Sales of cigarettes in South Korea moved down 0.6 percent on-year in the January-June period, data showed. South Korean smokers purchased 1.77 billion 20-cigarette packs in the first half, falling from 17.8 billion packs posted a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Heat-not-burn tobacco products took up 16.5 percent of the market, advancing from 14.8 percent posted for all of 2022. Meanwhile, the government collected 5.7 trillion won ($4.4 billion) in taxes from cigar

Social Affairs Aug. 24, 2023

Close to half of American adults support a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey that also asked questions about national security concerns and China. TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance and used by tens of millions of Americans, has faced calls from US lawmakers for a nationwide ban over concerns about possible Chinese government influence. Some 47 percent of respondents to the two-day poll, which concluded on Aug. 15, said they at l

World News Aug. 23, 2023

The combined US market share of Hyundai Motor and its smaller affiliate Kia inched up in the first half of the year from a year earlier, managing to stay above the 10 percent range amid the recovery in demand and output, data showed. Their combined share came to 10.6 percent in the January-June period, up 0.3 percentage point from the previous year, according to the data by the US-based Automotive News outlet. Hyundai and Kia saw their combined market share rise to double digits for the first ti

World Business Aug. 22, 2023

South Korea’s exports of ice cream reached a record high in the first half of 2023, data showed, on the back of the growing popularity of Korean entertainment content across the globe. Outbound shipments of ice cream and similar products reached $59 million in the January-June period, up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The figure almost doubled South Korea’s ice cream imports, which came to $30 million, up 7.5 percent ove

Market Aug. 18, 2023

North Korea’s dependency on China for foreign trade hit its highest level in 2022 since leader Kim Jong-un took the helm of the reclusive country 10 years earlier, a report showed. Pyongyang’s trade with Beijing came to $1.53 billion last year, up about 125 percent from the previous year, according to the report from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. The amount took up 96.7 percent of North Korea’s overall trade, up from 95.6 percent a year earlier. Exports stood at

North Korea Aug. 17, 2023

The number of apparent heat-related deaths hit the highest this summer since 2018, the disease control agency said. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, a total of 28 people were presumed to have died of heat-related illness as of Aug. 11 since late May. The tally marks the largest since 2018, when the comparable figure was 48. The number of people hospitalized for heat-related illnesses, including those who have died, came to 2,123 during same period, also the largest s

Social Affairs Aug. 16, 2023

About 7 in 10 US adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “People are yearning for something greater than themselves — beyond their own understanding,” said Jack Grogger, chaplain for the Los Angeles Angels and a longtime Southern California fire captain who has aided many people in their gravest moments. People turn to angels for comfort, he said. They are familiar, regularly showing up in pop c

World News Aug. 15, 2023

Around 60 percent of South Korean seniors were economically active as of May, data showed, reflecting the state of the country’s rapidly aging population. The poll by Statistics Korea showed that 60.2 percent of the country's 15.48 million people aged 55 to 79 were economically active, up 0.8 percentage point from the previous year. The data encompasses both individuals currently employed and those actively in search of job opportunities. The number of employed people in the age group

Social Affairs Aug. 10, 2023

Global smartphone shipments fell 11 percent on-year in the second quarter, a report showed, as the market continued to face headwinds of slower consumer demand amid macroeconomic uncertainties. Market research firm Canalys said the continued market slump impacted market leaders, like Samsung Electronics and Apple, which had to reduce their sell-in, or shipments to retailers. Samsung led the market with a 21 percent market share, followed by Apple at 17 percent, Xiaomi at 13 percent and Oppo at 1

World Business Aug. 8, 2023

In pursuit of their third-straight gold medal, South Korea will face Bahrain, Thailand and Kuwait in the group stage of the Asian Games men’s soccer tournament this fall. The draw for the competition took place in the Asian Games host city of Hangzhou, China, Feb. 27. South Korea ended up in Group E with the three other countries. The participating 23 nations will be divided into six groups. Groups A, B, C, E and F will have four teams each, while Group D will have three teams. The top two

Soccer Aug. 4, 2023

A new poll conducted amid rising tensions between mainland China and Taiwan, as well as with the United States, has found that most Asian Americans view China unfavorably. The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, surveyed 7,006 Asian adults living in the US from July 2022 to January 2023. The poll found that 78 percent of Asian adults in the US view the nation unfavorably but just 20 percent view China favorably. Only 11 percent viewed the US unfavorably while the majority, 52 percent, vi

World News Aug. 3, 2023

Nearly 15 percent of employees in the South Korean construction industry were foreign nationals in the first quarter of this year, amid a shortage of local workers at construction sites, a report showed. A total of 110,000 workers of foreign nationality were working at construction sites here as of the end of March, accounting for 14.8 percent of the total 741,000 construction workers, according to a quarterly report by the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association. The number of foreign const

Social Affairs Aug. 2, 2023

Overseas orders for industrial plants won by South Korean builders spiked more than 40 percent on-year in the first half of 2023, on brisk demand from the Middle East and Africa, data showed. Local builders clinched $13.05 billion worth of plant orders from abroad in the January-June period, up 40.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Commerce Ministry data. The first-half jump came as orders from Middle Eastern and African countries shot up from a year earlier. Plant orders from the M

Industry Aug. 1, 2023

Major League Baseball will open its 2024 season in South Korea with two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. MLB and the MLB Players Association announced their plans for four international series outside the United States and Canada in 2024, with regular season stops in Mexico City and London, as well as spring training action in the Dominican Republic. Dubbed the “Seoul Series” as part of the MLB World Tour, the games in South Korea between the two Nation

Baseball July 28, 2023

South Korea reported a net inflow of migrants in 2022, data showed, following the normalization of global travel amid eased concerns over the COVID-19. The number of international migrants, referring to those who stay in and out of South Korea for 90 days or more, reached 1.12 million in 2022, up 26.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Of the figure, the arrivals accounted for 606,000, surpassing the number of individuals who departed the country, wh

Social Affairs July 25, 2023