If you’re wealthy, the Asia-Pacific region is the most expensive place to live, with Shanghai overtaking Hong Kong as the priciest city in the world. 　Those are some of the key findings from a Julius Baer Group report about luxury lifestyles, which stated that part of the reason for the region’s success was its swift recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. By contrast, the Americas were the most affordable because of the slumps in the US and Canadian dollars and sharp devaluati

　Transactions on mobile games in South Korea reached a record high in the first quarter of this year, data showed, amid the pandemic-driven online gaming trend. 　Mobile game transactions stood at 1.66 trillion won ($1.48 billion) in the January-March period this year, compared with 1.48 trillion won the previous year, according to local mobile app tracker IGAWorks, which reviewed data from 40 million mobile devices running on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. 　IGAWorks said the

　Noise complaints surged more than 60 percent last year, as people spent more time at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a state environment promotion agency said. 　The Korea Environment Corp. said its hotline dedicated to the matter received 42,250 complaints last year, a 60.9 percent year-on-year increase. 　There were 12,139 requests for on-site inspections to determine the level of noise, a 52.3 percent increase from 7,971 requests in 2019. (Yonhap)

　More than half of unmarried South Koreans in their 30s live with their parents, a report showed, as young people delay marriage amid the economic slowdown. 　A total of 54.8 percent of single Koreans in their 30s live with their parents, according to the report from Statistics Korea. 　The report showed that 62.3 percent of unmarried people aged between 20 and 44 lived with their parents. (Yonhap)

  　The era of space tourism is on the horizon 60 years after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. 　From Yuri Gagarin to the first man on the moon and the robot that landed on a comet, we look at 10 key dates in space exploration. (AFP) 1. 1957: Sputnik 　Moscow launches the first satellite, Sputnik 1, Oct. 4, 1957, ushering in the Cold War tussle for the cosmos. 　The beach ball-sized aluminum sphere takes 98 minutes to orbit the Earth and sends back the first mes

　One in 4 Seoul citizens turned to “revenge spending” to make up for missed shopping during the coronavirus pandemic, a study has shown. 　According to a report by the Seoul Institute, a think tank for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 24.3 percent of those surveyed in the first quarter said they had spent more than usual on certain goods due to pent-up demand during COVID-19 isolation. 　About a third, or 30.2 percent, said their revenge spending happened in the fourth quarter

　South Korea, home to chipmaking giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, was the world's third-largest market for semiconductor materials in 2020, a report showed, moving down one spot from a year earlier after posting an under-par industry average growth. 　The country's chip materials market grew 3.9 percent on-year to $9.23 billion in 2020, according to the report from SEMI, a global industry association representing companies in the electronics design and manufacturing supply c

　More than half of South Koreans in their teens and 20s think it is not necessary to have kids after marriage, a report showed, adding to concerns about the country’s chronic low birth rate. 　As of 2020, 32 percent of Koreans aged 13 or older said it is not necessary to have children after getting married, up from 30.4 percent two years earlier, according to the report on social indexes by Statistics Korea. 　All age groups felt less need to have kids after marriage, but in particular

　Sales of South Korea‘s top instant noodle makers posted strong sales in 2020 thanks to brisk demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　Nongshim said its sales of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean, came to 2.09 trillion won ($1.85 billion) last year, up 16.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. It marks the first time for Nongshim’s ramyeon sales to top the 2 trillion-won mark and the amount acc

　COVID-19 has done little to alter the ranking of the world’s happiest countries, with Finland at the top for a fourth year running, an annual UN-sponsored report said. 　The researchers behind the World Happiness Report, now in its ninth year, used Gallup data asking people in 149 countries to rate their own happiness, also taking into account measures such as GDP, social support, personal freedom and levels of corruption to give each nation a happiness score, which is an average of t

　South Korea’s two major automotive light-emitting diode makers saw their revenues increase last year despite an overall market slump amid the pandemic, a report showed. 　Seoul Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics maintained their status as the world’s fifth- and seventh-largest automotive LED suppliers, respectively, in 2020, but their market shares and sales grew, according to market researcher TrendForce. 　Seoul Semiconductor’s revenue jumped 3.2 percent to $130 mil

　South Korea said it will seek to expand the size of the local pet fish market by 35 percent through 2025 by developing more homegrown species while encouraging the public to adopt them. 　Under the goal, the size of the local pet fish market will reach 657 billion won ($581 million) in 2025, up 35 percent from 487.3 billion won tallied in 2020, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. 　Over the period, the number of farms raising pet fish will increase to 186 from the current 151

　The number of South Koreans getting married fell at a double-digit rate to an all-time low in 2020, amid young people’s changing attitude toward marriage and the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed. 　The number of couples tying the knot in Asia’s fourth-largest economy reached 214,000 last year, down 10.7 percent from the previous year, according to data from Statistics Korea. 　The figure is the lowest since 1970, when the statistical agency b

　Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea rose in February, mainly due to a gain in corporate holdings of US dollar deposits, central bank data showed. 　Outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents amounted to $90.03 billion as of end-February, up $650 million from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　Residents include local citizens and foreigners staying here for more than six months, as well as foreign companies. The data ex

　The number of stock trading accounts in South Korea has risen sharply over the past year to surpass the 40 million mark amid a buying craze by retail investors, industry data showed. 　Active stock accounts in Asia‘s fourth-largest economy numbered 40.07 million as of March 19, up from 35.48 million at the end of last year. 　It marks the first time that the country’s number of active stock accounts has exceeded the 40-million level. 　The number has increased by approximately 1