The average global economic growth outlook for this year provided by 11 foreign investment banks in June was 2.9 percent, a 0.2 percent decrease from the 3.1 percent previously estimated at the end of last year. Korea’s growth forecast was reduced to 2.7 percent from 3.0 percent. The figure was compiled by Yonhap News based on data from financial institutions.

According to a survey conducted by Incruit, an online job portal, Samsung Electronics topped the list of companies at which university students would like to work most after graduation. It surveyed 747 university students across the nation.

Child abuse cases increased by 7.9 percent on-year in 2012, with more than 80 percent committed by parents at home, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The number of people moving to and from Korea totaled 1.28 million last year, a 4.4 percent increase from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. But net migration, the difference between the numbers of immigrants and emigrants, fell to just 7,000 people.

Korea’s exports dropped for the first time in four months in June, indicating that the nation still faces external economic uncertainty amid the global slowdown. (Source: The Trade Ministry)

Statistics Korea said Monday that the proportion of younger people in Korea’s total working population has dropped sharply over the past three decades, raising concerns that the decline could undermine the country’s overall growth potential. (Source: Statistics Korea)

According to Brandstock, a brand consultancy in Korea, Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy smartphone series topped the list for brand power for the second half of this year. Also noteworthy was mobile messenger Kakao Talk jumping to 15th, from 28th in the first half of the year.

Nearly 25 percent of adult citizens in Seoul were found to be obese in 2012, with the proportion on the rise for the fourth consecutive year, according to a survey of 23,165 citizens aged 19 or older. Korea considers people obese when their body mass index measurement exceeds 25 and with extreme obese when their BMI exceeds 30.

Expensive tuition fees and the government’s limited support for public education put heavy burden on Korean students and parents, according to the OECD’s 2013 Education at a Glance survey.

According to data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Korea had the highest level of smartphone ownership in the world last year backed by rising demand for the device and faster Internet networks.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on Sunday that Koreans consumed a total of 2.17 million tons of meat including beef, pork and chicken last year. This translates to meat consumption of 43.7 kg per person

A report from Statistics Korea showed that sexual crimes including rape are increasing in Korean society.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday called on Russia to agree strategic nuclear weapons cuts of up to a third and to also rein in strategic atomic arms.

By qualifying for its eighth consecutive FIFA World Cup finals Tuesday, South Korea maintained its standing in an exclusive group of football powers. The country lost its final qualifying match to Iran 1-0 Tuesday but still gained a ticket to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil on goal difference. Only five other countries ― Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina and Spain ― have had more successive...

Asian migrant workers in Korea were found to receive much higher wages than they had been paid in their native countries, a poll showed this week. According to the survey of 1,058 foreign laborers from 10 Asian countries, their average monthly earnings, including overtime pay and other extra bonuses, were 1.62 million won ($1,430). This was 6.4 times the average wage of 250,000 won ($222.4) they...