Articles by Nam Kyung-don
Nam Kyung-don
don@heraldcorp.com-
[Graphic News] Korea rated 28th out of 35 for raising family
South Korea placed 28th and received a grade of C minus on Asher & Lyric’s Best Countries for Raising a Family in 2020. The best country to raise a family was once again a Nordic country, Iceland, which got an A plus and a 1093.07 index score. Norway ranked second, followed by Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg. The study ranks 35 OECD nations in six categories: safety, happiness, cost, health, education and time.
World Aug. 11, 2020
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[Graphic News] Mobile game sales hit record high in H1
Sales of mobile games here soared to a record high in the first half of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic that has largely confined people to their homes, industry data showed. Combined sales of three app markets - Google’s Play Store for Android devices, Apple’s App Store for iPhones and ONE - stood at 2.83 trillion won ($2.37 billion) in the January-June period, up 1.3 times from a year earlier, according to data from mobile big data platform IGAWorks. The figure also
Industry Aug. 10, 2020
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[Graphic News] Only one-third of disabled people in S. Korea had jobs in 2019
Only one-third of people with disabilities had jobs last year, data showed, underscoring the employment challenges facing disabled people. The employment rate of disabled people stood at 34.9 percent in 2019, compared with the rate of 60.9 percent for the total population, according to the data from Statistics Korea. By age, the employment rate of disabled people from 15 and 29 stood at 30.6 percent while that for people aged 30 to 39 stood at 53.4 percent. As of 2018, 2.51 million
Social Affairs Aug. 6, 2020
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[Graphic News] 11 N. Korean defectors have returned home in past 5 years
Eleven North Korean defectors went back to their communist homeland from South Korea over the past five years, the Unification Ministry said, after Pyongyang claimed that a defector suspected of having virus symptoms recently crossed the demarcation line to return home. The 24-year-old defector is believed to have fled back to the North while he was under police investigation over suspicions of raping a female defector last month. His return was made known after the North said that a &ldq
North Korea Aug. 5, 2020
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[Graphic News] No. of fake banknotes in S. Korea further dips in H1
The number of fake South Korean banknotes found here continued to decline in the first half, and the combined face value of the counterfeits also dropped sharply, central bank data showed. In the January-June period, the number of counterfeit banknotes found here came to 129, down 19.4 percent from 160 bills found a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The half-year tally marks a steady decline since the second half of 2017. (Yonhap)
Social Affairs Aug. 4, 2020
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[Graphic News] North Korean economy grew at 4.7% in 1956-1989
The North Korean economy is estimated to have expanded at an annual rate o f 4.7 percent between 1956 and 1989, the Bank of Korea estimated. North Korea's economy grew at a double-digit rate up until the 1960s, but has failed to catch up to that of South Korea since then, according to the central bank. The BOK report said the North Korean economy is believed to have expanded at an average annual rate of 13.7 percent between the 1956-1960 period. Its growth nosedived to an average 4.1 pe
North Korea Aug. 3, 2020
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[Graphic News] Financial app users outpace e-commerce, game apps: data
The number of people using financial mobile apps, including for banking and stock trading, has surpassed users of apps for online shopping and games, industry data showed. According to data from mobile big data platform IGAWorks, a total of 31.16 million people with Android devices used financial applications in June, compared to 23.63 million people using e-commerce apps and 19.84 million mobile game users here. A total of 37.5 million Android device owners used portal apps including N
Business July 31, 2020
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[Graphic News] S. Korea sees increasing young HIV patients: report
The number of human immunodeficiency virus infections among young people in South Korea has been rising in recent years, a report said, stressing the need for state efforts to stem the trend. Korea reported 469 new HIV patients aged 10-29 in 2019, up sharply from 415 a year earlier, according to the report by the Korea Federation for HIV/AIDS Prevention. The number had been on a steady increase since 2011, when 248 new adolescent cases were reported. (Yonhap)
National July 30, 2020
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[Graphic News] S. Korea’s kimchi exports soar in H1
South Korea’s exports of kimchi rose sharply in the first half of the year thanks to its growing popularity, data showed. Overseas shipments of kimchi came to 20,259 metric tons in the January-June period, accounting for 68.3 percent of full-year exports in 2019, according to the data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. South Korea‘s outbound shipments of kimchi have been on a steady rise with the volume rising from 23,490 tons in 2016 to 24,311 tons in 2017
Business July 29, 2020
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[Graphic News] N. Korea loses 210,000 hectares of forest over decade: report
North Korea has lost around 210,000 hectares of forest over the past decade, a UN agency’s report showed, pointing to a worsening deforestation problem in the communist state. According to the report from the Food and Agriculture Organization, North Korea’s forest area stood at 6.03 million hectares this year, down from 6.24 million hectares in 2010. The decline is in line with a steady shrinkage in forest in North Korea over the past three decades. Forest area in the Nort
North Korea July 28, 2020
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[Graphic News] S. Korea’s mail volume dips 9% in H1 amid coronavirus
South Korea’s mail volume fell at the biggest-ever pace in the first half of the year as the coronavirus outbreak sharply reduced demand, data showed. Mail volume in Asia’s fourth-largest economy came to 1.59 billion pieces during the January-June period, down 8.9 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Post. The figure was the largest-ever on-year decline and much higher than the 5.3 percent on-year drop recorded during the same period last year. (Yonh
Social Affairs July 27, 2020
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[Graphic News] Beer imports down for first time in decade
South Korean imports of beer fell last year for the first time in a decade, largely on a nationwide boycott of Japanese products amid a yearlong trade dispute, data showed. Imports of beer stood at 360,000 tons in 2019, down 7.2 percent from 387,000 tons a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. It marked the first on-year decrease since 2009, a sharp turnaround from a 17.1 percent hike in 2018 and a 50.2 percent jump in 2017. (Yonhap)
Business July 24, 2020
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[Graphic News] Hallyu boosts demand for Korean ice cream in Vietnam: report
South Korea’s exports of ice cream to Vietnam jumped 30 percent in 2019 from a year earlier on the back of the growing popularity of Korean culture in Southeast Asia, data showed. Outbound shipments of ice cream to Vietnam reached $7 million in 2019, rising sharply from $5.3 million a year earlier, according to the report released by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. In contrast, Thailand, the top player in the segment, saw its ice cream exports to Vietnam only edge up
Business July 23, 2020
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[Graphic News] Half of Koreans quit first jobs in less than 1 year
More than half of young South Koreans, 50.2 percent, quit their first jobs after less than a year in search of better-paying and more stable employment, a report showed. The report, published by the Korean Labor Economic Association, also found that only 1 in 10 young people stays at a first job for more than four years. The percentage of young people who stayed at their first jobs for more than one year but less than two was 18.9 percent, while another 18.7 percent kept their first jo
Social Affairs July 22, 2020
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[Graphic News] Hallyu tourists spent $1,007 on average in 2019
Foreign visitors to South Korea last year for consuming K-pop goods and content spent an estimated $1,007 on average, according to a report. In its latest tourism industry analysis report, the state-run Korea Tourism Organization estimated that some 1.11 million foreigners came to Korea in 2019 to specifically consume goods and experiences related to Hallyu last year. On average, $302 was spent on general shopping, $184 on lodgings, $155 on food and $138 on Hallyu-related spending, acco
National July 21, 2020
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