Two South Korean duty-free operators were among the world’s top five travel retailers in 2018, an industry report showed.　Lotte Duty Free maintained the second spot with 6.09 billion euros ($6.84 billion) in sales last year, due mainly to Chinese resellers who buy products in large quantities and sell them back home, according to the Moodie Davitt report. 　Shilla Duty Free, the operator of duty-free shops owned by Hotel Shilla, leaped to third place from fifth after recording 5.47 billion

World July 21, 2019

　Singer Taylor Swift was named the world’s highest-paid entertainer but was closely followed by two members of the wider Kardashian clan - reality star turned cosmetics queen Kylie Jenner and rapper Kanye West. 　The annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list also saw soccer stars Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar among the top 10, along with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and 1970s soft rock band The Eagles, which embarked on a new tour in 2018. 　South Korean boy band BTS was at No. 4

World July 18, 2019

　Fifty years to the day since mankind launched the first mission to set foot on the moon, partial lunar eclipses were observed in Asia, Europe and South America on Wednesday. Apollo 11 was the NASA spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the moon. The crew consisted of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins all Americans. 　So far, the United States, Russia and China are the only countries to have landed spacecraft on the lunar surface.

World July 17, 2019

　A UN report says some 464,000 homicides were recorded around the world in 2017, far more than the number killed in armed conflicts and terrorist attacks.　The Global Study on Homicide 2919, published Monday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, also had good news. 　While the total number of people who suffered violent deaths has increased over 25 years, the global population has grown faster, so the risk of being killed in a homicide has declined.　The report says there were 7.2 homicides per 100,

World News July 16, 2019

　Japan’s restrictions on exports to South Korea seem to be having a significant impact on Koreans’ feelings toward Japan, a recent poll by Gallup Korea suggests.　In the nationwide survey of 1,005 Korean adults, only 12 percent said they had favorable views of Japan, the lowest figure since polling on the topic began in 1991.　Seventy-seven percent said they did not feel friendly toward the neighboring country, while another 10 percent refused to answer. (Yonhap)

Social Affairs July 15, 2019

　The number of South Korean chaebol family members with more than 1 trillion won ($865 million) worth of listed shares reached 24 as of the previous trading session, data showed.　The combined value of listed shares held by the 24 shareholders came to 64.3 trillion won as of end-June, according to data compiled by industry tracker Chaebul.com. Of the number, nine shareholders saw their share value exceed 2 trillion won.　Lee Kun-hee, the head of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung who has

Business July 14, 2019

　The total value of online shopping in South Korea hit a record high in May, government data showed, in the latest sign that a growing number of people are using computers and mobile devices to buy more things, from clothes to electronic goods.　Total online transactions reached 11.26 trillion won ($9.6 billion) in May, up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data compiled by Statistics Korea.　The reading was the highest since January 2001, when the statistics office started

Business July 11, 2019

　South Korea’s exports of cultural goods jumped about 47 percent year-on-year in 2017, led by games, K-pop and publishing, an official survey showed.　The combined overseas sales in nine culture and entertainment sectors reached about $8.81 billion, up 46.7 percent from the previous year, according to the annual content industry statistics published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The figure compares with the country‘s overall export growth that year of 15.8 percent.　T

Culture July 10, 2019

　Global cocaine production reached an all-time high in 2017, breaking the previous year’s record by 25 percent, the UN drugs and crime agency said in its annual report, as production soars in post-conflict Colombia.　The report said the jump in production “was mainly driven by increases in cocaine manufacture in Colombia, which produced an estimated 70 percent of the world’s cocaine.”　In the decade to 2017, there was a 50 percent increase in manufacture, reaching a record

World News July 9, 2019

　France has the lowest levels of trust in vaccines globally, according to the world’s biggest survey on public attitudes toward health and science.　A third (33 percent) of French people do not agree that immunization is safe, and it is also the only country where a majority (55 percent) believe science and technology will reduce the total number of jobs available, according to the poll of more than 140,000 people across 144 countries. 　The survey of people aged 15 and older was devised by

World July 8, 2019

　Japan began its first commercial whale hunts in more than three decades on July 1, brushing aside outrage over its resumption of a practice that conservationists say is cruel and outdated.　The hunts come after Japan decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission, a move slammed by activists and anti-whaling countries but welcomed by Japanese whaling communities.　The country’s Fisheries Agency said it had set a cap for a total catch of 227 whales through the season until lat

World News July 7, 2019

　The number of museums, including art galleries, in South Korea will increase by 16 percent over the next five years under a government proposal to make representative cultural infrastructure more accessible to the public, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said.　The ministry unveiled a medium and long-term museum expansion plan to raise the number of museums nationwide by 186 from the current 1,124 to 1,310 in 2023.　By the target year, the nation will have 1,013 museums, up from 873, a

Culture July 4, 2019

　France’s Mirazur restaurant - whose Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco draws inspiration from the sea, the mountains and his own garden - was crowned the world’s best by an influential trade list.　The accolade came just months after Colagreco was handed a third Michelin star, and was the first time a French establishment has triumphed in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.　In the second spot in the awards - which took place in Singapore, their first time in Asia - was Noma in Co

World July 3, 2019

　South Korea’s health care and cosmetics exports surged to $14.6 billion last year, the result of solid demand, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.　Outbound shipments of drugs, medical equipment and makeup jumped 19.4 percent from the previous year, with the annual average growth rate for the past five years hitting 21 percent, according to the ministry.　Of the total, cosmetics accounted for $6.3 billion. The next-strongest export sectors were drugs and medical equipment at $4.7 billi

Business July 2, 2019

Where is it? 　　The 4-kilometer-wide DMZ runs for 250 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula, around 50 kilometers north of Seoul and 200 kilometers south of Pyongyang. 　At its center is the Military Demarcation Line, where the front line was located when the cease-fire stopping Korean War hostilities was signed in 1953. Under the agreement, both sides agreed to pull back their forces 2,000 meters.What is it? 　　A barrier separating North and South Korea, heavy weaponry is banned within the DMZ. P

North Korea July 1, 2019