[Graphic News] North Korean reshuffle underscores focus on domestic stability

North Korea’s new parliament on Wednesday rubber-stamped a reshuffle of top positions in the ruling party and Cabinet, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.The Supreme People’s Assembly elected Choe Ryong-hae, the military‘s top political officer, as a new vice chairman of the North’s most powerful body, the National Defense Commission ― a post that had been vacant following last year’s bloody purge of Jang Song-thaek, leader Kim Jong-un’s once-powerful uncle. The North also appo

North KoreaApril 10, 2014

[Graphic News] IMF cuts world growth outlook

The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the global economy Tuesday, pointing to the threat from the Ukraine crisis and the slowdown in major emerging economies.While the world economy has picked up pace, anchored by the United States and China, the global crisis lender pointed to looming risks, from the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine, to poorly handled policy in countries like Brazil and deflation in the eurozone.The report, released ahead of the annual IMF

World NewsApril 9, 2014

[Graphic News] Investments in renewable energy slid alarmingly in 2013

A recent report by the U.N. Environment Programme found that renewable energy investments fell globally by 14 percent last year to $214.4 billion, excluding hydroelectricity ― a fall of $35.1 billion.Some of the reasons cited for the drop in investment are a lack of clear political support for renewable energy in some markets and the cheaper cost of solar energy systems. Solar energy technology continued to receive the most investment among renewables.While Europe had formerly led the way in ren

World NewsApril 8, 2014

[Graphic News] North Korea’s low-tech drones pose new military threat

The recent discovery of three drones, presumably from North Korea, is drawing keen attention to the types of unmanned aerial vehicles the communist state has and their military capabilities.Pyongyang is known to have begun developing military drones in the 1990s as they could serve as a lethal yet low-cost weapons system.Seoul officials believe that the North has imported a series of drones, which were made in China, Russia and other nations, and modified them to serve for its specific military

DefenseApril 7, 2014

[Graphic News] Seoul beefs up missile power amid growing N.K. threat

The South Korean military succeeded last month in test-firing a new ballistic missile with a range of 500 km, enough to strike any military target in North Korea. South Korea plans to deploy it next year.The development came after Seoul and Washington agreed in October 2012 to revise their bilateral pact to allow the South to develop ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800 kilometers, up from the previous 300 km.Seoul’s Defense Ministry revealed the test result last Friday, as security conc

DefenseApril 6, 2014

[Graphic News] Korea has world’s 7th-largest shadow finance sector

South Korea was found to have the world’s seventh-highest ratio of services provided by “shadow banks” -- referring to financial institutions that are not actually banks but deliver similar roles -- to gross domestic product.The Bank of Korea said on Thursday that in 2013, the volume of financial services offered by local shadow banks surpassed 1.5 quadrillion ($1.4 trillion) to exceed the nation‘s nominal GDP. The figure also reflected an 11.2 percent increase from 2012, the central bank said.

April 3, 2014

[Graphic News] Debt-to-GDP ratio hits 265% in 2013

The nation’s combined debt held by households, companies and the government was almost three times larger than the size of the South Korean economy in 2013, according to data from the Bank of Korea on Wednesday. The total amount of debt held by non-financial corporations, government institutions, households and non-profit organizations tallied roughly 3.78 quadrillion won ($3.58 trillion) as of the end of 2013.

April 2, 2014

[Graphic News] 10 biggest quakes in Korea

A string of minor and moderate tremors have occurred in the country since it began tracking seismological data in 1978, while no deadly quakes have been observed, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The biggest quake in South Korea, detected in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, on May 29, 2004, was strong enough to rattle structures in the area and its aftershocks were felt in nearby cities. South Jeolla Province had the most quakes among the 10 strongest quakes in Korean histo

Social AffairsApril 1, 2014

[Graphic News] North Korea’s nuclear tests

1st (Oct. 9, 2006)Testing material: plutoniumMagnitude of artificial earthquake: 3.9Explosive power: 1 kilotonInterval between rocket launch and nuclear test: 33 months 2nd (May 25, 2009)Testing material: plutoniumMagnitude of artificial earthquake: 4.5Explosive power: 2-6 kilotonsInterval between rocket launch and nuclear test: 50 days3rd (Feb. 12, 2013)Testing material: presumably highly enriched uraniumMagnitude of artificial earthquake: 4.9-5.1Explosive power: 6-16 kilotonsInterval between r

DefenseMarch 31, 2014

[Graphic News] KTX’s 10-year anniversary

The number of daily passengers on the high-speed train has reached 150,000, 10 just years after the Korea Train Express debuted.According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the average daily figure increased by more than 100 percent from 70,900 in April 2004 when the nation introduced the bullet train.The accumulated number of passengers for the past 10 years reached 414 million and the trains were estimated to have run a total of 240 million kilometers. KORAIL logged 11 tril

IndustryMarch 30, 2014

[Graphic News] Korea’s FTA status soars after decade

When the Korean government first announced its goal to ink as many free trade agreements as possible as a part of its trade policy road map in August 2003, trade specialists doubted the plan’s feasibility.But a decade on, Korea, once a newcomer in the field of FTAs, is now one of the world leaders in such trade pacts, according to data from the Trade Ministry and the Korea International Trade Association.

