The number of men going on paternity leave jumped 23 percent last year from the previous year, reflecting cultural and policy changes, the Labor Ministry said. 　The total number of private sector workers requesting paternity leave stood at 27,423 last year, more than double the number in 2017 (12,042), the ministry said. 　The increase can be attributed to more couples raising their children together and policies encouraging men to take leave, it said. 　The coronavirus pandemic likely con

　Serious pollution caused around 160,000 premature deaths in the world’s five most populous cities last year, even as air quality improved in some places due to coronavirus lockdowns, an environmental group said. 　The worst-affected was New Delhi, the most polluted capital on Earth, where around 54,000 deaths are estimated to have occurred due to hazardous PM 2.5 airborne particles, according to a report from Greenpeace Southeast Asia. 　In Tokyo, the figure was 40,000, with the rest

　South Korea’s exports of sauces reached an all-time high in 2020 as more people enjoyed cooking at home around the globe amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　Outbound shipments of sauces rose 25.8 percent on-year in 2020 to reach $301.7 million, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association. 　KITA said the growth also came as global consumers became more aware of Korean-style foods following the popularity of Korean cultural content overseas

　South Korea’s exports of cosmetics shot up 16 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, data showed, on the back of the growing demand from the United States and elsewhere in Asia. 　Outbound shipments of cosmetics reached $7.57 billion last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service and the Korea Cosmetic Association. 　Experts say the growth was attributable to the Hallyu, or Korean Wave, which has resulted in a boom in Korean entertainment products such as pop mus

　More than half of South Koreans are in favor of raising taxes for high income earners to mitigate the polarization that has deepened during the pandemic, a poll showed. 　In the survey of 1,000 South Koreans aged 18 or older conducted early February, 57.4 percent of respondents agreed to a tax hike on high earners in the face of a widening income gap, while 39.3 percent disagreed, according to Realmeter.  　Nearly 83 percent of the respondents said polarization had worsened during th

　South Korea’s exports of electric vehicles advanced nearly 66 percent on-year in 2020, data showed, despite the overall slump in the automobile industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 　Outbound shipments of electric vehicles came to $3.9 billion in 2020, the first time the figure surpassed that for hybrid cars, whose exports came to $2.5 billion last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association. 　Electric vehicles accounted for more than half of the

　South Korea returned to first place in the latest Bloomberg Innovation Index, while the US dropped out of a top 10 that features a cluster of European countries. 　Korea regained the crown from Germany, which dropped to fourth place. The Asian nation has now topped the index for seven of the nine years that it’s been published. Singapore and Switzerland each moved up one spot to rank second and third. 　The Bloomberg index analyzes dozens of criteria using seven equally weighted metri

　The number of working days lost due to labor disputes surged by nearly 40 percent in South Korea last year, a report said, indicating a likely deterioration in labor relations at local firms. 　According to the report from the state-funded Korea Labor Institute, the number of lost work days totaled 554,000 in 2020, soaring 37.8 percent from the previous year’s 402,000 days. 　The figure had fallen from 862,000 days in 2017, when the Moon Jae-in government took office, to 552,000 days

　The number of cattle in South Korea rose nearly 4 percent in the fourth quarter of the year on increased beef consumption, government data showed. 　Asia‘s fourth-largest economy had 3.36 million cattle, including Korean-breed cattle known as “hanwoo,“ as of Dec. 1, up 3.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. 　It represents the largest-ever fourth-quarter tally since the statistical agency began tracking related data in 1983. 　The fou

　The number of passengers using South Korean airports fell sharply last year due to the fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak, marking the first drop in 12 years, data showed. 　The number of people using 15 airports across the nation came to 65 million last year, down 58.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. 　It was the first time that the number of airport passengers had declined since 2008, when the country was in the midst of the global f

　Overfishing has savaged populations of some sharks and rays by more than 70 percent in the last half-century, leaving a “gaping, growing hole” in ocean life, according to a new study. 　Decades of data show an alarming decline in species ranging from hammerhead sharks to manta rays. 　Among the worst-affected is the oceanic whitetip, a powerful shark often described as particularly dangerous to man that now hovers on the edge of extinction because of human activity. 　Targeted f

　A new survey of ice loss around the globe suggests the rate at which the planet’s ice sheets and glaciers are melting is rapidly accelerating. 　According to the new analysis, detailed in the journal Cryosphere, Earth lost roughly 28 trillion tons of ice between 1994 and 2017. In 1994, Earth experienced an annual loss of 300 billion tons of ice. By 2017, annual losses had increased to 1.3 trillion tons. 　To illuminate the full scope of the problem, researchers compiled decades of sat

　The accumulated membership of Seoul’s public bike service has surpassed 2.78 million, as residents avoid taking public transport as a precaution amid the coronavirus pandemic, the city government said. 　That means 1 in every 4 Seoul residents used the city’s unmanned bike rental service, dubbed Ttaereungyi in Korean. 　The growth was particularly significant last year, with nearly 1.21 million newcomers, accounting for 43.3 percent of the total users. (Yonhap)

　Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans think they will wait to see how the coronavirus vaccine works for other people before getting the jab, a poll showed. 　A survey of 1,094 adult Koreans across the nation, taken by Seoul National University, showed 67.7 percent of respondents taking a wait-and-see attitude toward COVID-19 vaccinations. 　Only 28.6 percent replied that they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible. (Yonhap)

　South Korea’s data industry expanded more than 14 percent in 2020 from a year earlier to exceed the 19 trillion-won level, a survey showed. 　The local market for data stood at 19.3 trillion won ($17.4 billion) last year, up 14.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the survey by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Data Agency. 　Last year’s growth rate was much higher than the 8.3 percent on-year increase posted a year earlier. 　Data sales and provision accounte