to 90,572 in September, with that of tech startups gaining 13.2 percent to 15,379.

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