1. Consumer complaint received 

A. Number of complaints recorded
In 2008, the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) received 278,183 consumer claims in 2008, a 5.5% growth y-y compared to 263,815 cases in 2007.

B. Source of reporting methods
In 2008, the number of complaints being lodged by phone stood at 137, 685 cases (49.5%) with the Internet counseling as source of the methods at 113,276 cases (40.7%) followed by ‘by fax’, ‘by mail’, and ‘lodged in person and others’ at 12,418 cases (4.5%), 9,390 cases (3.4%), and 5,414 cases (1.9%), respectively. 

C. Source of origin
In terms of residential district of source of complaints in 2008, most of cases (76.9%) were reported by residents in the Metropolitan area (Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do). By gender, claims reported by women (53.1%) surpassed those by men (46.9%) by little margin. Meanwhile, by age bracket, 98,728 cases (40.3%) were reported by people in their 30’s followed by 75,669 cases (30.9%) and 44,397 cases (18.1%) by people in their 20’s and 40’s, respectively. 

2. By category of complaints
o In terms of category, ‘goods ‘ (137,679 cases or 49.5%) and ‘services’ (119,095 cases or 42.8%) were major categories of complaints with ‘goods-related services’ at 21,404 cases (7.7%).
o The list of the top 10 consumer complaints of 20008 includes the Internet services (10,597 cases, 3.8%), mobile phone (services) (8,941 cases, 3.1%), mobile phone (hardware) (6,041 cases, 2.2%), and condo membership (5,725 cases, 2.1%). 
o By reason of claims, 89,515 cases (32.2%) were related to claims for cancellation and termination of contracts followed by 60,975 cases (21.9%), 58,991 cases (21.2%), and 19,911 cases (7.1%) due to unfair practice by business, quality, and after-sale services, respectively. 
o By method of sales, 162,159 claims (58.3%) were made at time of ‘general sales’ with 116,024 cases (41.7%) involving ‘special sales’.

3. By type of salesmanship
In 2008, claims related to wicked salesmanship grew by 1,038 cases y-y (116.2%) to 1,931 cases (0.7%). By type of salesmanship, 619 claims (32.1%) were made due to sweepstakes and prizes by phone with membership salesmanship and survey salesmanship at 313 cases (16.2%) and 94 cases (4.9%), respectively.

1. Increased number of complaints
Although the number of consumer claims declined y-y from 309,545 cases to 263,815 cases in 2006 and 2007, respectively, the number grew to 278,183 cases in 2008. 

2. Growth in portion of telephone calls in lodging claims
Telephone calls and the Internet are taking up 90% in terms of source of reporting methods. In particular, the Internet counseling declined by 6.9% (8,431 cases) y-y. However, cases received by telephone calls grew by 21.6% (24,434 cases) y-y in 2008 backed by further hiring at call center in 2H of 2008. 

  3. Unique trend in counseling by category concerned

A. Surge in number of claims related to water purifies
In 2008, 4,797 claims were lodged related to water purifiers, a 151.8% growth (2,892 cases) y-y. 

B. Continued growth in complaints related to condo membership
The recent 3 years witnessed a continued increase in the number of claims related to condo membership as seen in 2,286 cases, 3,834, and 5,725 for 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. 

C. Claim growth by large margin related to the Internet game service
In 2008, 4,048 cases were received to the KCA related to the Internet game services, a 45.7% growth (1,269 cases) y-y compared to 2,779 cases in 2007. 

D. Decline in number of complaints related to language study material
In 2008, 1,174 claims were lodged regarding language study material, a 60.9% decline y-y compared to 3,001 cases in 2007.