SEJONG -- The number of short-term foreign visitors to South Korea has fallen to its lowest in more than five years in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus, data from a state-run agency showed. This refers to foreign nationals, including ethnic Koreans, with permission to stay in Korea for no more than 90 days for sightseeing, business or other purposes. According to the Korea Immigration Service, the number of short-term visitors recorded 416,817 in May, as compared with 417,883 a month ea

SEJONG -- The debt held by refugees from North Korea is catching up with the average for South Korean households, data for last year shows. According to the Korea Hana Foundation and Statistics Korea, households that include at least one North Korean refugee saw their outstanding debt reach an all-time high of 72.06 million won ($62,660) on average in 2020, compared to 61.56 million won a year earlier. Compared to 2017, when the nation started compiling the relevant figures, their debts have

SEJONG -- Female Koreans are greatly contributing to the situation of the nation heading toward becoming a superaged society, as their average age and life span are far higher than those of men. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the number of women aged 70 or over here came to 3.38 million as of June. This age group made up 13 percent (more than 1 in 8 women) of the total female population of 25.9 million. This contrasted from the portion of men aged 70 or over of the total ma

SEJONG -- The hiring market for women has been relatively tough in South Korea, compared to Western countries. This could also be seen in global comparison data. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Korea posted a 56.7 percent employment rate for women in the working age population of 15-64 in 2020. Korea placed No. 30 among the 36 OECD members for the female employment rate. Of the total 37 members, last year’s figure for Mexico has yet to be compiled.

SEJONG -- South Korea’s demographic figures suggest that the government’s policies for a “balanced national development” via population distribution might be lacking effectiveness, at least so far. This can be seen from the continuous renewal of Gyeonggi Province’s record-high population. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the population of Gyeonggi surpassed 13.5 million in June for the first time in history. More than 1 in 4 Koreans were residing

SEJONG - House prices rose an average of more than 25 percent in the last 12 months in South Korea’s nine major areas, including Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. According to KB Kookmin Bank and Naver.com, the average on-year growth in housing prices in the nine areas reached 26.7 percent during July 2020-July 2021 period. The other seven of the nine are Busan, Incheon, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Ulsan and Sejong. Seoul saw the average trading price of homes come to 37.38 m

SEJONG -- There is a high possibility that South Korea will receive the undesirable top spot in the proportion of temporary workers among major economies worldwide in the coming years, global comparison data has shown. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Korea ranked second in the portion of temporary workers of the total salaried jobs in 2020, with 26.1 percent. This was an increase from ranking fourth among 35 OECD members in 2019 (with 24.4 percent) and

DAEJEON -- South Korea is making full-fledged efforts to be practically cooperative in the global community’s concerted effort to tackle climate change by developing renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gases. A core joint effort by the global community is the “RE100” club, whose member companies have pledged to use 100 percent renewable energy without resorting to fossil fuels. In South Korea, the Korea Water Resources Corp. -- also known as K-water -- is the first

SEJONG -- Data on government payouts for people who have lost their jobs indicates that men and women in their 20s in South Korea were hit hardest by the pandemic over the past 1 1/2 years. In addition, the novel coronavirus dealt a worse blow to women than men in terms of job security, data held by the Korea Employment Information Service showed. The monthly tally of recipients of unemployment benefits reached 712,400 in May. This marked a 67.4 percent increase from 425,390 in December 2019,

SEJONG -- The tally for unemployed or underemployed young people in South Korea remains at a serious level, despite recent improvement in the hiring market. The de facto jobless -- unemployed plus underemployed -- among those aged 15-29 was 1.011 million in December 2019, a month before COVID-19 initially hit the nation, according to the Supplementary Index III for Employment, created by Statistics Korea. At that time, the de facto jobless rate was 20.8 percent out of the economically active

SEJONG -- South Korea was found to have fallen far short of the world average in renewable energy use, amid a global ramp-up in efforts to attain carbon neutrality by 2050. The world economies’ average in the percentage of renewable energy of the total energy supply reached 13.51 percent, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development that cited the latest available data (for 2019 or 2018) from the Extended World Energy Balances. South Korea’s portion stood

SEJONG -- The active shopping via the internet of households is likely to contribute much to the gross domestic product of South Korea in terms of increasing production and reducing the inventories of local manufacturers. The prospects can be read from a surge in recent years in the monthly turnover of retailers selling products online. According to Statistics Korea, monthly online shopping transactions reached 15.09 trillion won ($13.49 billion) in April 2021 (the latest available figure). T

Saemangeum, located in the west of South Korea, is drawing wide attention under the government’s fresh vision to foster the area, where futuristic, eco-friendly industries as well as tour destinations can coexist. Saemangeum is a reclaimed area -- with the world’s longest seawall -- that stretches across parts of Gunsan, Gimje and Buan in North Jeolla Province. Earlier this year, the government shifted the area’s vision from the initial aims for a regional center of global t

SEJONG -- The proportion of households in South Korea with fewer than four members has reached an all-time high, government data showed. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the numbers of one-, two- and three-member households came to 9.21 million, 5.49 million and 4 million, respectively, in May. Collectively, these 18.71 million households made up 80.5 percent of the nationwide total, which was 22.22 million. This means only 1 out of every 5 households had four or more members

SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in administration’s real estate policy has brought about social discord, as preferential treatment was effectively given to particular groups, irrespective of its initial policy intentions. The groups who benefited include people with large cash holdings and young married couples in their 20s or 30s. Though the government has not officially provided special favors for those with huge cash holdings in purchasing homes, property regulations including tight mortgage