March 27, 2014

[Graphic News] Conglomerates investments shrink

Despite the sluggish economic conditions of 2013, Samsung and SK Group successfully responded to the governmen’s request to increase their investments in hopes of revitalizing the economy.But overall investment by Korea’s 30 largest business groups has tapered by 1.9 percent amid a year of weak performances, according to CEO Score Wednesday. Research and development investments were excluded from the analysis.Samsung Group’s investments dwindled 15 percent up to the third quarter, but the group

IndustryMarch 26, 2014

[Graphic News] Teen smartphone addiction on the rise

About 1 in 4 Korean teenagers may be addicted to smartphones, government said Monday. A recent survey by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning showed that 25.5 percent of all teenagers were categorized in 2013 as at risk of addiction, meaning their lives are disrupted by excessive use of mobile devices. The number of potential teen addicts increased 7.1 percentage points from the year before, while their adult counterparts decreased 0.2 percentage point to 8.9 percent.The data also sh

Social AffairsMarch 25, 2014

[Graphic News] Mass protests across the world

1. Chile More than 100,000 protesters marched for political and constitutional reform in Santiago, Chile. 2. Venezuela At least 33 people died during longstanding anti-government protests, urging socialist President Nicolas Maduro to step down.3. Spain Dozens of demonstrators were injured at a Madrid anti-austerity protest, demanding the end to government budget cuts and debt payments.4. Ukraine More than 5,000 pro-Russian protesters in the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk rallied in favor of hold

World NewsMarch 24, 2014

[Graphic News] Conglomerates expand property assets amid sluggish market

The nation’s top 10 business groups saw the value of their real estate assets reach an all-time high in 2013 as they hunted for bargains amid a prolonged property market slump, according to data from market researcher Chaebul.com on Sunday.

IndustryMarch 23, 2014

[Graphic News] NPS’ stock investment rises sharply

South Korea’s state-run pension fund increased the proportion of stock investment to about 30 percent of its assets last year, data showed Thursday.The National Pension Service, the country’s top institutional investor, said it held stocks valued at 128.32 trillion won ($119.31 billion) at the end of last year, which accounted for 30.5 percent of its assets totaling 426.96 trillion won.The portion of stock investment has been on a steady rise, reaching 23.11 percent, 23.46 percent and 26.69 perc

Social AffairsMarch 20, 2014

[Graphic News] Per capita health care spending tops 1 million won

South Koreans spent an average of more than 1 million won ($930) on medical treatment last year, according to data released Tuesday. The National Health Insurance Service said that some 50 million public insurance subscribers spent about 51 trillion won for medical purposes, up 6.5 percent year-on-year. This means that each Korean paid an average of 85,000 won per month for health care.People over the age of 65 spent about 19 trillion won, accounting for 35.4 percent of the total medical spendin

Social AffairsMarch 19, 2014

[Graphic News] Separatist movements worldwide

As Crimea voted overwhelmingly in favor of splitting from Ukraine and seeks to join Russia, secession movements in other European countries are likely to be affected by the referendum result. Italians in Venice will have an Internet-based vote on Friday in a bid to boost interest in a bill calling for a referendum on whether the Veneto region should break away from Italy. Scotland and Catalonia are planning votes to secede from the United Kingdom and Spain, respectively.States that successfully

World NewsMarch 18, 2014

[Graphic News] Korea, Japan export competition reaches new high

South Korea and Japan reached a new level of competition last year in terms of exports, according to a report by the Korea International Trade Association on Monday. The export similarity index for the East Asian neighbors surpassed the 0.5 mark for the first time in 2013, reaching 0.501, meaning that more than half of their exports were rival products. Competition was highest in semiconductor equipment, at 0.766; cars, at 0.707; and industrial machinery, at 0.690. Notably, competition in car pa

World NewsMarch 17, 2014

[Graphic News] Idle money hits record high

Korea saw a record high level of short-term funds flowing into the financial system as economic uncertainty and a bearish stock market led investors to manage their money on a short-term basis, data showed Sunday.The country’s short-term floating capital, such as securities accounts and currency in circulation, amounted to a record 712.89 trillion won ($665 billion) at the end of 2013, up from 666.36 trillion won in December 2012, according to data from the Bank of Korea and the Korea Financial

March 16, 2014