South Korean Ryu Hae-ran has clinched the LPGA Rookie of the Year award with one tournament left this season. Since the rise of superstar Pak Se-ri more than two decades ago, Korean female golfers have become an international force to be reckoned with in women’s professional golf tournaments. This trend has been marked by a consistent stream of LPGA Rookie of the Year awards going to Korean women every few years. Fourteen of the past 26 rookies of the year (including this year’s) hav

Opium poppy production in Afghanistan, previously the world’s top supplier, has plummeted since the Taliban administration banned the cultivation of narcotics last year, a United Nations report said. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said opium cultivation fell throughout the country to just 10,800 hectares in 2023 from 233,000 hectares the previous year, slashing supply by 95 percent to 333 tons. This was putting pressure on farmers in the war-torn country, where most people depend on agri

Two-thirds of residents in Gyeonggi Province are opposed to the proposal to incorporate satellite cities near Seoul into the capital, a poll showed, amid the ruling party’s push for a megacity project. The survey, conducted by Realmeter from Nov. 2-5 on 3,004 Gyeonggi residents, showed that 66.3 percent oppose the idea, while 29.5 percent are in support of it. By region, opposition was highest among residents in Uiwang, south of Seoul, with 73.5 percent, followed by Paju, Yangju and Hwaseo

Sales of smartphones continued to shrink globally in the recently-ended quarter as consumers watched their spending, market tracker Counterpoint reported. Smartphone sales fell 8 percent, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of decline in year-over-year comparisons, according to research by Counterpoint's Market Pulse service. The decline was “largely due to slower-than-expected recovery in consumer demand,” the group said in its findings. Samsung continued to lead the smartpho

　Nearly 40,000 South Koreans took their own lives over the past three years, with the suicide rate increasing among the younger generation, data showed. 　A total of 39,453 people killed themselves from 2020 to 2022, according to data from the Health Ministry and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency submitted to Rep. Baek Jong-hean of the ruling People Power Party. 　The tally of suicides here was greater than the 32,156 deaths due to COVID-19 recorded over the same period here. 　Ko

A total of 500 aircraft incidents involving collisions with birds have been reported in airports across South Korea over the past five years, according to data. According to data unveiled by Rep. Heo Jong-sik of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, the total number of aircraft bird strike cases during takeoff and landing has totaled 500 since 2019. The lawmaker cited data submitted by airport authorities. Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul and Gimhae International Airport in

　The number of elementary, middle and high school teachers who have taken their own lives over the past decade amounts to 144, a ruling party lawmaker said, citing data from the Ministry of Education. 　The suicides occurred between 2014 and August this year, Rep. Lee Tae-kyu of the People Power Party said, noting the annual number spiked from six in 2014 to 20 in 2018 and 25 in 2021. 　The number dropped to 20 last year but as many as 14 teachers died by suicide in the first eight months of t

In the US, Democratic President Joe Biden is behind Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in five of the six most important battleground states exactly a year before the presidential election as Americans express doubts about Biden’s age, dissatisfaction toward his handling of the economy and other issues, polls showed. The polls were conducted by The New York Times and Siena College. Trump, first in the field for his party’s 2024 nomination as he seeks to regain the presidency, leads

The number of individuals of foreign nationality convicted of drug crimes in South Korea nearly tripled in the past four years, data showed. From 2018 to 2022, the number of foreign nationals convicted of drug-related offenses here reached 6,423 after registering a steady rise each year, according to National Police Agency data released by Rep. Lee Sang-min of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. Since reaching 596 in 2018, the figure rose to 1,072 in 2019, 1,428 in 2020 and 1,606 in 2

The number of delivery workers has fallen this year, following sharp growth in recent years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while the number of cooks rose to an all-time high with people returning to pre-pandemic normalcy, data showed. The number of delivery workers fell by 24,000 during the January-June period to 426,000, marking the first on-year fall since 2019, according to Statistics Korea. The couriers and messengers industry had a total of 343,000 jobs in 2019, and the figure jumped to 371,00

　Just over half of US teens said in a Gallup Poll that they spend at least 4 hours a day on social media sites such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter. 　Gallup found 51 percent of teens averaged 4.8 hours a day. 　Across age groups, the average time spent on social media ranges from as low as 4.1 hours per day for 13-year-olds to as high as 5.8 hours per day for 17-year-olds. 　The data is from Gallup’s Familial and Adolescent Health Survey conducted

A total of 4,481 people have fallen victim to home rental scams this year, with their combined financial damage reaching 510.5 billion won ($377.3 million), police data showed. Police apprehended 2,582 suspects of so-called “jeonse” scams but were only able to retrieve 22.6 percent, or 115.3 billion won, of the damage incurred before the suspects were convicted, according to the data submitted to Rep. Jeon Bong-min of the ruling People Power Party. Under South Korea’s decades-o

The latest Israel-Hamas war has quickly become the deadliest and most destructive of the five wars fought between the sides since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 from the Palestinian Authority. Fighting erupted Oct. 7 when Hamas carried out a bloody attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes that have wrought unprecedented destruction, flattening entire neighborhoods. Here’s a look in numbers at the toll of the Israe

The number of malaria cases has been rising sharply in South Korea this year, reaching the highest level in 12 years, health authorities said. A total of 719 cases of the mosquito-borne disease were confirmed from January to the second week of October, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It is the first time that the annual malaria cases have topped the 700 level in a single year since 2011, when the country reported 826 patients. Out of the total cases for this year, 6

North Korea’s imports of luxury goods from China reached $28.5 million last year, despite pandemic border control and international sanctions, data from China’s customs office showed. Except for a temporary dip during the pandemic in 2021, the aggregate value of luxury goods imported from China to North Korea showed an upward trend, having risen from $22.8 million in 2020 to $40.6 million as of July 2023, according to the data from the General Administration of Customs of the People&