Among Asian countries, Laos has the highest percentage of forest area at 92.1 percent of the total area of the country. On the other hand, India, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Pakistan are among those with the least forest area. Bhutan (81.5), Brunei (79.7) and South Korea (63.7) are also among Asian countries that have a sizable proportion of land occupied by forests. Malaysia and Indonesia also have significant proportions of forested land.Asia-Pacific has lost around 10 million hectares of forest

US President-elect Donald Trump’s claims that Washington’s allies are “freeloading” on defense could foreshadow bumpy negotiations over sharing the cost of stationing US forces here.As of 2016, South Korea pays about 944.1 billion won ($808 million) for the US Forces Korea, which covers for a little less than half of its estimated operating costs. Japan, which hosts more US troops of some 54,000 in military personnel alone, agreed in 2015 to spend about 189.9 billion yen annually, according to t

The number of women in the age group considered fertile has decreased by 820,000 over the past 10 years, with the trend significantly impacting overall birthrate, a report by the National Assembly Research Service showed Wednesday.The number of newborns in Korea began to drop significantly from the late 1990s and the birthrate is expected to continue dropping as women born in this timeframe reach fertile age.Fertile women refer to those aged between 15 and 49. The report said that this age group

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency capturing at least 288 Electoral College votes, according to media reports. As of 2:40 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Democratic rival Hillary Clinton trailed by 59 votes. There are 538 Electoral College votes allotted to the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It takes 270 votes to win. Forty-five states have been called so far. Clinton has won 18 states to Trump‘s 27, plus Trump won at least four Electoral Votes in Nebraska

Millions of people suffer from mental or neurological disorders in Asia, but the related health care is still not a priority in most Asian countries. In a ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan performed better than other countries in terms of making mental health care available. It was the first such ranking by the EIU. Based on the EIU’s study, the three nations ranked ahead of Japan, Malaysia and Thailand in terms of access to health care and social serv

Just two days before the bitter US presidential election, national polls gave the edge to Hillary Clinton, with results too close to call in some key battleground states where the race will be won or lost.Battleground Tracker polls showed Clinton’s lead evaporating. CBS gave Trump a one point lead in Ohio (46 to 45 percent) and showed a tied race in Florida (45 to 45 percent). Florida is the mother of all swing states, with 29 electoral votes in the electoral college, where a victor must reach 2

Singapore has retained its top spot as the favorite destination for Asian enterprises to expand their businesses, according to the United Overseas Bank Asian Enterprise Survey 2016. Asian companies are drawn to Singapore’s stable political and economic climate, its large and growing customer demand, and its favorable tax and regulatory environment, the survey showed.One-third of Asian enterprises surveyed chose the city state as the market that they would expand into in the next three to five ye

　South Koreans live about 11 years longer than their counterparts in North Korea, statistics showed Thursday, with the gap appearing to have significantly widened due to flooding and famine in the North in 1990.　According to a health report released by OECD Korea Policy Center, the average life span of South Korean women and men was 84.6 years and 78 years, respectively, as of 2015. 　The average life expectancy of North Korean women was 73.3 years, while that of men was 66.3 years. There was a d

The South Korean government is moving to help local shipbuilders suffering from declining new orders. On Monday, the Finance Ministry said that the government would order over 250 public vessels worth more than 11 trillion won ($9.6 billion) in total by 2020. The ministry has also encouraged the industry to restructure their businesses and focus on value-added ship services. The industry as well as the opposition parties, however, criticized the latest measures, calling them an insufficient reha

  

The average annual salary of workers at 88 largest listed firms stood at 73.4 million won ($64,317) in 2015, data by Korea’s stock market operator showed Monday. The figure is a 20 percent increase from 61.2 million won in 2011, according to the Korea Exchange.The surveyed firms employed an of 8,633 workers, whose continuous service averaged 10.13 years, up 4.1 percent compared to four years ago. Experts say, longer continuous service reflects the enhanced work environment of the listed companie

The combined production volume of China’s top three smartphone makers - Huawei, Oppo and Vivo - in the third quarter surpassed that of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics for the first time, industry data showed.According to market research firm IDC, Samsung Electronics manufactured 72.5 million smartphones, giving it a 20 percent market share of the global smartphone market, during the July-September period.Meanwhile, the three Chinese firms together produced 80.1 million smartphone uni

The top 10 percent of South Korea’s highest income earners account for 44.9 percent of the country’s total income as of 2012, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and The World Wealth and Income Database. This makes South Korea the No. 2 country among major economies in terms of income inequality, only after the US, where the top 10 percent of income earners make up 47.8 percent of the country’s total income. South Korea’s income equality is worsening rapidly. It jumped 15.6 pe