South Korea is expected to import less coffee this year for the first time in six years, as demand for the beverage has been hit by sluggish economic growth, according to market watchers here. 　In the January-October period, total imports of coffee stood at 121,019 tons, down 1,031 tons from a year earlier. This is the first on-year decrease since 2012.　Asia’s fourth-largest economy imported 82,446 tons of coffee in the same period in 2012. 

　German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been named atop the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world for 2018 for an eighth year in a row. Her streak since 2006 has been broken only by Michelle Obama in 2010. South Korea’s Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin also ranked 86th on Forbes’ list.　British Prime Minister Theresa May ranked as the second most powerful woman, followed by International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde and General Motors CEO Mary Barra.　The business magazine’s list dete

　About 1 in 4 South Korean adults owns a pet, and they spend an average of around 100,000 won ($89.95) per month on their companion, a report by KB Financial Group showed.　According to the report by the financial conglomerate, 25.1 percent of 1,700 South Koreans aged over 20 responded that they currently have at least one pet, with 39.2 percent saying they had one in the past. 　Dogs were found to be most popular by accounting for 75.3 percent of pet-owning households, followed by cats and goldfi

　Scientists monitoring Earth’s climate and environment have delivered a cascade of grim news this year, adding a sense of urgency to UN talks starting next week in Poland on how best to draw down the greenhouse gases that drive global warming.　The 2015 Paris Agreement calls on humanity to block the rise in Earth’s temperature at “well below” 2 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels, and 1.5 C if possible.

　South Korean babies born in 2017 are expected to live more than 82 years on average, government data showed. 　　According to data compiled by Statistics Korea, the average life expectancy in 2017 was 82.7 years. In 1970, the average life expectancy of Koreans was 62.3 years.　The life expectancy of women was 85.7 years while that of men was 79.7 years in 2017. 

　South Korea is making progress in reducing the gap between rich and poor through its policies on social spending, tax and labor rights, aid agency Oxfam said in a report.  　Oxfam and Development Finance International Group, a nonprofit research group, issued a survey ranking 157 countries in the three policy areas deemed critical to reducing inequality, based on data available as of the end of 2017.　Korea, Indonesia and Georgia were hailed for taking positive steps, while the governments of Nig

　A United Nations report said global efforts to reduce the effects of climate change are way off track, with global carbon dioxide emissions rising again in 2017. 　　China ranks top with annual carbon dioxide emissions at 12.3 million metric tons.　US emissions remain a source of debate, as the second-largest global polluter recently withdrew from the Paris Agreement despite current figures stating an output of 6.3 million tons per year. 　According to figures unadjusted for population size, the to

　Japan’s rich have the largest accumulation of wealth in the Asia-Pacific region at $7.7 trillion, but Chinese millionaires are catching up.　The pool of wealth held by China’s high-net-worth individuals grew by more than 144 percent between 2010 and 2017, reaching $6.5 trillion, according to the latest Asia-Pacific Wealth Report by consulting firm Capgemini. The corresponding rate of growth in Japan over the same period was about 87 percent.　More recently, India’s millionaires have been picking

　Singapore was voted the best place in the world for expats to live and work for a fourth straight year, beating New Zealand, Germany and Canada, according to HSBC’s annual Expat Explorer.　Australia ranked sixth, a notch lower than last year. Switzerland ranked eighth, considering the high cost of raising children and the difficulty of making friends.　Over 27,000 expats in 159 countries responded to this year’s survey, which included 27 questions in three categories: economics, experience and fa

　More than half of the women murdered worldwide last year were killed by their partners or family members, making home “the most dangerous place for a woman,” a new UN study said.　In statistics released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime calculated that out of a total of 87,000 female homicide cases worldwide in 2017, some 50,000 - or 58 percent - were committed by the victims’ intimate partners or family members.

　The number of marriages between South Korean nationals and foreign nationals inched up last year, ending six consecutive years of decline, government data showed.　There were 21,917 international marriages last year, up 1 percent, or 208, from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Those marriages accounted for 8.3 percent of the country’s 264,455 marriages in the same year, up from 7.7 percent tallied in the previous year.　The number of cross-cultural marriages had been on

　Mobile payments at Korean convenience stores have more than doubled this year due to greater use of smartphones and the expansion of mobile payment services, a market player said.　South Korea’s top convenience store chain CU said the number of “easy mobile payments” at its outlets soared 121.5 percent on-year in the first 10 months of the year.　Convenience store chain operators in Asia’s fourth-largest economy adopted the easy mobile payment system in 2011, but the service only started to take

　Denmark's capital Copenhagen has been chosen as the world's No. 1 city to visit in 2019, according to travel publisher Lonely Planet.　The Best in Travel report, now in its 14th year, is based on the nominations of editors, researchers, locals and influencers, whose selections are then ranked by a panel of judges.　The "Silicon Valley of China" Shenzhen has been ranked No. 2 on the list followed by Serbia's Novi Sad, Miami and Kathmandu.

　Global wine production rose 13 percent this year after a catastrophic 2017 marked by heat waves, early frost and hailstorms, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said.　The OIV estimated production at 279 million hectoliters this year, calling it one of the highest yields since 2000.　Following a congress in Punta del Este in Uruguay, the OIV said Italy was the world's top producer with 48.5 million hectoliters, followed by France with 46.4 million and Spain with 40.9 million.　Th

　The Asian Development Bank projected that India would see the highest gross domestic product growth rate in Asia in 2018 at 7.3 percent, though this is lower than the nation's growth rate of 6.7 percent in 2017. 　Vietnam and Bhutan are forecast to see the second-highest GDP growth rate in Asia at 7.1 percent. The former's growing workforce has been instrumental to its growth, boosted by export expansion, rising domestic consumption, strong investments, and a strengthening agriculture sector. Bh