Cigarette prices in Korea remain some of the lowest among 41 major economies around the world, recent data revealed on Monday. According to Korea Institute of Public Finance, the average price of best-selling Korean cigarettes between 2012 and 2013 was 2,500 won ($2.20) a pack, one sixth of the price set in Norway at $14.50 per pack. The state-run institute added that the proportion of tax levied on tobacco products in Korea was also relatively low. About 1,550 won, or 62 percent of cigarette pr

Foreign direct investment, or FDI, into South Korea exceeded $10 billion for the first time on the back of robust investment from China, according to figures from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. During the first half of this year, FDI volume stood at just over $10 billion in terms of the amount reported as of June 24. The figure reflects a 39.7 percent increase from the same period in 2013 and is the largest amount recorded for the first half of a year. The amount of FDI that was act

Iraq’s self-ruling Kurds are pushing for independence from Iraq amid continued armed clashes between Sunni insurgents and pro-state forces. The Kurdish military, known as “pesh merga,” recently took over Kirkuk and other nothernmost regions in Iraq. Kirkuk is considered the ancestral capital of Kurdistan and is abundant with oil. Through the new oil fields, the Kurdistan Regional Government is pursuing its own oil exports to Austria, Russia and Israel. While Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barza

Consumer sentiment in Korea improved in June from a month earlier when the index sank to the lowest level in eight months, central bank data showed Wednesday.The consumer sentiment index reached 107 this month compared with 105 in May, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.In May, the index fell to an eight-month low as the tragedy involving ferry Sewol eroded consumer sentiment. Consumers refrained from shopping and provincial governments called off festivals amid nationwide mourning.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, led the global ranking for the number of patent applications in mobile phones, semiconductors and smart media, according to the 2014 State of Innovation report by Thomson-Reuters on Monday.LG Electronics placed second for both mobile phones and semiconductors ― especially a tight race for the latter.Apart from these patent applications, Samsung ranked No. 9 in the world for medical equipment and No. 8 in alternative fuel vehicles.

The number of people living as refugees from conflict and crisis surpassed 50 million in 2013 for the first time since World War II, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.About 51.2 million people were forcibly displaced, six million higher than the year before, the UNHCR said. Conflicts in Syria, central Africa and South Sudan fuelled the sharp increase, while enduring violence in Afghanistan and Somalia has also continued to feed the numbers. Of the figure, there are 33.3 million internally disp

The joint Gaeseong industrial complex between the two Koreas will mark the 10th anniversary of its establishment on June 30.As of March 2014, 123 companies from the South were operating businesses at the complex, located in the North’s border city of Gaeseong, and the number of employees came to 52,289 from the North and 765 from the South.Textile and apparel firms topped the list with 72, followed by mechanical and metallic manufacturers with 23, electro-mechanics and electronics firms with 13,

South Korea saw its ranking plunge on a famed global peace index this year on the back of the North’s persistent military threats that heightened cross-border tension, a report said Thursday. The index by Institute for Economics and Peace, a non-profit think tank headquartered in Sydney, put South Korea in 52nd place among 162 countries, down six notches from last year. The North moved up two spots to rank 153rd.On a 1-5 scale, where a lower score means greater peace, South and North Korea fetch

The number of stay-at-home mothers in South Korea has dropped for the 11th consecutive month as of May, according to data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday.The number of women staying at home to attend to housework and child-rearing was 7.08 million in May, down 2.6 percent from the same month a year earlier. The figure has declined for the 11th straight month since July, mainly due to more women searching for work to support their families amid economic difficulties.More flexible hours

The world has seen a steady decrease in the number of nuclear warheads over the last five years due in large part to the U.S. and Russia reducing their inventories of nuclear arms under their bilateral arms reduction and limitation treaty, according to a Swedish security think tank. In its Yearbook 2014, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute also said that there was an emerging consensus among experts that North Korea has produced a small number of nuclear weapons. It put the numb

South Korea’s birthrate was the lowest among OECD countries, due largely to the “sampo generation,” those among the nation’s young people who give up dating, marriage and childbirth because of a lack of financial means. According to the CIA’s The World Factbook, last updated on Monday, South Korea’s birthrate was in 219th place among the 224 countries, while Singapore had the lowest. The organization predicted that a South Korean woman would give birth to an average of 1.25 children. A Singapore

The number of South Koreans studying abroad reached 123,000 as of 2012, making the country the third-largest exporter of students in the world, according to recent research. A UNESCO report on outbound internationally mobile students, China was the biggest sender, with 694,000 students abroad, followed by India with 189,000; Korea with 123,000; Germany with 117,000; Saudi Arabia and France with 62,000 each and the U.S. with 58,000. The study counted students who studied at higher education insti

The Health Ministry plans to raise cigarette prices, which have been fixed at about 2,500 won ($2.45) a pack depending on the brand for the past decade, in order to boost public health. South Korea has the cheapest prices for cigarettes among OCED countries, along with China. Meanwhile, it has one of the highest smoking rates. The smoking rate for Korean adult males is 49 percent.The World Health Organization advises nations which have signed its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that thei

In the wake of the Sewol ferry disaster, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on Tuesday that it will increase the current disaster medical treatment budget by 9.5 times by next year.The ministry will set aside a total of 20.8 billion won ($20.4 million) for emergency medical care next year, increasing the number of hospitals, ambulances and medical staff. The current budget is 2.2 billion won. The 18 regional emergency centers nationwide will be turned into hospitals that specialize in

Korea’s income gap between men and women is the biggest among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.In 2010, Korean men who worked full time received a median wage that was 39 percent higher than their female counterparts, almost the same as the 40 percent extra they made 10 years ago. The latest figure was the highest among the 25 countries surveyed, followed by Japan with 28.7 percent and Finland with 21.2 percent. Hungary had the lowest gap with 3.9 per