After half a year of war in Ukraine, a slim majority of Americans agree that the United States should continue to support Kyiv until Russia withdraws all its forces, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. 　The polling suggests continued support for US President Joe Biden‘s policy of backing Ukraine, despite economic worries and domestic political developments grabbing Americans’ attention in recent months. 　Out of 1,005 people in the United States who took part in an online p

World Aug. 30, 2022

　South Korea’s contraband trade shot up 60 percent in the first half of the year on a spike in tariff evasion and country-of-origin violations, the customs agency said. 　The Korea Customs Service said it detected and confiscated about 3 trillion won ($2.3 billion) worth of illegal goods and unlawful transactions in the January-June period, compared with 1.9 trillion won a year earlier. 　Yet the number of contraband cases sank 28 percent on-year to 849 in the six-month period. 　The KCS

National Aug. 26, 2022

　Massachusetts has been named the best state to live in the United States in a recent survey. 　WalletHub, a Washington-based personal finance website, has ranked the 50 states’ “livability” according to their affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life and safety in 2022. 　Massachusetts topped the list garnering 62.65 points out of 100. The state ranked first in “education and health,” fourth in “safety” and sixth in “quality o

World Aug. 25, 2022

　Tottenham Hotspur’s South Korean forward Son Heung-min was included on the list of 30 finalists for the 2022 Ballon d’Or. 　Son was named on France Football’s annual list for the second time after his nomination in 2019. Before Son, Korea’s Seol Ki-hyeon, who played in the Belgian soccer league and Park Ji-sung, a former Manchester United midfielder, made the list in 2002 and 2005, respectively. 　Paris Saint Germain’s Lionel Messi scored only six goals in the 202

Soccer Aug. 23, 2022

　South Korea’s exports of instant noodles hit a fresh all-time high in the first half of the year amid the increasing popularity of Korean pop culture and a rise in demand for home-cooked food, data showed. 　Exports of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean, came to $383.4 million in the January-June period, according to data from the food industry and the Korea Customs Service.  　The figure was up 19.9 percent from the same period a year earlier when ramyeon exports r

Business Aug. 22, 2022

　The number of bills and coins discarded due to severe damage shrank by 14.1 percent on-year in the first half amid an increasing prevalence of non-cash transactions, data showed. 　A total of 191.66 million damaged bills and coins were discarded in the January-June period, compared with 223.10 million tallied in the same period a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　The decline stemmed from less use of cash in transactions and increased dependence on credit cards and o

National Aug. 19, 2022

　The global market share of major South Korean battery makers fell in the first half of this year from a year earlier amid strong growth of Chinese rivals, a report showed.  　LG Energy Solution, SK On and Samsung SDI together accounted for a combined 25.8 percent share for the January-June period in terms of the total amount of battery energy registered, according to the report by market tracker SNE Research.  　That marks a 9.1 percentage point decline from the previous year’s

World Business Aug. 18, 2022

　Sales of cigarettes in South Korea gained 1.9 percent on-year in the first half of the year due to weak demand for duty-free cigarettes amid the coronavirus pandemic and increased sales of heated tobacco products, the Finance Ministry said. 　South Korean smokers purchased 1.78 billion 20-cigarette packs in the January-June period, compared with 1.75 billion packs a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. 　The rise came as COVID-19 restrictions, which decreased access

National Aug. 17, 2022

　South Korea’s total population fell for the first time last year due to the country’s low childbirths and rapid aging, along with a decline in incoming foreigners during the pandemic, data showed. 　The country’s total population reached 51.74 million as of Nov. 1, 2021, down 91,000, or 0.2 percent, from the previous year, according to the 2021 census by Statistics Korea. 　It marked the first on-year decline since 1949, when the statistics agency began compiling data. 　The

National Aug. 16, 2022

　A total of 294 people were arrested between March and June for crimes related to child sexual exploitation, and more than half of the offenders were teenagers, police said. 　Of 786 arrests made in the four months for cybersex crimes, 294 people, or 37.4 percent, were either using, producing or distributing child sexual abuse materials, the National Police Agency said. 　Noticeably, 54.5 percent of the offenders were aged in their 10s, followed by 36 percent in their 20s and 7.1 percent in the

National Aug. 11, 2022

　South Korea’s exports of ice cream reached an all-time high in the first half of this year, data showed, amid a global heat wave and the growing popularity of Korean culture. 　Overseas shipments of South Korean-made ice-cream products came to $50 million in the January-June period, up 14 percent from a year earlier to reach a record high, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. 　Imports inched up 0.3 percent on-year to $28 million, also hitting an all-time high, during th

Business Aug. 9, 2022

　Manchester United duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire were the most abused players on Twitter last season, according to a new report. 　Nearly three quarters of Premier League soccer players received abusive messages with some of them receiving daily abuse. 　The report, carried out by The Alan Turing Institute and Ofcom and using a new machine-learning technology, analyzed 2.3 million messages directed at Premier League players over the first five months of the 2021-22 season. 　It found

World Aug. 8, 2022

　Nearly 1.4 million people have visited the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae since it opened to the public on May 10, data showed.  　A total of 1,396,859 people, including 5,055 foreigners, visited the complex in central Seoul through July 27 since its public opening, according to data from the Cultural Heritage Administration submitted to Rep. Kim Seung-su of the ruling People Power Party.  　The figure is far bigger than the number of visitors to the Gyeongbok and Chan

National Aug. 5, 2022

　Efforts to close the global gender gap improved slightly this year after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed gender equality by at least three decades, the World Economic Forum said. 　In its 16th Global Gender Gap Report, the WEF said overall gender disparity across politics, work, health and education improved and it will now take 132 years to reach full parity compared with 136 years last year. Before the pandemic, the gap was set to close within 100 years. 　Iceland topped the ranking for the 13

World Aug. 4, 2022

　South Korea’s exports of information and communication technology products in the first half of 2022 soared 18.9 percent on-year to set a new semiannual record tally, thanks to brisk overseas demand for chips and computer products, data showed. 　Outbound shipments of ICT products came to $122.6 billion in the January-June period, up from the $103 billion tally a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. 　It marked the highest-ever semiannual tally sin

Business Aug. 3, 2022