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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[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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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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[Graphic News] Korea’s work hours rank No. 2 in OECD
South Koreans worked 2,163 hours in average last year, ranking second among the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to an OECD report on Monday. Ahead of Korea was Mexico, which ranked at No. 1 with 2,237 hours.Korea previously held the No. 1 position for eight consecutive years from 2000-2007, but slid a notch in 2008.The fall was largely attributed to the five-day workweek system that was introduced in 2004, according to industry sources. An
Aug. 25, 2014
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[Graphic News] 4 in 10 Koreans feel ‘unsafe’: survey
About 39 percent of Koreans said their society was unsafe, a government survey conducted earlier this year showed.Compared to the second half of 2013, the percentage surged roughly by 10 percentage points from 29.5 percent, according to the survey by the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The number of people that felt safe, on the other hand, dropped from 28.5 percent to 23.9 percent during the same period.This tendency was profound in April and May, after the fatal ferry sinking t
Social AffairsAug. 24, 2014
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[Graphic News] More drivers embrace hybrid and electric cars
Global sales of hybrid and electric cars have more than tripled to 3.49 million in 2013 from 1 million in 2011. The eco-friendly car market is expected to continue the recent momentum in the coming years to sell 10.45 million units by 2020, according to market research firm B3. South Korea is also seeing an upward trend, with hybrids and electric cars selling 14,535 and 434 vehicles, respectively, in the first half of the year. Industry watchers’ combined annual sales would reach 30,000 sales th
MobilityAug. 21, 2014
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[Graphic News] Merged Hana-KEB to rank 2nd in loan holdings
The upcoming merger between Hana and Korea Exchange Bank is expected to put them at second in the banking sector in terms of loans in Korean currency, according to figures from the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday.On that day, the chiefs of the two banks agreed to push for an earlier completion of the long-planned merger. The FSS figures showed that KB Kookmin Bank would stand at first place with 189.7 trillion won ($186.1 billion) in outstanding loans. Following the merger, Hana and KEB
Aug. 20, 2014
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[Graphic News] Poorer Koreans face greater obesity risk
Low-income earners are more vulnerable to obesity than those in the middle or high-income brackets in South Korea, according to a study organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.According to the study, 35.2 percent of the poorest half of the nation’s population was suffering from obesity in 2012, while only 30.5 percent of the country’s wealthiest half were overweight.The study also found that more than one-third of the nation’s adult population was overweight in 2012.According to lawmaker
Social AffairsAug. 19, 2014
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[Graphic News] Service industry outperforms manufacturing sector
South Korea’s service industry has witnessed rapid growth in many aspects, including scale of economy and employment, over the past five years, outperforming the manufacturing sector.The number of employees working for 330 listed companies in the country’s seven major service industries like tourism, education, medical service, finance, and software, surpassed 274,760 last year, up 46.5 percent from 197,500 in 2009, according to corporate researcher chaebul.com.The income of service industry wor
IndustryAug. 18, 2014
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[Graphic News] Metropolitan subway to mark 40th anniversary
State-run railroad operator KORAIL is set to mark the 40th anniversary of the opening of Seoul’s subway system Friday. As of August 2014, KORAIL operates 12 subway lines that speed through 228 stations, up from just three subway lines and 29 stations when it started its service in 1974. KORAIL’s subway trains run 2,454 times a day, carrying more than 3 million passengers. The total travel distance is estimated at 109,223 km, equal to approximately 2.7 times the circumference of the Earth. The bu
Social AffairsAug. 14, 2014
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[Graphic News] Pope’s itinerary in Korea
CultureAug. 13, 2014
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[Graphic News] Nearly 4,000 maladapted soldiers prematurely discharged
DefenseAug. 12, 2014
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[Graphic News] ‘Roaring Currents’ tops 10 million viewers in record time
The number of viewers who have seen “Roaring Currents” exceeded 10 million on Sunday, just 12 days after its premiere, marking the fastest time for a film screened in Korea to hit the box office milestone.The period action flick centers on the historic Battle of Myeongnyang in 1592 at the dawn of the Japanese invasion of Korea (1592-1598), in which Adm. Yi Sun-sin uses brilliant strategy to defeat 133 Japanese warships with only 12 vessels under his command.
