More than 821 million people suffered from hunger worldwide last year, the United Nations reported - the third year in a row that the number has risen.　After decades of decline, malnutrition began to increase in 2015, mainly because of climate change and war. Reversing the trend is one of the 2030 targets of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that aim to improve the planet and its people.　But getting to a world where no one is suffering from hunger by then remains an “immense ch

World News July 28, 2019

　South Korea was the world’s No. 2 heated tobacco market last year, and its growth will gather pace down the road, an industry tracker said.　The size of South Korea’s heat-not-burn electronic cigarette market reached $1.67 billion last year, rising sharply from $453 million tallied in 2017, according to data compiled by Euromonitor International. The country’s overall tobacco market reached $15.6 billion last year.　While South Korea’s tobacco market is anticipated to post

World July 25, 2019

　The number of newly registered pet dogs in South Korea rose nearly 40 percent in 2018 from a year earlier, the country’s animal quarantine agency said.　Around 147,000 new dogs were registered with the state-run Animal Protection Management System last year, compared with the newly registered 105,000 pet dogs a year earlier, according to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. 　Since 2014, all pet owners are obligated to register their dogs with the system. As of 2018, the accumulated numb

Social Affairs July 24, 2019

 South Korea’s shipments of environment friendly vehicles jumped an average of 33 percent annually in the past seven years on growing overseas demand, an auto business lobby group said.Local carmakers exported 196,000 eco-friendly vehicles in 2018, up from 35,000 units in 2012. Eco-friendly cars accounted for 8 percent of the country’s overall vehicle exports last year, up from 1.1 percent six years earlier, according to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Mobility July 23, 2019

　The face value of damaged banknotes and coins in South Korea rose in the first half of the year, data from the central bank showed. 　A total of 2.27 trillion won ($1.92 billion) worth of damaged bills and coins were discarded by the Bank of Korea in the first half, up 42.5 billion won from six months ago. 　The central bank spent 48.3 billion won replacing the damaged banknotes over the six-month period. (Yonhap)

National July 22, 2019

　Two South Korean duty-free operators were among the world’s top five travel retailers in 2018, an industry report showed.　Lotte Duty Free maintained the second spot with 6.09 billion euros ($6.84 billion) in sales last year, due mainly to Chinese resellers who buy products in large quantities and sell them back home, according to the Moodie Davitt report. 　Shilla Duty Free, the operator of duty-free shops owned by Hotel Shilla, leaped to third place from fifth after recording 5.47 billion

World July 21, 2019

　Singer Taylor Swift was named the world’s highest-paid entertainer but was closely followed by two members of the wider Kardashian clan - reality star turned cosmetics queen Kylie Jenner and rapper Kanye West. 　The annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list also saw soccer stars Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar among the top 10, along with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and 1970s soft rock band The Eagles, which embarked on a new tour in 2018. 　South Korean boy band BTS was at No. 4

World July 18, 2019

　Fifty years to the day since mankind launched the first mission to set foot on the moon, partial lunar eclipses were observed in Asia, Europe and South America on Wednesday. Apollo 11 was the NASA spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the moon. The crew consisted of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins all Americans. 　So far, the United States, Russia and China are the only countries to have landed spacecraft on the lunar surface.

World July 17, 2019

　A UN report says some 464,000 homicides were recorded around the world in 2017, far more than the number killed in armed conflicts and terrorist attacks.　The Global Study on Homicide 2919, published Monday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, also had good news. 　While the total number of people who suffered violent deaths has increased over 25 years, the global population has grown faster, so the risk of being killed in a homicide has declined.　The report says there were 7.2 homicides per 100,

World News July 16, 2019

　Japan’s restrictions on exports to South Korea seem to be having a significant impact on Koreans’ feelings toward Japan, a recent poll by Gallup Korea suggests.　In the nationwide survey of 1,005 Korean adults, only 12 percent said they had favorable views of Japan, the lowest figure since polling on the topic began in 1991.　Seventy-seven percent said they did not feel friendly toward the neighboring country, while another 10 percent refused to answer. (Yonhap)

Social Affairs July 15, 2019

　The number of South Korean chaebol family members with more than 1 trillion won ($865 million) worth of listed shares reached 24 as of the previous trading session, data showed.　The combined value of listed shares held by the 24 shareholders came to 64.3 trillion won as of end-June, according to data compiled by industry tracker Chaebul.com. Of the number, nine shareholders saw their share value exceed 2 trillion won.　Lee Kun-hee, the head of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung who has

Business July 14, 2019

　The total value of online shopping in South Korea hit a record high in May, government data showed, in the latest sign that a growing number of people are using computers and mobile devices to buy more things, from clothes to electronic goods.　Total online transactions reached 11.26 trillion won ($9.6 billion) in May, up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data compiled by Statistics Korea.　The reading was the highest since January 2001, when the statistics office started

Business July 11, 2019

　South Korea’s exports of cultural goods jumped about 47 percent year-on-year in 2017, led by games, K-pop and publishing, an official survey showed.　The combined overseas sales in nine culture and entertainment sectors reached about $8.81 billion, up 46.7 percent from the previous year, according to the annual content industry statistics published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The figure compares with the country‘s overall export growth that year of 15.8 percent.　T

Culture July 10, 2019

　Global cocaine production reached an all-time high in 2017, breaking the previous year’s record by 25 percent, the UN drugs and crime agency said in its annual report, as production soars in post-conflict Colombia.　The report said the jump in production “was mainly driven by increases in cocaine manufacture in Colombia, which produced an estimated 70 percent of the world’s cocaine.”　In the decade to 2017, there was a 50 percent increase in manufacture, reaching a record

World News July 9, 2019

　France has the lowest levels of trust in vaccines globally, according to the world’s biggest survey on public attitudes toward health and science.　A third (33 percent) of French people do not agree that immunization is safe, and it is also the only country where a majority (55 percent) believe science and technology will reduce the total number of jobs available, according to the poll of more than 140,000 people across 144 countries. 　The survey of people aged 15 and older was devised by

World July 8, 2019