Fremont, California, is the happiest city in the United States, according to a new survey from WalletHub based on some 30 key indicators for happiness, ranging from depression rates to income growth and average use of leisure time each day. WalletHub said the coronavirus pandemic has left one-third of US residents so stressed that it‘s difficult to make basic decisions. WalletHub said it dep...

The number of registered surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor in Japan decreased by 585 in the past year, data showed. A civic group unveiled government statistics on medical assistance provided to people who were conscripted to work in Japan during World War II. The data showed the number of recipients stood at 1,815 in January, down from last year’s 2,400. Of them, 116 ar...

South Korea ranked fifth in terms of global vehicle production last year, retaining the spot for the second consecutive year, amid efforts to minimize the fallout from the pandemic-caused global chip shortage, a report showed. The combined vehicle output by South Korean carmakers, including Hyundai Motor and Kia, reached 3.46 million units as of end-2021, down 1.3 percent from the previous yea...

The average monthly salary of wage earners rose 3.6 percent on-year in 2020 from a year earlier despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a government report showed. South Korean wage workers earned a monthly average of 3.2 million won ($2,669) in December 2020, up from 3.09 million won a year earlier, according to the report from Statistics Korea. The figure for workers with large companies stood at 5...

South Korea’s total fertility rate hit a record low last year as the number of childbirths continued to fall, data showed, underlining the country’s bleak demographic situation. The country’s total fertility rate - the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime - came to 0.81 last year, down from 0.84 the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest since ...

Final voter turnout for the 20th presidential election is estimated to be at 77.1 percent. Of the nearly 44.2 million eligible voters, more than 34 million had cast their ballots. The figure is 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous election in 2017, which had the highest turnout since 1997, being held after former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. By region, Gwangju had the hig...

More than 1 in 3 people in South Korea said competence and personality are what they look for in a presidential candidate, according to a survey from local pollster Realmeter, which asked people about the qualities they look for in a presidential candidate. The survey, which was conducted on Friday and Saturday last week, also showed that around 25.1 percent of people vote based on the candida...

Political donations to lawmakers last year declined 24.3 percent from a year earlier, data from the state’s election watchdog showed. Financial contributions to lawmakers reached 40.7 billion won ($33.8 million) last year, down from 53.8 billion won in 2020, when the April 15 parliamentary elections were held, according to the National Election Commission. Lawmakers on average received 135.2...

Instant noodles captured the top spot in production among food products in South Korea in 2020 on a surge in exports amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. The output of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean, stood at 1.93 million metric tons in 2020, up a whopping 231 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Ramyeon’s ranking in te...

South Korea’s filmmaking industry contracted for a second straight year in 2021 due mainly to the yearslong COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed. The aggregated revenue of the local film market, which includes domestic sales of movie tickets, online releases and exports, reached 1.02 trillion won ($855 million) last year, according to data from the Korean Film Council. It is a slight on...

The proportion of US adults identifying as LGBT has increased to a high of 7.1 percent, double the figure from 2012 when Gallup first started measuring it, reflecting a generational shift, the polling firm said. Gallup asks Americans whether they personally identified as straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual, as part of the demographic information i...

South Korea’s online food market jumped more than 35 percent to touch an all-time high in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. The value of online food transactions in Asia’s fourth-largest economy stood at 58.5 trillion won ($48.8 billion) last year, up 35.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea and industry sources. The tally covers online tra...

One out of 4 South Korean students think that unification with North Korea is unnecessary, a survey showed. In the online survey of 72,524 elementary, middle and high school students conducted by the education ministry and the Unification Ministry from Nov. 1 to Dec. 10, 61.2 percent replied that unification is necessary, while 25 percent said it is not needed. The rate of students against u...

Six out of 10 South Koreans are positive about the relaxation of COVID-19 curbs on businesses, a poll showed. In the survey by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, 62.1 percent said the government should enhance the protection of severely ill patients and those with underlying conditions while easing the curfew on restaurants, cafes and other businesses. But 32.6 percent said restrictions on...

If a terrorist attack occurs in the Gwanghwamun Square area in central Seoul, Gwanghwamun Station on Subway Line 5 is most likely to become the primary target, a study warned, calling for comprehensive counterterrorism preparedness in accordance with the capital's rising international recognition. The study authored by professor Cho Youn-oh of Dongkuk University and her undergraduate students ...