Purchases made using the internet and mobile devices in South Korea grew in October, government data showed, reflecting the popularity of smartphones, fast delivery and convenient payment options. 　Transactions made with computers, smartphones and tablets reached 11.8 trillion won ($9.9 billion) in October, up 17.3 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea. This was attributed to increased demand for food, clothes and daily necessities, the agency said. (Yonhap)

Business Dec. 5, 2019

　A new report found that the number of foreign students coming to US universities continued to decrease last year.　The annual report from the Institute of International Education found a 1 percent decrease in the number of newly enrolled international students in fall 2018 compared with the year before. This follows two years of decreases after more than a decade of upward movement.　Some schools have blamed US President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric for driving students away, but

World News Dec. 4, 2019

　Americans rely on their mobile devices for online news far more than desktop or laptop computers, building on a trend that began several years ago, a survey showed.　The Pew Research Center report found 57 percent of US adults often get news from a smartphone or tablet compared with 30 percent from a PC.　The share of Americans who often get news on a mobile device is more than double the 21 percent who did so in 2013, the first time Pew asked this question.　The percentage who often get news on a

World News Dec. 3, 2019

　The number of global deaths from terrorism fell 15.2 percent in 2018, even as the number of countries affected by extremist violence continued to grow, the 2019 Global Terrorism Index showed.　From a high of 33,555 deaths in 2014, when the Islamic State group lured tens of thousands of jihadists to the Middle East, the number of terrorism deaths has more than halved to 15,952 in 2018, the index published by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics & Peace showed.　Afghanistan topped the list

World News Dec. 2, 2019

　Seven out of 10 South Koreans are supportive of government efforts to resume a long-suspended inter-Korean tour program at Kumgangsan on North Korea‘s east coast, a recent poll showed, amid the North’s threat to end the cross-border project. 　According to the survey, conducted by the National Unification Advisory Council, 66.8 percent of the respondents said they either strongly agree or agree with efforts to resume the Kumgangsan tour by allowing individual visits or in-kind paymen

National Dec. 1, 2019

　France topped a worldwide nationality ranking for the eighth consecutive year, ahead of the Netherlands and Germany. 　The Kalin and Kochenov’s Quality of Nationality Index examines factors including the freedom to travel and settle, peace and stability, economic strength and human development to come up with a score. 　European Union countries dominate the top of the index, “largely due to the liberal degree of settlement freedom permitted between member states, as well as the stand-

World News Nov. 28, 2019

　One in 5 households in Seoul have a pet and the number of homes that have embraced cats is on the rise, data showed.　Some 20 percent of the surveyed households said they were living with a pet as of 2018, compared with 18.8 percent in 2014, according to data from the Seoul Metropolitan Government.　The survey was conducted in September last year on 20,000 households in the city. The poll had a margin of error of 0.47 percentage point and a 95 percent confidence level. 　The number of households w

Social Affairs Nov. 27, 2019

ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The political and economic community comprises 10 member countries.

World Nov. 24, 2019

　South Korea ranks as one of the leading members among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the treatment of cancer, medical data showed.　The 2019 Health at a Glance report released by the Paris-based organization said Asia’s fourth-largest economy had the highest five-year survival rate for colorectal, rectal and stomach cancers among the 32 member states checked, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which examined the data, said.　The cancer survival rate, which is

Technology Nov. 21, 2019

　A slim majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office for his controversial Ukraine actions, according to the first poll after the launch of public hearings in the US Congress.　Fifty-one percent of those asked said they think Trump should be tried and convicted in the US Senate, while another 6 percent favor impeachment but not removal, according to the ABC News-Ipsos poll released.　That appeared to represent an increase from before the hearings

World News Nov. 20, 2019

　According to Euromonitor International, global luxury goods sales reached $954 billion in 2017 and the global market grew 5 percent in 2018 across most segments.　Luxury cars sales accounted for almost 53 percent of all global luxury goods sales. This proportion grew over the reviewed period, and is expected to continue increasing to 2022.

World Business Nov. 19, 2019

　South Korea suffered a tumble of about 41 percent in the number of visiting Chinese tourists over the past three years, since its decision to deploy an advanced US missile defense system here, according to a recent report.　A total of 4.79 million Chinese travelers visited South Korea in 2018, down 40.6 percent from 8.07 million two years prior, according to the report from the Federation of Korean Industries.　In contrast, the number of Chinese tourists to Japan surged 31.4 percent to 8.38 milli

National Nov. 18, 2019

　South Korea recaptured the top spot in global shipbuilding orders last month, industry data showed, on the back of its dominance in the liquefied natural gas carrier market. 　In October, local shipyards, led by Hyundai Heavy Industries, won orders totaling 1.29 million compensated gross tons to build 17 ships, accounting for 86 percent of the orders placed around the globe, according to London-based Clarkson Research Services, the world’s leading provider of data for the shipping and ship

Industry Nov. 17, 2019

　North Korea ranks 193rd out of 195 countries in terms of its ability to prevent, detect and respond to an epidemic, a recent global health security index showed.　The impoverished North scored 17.5 points in the index compiled by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US-based nonprofit organization, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, coming higher than only two countries -- Equatorial Guinea and Somalia.　The global average was 40.2 points.　Meanwhile, South Korea ranked 9th in the index

North Korea Nov. 14, 2019

　Chengdu, the capital of China’s southwestern province Sichuan, overtook technology hub Shenzhen to top the Milken Institute’s 2019 index of the nation’s best-performing cities.　This is the third time that Chengdu, best known internationally for its pandas, has been ranked first since the list began in 2015. 　The index incorporated nine indicators for the period up to 2017, including employment and wage growth, the growth in gross regional product per-capita, and foreign direct

World News Nov. 13, 2019