Lotte Department Store soared past the other big five local department stores in sales reported on Monday, while Galleria Department Store gave up its fourth-place slot to AK Plaza.Lotte reported sales of 14.2 trillion won ($12.8 billion) last year, followed by Hyundai Department Store with 6.98 trillion won ($6.3 billion) and Shinsegae Department Store with 6.3 trillion won ($5.7 billion).AK Plaza unseated Galleria Department Store for fourth place with 2.15 trillion won ($1.94 billion) in sale

Koreans consumed the most noodles per person in 2014, according to a report released by Bloomberg Intelligence and market research firm Euromonitor on Sunday.The report showed that the average Korean consumed 9.73 kilograms of noodles in 2014, up 0.8 percent from 2013. Japan was a close second with 9.63 kg, followed by Indonesia (5.8 kg), China (5.0 kg) and Vietnam (4.7 kg).The top 10 countries with the highest noodle consumption were all in Asia.Eight of the 10 countries showed an increase in n

China is now the world’s third-largest exporter of arms, data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showed Tuesday.According to the report, the U.S. remained the world’s largest arms exporter during the 2010 to 2014 period, accounting for 31 percent of global exports of conventional weapons.The U.S. was followed by Russia with a 27 percent share of global arms exports, followed by China with about 5 percent. China’s biggest clients were Pakistan, which bought 41 percen

South Korea’s economic growth rate has fallen behind the G20 average for the fourth straight year, according to data released Sunday.Korea’s gross domestic product grew by 3.3 percent in 2014, lower than the G20 average of 3.4 percent, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Korea’s economic growth surpassed the G20 average from 1999 to 2010 ― even during the global financial crisis of 2006-2010 ― with the exception of 2003 and 2005.The nation’s unprecedented four

South Korea’s annual minimum wage levels in 2013 ranked 14th out of 25 OECD countries with $12,038, placing in the middle range, according to data released Wednesday.Australia had the highest minimum wage with $30,839. France (No. 7, $22,788), U.K. (No. 9, $20,226), Japan (No. 10, $16,043), and the U.S. (No. 11, $15,080) were ahead of Korea, and Spain (No. 15, $11,995), Turkey (No. 18, $60,304) and Mexico (No. 25, $1,285) were behind.Additionally, South Korea’s minimum wage in terms of purchasin

Families whose main earners are in their 50s or 60s were found to have slashed their spending most among age groups last year as they are planning to or have already retired, according to a government report.The average consumption propensity of households with heads in their 50s and 60s stood at 69.7 percent and 69.6 percent, respectively, the lowest among demographic groups, Statistics Korea said. The propensity average is the ratio of total consumption to disposable income.The drop is notewor

The total dividend income of heads of the nation’s top 10 conglomerates surpassed 300 billion won last year, according to data released on Sunday.The corporate analysis website chaebul.com said in its report that the total amount of their dividend income was 329.9 billion won, a 35.3 percent increase from 2013.Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee topped the list with 175.8 billion won, the only corporate leader with over 100 billion won. Lee’s dividends increased by 63 percent (67.9 billion