[Graphic News] Korea’s per capita GDP ranks 33rd

South Korea’s nominal gross domestic product per capita surpassed $24,000 last year, which was the 33rd highest in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. This is up from 34th in 2012 and 41st in 2008.The country’s per capita nominal GDP came to $24,329 last year, up from $22,590 in 2012, according to the IMF data compiled by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.Luxembourg topped the list with $110,423, followed by Norway and Qatar with $100,318 and $100,260, respectively. Switz

TechnologyMay 12, 2014

[Graphic News] Korea ranks low on OECD life satisfaction index

Koreans’ overall life satisfaction has remained at a relatively low level among the 34 member countries surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Koreans’ life satisfaction index stood at 6.0 points while the OECD average came to 6.6 points, placing it 25th among the 36 nations surveyed.Residents of Switzerland are the most satisfied with their lives with 7.8 points, followed by Norway, Canada and Denmark, according to the study.Some countries ― Estonia, Greece, Hunga

Social AffairsMay 11, 2014

[Graphic News] North Korean infant mortality surges to 3.3 percent

North Korea’s infant mortality rate topped 33 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012, a study showed Thursday, reflecting the country’s chronic food shortages and lack of widespread, adequate health care services. The finding resulted from analyzing nutrition surveys conducted jointly by the Pyongyang government and international organizations from 1998-2012. Lee Joung-hee, a professor at Kyonggi University’s graduate school of education in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, released the work in Review of

North KoreaMay 8, 2014

[Graphic News] Young Koreans’ credit ratings plunge

The credit ratings for Koreans in their teens and 20s rapidly declined after the global financial crisis due to factors including reduced employment and student loan delinquencies, data collected from the Korea Credit Bureau revealed Wednesday.The average credit rating for each age group of 500,000 randomly selected credit users showed that teenagers’ average rating deteriorated from 3.96 in the first quarter of 2008 to 5.44 in Q1 of 2013, according to the Bank of Korea.Ratings for those in thei

May 7, 2014

[Graphic News] Tax burden on basic pension

Korea is expected to face an increasing annual tax burden of some 2 million won per capita by 2040 and about 5 million by 2060 as the country is set to increase its monthly basic pension for those over 65.The National Assembly passed a bill allowing the poorest 70 percent of senior citizens to receive a monthly pension of up to 200,000 won beginning in July. It replaces a benefit that paid out up to 96,000 won a month.This is raising concerns, as Korea is suffering a shortfall in tax revenue and

May 6, 2014

[Graphic News] MERS virus spreading

Saudi health authorities announced Wednesday two new deaths from the MERS coronavirus in the kingdom, where 16 more infections were also detected.The two new MERS deaths in Saudi bring the toll to 107 since the disease appeared in the kingdom in September 2012, the Health Ministry said.Public concern over the spread of MERS mounted earlier this month after the resignation of at least four doctors at Jeddah’s King Fahd Hospital who refused to treat patients for fear of infection. Acting Health Mi

World NewsMay 1, 2014

[Graphic News] Samsung sells more handsets than Apple, LG, Nokia put together

Samsung Electronics sold more handsets than Apple Inc., LG Electronics and Nokia Oyj put together during the first quarter of this year, according to a leading U.S. market research firm. Strategy Analytics said Wednesday that Samsung sold 113 million handsets during the period. Nokia sold 47 million units, followed by Apple with 43.7 million, and LG Electronics with 16.2 million. Huawei Technologies was close on LG’s heels, selling 14.2 million handsets, the research firm said.It also noted that

IndustryApril 30, 2014

[Graphic News] Disputed Territories in Asia

During the U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent state visit to Japan, the U.S. leader sided with the Japanese in a dispute with China over a group of small islands in the East China Sea. Here are other examples of the many territory disputes in the Asia Pacific region.

Foreign AffairsApril 29, 2014

[Graphic News] GDP gap widening between Korea, China

The gap between South Korea and China in terms of gross domestic product appears to be widening, the Bank of Korea said Monday.In 2013, China’s GDP eclipsed that of South Korea by sevenfold, with $9.18 trillion and $1.3 trillion, respectively.A decade earlier, Korea’s GDP was up to 41 percent of China’s, but the gap between the economies widened as China’s economic growth skyrocketed. Since 2003, the Chinese economy is estimated to have grown almost fivefold.At the same time, the GDP gap between

April 28, 2014

[Graphic News] Raising Sewol a Herculean task

Raising the sunken Sewol is likely to be a Herculean task that could take several months to complete. In 2010, it took one month to salvage the Cheonan warship, which was five times smaller than the ferry and broken in two. Four large marine cranes, including a Samsung Heavy Industries moder with a hoisting capacity of 8,000 tons, are currently deployed to the site where the Sewol is submerged. Experts propose using a floating dock to help raise and move the hull.