FilmAug. 11, 2014
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[Graphic News] RMB deposits hit record high
Chinese yuan-denominated deposits at banks in South Korea hit a record high as banks offered higher interest rates on savings accounts for consumers, according to Korea’s central bank. Meanwhile, those of the U.S. dollar fell sharply last month, the Bank of Korea data showed.Renmibi deposits amounted to $16.2 billion, accounting for almost 26 percent of the total foreign currency deposits as of the end of July.The portion of dollar deposits fell to 64.5 percent, down 4.5 percent from the previou
Aug. 10, 2014
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[Graphic News] Conglomerates to pay W1.1tr in taxes under new tax scheme
Korea’s top 10 conglomerates may have to pay an additional 1.1 trillion won ($1.06 billion) in taxes under a new tax scheme that aims to make local companies raise their dividend payouts, capital spending and salaries for their workers, data showed.The Finance Ministry unveiled a set of tax revisions Wednesday to boost domestic demand. Under the new scheme, companies with paid-in capital of 50 billion won or more will be subject to a 10 percent tax on surplus cash when they spend less than 80 pe
Aug. 7, 2014
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[Graphic News] 3% of active soldiers treated for mental, behavioral disorders
Some 3 percent of the active soldiers in South Korea have received treatment for mental and behavioral disorders from 2011 to 2013, military medical officials said Wednesday.A total of 19,066 soldiers out of some 650,000 men and women in uniform in the Korean military were treated for the cited diseases, according to a report by the Armed Forces Medical Command. Of the 2,158 soldiers initially diagnosed with anxiety disorders, 1,913 were confirmed by psychiatrists. Enlisted soldiers accounted fo
Social AffairsAug. 6, 2014
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[Graphic News] Ebola Outbreak
World NewsAug. 5, 2014
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[Graphic News] Female Chinese tourists become strong buying force
Around 574,000 Chinese tourists visited Korea in June this year, making up 45 percent of the total foreign visitors that month, according to data by Tourism Knowledge and Information System and banking investment firms. The ratio of Chinese women came to 59.6 percent in January and up to 63.2 percent in June, accounting for 305,886 among the 483,934 total Chinese tourists. It is approximately double the number of Japanese visitors, 173,000, in the same time period.Chinese women were seen mainly
Aug. 4, 2014
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[Graphic News] Ebola moving faster than control efforts
An Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 700 people in West Africa is moving faster than efforts to control the disease, the head of the World Health Organization warned as presidents from the affected countries met Friday in Guinea’s capital.Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director-general, said the meeting in Conakry “must be a turning point” in the battle against Ebola, which is now sickening people in three African capitals for the first time in history.At least 729 people have died since ca
World NewsAug. 3, 2014
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[Graphic News] Samsung Electronics’ net profit falls 19.5%
Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s top maker of smartphones, said Thursday its second-quarter net profit fell 19.5 percent from a year earlier after its mainstay handset business suffered a decline amid rising global competition. Net income came to 6.25 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in the April-June period, compared with 7.77 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales fell 8.89 percent on-year to 52.35 trillion won in the second quarter. Its operating profit cam
IndustryJuly 31, 2014
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[Graphic News] Average corporate CEO serves 2.6 years
A South Korean CEO serves for an average of 2.6 years, which is shorter than the minimum of three years endorsed by the country’s commercial law, according to data from corporate tracker CEO Score on Wednesday. The data showed that 367 chief executives, who accounted for 63.7 percent of the 576 executives surveyed, stepped down after less than three years. Another 102, or 17.7 percent, stayed on for less than a year. At an average of 3.94 years, the CEOs at LG Group affiliates were found to stay
IndustryJuly 30, 2014
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[Graphic News] Korea’s Big Mac index rises 15.3%
The Big Mac index for South Korea rose to 4.0, up from 3.47 early this year, according to data released by The Economist on Tuesday. The index for South Korea was the 28th highest among 57 countries, based on the July 23 exchange rate of 1,023 won against the U.S. greenback. The Big Mac index, introduced by The Economist in 1986, evaluates exchange rates by comparing the prices of Big Macs in different countries. The higher the index for a country, the less undervalued its currency is against th
July 29, 2014
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[Graphic News] Younger people pay more, receive fewer benefits from public services
Members of South Korea’s younger generation are likely to receive less than what they paid into public benefits, a report showed Monday, highlighting the government’s demographic dilemma of having to balance its fiscal policy amid a rapidly aging society that is spurring welfare spending.People in their 20s and 30s during their lifetime will spend 100 million won ($97,561) more than the value of government benefits they will actually receive, according to a working paper coauthored by Bank of Ko
July 28, 2014