Articles by Nam Kyung-don
Nam Kyung-don
don@heraldcorp.com-
[Graphic News] South Korea leads world in innovation
South Korea returned to first place in the latest Bloomberg Innovation Index, while the US dropped out of a top 10 that features a cluster of European countries. Korea regained the crown from Germany, which dropped to fourth place. The Asian nation has now topped the index for seven of the nine years that it’s been published. Singapore and Switzerland each moved up one spot to rank second and third. The Bloomberg index analyzes dozens of criteria using seven equally weighted metri
Business Feb. 15, 2021
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[Graphic News] 2020 sees surge in working days lost to strikes
The number of working days lost due to labor disputes surged by nearly 40 percent in South Korea last year, a report said, indicating a likely deterioration in labor relations at local firms. According to the report from the state-funded Korea Labor Institute, the number of lost work days totaled 554,000 in 2020, soaring 37.8 percent from the previous year’s 402,000 days. The figure had fallen from 862,000 days in 2017, when the Moon Jae-in government took office, to 552,000 days
National Feb. 10, 2021
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[Graphic News] Number of cattle in S. Korea grows 3.9% in Q4
The number of cattle in South Korea rose nearly 4 percent in the fourth quarter of the year on increased beef consumption, government data showed. Asia‘s fourth-largest economy had 3.36 million cattle, including Korean-breed cattle known as “hanwoo,“ as of Dec. 1, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It represents the largest-ever fourth-quarter tally since the statistical agency began tracking related data in 1983. The fou
National Feb. 9, 2021
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[Graphic News] Number of airport passengers in S. Korea plummets after 12 years of gains
The number of passengers using South Korean airports fell sharply last year due to the fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak, marking the first drop in 12 years, data showed. The number of people using 15 airports across the nation came to 65 million last year, down 58.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It was the first time that the number of airport passengers had declined since 2008, when the country was in the midst of the global f
National Feb. 8, 2021
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[Graphic News] Dramatic shark decline leaves ‘gaping hole’ in ocean: study
Overfishing has savaged populations of some sharks and rays by more than 70 percent in the last half-century, leaving a “gaping, growing hole” in ocean life, according to a new study. Decades of data show an alarming decline in species ranging from hammerhead sharks to manta rays. Among the worst-affected is the oceanic whitetip, a powerful shark often described as particularly dangerous to man that now hovers on the edge of extinction because of human activity. Targeted f
World Feb. 5, 2021
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[Graphic News] Global ice loss rate is accelerating: study
A new survey of ice loss around the globe suggests the rate at which the planet’s ice sheets and glaciers are melting is rapidly accelerating. According to the new analysis, detailed in the journal Cryosphere, Earth lost roughly 28 trillion tons of ice between 1994 and 2017. In 1994, Earth experienced an annual loss of 300 billion tons of ice. By 2017, annual losses had increased to 1.3 trillion tons. To illuminate the full scope of the problem, researchers compiled decades of sat
World Feb. 4, 2021
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[Graphic News] Seoul bike users soar amid pandemic
The accumulated membership of Seoul’s public bike service has surpassed 2.78 million, as residents avoid taking public transport as a precaution amid the coronavirus pandemic, the city government said. That means 1 in every 4 Seoul residents used the city’s unmanned bike rental service, dubbed Ttaereungyi in Korean. The growth was particularly significant last year, with nearly 1.21 million newcomers, accounting for 43.3 percent of the total users. (Yonhap)
National Feb. 2, 2021
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[Graphic News] Most Koreans adopt wait-and-see approach to COVID jab
Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans think they will wait to see how the coronavirus vaccine works for other people before getting the jab, a poll showed. A survey of 1,094 adult Koreans across the nation, taken by Seoul National University, showed 67.7 percent of respondents taking a wait-and-see attitude toward COVID-19 vaccinations. Only 28.6 percent replied that they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible. (Yonhap)
National Feb. 1, 2021
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[Graphic News] S. Korea’s data industry thrives amid pandemic
South Korea’s data industry expanded more than 14 percent in 2020 from a year earlier to exceed the 19 trillion-won level, a survey showed. The local market for data stood at 19.3 trillion won ($17.4 billion) last year, up 14.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the survey by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Data Agency. Last year’s growth rate was much higher than the 8.3 percent on-year increase posted a year earlier. Data sales and provision accounte
Industry Jan. 28, 2021
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[Graphic News] Number of NK defectors plunges in 2020 amid border closure
The number of North Koreans defecting to South Korea dropped sharply last year apparently due to the North’s border closure to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus, government data showed. According to the data provided by the Unification Ministry, a total of 229 North Koreans settled down in South Korea last year. The number was far fewer than the 1,047 tallied a year earlier and 1,137 registered in 2018. During the first quarter, 135 North Koreans defected to the South. The
North Korea Jan. 27, 2021
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[Graphic News] Industrial accident death toll rebounds
Deaths from industrial accidents rebounded in South Korea last year, the labor minister said, despite the Moon Jae-in government’s pledge to halve the number of workers killed in the line of duty during its term. Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jae-kap said industrial disasters and work-related accidents took the lives of 882 workers in 2020, marking a rise of 27 deaths from the previous year. The number of workers killed on the job had increased from 964 in 2017 to 971 in 20
National Jan. 26, 2021
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[Graphic News] Overseas construction deals reach $35b in 2020
South Korea's overseas construction orders rose to the highest level in five years in 2020 on major projects won in the Middle East and South America. The value of overseas construction deals stood at $35.1 billion last year, up 57.3 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. A total of 359 Korean companies won 567 orders from 98 nations last year, it said. Local builders’ overseas deals rose for three years from $28.2
Business Jan. 25, 2021
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[Graphic News] Kimchi most popular Korean dish for foreigners: survey
Global consumers picked kimchi as their most preferred Korean dish, a poll showed, amid the growing popularity of traditional Korean food, known as hansik, in line with the boom of the country‘s pop culture around the world. Nearly 34 percent of respondents said they preferred eating kimchi, trailed by bibimbap with 27.8 percent and Korean-style fried chicken at 27 percent, according to the poll released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The survey was based
National Jan. 22, 2021
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[Graphic News] S. Koreans spend more time on mobile devices in 2020: report
Koreans spent an average of 4.4 hours on mobile devices a day last year, up 19 percent from the previous year, a report showed. The country‘s increased use of mobile apps was in line with last year’s global daily average of 4.2 hours, up 20 percent over the same period, according to the report from mobile data tracker App Annie. App Annie said the time South Koreans spent on financial apps last year especially increased, with the country‘s top five financial apps loggi
National Jan. 21, 2021
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[Graphic News] LG Energy Solution ranks second in EV battery market in January to November
South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution was the second-biggest supplier of electric vehicle batteries in the first 11 months of 2020 following China’s CATL, according to a market research firm. LG Energy Solution, which spun off from LG Chem earlier this month, shipped 26.4 gigawatt-hour equivalents of EV batteries in the January-November period, accounting for 22.6 percent of the global market, according to the data by SNE Research. China’s CATL supplied 24.4 GWh eq
World Business Jan. 20, 2021
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