The number of marriages between South Koreans and foreign national spouses rose more than 18 percent in 2023, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The number of international marriages fell sharply to some 15,300 cases in 2020 from the previous year's 23,600 and further to about 13,000 the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the figure bounced back to over 17,000 in 2022 and further to nearly 20,000 last year. Vietnamese women took up the largest share of all wives of

Damages from phishing scams jumped on-year in 2023 despite growing awareness of the crime, data showed. Damages from phishing crimes came to 196.5 billion won ($147.8 million) last year, up 35.4 percent from 145.1 billion won in 2022, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. The number of people who fell victim to the crime dropped 10.2 percent to 11,503 from 12,816 over the cited period. Phishing is a crime where victims are conned into transferring money to scammers or s

New York easily remains the world’s top financial center, cementing its position for the past six years after it overtook London, in second place ever since, with Singapore ranked third, the Global Financial Centres Index 35 published by Z/Yen Group showed. Hong Kong remains in fourth place, followed by San Francisco nipping at its heels, helped by its strong role in financing tech. New York overtook London in 2018, after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union two years ear

Only one out of 35 Korean films with a major budget was directed by a female director last year, a report showed. Action thriller “The Point Men,” directed by Yim Soon-rye, was the sole movie with a female director among the 35 commercial films with a production budget exceeding 3 billion won ($2.25 million), according to the report released by the Korean Film Council on the status of gender equality in the Korean film industry. The state-run movie promotion agency has been publish

A total of 8,541 migrants perished on land and sea routes worldwide in 2023, the UN migration agency said, the highest figure since it began counting such deaths a decade ago. The International Organization for Migration said the biggest increase in deaths last year came amid the treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing: reaching 3,129 from 2,411 in 2022. This figure was however below the record 5,136 number of people who died trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2016, when huge numbers of Syria

More than 90 percent of employed workers in Korea who took part in a recent survey said they consider current climate change to be serious. Incruit, an employment agency, asked 743 workers about their perception of climate change, and 48.6 percent answered that they considered the situation to be “very serious” while 45 percent said it is “somewhat serious.” As to why they consider climate change to be serious, 90.3 percent of respondents said that unseasonable weather,

A poll found that a significant share of US adults doubt the mental capabilities of 81-year-old President Joe Biden and 77-year-old Donald Trump, the former president and current Republican front-runner in what is set to be a rematch of the 2020 election. More than 6 in 10 (63 percent) said they’re not very or not at all confident in Biden’s mental capabilities to serve effectively as president. A similar but slightly smaller share (57 percent) said that Trump lacks the memory and

International travel has continued to make a strong recovery in 2023 with 38 percent growth in terms of overseas trips, projected to reach 1.3 billion by the end of the year. Istanbul tops the list with 20.2 million international arrivals in 2023. The city saw a 26 percent year-over-year visitor growth from 2022 to 2023, according to Euromonitor International. London came in the second spot followed by Dubai, Antalya and Paris. Wealth of dazzling cultural sites and crossover of Asian and Europ

On March 11, Hwang Sun-hong, the interim boss for the men’s national team, announced his 23-man squad for South Korea’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers. South Korea faces Thailand on Thursday on home turf, then again on March 26 in the Southeast Asian country. The two matches against Thailand will be the first time South Korea’s national team assembles again since losing to Jordan 2-0 in the semifinals of the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in was a

The successful landing of lunar probe Odysseus, developed by Houston, Texas-based private space company Intuitive Machines, on the moon on Feb. 22 has rekindled a race of space powers to explore the moon. With Odysseus’ successful landing, the United States began its Artemis program to reestablish a human presence on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Odysseus will collect data necessary to send astronauts to the region in the next few years. So far, the US, the former So

Over a quarter of Americans - 28 percent - perceive immigration to be the most important problem facing the US, now surpassing the “government” as the most often cited problem. The figure marks the first time since 2019 that Americans consider immigration the country’s most important problem. More than half of the US adult respondents said “large numbers of immigrants entering the United States illegally” is a critical threat to US vital interests, the survey said

The number of initial public offerings rose from a year earlier in 2023 amid signs of easing economic woes, data showed. A total of 82 companies made their debuts on the main Korea Composite Stock Price Index and the tech-heavy Kosdaq markets last year, up from 70 companies going public in 2022, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. However, the amount of funds raised from IPOs dropped sharply to 3.3 trillion won ($2.48 billion) from 15.6 trillion won over the cited p

Former Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin made KBO history with an eight-year contract worth 17 billion won ($12.8 million) with the Hanwha Eagles on Feb. 22. The Eagles said Ryu’s contract has no incentives baked into the contract and all 17 billion won is guaranteed. It is also the longest contract in KBO history. Initially, the Eagles had been expected to offer Ryu, who turns 37 later this month, 17 billion won over four years. But by spreading out the same amount of mone

While internet use is nearly ubiquitous in many countries, not everyone is online. Divides still exist in technology usage between people in some advanced economies and those in some emerging economies, according to Pew Research Center data from 27 countries in 2022 and 2023. Smartphone ownership and social media use also vary around the world. While most adults in the countries surveyed own smartphones and use social media, there are still pockets where many do not. In addition, there are div

NATO marked Sweden’s entry into the alliance Monday with a flag-raising ceremony in Brussels as the 32nd member two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine persuaded its reluctant public to seek safety under the alliance’s security umbrella. Hungary’s president signed in early March the law on Sweden’s bid to join NATO, a final technical step before the Nordic country becomes the alliance’s 32nd member. Hungary’s parliament ratified Sweden&