Executions fell worldwide by nearly a third last year to their lowest levels in at least a decade, but several countries recorded a rise, Amnesty International said.　Use of the death penalty dropped in Iran -- by an eye-popping 50 percent, following a change to its anti-narcotics laws -- Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia, the rights group found in its annual review.　But it rose in Belarus, Japan, Singapore, South Sudan and the United States, while Thailand resumed executions for the first time in a de

World April 24, 2019

　The number of South Koreans in the agrofisheries sector fell in 2018, government data showed, amid rapid aging and urbanization trends across the country.　The number of households in the farming business totaled 1.02 million in 2018, down 2 percent from 1.04 million tallied a year ago, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.　The number of farmers dropped 4.4 percent on-year to 2.31 million.　In the fishing sector, the number of families fell 2.5 percent on-year to 51,500 last year, with

Social Affairs April 23, 2019

　Inflation that’s projected to reach an eyeball-popping 8 million percent this year has left Venezuela saddled with the title of the world’s most miserable economy.　The embattled South American nation topped the rankings of Bloomberg’s Misery Index, which sums inflation and unemployment outlooks for 62 economies, for the fifth straight year.　Joining Venezuela in the most-distressed crowd are Argentina, South Africa, Turkey, Greece and Ukraine -- each of which retained the same rank as last year,

World Business April 22, 2019

　South Korea’s defense technology ranked ninth in the world last year, with 80 percent of US levels, a state-run military research agency said.　According to the triennial report published by the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality, the comparative level of Korea’s overall defense technology was tied with Italy, among 16 major countries. 　The US topped the list, followed by France, Russia, Germany, and Britain. China was sixth, and Japan and Israel came next.

Defense April 21, 2019

　BTS is set to make history as the boy band is on course to have its third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart for the week ending April 27.　While the group’s “Map of the Soul: Persona” is the latest K-pop record to top the high-profile chart, it’s worth nothing there were other South Korean artists who had a crack at the US market and left their mark.　In 2009, BoA became the first K-pop singer to enter Billboard’s albums chart with her self-titled US debut album, which peaked at No. 12

Performance April 18, 2019

　The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is not the only heritage site to have been damaged by fire. Other heritage sites around the world have also been completely or partially destroyed by fires. 

World News April 17, 2019

　Only 1 in 10 single people in South Korea believes a wedding is essential for a married couple, a survey said.　According to the poll of 2,464 unmarried people -- 1,140 men and 1,324 women aged between 20 and 44 -- carried out by the state-run Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, only 10.8 percent of female respondents said they believed a wedding ceremony was essential.　Another 34.4 percent of women said they “generally” wanted weddings, according to the poll conducted by the institut

Social Affairs April 16, 2019

　Global life expectancy grew by 5.5 years between 2000 and 2016, the World Health Organization said, warning though that unequal income and access to health care translates into far shorter lives for many.　The UN health agency also stressed significant gender differences in life expectancy worldwide.　On average, a child born in 2016 can expect to live 72 years, up from 66.5 in 2000, according to the annual World Health Statistics report.

Technology April 15, 2019

　South Korea ranked second among the 36 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation last year in terms of the cost of dismissing workers, a local think tank said.　In 2018, Korean companies shouldered the second-highest burden when dismissing employees, the equivalent of 27.4 weeks’ salary on average, the Korea Economic Research Institute said in a statement. Only companies in Turkey paid more, with its workers entitled to 29.8 weeks’ wages upon dismissal.  　The OECD average, in contrast

World April 14, 2019

　Seven in 10 artists in South Korea earn less than 1 million won ($880) a month, well below the average for all trades, a government report said.　According to the report from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the average annual income for domestic artist households was 42.25 million won in 2017, compared with the nation’s average household income of 57.05 million won.　The average annual income for individual artists was 12.81 million won in 2017, up 260,000 won from three years ago, t

Social Affairs April 11, 2019

　South Korea ranked low for acceptance of homosexuality compared with most other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a recent report showed.　According to the OECD’s “Society at a Glance 2019” report, Korea scored 2.8 on a 10-point scale measuring how well homosexuality is accepted in the country. The figure reflects the average score for the years 2001-2014.　Although the figure has improved since the previous time frame that was studied, it is still substantia

World April 10, 2019

　One in 5 deaths globally is linked to poor diet, experts said, warning that overconsumption of sugar, salt and meat is killing millions of people every year.　The United Nations estimates that nearly a billion people worldwide are malnourished, while nearly 2 billion are “overnourished.”　But the latest study on global diet trends, published in The Lancet, showed that in nearly every one of the 195 countries surveyed, people were also eating too much of the wrong types of food -- and consuming wo

Technology April 9, 2019

　Poor air quality caused more than 17,000 deaths in South Korea in 2017, more than 90 percent of which resulted from the onslaught of harmful PM2.5 particles, a study released by a US civic group showed.　The “State of Global Air 2019” report, published by the Health Effects Institute, revealed that about 17,300 people died from indoor and outdoor air pollution in Korea in 2017, up 23.5 percent from the 14,000 recorded in 1990.　In Korea, the death toll from air pollution decreased to 13,200 in 19

Technology April 8, 2019

　The number of South Korean subscribers to US streaming platform Netflix more than tripled in one year, industry data showed Thursday, mainly due to the popularity of original local content. 　Netflix was estimated to have nearly 2.4 million active streaming subscribers as of the end of February this year, compared with 799,000 users at the end of February 2018, according to Nielsen Korea.　Netflix, which started as a video rental firm in 1997, currently has more than 189 million paying members in

Business April 7, 2019

　The number of postpartum care centers nationwide has fallen, according to a report, in a possible indication of the falling birthrate.  　The Korea Institute of Child Care and Education said there were 584 such centers last year, compared to 610 in 2015. Data compiled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare showed that the number of postpartum care centers increased from 418 in 2009 to 610 in 2015, but fell to 598 in 2017 before declining further the following year.　The number of people using the

Social Affairs April 4, 2019