More than 22 million Afghans will suffer “acute food insecurity” this winter, UN agencies said, warning the already unstable country faces one of the world‘s worst humanitarian crises. 　The crisis is already bigger in scale than that facing Yemen or Syria, and worse than any food insecurity emergency apart from the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said. 　According to the statement issued by the World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, one in t

World News Nov. 5, 2021

　The proportion of temporary workers in South Korea rose to over 38 percent of all salaried workers in August in the wake of the fallout from the pandemic, data showed. 　The number of non-regular workers, including part-timers and outsourced laborers, came to 8.07 million as of August, up 640,000, or 8.6 percent, from the previous year, according to the data by Statistics Korea. 　They accounted for 38.4 percent of the country‘s 20.99 million salaried workers. The percentage was up from

National Nov. 4, 2021

　More than 1,200 teenagers have fallen victim to online sex crimes so far this year, an 11-fold jump from 2018, government data showed.  　The number of teenage victims rose sharply from 111 in 2018 to 1,268 this year, according to the Gender Ministry data released by Rep. Yang Kum-hee of the main opposition People Power Party. The ministry tallied the number based on data from the state-run Women’s Human Rights Institute of Korea. 　Digital sex crime victims totaled 14,070 between A

National Nov. 3, 2021

  The number of delivery workers in South Korea swelled nearly 12 percent in the second half of last year to hit a record high amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed. Asia’s fourth-largest economy had 390,000 carriers as of the end of December last year, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea. The tally covers mail carriers, door-to-door couriers, food delivery workers, newspaper delivery workers and carriers of milk and other bev

Social Affairs Nov. 2, 2021

　South Korea's internet banking services continued to grow in the first half of the year, with the number of users and daily transactions rising to new highs, central bank data showed. 　The number of internet banking users, including mobile banking, came to 186.5 million as of end-June, up 5.6 percent from six months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　The figure is the simple sum of all registered users of 18 internet and mobile banking service providers in the country,

Business Nov. 2, 2021

　South Korean exports of seaweed products moved up 13 percent on-year over the first nine months of 2021, data showed, on the back of the growing popularity of Korean culture abroad. 　Outbound shipments of seaweed products came to $507 million in the January-September period, compared to the $448 million tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. 　The amount marked a sharp rise from just $100 million posted for all of 2010, the ministry sa

Business Nov. 1, 2021

　The portion of high-level female public officials has reached a record-high level of nearly 10 percent this year, a government report showed. 　According to the 2021 report released by the Ministry of Personnel Management, the ratio of women among ranking civil servants at the central government’s ministries and agencies stood at 9.3 percent as of the first half of this year. 　The number marks yet another record high after the corresponding ratio hit 8.5 percent, or 132 women, for 2020

National Oct. 29, 2021

　Samsung Electronics topped the World’s Best Employers list for the second straight year, according to US business magazine Forbes. 　American tech giant IBM ranked second, followed by Microsoft, Amazon and Apple. 　South Korean cosmetics giant Amorepacific and LG came in 31st and 43rd, respectively. 　Forbes announced the rankings after surveying 150,000 full-time and part-time workers from 58 countries working for multinational companies and institutions.

World Business Oct. 28, 2021

Three-quarters of South Koreans agree with the need to shift to the “living with COVID-19” scheme, according to a recent poll, as the government is moving to phase out coronavirus restrictions under the new policy next month. According to the survey conducted early this month with 1,083 people aged 19 to 69, 76.5 percent expressed support for the government‘s planned transition to coexistence with the coronavirus. In a similar poll carried out in August, only 56.9 percent wer

Social Affairs Oct. 26, 2021

Car accidents involving unlicensed teenagers soared by 34 percent between 2018 and 2020, road traffic data showed. According to a Korea Road Traffic Authority report submitted to Rep. Kang Deuk-gu of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, teenagers were in 833 accidents last year while driving without a license, a sharp jump from 618 and 689 accidents in 2018 and 2019, respectively. More than 3,100 people suffered injuries and 63 died in the total 2,140 accidents involving unlicensed teenagers

Social Affairs Oct. 25, 2021

　Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The US government declared them extinct. 　It’s a rare move for wildlife officials to give up hope on a plant or animal, but government scientists say they’ve exhausted to find these 23. And they warn climate change, on top of other pressures, could make such disappearances more common as a warming planet adds to the dangers facing imperiled plants and wildlif

World Oct. 22, 2021

Three South Korean electric vehicle battery makers accounted for about a third of the global market in the first eight months of the year, but they are facing toughening competition with Chinese rivals, a market research firm said. The trio - LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation - accounted for 34.8 percent of the global EV battery market in the January-August period, inching down from 35 percent a year ago, according to the data from SNE Research. LG Energy Solution, which supp

World Business Oct. 21, 2021

Cancer remained the top cause of death in South Korea, with the number of deaths hitting a record high last year, a government report showed. In 2020, 304,948 deaths were reported in South Korea, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier. It marked the highest annual number since Statistics Korea began compiling such data in 1983. The statistics agency said 593.9 deaths were reported per 100,000 South Koreans last year. It also said 160.1 per 100,000 people died of cancer last year. Cancer has be

National Oct. 20, 2021

People aged 65 and older made up 16.5 percent of South Korea’s population this year, a report showed, highlighting concerns that the fast-aging demographic transition could pose a drag on the country’s economy. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of people aged 65 and older stood at 8.53 million this year. The South Korean population is projected to peak in 2028 before going on a downward curve, the report showed. However, the graying of South Korea will acce

Social Affairs Oct. 19, 2021

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor’s electric vehicle sales increased in the first half of the year compared with a year ago, but its global market share fell in the face of toughening competitions with Chinese rivals, industry data showed. Hyundai Motor was in sixth place in terms of global EV sales in the January-June period, one notch down from the fifth position a year ago, according to the data by industry tracker SNE Research. The automaker’s global EV sales jumped 75.6 pe

World Business Oct. 18, 2021