According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, walking tours are gaining popularity among South Koreans, especially those in their 20s and 30s. 　It was conducted with 4,000 people aged between 15 and 79 across the country from December 2018 and November 2019. 　The survey showed 37 percent of the respondents went on a walking tour during the period, up 6.1 percentage points from a year earlier. (Yonhap)

　South Korea’s exports of coronavirus test kits jumped on-year in the first 20 days of this month, data showed. 　Exports of test kits stood at $131.9 million in the 20-day period, compared with $7.25 million for the same period last year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. 　So far this year, Korea has exported test kits to a total of 106 nations. 　Brazil, the top buyer, imported $19.2 million worth of test kits from Korea. Next were the United States and Italy.

　Americans are increasingly hostile to China as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the US and global economies and after three years of Trump administration antagonism toward the country, according to a nationwide poll. 　The poll, conducted last month by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, found that two-thirds of those surveyed, or 66 percent, had an unfavorable view of China. That’s the most since the center first asked the question 15 years ago and a significant jump of 20 p

Restrictions on travel and nonessential business over the past weeks to control the spread of COVID-19 have meant dramatically cleaner air for some of the world’s most polluted cities. Global cities including Delhi, Seoul, Los Angeles, and New York, experienced 25 percent to 65 percent reduction in fine particulate matter or PM2.5 air pollutants during the lockdown, according to a report by IQAir. (Bloomberg)

　Consumers at home and abroad think the coronavirus pandemic will likely grip the world for more than four months, an international poll showed. 　The survey of 6,566 people in six countries - South Korea, the United States, China, Germany, Italy and Britain - showed they believe it may take an average of 17 weeks before the end of the coronavirus outbreak and a return to normal life. 　A US public relations and marketing agency conducted the online survey between March 30 and April 3. 　Cons

Many countries around the world are still in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. As people come to terms with their new living situations, their buying categories are adapting to suit their needs and restricted living, driving some categories to new growth of e-commerce.　

　Global personal computer shipments dropped the most since 2013 in the first quarter, after the COVID-19 pandemic ensnared the Chinese supply-chain and created production problems for major hardware companies. 　PC makers shipped 51.6 million laptops, desktops and workstations in the first three months of 2020, a 12 percent decrease compared with a year earlier, research firm Gartner said in a statement. 　China-based Lenovo Group kept the No. 1 spot among PC vendors, with about 24.4 percent

　China last year became the world leader in international patent filings, unseating the United States which had held the top spot for more than four decades, the UN said. 　The World Intellectual Property Organization said that China topped the ranking with 58,990 applications followed by US, Japan, Germany and South Korea. And for the third consecutive year, China-based telecoms giant Huawei Technologies topped the global rankingwith 4,411 PCT applications. (AFP)

　South Korea received the second-largest amount of new shipbuilding orders in the first quarter of the year after China, with global shipbuilding orders plunging 71 percent amid the spreading coronavirus outbreak, industry data showed. 　South Korea won new shipbuilding orders totaling 360,000 compensated gross tons in the January-March period, accounting for 16 percent of overall orders around the globe totaling 2.33 million CGTs, according to the data from Clarkson Research Services. 　Ch

 

　South Korea's exports of agricultural products moved up 6 percent in the first three months of the year from a year earlier, with shipments to China remaining steady despite disruptions caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, the Agriculture Ministry said. 　Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its exports of agricultural goods reach $1.74 billion in the January-March period, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The figure excl

　South Korea’s internet banking services continued to grow in 2019, with the number of users and daily transactions climbing to new highs, central bank data showed. 　The number of internet and mobile banking users came to about 159.2 million as of end-2019, up 8.6 percent from a year before, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　The figure is the simple sum of all registered users at 18 internet and mobile banking service providers in the country, meaning the same person may

  　The government started a social distancing campaign late last month, calling on people to avoid mass gatherings and maintain a distance of 2 meters from others. The period was extended on April 4 to last for an additional two weeks. No. of trips outside neighborhood of registered address (unit: 10,000 trips) (Source: SKT, Statistics Korea) Jan. 25: 3,000 Lunar New Year holidays (1/20  First confirmed case of COVID-19 reported) Feb. 15: 1,376 　 Initial plunge of 24.4% from the

　The number of air passengers in South Korea fell to a record low last month due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, data showed, as countries around the globe impose lockdowns and restrict travel and people shun travel. 　The number of air passengers stood at 1.74 million in March, according to industry data, marking the first time that the figure has fallen below 2 million since the country started to record such statistics from 1997. 　The passenger number was 10.62 million in January but

　Retail sales in South Korea rose 9.1 percent in February from a year earlier as more people purchased daily necessities through online platforms amid the spread of the new coronavirus here, data showed. 　The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 10.6 trillion won ($8.68 billion) last month, compared with 9.71 trillion won a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 　The sharp increase came as online stores enjoyed a w