SEJONG -- South Korea and North Korea have been posting a similar level of growth in demographic figures since 2000, according to data held by Statistics Korea. The South saw its population increase by 10.1 percent over the past two decades to reach 51.78 million this year, while the figure for the North climbed 11.7 percent to 25.36 million. But the government agency predicted that the two Koreas would see a divided pace -- negative growth for the South and positive for the North -- for the c

Social Affairs Oct. 28, 2020

SEJONG -- The Korean currency has regained its value against the US dollar over the past few weeks after losing ground for more than a half year in the wake of the novel coronavirus. The dollar traded between 1,131 won and 1,142 won last week, closing at 1,132.9 won on Friday, the cheapest level since it traded between 1,131 won and 1,137 won in March 2019. As a result, some government officials are raising concerns that the strengthening won could weaken the competitiveness of local exporters

Economy Oct. 26, 2020

SEJONG -- South Koreans are paying close attention to the resurfaced issue as to whether Sejong will join the league of cities such as Ankara, Brasilia, Canberra and Ottawa. These four cities, despite being their nations’ capitals, usually lag behind Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro (or Sao Paulo), Sydney (or Melbourne) and Toronto (or Vancouver) -- in turn within each nation -- in terms of gross domestic product or public awareness worldwide. Some political heavyweights from the ruling party

Politics Oct. 20, 2020

SEJONG -- Home delivery or takeout services for cooked food have posted a remarkable increase over the past year amid fast expansion of delivery apps on smartphones as well as the social distancing in the wake of the novel coronavirus. 　 Online orders have surged in particular, according to data held by Statistics Korea: The monthly turnover of retailers selling packed dish via online shopping platforms reached 1.67 trillion won ($1.45 billion) collectively in August, setting a record high. T

Economy Oct. 18, 2020

SEJONG -- The cost of housing in Seoul, including apartments, climbed 18.8 percent over the past year, while high-ranking officials continued to argue that the real estate market would stabilize on the back of “anti-speculation” measures from the government. According to KB Kookmin Bank, the average price of housing in the capital came to 32.73 million won ($28,500) per 3.3 square meters as of Oct. 9, up 5.18 million won from 27.55 million won on Sept. 27, 2019. This indicates tha

Economy Oct. 15, 2020

SEJONG -- Compared with other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in recent years South Korea saw its property taxes grow at the second-fastest rate. Taxes levied on property in Korea -- including real estate and other wealth -- came to 3.3 percent of the gross domestic product in 2018, the latest year for which figures are available. By comparison, those taxes amounted to 3.144 percent of the nation’s GDP in 2017. The increase -- 0.156 percentage point

Economy Oct. 13, 2020

SEJONG -- The hiring market in South Korea is still in the doldrums amid ongoing uncertainty in the wake of the novel coronavirus. The number of unemployed plus underemployed came to 3.97 million people out of an economically active population of 29.9 million as of August, the latest period for which statistics were available from Statistics Korea. The “extended-based” (or de facto) jobless rate posted 13.3 percent, according to the statistics body’s Supplementary Index III fo

Social Affairs Oct. 11, 2020

SEJONG -- Seoul saw its population fall below 9.7 million for the first time in about 35 years in September. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the number of residents in Seoul stood at 9.699 million as of last month, down 9,015 (5,415 men and 3,600 women) from 9.708 million in August. The capital’s population is estimated to have peaked at 10.969 million in 1992, which indicates that Seoul has lost 1.27 million residents (or 11.5 percent) in less than 30 years. The popul

Social Affairs Oct. 8, 2020

SEJONG -- South Koreans owning homes worth 900 million won ($775,000) or less have an exemption from capital gains taxes when they sell them, as long as they are not multiple home owners. They pay only property taxes as usual. But Koreans holding stocks of a listed company worth 300 million won or over will likely be obliged to pay taxes on gains from trading the stocks, starting from next year. Further, the tax rates will range between 20 percent and 25 percent of their gains, as t

Economy Oct. 6, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea underperformed in a comparison of employment among some members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It ranked 18th among 25 major economies that released hiring data for the second quarter. Alongside the tough job market, the proportion of nonregular workers held by Korea far exceeded the OECD average. According to the France-based organization, Korea posted 65.4 percent in the employment rate in the second quarter of the year, which is an indica

Economy Oct. 2, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korean households have been taking out an increasing amount of loans to invest in the real estate or capital market over the past few years. This has been in line with a fever for mortgages or credit-based loans amid low benchmark interest rate, which has stayed under 2 percent per annum for more than five years, and is currently at an all-time low of 0.5 percent. According to the Bank of Korea, outstanding household debt - the total of financial loans and credit-based payment

Economy Sept. 29, 2020

SEJONG -- The number of recipients of unemployment benefits in South Korea saw the sharpest increase among people in their 20s this year. According to the Korea Employment Information Service, the number of recipients came to 711,471 in August, up 56.4 percent from 454,630 in December 2019. The first case of the novel coronavirus in Korea was reported in January 2020. Among people receiving benefits, people aged 20-29 were the fastest-growing demographic, showing an 87.3 percent increase over

Economy Sept. 28, 2020

SEJONG -- Daejeon and Busan recorded the highest and second-highest growth in the proportion of single-person households relative to all households over the past decade, among the 16 major cities and provinces in South Korea. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, single-person households came to 38.7 percent of the nationwide total as of August. The figure grew 6.6 percentage points in a decade, having posted 32.1 percent in August 2010. Daejeon topped the list in terms of growth

Social Affairs Sept. 24, 2020

SEJONG -- Over the past few months, the US has far and away topped the list in the world in the number of novel coronavirus infections. The nation saw the tally for confirmed cases reach 6.81 million as of Monday. The growth pace of infections had been fast in countries such as China and South Korea in the early stage, in some European countries in the next stage and later still in the US and Brazil. But the data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at US-based Johns Hopkins Un

Social Affairs Sept. 22, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea ranked 2nd in the growth of its senior population since 2000 among the 37 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, though the nation was still only 30th in terms of the current senior population. According to the OECD, Korea saw the portion of seniors -- aged 65 or over -- of the entire population at 7.22 percent in 2000. But the figure climbed by 7.07 percentage points in less than two decades to 14.29 percent as of 2018. This marked the sec

Social Affairs Sept. 20, 2020