Social AffairsApril 27, 2014

[Graphic News] Investment in tax havens rises

The amount of money wired by Korean firms to their special purpose companies in tax havens continues to rise, according to data from the Bank of Korea, Thursday.Financial investments in the form of stocks and bonds to locations such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and Labuan (Malaysia) reached $2.66 billion in 2013 — 64.2 percent more than the previous year.　Investments in the Cayman Islands, especially, expanded from $70 million in 2009 to $2.51 billion in 2013.

April 24, 2014

[Graphic News] Sewol was dangerously overloaded

Analyses found that multiple factors, including a sharp change of direction and cargo overload, caused the Sewol to capsize.The Korean Register of Shipping ― the organization that inspected and approved the renovations on the Sewol ― required the ship to maintain higher levels of water in its variable water tanks in order to compensate for the increased center of gravity, though the company neglected to do so, according to inspection data provided by the KRS.

Social AffairsApril 23, 2014

[Graphic News] Ferry did not take sharp turn

The ferry Sewol did not take a sharp turn before it sank, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Monday after analyzing data recovered from the vessel’s automatic identification system.Since the ship sank last Wednesday in waters off Korea’s southwestern coast, the allegation had prevailed that the ill-fated ship changed direction too sharply when only a gradual change was required, causing the vessel to lose balance and ultimately capsize.Given the “J-shaped” travel route recovered from the

Social AffairsApril 22, 2014

[Graphic News] Korea’s aging coastal liners and their crew

More than two-thirds of the coastal liners operated in Korea were found to be 15 years old or more, according to figures from the Korea Shipping Association on Monday. Out of the 217 vessels tallied as of 2013, 69 were found to be between 15 and 19 years old, while another 67 were found to be more than 20 years old.The poor condition of the liners has come into the spotlight in the aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster that occurred last Wednesday.The age of the crew also has become a bone of co

April 21, 2014

[Graphic News] Search and rescue operations for submerged ferry

Divers combed the sunken ferry Sewol, retrieving more than a dozen bodies over the weekend.More than 560 divers took turns Sunday entering the ship and searching passenger compartments while 204 Navy, Coast Guard and private vessels. But hopes were fading for any survivors among the hundreds still missing.

Social AffairsApril 20, 2014

[Graphic News] Sunken ferry's final hours

The 6,825-ton ferry Sewol was built in June 1994 by Hayashikane Dockyard Co. in Japan. It was operated by a Japanese company for 18 years until it was retired in September 2012.In October of the same year, Chonghaejin Marine Co. purchased the ferry and remodeled it to increase its capacity to hold 921 people.At 145 meters long and 22 meters wide, the Sewol was among the largest cruisers in Korea. It could carry up to 130 sedans, 60 5-ton trucks and 200 shipping containers at the same time. The v

Social AffairsApril 17, 2014

[Graphic News] Rivals show force in eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian government forces and separatist pro-Russian militia staged rival shows of force in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday amid escalating rhetoric on the eve of crucial four-power talks in Geneva on the former Soviet country’s future.Government troops drove seven armoured personnel carriers flying the Ukrainian flag into the town of Kramatorsk after securing control of a nearby airfield from the rebels on Tuesday, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to warn of the risk of civil war.But j

World NewsApril 16, 2014

[Graphic News] Global military spending drops in 2013 led by U.S. cut

Global arms investment in 2013 fell by 1.9 percent from the year before, mainly due to a sharp drop in military spending by the United States, a Swedish arms watchdog said Monday. According to the annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, countries worldwide spent $1.7 trillion on boosting their militaries. The annual budget of the U.S. came first with $640 billion, but was 7.8 percent less than the year before.With the exception of the U.S., however, the world saw a

DefenseApril 15, 2014

[Graphic News] Income divide widening among salaried workers

The number of salaried Korean workers earning over 100 million won ($96,200) a year and those earning less than an annual 30 million won both rose over a span of four years, according to government data on Monday.The Financial Supervisory Service and the National Tax Service said that some 415,000 people, or 2.6 percent of all salaried workers in Korea, earned an annual salary of 100 million won or more in 2012. This compares with the 194,000, or 1.4 percent, in 2008.At the same time, the propor

April 14, 2014

[Graphic News] Pensions for civil servants, military cost tax payers W14tr over 5 years

Korea injected nearly 14 trillion won ($13.5 billion) in taxpayers’ money over the past five years to compensate for growing deficits in pension funds for government employees and military officers.According to data released by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the government subsidy for civil servants’ pension fund hit a new record high of 2 trillion won in 2013. The government also disbursed 1.3 trillion won last year to make up for the shortfall in the military service pension fund.The co

Social AffairsApril 13, 2014