Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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[Graphic News] US births rise for the first time in seven years in 2021
The number of births in the United States grew 1 percent in 2021 from a pandemic-related low in 2020, marking the first increase since 2014, according to a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report said that 3,659,289 babies were born last year, with the increase driven by women between 25 and 49 years. Women aged 35 to 39 accounted for the biggest rise, while the birth rate among teenagers hit a record low. Americans had the lowest number of babies in more th
WorldJune 8, 2022
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[Graphic News] 8 out of 10 workplace sexual harassment victims face retaliation
More than 8 out of 10 people who reported sexual harassment at the workplace said they suffered from some form of retaliation, a civic group reported. Gapjil 119, which campaigns against workplace abuses, announced its analysis of the 205 reports it received from abuse victims between January 2021 and March 2022. About 100 of the reports were from those who had filed complaints about sexual harassment to either their employer or other institutions. About 90 percent of them said the
NationalJune 7, 2022
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[Graphic News] Number of new child adoptees in S. Korea drops in 2021
The number of newly adopted South Korean children fell for the third consecutive year in 2021 amid the pandemic, government data showed. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of new child adoptees reached 415 last year, down from 704 in 2019 and 492 in 2020. Officials attributed the decrease in adoption to the effects of COVID-19. Among the new adoptees, 189, or 45.5 percent, were adopted by overseas families. Of those, 66.7 percent were sent to the United States. Oth
NationalJune 3, 2022
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[Graphic News] Global smoking rates fall for first time: report
Smoking rates have declined globally for the first time on record, according to a new report on tobacco use from a public health campaign group and US academics. However, the figures from the Tobacco Atlas report - described as a potential tipping point by the authors - also mask growing numbers of smokers in parts of the world, as well as increased tobacco use among young teenagers in almost half of the countries surveyed. Globally, there are 1.1 billion smokers and 200 million more peopl
WorldJune 1, 2022
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[Graphic News] Chinese nationals purchase nearly 7,000 buildings in S. Korea in 2021
Chinese people purchased nearly 7,000 buildings in South Korea last year, with more than half of the properties being in the Greater Seoul area, a ruling party lawmaker said. A total of 6,640 buildings, including apartments, were purchased by Chinese nationals last year, and 2,659 of them are located in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital city of Seoul, Chung Woo-taik, a lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party, said in a report, citing the National Assembly Research Service. C
BusinessMay 31, 2022
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[Graphic News] Over half of 20-somethings don’t plan to have children after marriage: poll
More than half of single 20-somethings in South Korea do not want to have babies after marriage apparently due to concerns over high child-rearing costs in the country, a poll showed. According to a survey reported in a monthly economic journal by the state-run Korea Development Institute, 52.4 percent of unmarried Koreans in their 20s think it is OK not to have children after tying the knot. The percentage is sharply up from 23.3 percent in the same survey conducted five years
NationalMay 30, 2022
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[Graphic News] Confiscated narcotics hit record high in 2021: data
The amount of illegal narcotics confiscated in South Korea reached an all-time high last year, with an increase of foreign and juvenile drug offenders, government data showed. According to the data compiled by the Supreme Prosecutors Office, a total of 1,295.7 kilograms of illegal drugs were confiscated in 2021, more than a threefold jump from a year earlier. Noticeably, the amount of major illegal drugs - including methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana - soared more than five times on-ye
NationalMay 26, 2022
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[Graphic News] Nearly 43,000 people died on US roads last year
Nearly 43,000 people were killed on US roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the roads after the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay at home. The 10.5 percent jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began its fatality data collection system in 1975. Exacerbating the problem was a persistence of risky driving behaviors during the pandemic, such as speeding and less frequent use
WorldMay 25, 2022
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[Graphic News] Investments in small shares of artworks increase in recent 3 years
Total art investments into small shares of blue-chip paintings in South Korea amounted to nearly 100 billion won ($78.5 million) over the past 3 1/2 years, industry data showed. Four local online art investment platforms, including industry leader ArtnGuide, allow consumers to invest in iconic artworks by buying small ownership stakes, attracting small-sum investors interested in diversifying their investment portfolios to the field that had been previously only available to the wealthy. A
NationalMay 24, 2022
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[Graphic News] Half of older adults in Seoul have no experience using kiosks
Half of older adults in Seoul have no experience using digital kiosks, a survey showed, despite a rising number of businesses adopting such self-service electronic machines amid the pandemic. The poll released by the Seoul Digital Foundation, a digital arm of the city government, showed 45.8 percent of people aged 55 or older living in Seoul said they have used kiosk machines, compared with 94.1 percent of those aged less than 55. Noticeably, 29.4 percent of those aged between 65 and 74 ha
