Samsung Electronics was the world’s third-largest smartwatch vendor in the second quarter of the year, a report showed, after its shipments posted robust 43 percent on-year growth. 　The South Korean tech giant logged a market share of 7.6 percent in the April-June period, up from 6.8 percent a year earlier, and edged China’s BBK Electronics for third place, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. 　Apple maintained its lead in the second quarter, but its market s

　South Korea’s combined area of rice paddies moved up 0.8 percent on-year in 2021, data showed, with the country expected to maintain a stable supply of the staple grain despite heavy rains. 　The combined size of rice paddies is estimated at 732,000 hectares - slightly more than half the size of the US state of Connecticut - compared to 726,000 hectares last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. 　The producer price of rice per 20 kilograms came to 55

　Golf courses on Jeju Island appear to be an exception to the COVID-19 recession, with the southern resort island inundated with record numbers of golfers from elsewhere for the second consecutive year. 　The number of visitors to Jeju’s golf courses totaled 1.66 million in the first seven months of this year, marking an increase of 37.3 percent from 1.21 million in the same period of last year, data from the provincial government showed. 　There are 30 golf courses on Jeju, of which

　South Korea’s suicide rate dropped steadily during the years 2013 to 2017, government data showed.  　The data, compiled by the Health Ministry and the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention, showed that 22.8 out of every 100,000 Koreans had taken their own lives in 2017, down from 24.4 in 2016. 　The country’s suicide rate fell gradually from 27.4 out of 100,000 in 2013 to 25.9 in 2014 and 25.4 in 2015.  　The total number of suicides also declined over the five ye

　South Korea’s top two TV makers - Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics - represented half of the global TV market in the first half of the year, a report showed, as they maintained their leadership in the premium segment. 　Samsung accounted for 31 percent of the global TV market in terms of sales revenue to defend its top status in the first six months of 2021, while LG followed with 19 percent, according to data from industry researcher Omdia. 　Japan’s Sony came in third w

　South Korea’s market for convenient coffee beverages expanded nearly 6 percent in the first half of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic, a market tracker said. 　The value of the local ready-to-drink coffee market stood at 672.9 billion won ($574 million) in the January-June period, up 5.9 percent from a year earlier, according to Nielsen Koreanclick. 　Canned coffee accounted for the largest portion at 258.6 billion won, followed by cups of coffee at 217.5 billion won and bottled

　Almost 70 percent of South Koreans support the government’s plan to grant long-term stay visas to hundreds of Afghan civilians who fled their homeland fearing the Taliban, a poll showed. 　According to the poll of 500 people aged 18 and above conducted by Realmeter on Aug. 27, a combined 68.7 percent of the respondents said they approved of the plan to issue long-term visas to the Afghan evacuees who arrived here last week, allowing them to get jobs here. 　Among those who supported

　South Korea’s exports and imports of camping goods reached a fresh high in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, a report showed. 　Asia’s fourth-largest economy exported and imported $399 million worth of camping equipment last year, an all-time high and up 40 percent from the previous year, according to the report from the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute. 　In the first half of this year alone, the country’s trade in camping gear stood at $293 million, above the

　Samsung Electronics stayed on as the world’s second-largest tablet computer vendor in the second quarter of the year, a report showed, as it strives to catch up with industry leader Apple. 　The South Korean giant logged a market share of 18 percent in the April-June period, after shipping 8.2 million Galaxy Tab tablets, up 19 percent from a year ago, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. 　Apple defended its top position with a 35 percent share as its iPad shipments ju

　South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor’s electric vehicle sales increased in the first half of the year compared with a year ago, but its global market share fell in the face of toughening competitions with Chinese rivals, industry data showed.  　Hyundai Motor was in sixth place in terms of global EV sales in the January-June period, one notch down from the fifth position a year ago, according to the data by industry tracker SNE Research. 　The automaker’s global EV sales

　The number of seniors living alone has surged nearly 36 percent over the last five years amid the country's rapid population aging, data showed. 　A total of 1.66 million South Koreans aged 65 and older lived by themselves in 2020, up 35.8 percent from five years earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. 　The number accounted for 21.2 percent of local household members aged 65 and older, which numbered 7.85 million last year. 　In particular, the number of seniors living alone

　The Taliban now hold the keys to an untouched trillion-dollar trove of minerals including some that could power the world’s transition to renewable energies, but Afghanistan has long struggled to tap its vast deposits. 　The Taliban are already in a financial bind since they returned to power 20 years after their ouster, as major aid donors halted their support for Afghanistan. 　Endless wars and poor infrastructure have prevented the country from getting its hands on the metals that

　South Korea's online food market jumped more than 45 percent in the first half of the year from a year earlier, due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　The value of online food transactions in Asia’s fourth-largest economy stood at 27.8 trillion won ($23.5 billion) in the January-June period, up 45.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea and industry sources. 　It was the largest half-year tally, breaching the previous record of

　The number of households with children under 18 years old fell below 5 million for the first time in 2019, amid a chronically low birthrate, data showed. 　The number of households with children under 18 came to 4.87 million in 2019, down from 5.04 million the previous year, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. 　Such households made up 23.3 percent of the total 20.9 million households in 2019, down 1.3 percentage points from 2018, the data showed. 　As of Nov. 1, 2019, the numbe

　Samsung Electronics was the world’s fifth-largest vendor of Chromebooks in the second quarter of the year, a report showed, as the South Korean tech giant aims to expand its presence in the portable PC market amid the pandemic. 　Samsung had a market share of 7 percent in the April-June period after shipping 900,000 Chromebooks - that is, laptops or tablets running on Google’s Chrome operating system - according to a report from market researcher International Data Corp. 　Sam