Articles by Nam Kyung-don
Nam Kyung-don
don@heraldcorp.com-
[Graphic News] Arsenal signs Nicolas Pepe for record fee
Arsenal announced the signing of winger Nicolas Pepe from French side Lille in early August for a club-record fee reported to be 80 million euros ($87 million). The deal for the 24-year-old Ivory Coast international eclipses the 63.8 million euros spent on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January 2018 as the Gunners add another attacking option to their ranks. Pepe becomes the most expensive African player ever and the joint-fourth most expensive signing in Premier League history, after Mancheste
Soccer Aug. 13, 2019
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[Graphic News] Applicants for Korean language test surpass 300,000
The annual number of applicants for the state-run Test of Proficiency in Korean surpassed 300,000 for the first time last year, its administrator said.A total of 329,224 people across 76 countries applied for the Korean language test for non-native speakers and ethnic Koreans in 2018, according to an official in charge of TOPIK at the National Institute of International Education under the Ministry of Education. The figure marked a 13 percent increase from 290,638 in 2017 and was 120 times more
Social Affairs Aug. 13, 2019
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[Graphic News] Exports of cultural contents rise 8.4% in 2018
South Korea’s exports of cultural contents increased 8.4 percent in 2018 from the previous year to $9.55 billion, a government report showed.Last year’s growth came after annual average growth of 16 percent between 2014 and 2017, with exports of $5.27 billion in 2014, $5.66 billion in 2015, $6.08 billion in 2016 and $8.81 billion in 2017, according to the report on trends in the content industry released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Ag
Economy Aug. 11, 2019
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[Graphic News] Netflix tops 1.8m users in S. Korea: data
The number of South Korean users subscribing to the US video-streaming platform Netflix has nearly tripled on-year to surpass the 1.8 million mark, latest industry data showed. Netflix is estimated to have 1.84 million paid active streaming subscribers as of June, compared with 630,000 users during the same period a year earlier, according to the data compiled by industry tracker WiseApp. The data showed that some 38 percent of Netflix users in the country are in their 20s, followed by 31 perce
National Aug. 8, 2019
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[Graphic News] 34% of Korean adolescents have thought about suicide: poll
Nearly 34 percent of South Korean adolescents have thought about killing themselves because of academic pressure, a recent survey showed. The grim finding came in the National Youth Policy Institute’s survey of 9,060 elementary, middle and high school students conducted from June-August last year. According to the results, 33.8 percent of students polled said they had considered taking their own lives over the previous year. The biggest reason was pressure they felt over academic achie
Social Affairs Aug. 7, 2019
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[Graphic News] Cigarette sales down 0.6% in H1
Sales of cigarettes in South Korea edged down 0.6 percent in the first half of 2019 from a year prior, data showed, amid an anti-smoking campaign and higher prices. South Korean smokers purchased 1.67 billion 20-cigarette packs in the January-June period, compared to 1.68 billion packs in the same period last year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The figures represent a 17.8 percent drop from the first half of 2014. (Yonhap)
Technology Aug. 6, 2019
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[Graphic News] S. Korea’s electronics output ranks 3rd in 2018
South Korea’s electronics output was the world’s third largest in terms of value last year thanks to brisk sales of memory chips, an industry report showed. The total production of the electronics industry in Asia’s fourth-largest economy came to $171.1 billion in 2018, accounting for 8.8 percent of the global market, the Korea Electronics Association said in the report. China’s electronics output accounted for 37.2 percent of the global market last year, and the United
World Business Aug. 5, 2019
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[Graphic News] Huawei still No. 2 smartphone seller despite US sanctions, Samsung No. 1
Huawei Technologies remained the No. 2 global smartphone vendor in the past quarter despite tough US sanctions imposed on the Chinese technology giant, market trackers said. The Chinese firm managed to boost its sales even as the overall market declined, remaining on the heels of sector leader Samsung and ahead of US-based Apple. According to Strategy Analytics, overall global smartphone sales fell 2.6 percent to 341 million units in the April-June period. Samsung increased its market share to
World Business Aug. 4, 2019
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[Graphic News] South Korea’s coffee market to reach W6.8tr
The size of the South Korean coffee market will reach 6.8 trillion won ($5.76 billion) by the end of this year, according to a report released by the Hyundai Research Institute. Koreans, aged over 20, drank a total of 353 cups of coffee per person on average last year, the report said. The average per capita coffee consumption in the world was 132 cups in the same year, which is one-third of domestic consumption. (Yonhap)
National Aug. 1, 2019
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[Graphic News] Smuggled drugs down 41% in H1
Drug smuggling detected by the South Korean authorities dropped sharply in the first half of 2019, customs data showed, although illegal attempts to smuggle drugs continue to rise. A total of 86.8 kilograms of drugs were confiscated in the January-June period, down 41 percent from 146.9 kilograms posted a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Despite the on-year decline, the agency said the figure is still the second-highest in a decade. (Yonhap)
National July 31, 2019
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[Graphic News] Medicine exports hit record high in 2018
Exports of medicine and medical supplies reached a record high in 2018, government data showed. Outbound shipments of locally manufactured medicines and medical supplies stood at $4.67 billion last year, up 14.8 percent from the previous year, according to the data by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Medicine exports have been increasing at an annual rate of 17.9 percent since 2014, the data showed. (Yonhap)
Business July 30, 2019
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[Graphic News] North Korean economy contracts 4.1% last year
North Korea’s fragile economy is estimated to have contracted for a second consecutive year in 2018, South Korea’s central bank said last week, an apparent outcome of what many have called unprecedentedly strong international sanctions against the communist state. The country’s real gross domestic product is believed to have shrunk 4.1 percent last year from the year before, according to the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)
North Korea July 29, 2019
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[Graphic News] Worsening world hunger affects 821 million
More than 821 million people suffered from hunger worldwide last year, the United Nations reported - the third year in a row that the number has risen. After decades of decline, malnutrition began to increase in 2015, mainly because of climate change and war. Reversing the trend is one of the 2030 targets of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that aim to improve the planet and its people. But getting to a world where no one is suffering from hunger by then remains an “immense ch
World News July 28, 2019
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[Graphic News] S. Korea world’s No. 2 heated tobacco market in 2018
South Korea was the world’s No. 2 heated tobacco market last year, and its growth will gather pace down the road, an industry tracker said. The size of South Korea’s heat-not-burn electronic cigarette market reached $1.67 billion last year, rising sharply from $453 million tallied in 2017, according to data compiled by Euromonitor International. The country’s overall tobacco market reached $15.6 billion last year. While South Korea’s tobacco market is anticipated to post
World July 25, 2019
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[Graphic News] Newly registered pet dogs up 40% in 2018
The number of newly registered pet dogs in South Korea rose nearly 40 percent in 2018 from a year earlier, the country’s animal quarantine agency said. Around 147,000 new dogs were registered with the state-run Animal Protection Management System last year, compared with the newly registered 105,000 pet dogs a year earlier, according to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. Since 2014, all pet owners are obligated to register their dogs with the system. As of 2018, the accumulated numb
Social Affairs July 24, 2019
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