One in 3 South Koreans picked the outbreak of a new disease as the biggest source of social anxiety this year, a survey showed, underscoring people‘s jitters over the new coronavirus pandemic. 　The poll by Statistics Korea showed that 32.8 percent of those surveyed said they considered the outbreak of a new disease to be the biggest threat to society, sharply up 29.9 percentage points from 2.9 percent tallied two years earlier. 　Regardless of sex, age, education and income levels, t

　Nearly half of the population in South Korea’s farming areas was aged 65 and older last year as younger people flocked to cities for education and jobs, data showed. 　The portion of those aged 65 and above accounted for 46.6 percent of the total population residing in rural areas last year, sharply up from 4.9 percent in 1970, according to Statistics Korea. 　The number of people engaged in the farming industry came to 2.25 million in 2019, down 84.4 percent from 14.42 million in 197

　South Korea’s exports of instant noodles and kimchi products rose sharply in the first nine months of the year on the back of rising demand for ready-to-eat meals and healthy foodstuffs amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. 　Outbound shipments of instant noodles jumped 36.3 percent on-year to $456 million during the January-September period, while those of kimchi jumped 38.5 percent to $109 million over the cited period, according to the data compiled by the Ministry

　Salaried employees in South Korea work for 8.05 hours on average per work day, a poll showed. 　According to the survey of 1,000 workers aged between 19 and 55 by local pollster Embrain Public, 811 respondents said they stay at work for more than 8 hours per weekday, with 54.7 percent of them saying their overtime is caused by excessive workload. Another 30 percent said they work longer than 8 hours to earn more, while 15.3 percent said they are forced by employers to work late. 　Notably,

　North Korea’s urban population increased this year compared with five years ago, with more than 60 percent of its total population now living in urban areas, though the figure is still one of the lowest in the region, a UN report showed. 　According to the “World Cities Report” by UN-Habitat, the number of North Koreans living in urban areas, including the capital city of Pyongyang, came to 16.12 million as of midyear, accounting for 62.4 percent of the total population, u

　The proportion of babies born to multicultural families out of all childbirths in South Korea reached an all-time high in 2019 due to the country‘s low birthrate, government data showed. 　The number of babies born to multicultural married couples came to 17,939 last year, down 0.8 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 5.9 percent of total newborns in the country, according to the data from Statistics Korea. 　The number decreased for seven years running last year after peaki

　Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors ranked fourth in global electrified vehicle sales last year, helped by increased exports, industry data showed. 　Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 350,000 electrified models in global markets in 2019, up 25 percent from a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a statement. 　Toyota, Tesla and Honda claimed the top three places in global electrified car sales rankings, it said. 　Electrified models include hybrid elec

　The cumulative number of asylum applications filed in South Korea has topped 70,000, government data showed. 　According to data from the Korea Immigration Service, there have been 70,254 asylum-seekers here dating from 1994, when the government began to compile relevant data, to August this year. 　The number of asylum-seekers totaled a mere 5,069 between 1994 and 2012, but began to rise sharply from 2013, when the Refugee Act was brought into enforcement. The annual number increased to 1,

　Nearly half of South Koreans believe that there will be no major impact on inter-Korean relations when US President-elect Joe Biden takes office early next year, a poll showed. 　In the Realmeter survey of 500 people aged 18 or older nationwide conducted Nov. 6 on prospects for Seoul-Pyongyang relations during Biden’s term, 48.8 percent said there would be “little difference.” 　Only 16.4 percent bet on an improvement in relations, while 26.5 percent said relations are lik

　The number of people of foreign descent residing in South Korea exceeded 2.22 million as of November last year, marking an on-year increase of about 8 percent, government data showed. 　According to the data released by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the 2,216,612 resdents account for 4.3 percent of the nation‘s entire population of 51,779,203. 　The tally of foreign residents includes those who do not have South Korean nationality and have lived in South Korea for more than

　A stalwart of American political life for decades, Joe Biden, 77, has experienced many ups and downs during his long career in Washington. But in the end he won the biggest prize of all - the presidency - after edging out President Donald Trump. (AFP)

　The race for the White House continues to break new ground and set records in 2020 - on early voting, ad spending and more. These figures break down the campaign in numbers.

2020 US presidential election: Trump vs. Biden

　South Korea’s beer exports more than halved in the first nine months of the year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　Overseas shipments of Korean beer stood at $54.1 million in the January-September period, about 46 percent of last year’s $117.3 million, according to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. 　Exports to China fell by a third to $20.3 million from $67.6 million over the cited period. Shipments to Hong Kong sank 27.3 percent, and those t

　Fraud offenses committed by teenagers last year recorded the biggest jump in 10 years by rising 16 percent on-year, a judicial report showed. 　According to the 2020 juridical yearbook published recently by the National Court Administration, the number of fraud cases under the juvenile protection system was 3,695, up by 513, or 16.1 percent, from a year ago, the biggest rise since the 2009 global financial crisis when the tally jumped a whopping 84.3 percent from the previous year. Juvenile