NationalMay 23, 2022
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[Graphic News] Imports of home furnishings hit record high last year amid pandemic
South Korea’s imports of home furnishing products hit an all-time high last year on the back of demand by consumers staying home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed. The imports of eight kinds of home furnishing goods, including sofas and lamps, came to $3.5 billion last year, up 15.6 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Customs Service. It rose 26.1 percent from the pre-pandemic year of 2019. By country, inbound shipments from China were the largest wi
BusinessMay 20, 2022
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[Graphic News] Seoul's daily subway ridership hits pandemic-era high on eased restrictions
The daily number of riders on the Seoul subway system breached the 7 million mark for the first time in 1 1/2 years, data showed, partly on the back of rollbacks of COVID-19 restrictions. According to the data from Seoul subway operator Seoul Metro, 7,210,000 people rode subway trains in the capital city on April 29, marking the most single-day riders since Oct. 30, 2020. An average of 7,320,000 riders used the Seoul subway system in a 24-hour period in 2019, the data showed. The average t
NationalMay 19, 2022
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[Graphic News] US gun deaths soared in 2020 amid pandemic
The number of gun deaths in the United States underwent a “historic” increase in 2020, possibly due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty, according to a report by health authorities published. The US racked up 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent as compared to 2019, and 24,245 gun suicides (up 1.5 percent), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its report. The CDC deemed both the murders and suicides by firearm &ldq
WorldMay 18, 2022
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[Graphic News] Nearly 1 in 5 children in S. Korea ‘unhappy’: survey
Nearly 1 in 5 children in South Korea said they are unhappy, citing pressure to do well at school as the biggest reason, a survey showed. According to the poll conducted by the Health Ministry and the National Center for the Rights of the Child, 81.4 percent of those surveyed said they are either “somewhat happy” or “very happy,” while 18.6 percent said they are “not very happy” or “not at all happy.” Of the children who said they are unhappy
NationalMay 17, 2022
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[Graphic News] Hong Kong plummets toward bottom of press freedom ranking
Hong Kong has plummeted down an international press freedom chart as authorities have wielded a draconian new security law to silence critical news outlets and jail journalists, a new report said. For two decades, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders has ranked countries and territories around the world by how free their press is. Hong Kong, a regional media hub for both international and local media, has been steadily slipping down the table under Chinese rule. In the last ye
WorldMay 16, 2022
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[Graphic News] Number of workers taking parental leave declines for 1st time
The number of South Korean workers who took parental leave in 2021 decreased year-on-year for the first time since the system was introduced in 2001, government data showed. A total of 110,555 workers took time off to take care of their children last year, down 1.3 percent from the previous year‘s 112,040, according to statistics from the Labor Ministry. The decrease was attributed to the exceptionally large number of parental leave takers in 2020, when many schools and kindergartens
NationalMay 13, 2022
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[Graphic News] Nearly half of LGBTQ youth in US considered suicide last year
Nearly half of LGBTQ youth aged 13 to 24 in America seriously considered committing suicide last year, according to a survey released. The poll of nearly 34,000 people was conducted by The Trevor Project, a non-profit that works to prevent suicide among young people in the LGTBQ community. This annual survey “demonstrates that rates of suicidal thoughts have trended upward among LGBTQ young people over the last three years,” said Amit Paley, the organization’s executive d
WorldMay 12, 2022
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[Graphic News] Number of obese people more than double over past 4 years
The number of obese people in South Korea more than doubled between 2017 and 2021, a trend exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of overweight patients increased from 14,966 in 2017 to 31,170 last year. The number of obese men increased by 3.4-fold to 9,676 and that of female patients grew by 1.7 times to 20,494. By age, those in their 30s had the largest proportion at 22.1 percent, followed
NationalMay 10, 2022
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[Graphic News] Global military expenditure reaches record levels
Global military spending reached an all-time high of $2.1 trillion in 2021 for first time, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The world military expenditure increase has not died down despite the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spending rose by 0.7 percent last year, and it was the seventh consecutive yearly increase. The five largest spenders were the US, China, India, the UK and Russia, which together accounted for 62 percent of the total ex
WorldMay 9, 2022
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[Graphic News] Paris top city destination in COVID era
Global preferences for city destinations have changed, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. UK-based Euromonitor picked Paris as No. 1 destination for city tours in 2021, based on its new index, comprising six performance pillars, including “tourism policy” and “health and safety.” Previously before the pandemic, Asian cities, such as Hong Kong and Bangkok, placed higher, with rankings based on the number of international arrivals. In 2021, travelers chose to visit Eu
WorldMay 6, 2022