SEJONG -- South Korea saw the number and percentage of population engaged in agriculture continue to drop, though the number of urbanites returning or turning to farming has notably increased over the past decade.According to Statistics Korea, the number of farm population (farming-household population in official) stood at 2.31 million as of 2018, which is a decline by about 750,000 individuals in the 2010s, compared to 3.06 million in 2010. Further, given 4.03 million recorded in 2000, th

SEJONG -- The manufacturing industry has come to a standstill in output and productivity that could further weaken the nation’s already lackluster economic growth, which has suffered as a result of sagging exports and weak private consumption.According to Statistics Korea, the manufacturing production capacity index stood at 101.4 in February 2019 -- the lowest level in 33 months, since May 2016, when it posted the same figure. Though the index inched up to 101.6 in March 2019 (the la

SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in government has repeatedly expressed its commitment to lower housing prices in Seoul, amid an extraordinary situation in which many apartments surged in price more than 50 percent from late 2016 through 2018.Most of its anti-speculation measures have been mapped out by the Finance Ministry, the Land Ministry and the Financial Services Commission.But the presidential office has refrained from seeking to normalize apartment prices by normalizing interest rates. This is des

SEJONG -- It is now seven years since the government relocated numerous ministries and agencies to the newly developed special autonomous city of Sejong, neighboring the northwestern part of Daejeon, as part of its efforts to decongest Seoul.Sejong has 14 dongs -- administrative divisions -- including Eojin-dong where the Government Complex is located, one eup -- town -- and nine myeons –- townships. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seong/The Korea Herald)Though the city is rapidly expanding, its infrastruct

SEJONG -- The government has embarked on research into whether it should raise the threshold at which it considers people senior citizens from the current 65 years old to 70.Though South Korea has followed UN standards stipulating the age of seniors, the recent move to fine-tune it comes amid rapid growth in the percentage of Koreans who are aged 65 or above.A decade ago, 10.39 percent of Koreans were aged 65 or over -- 5.15 million out of 49.59 million citizens, according to the Ministry of Int

SEJONG -- The South Korean won has lost ground against “reserve currencies” such as the euro and the Japanese yen over the past month, in addition to the US dollar.The euro was worth 1,323.25 won as of May 10, 2019, up 3.08 percent (or 39.65 won) from 1,283.60 won on April 10. That’s the euro’s strongest position in seven months, ever since it recorded 1,323.35 on Oct. 11, 2018. The Korean currency also showed weakness vis-a-vis the Asian reserve currency, the y

SEJONG -- In South Korea, police have no authority to investigate prosecutors who are suspected of malfeasance without getting approval from the prosecution that controls their investigation.In addition, there is no way for the courts to punish corrupt prosecutors if the prosecution eventually chooses not to indict the suspects even if some evidence is found to prove their allegations.The exclusive rights for controlling investigations and indictments, held by the prosecution, have caused a lot

Over the past eight years, despite sinking fertility rates, South Korea’s population continued to grow. Now decidedly an aged society, the country stands at No. 28 in the global population rankings.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the population reached 51.83 million as of April 2019, up 0.09 percent from 51.79 million a year earlier.Since April 2011, when the population was 50.59 million, it has grown 2.45 percent. In other words, the number of Koreans increased 1.24 million.Bu

SEJONG -- South Korean travel agencies have actively diversified their overseas deals in terms of offering trips to various new destinations over the past decade.They have been competing to offer package deals for Eastern Europe involving Balkan countries, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. In the case of Southeast Asia, they have strived to attract customers by providing tours to destinations like Penang, Malaysia and Da Nang, Vietnam.Bracing for the 2020s, one of their

SEJONG -- Unemployment is among the major social issues that President Moon Jae-in set out to resolve when he took office in May 2017.Despite Moon’s continual pledges to prioritize job creation throughout his term, South Korea’s employment numbers have remained lackluster compared with those seen in other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Whereas 27 of the 36 OECD member nations recorded on-year declines in unemployment in 2018, Korea saw its jobless rate rise

SEJONG -- In the 1970s and ’80s, a dominant portion of Seoulites took trains to visit their hometowns spread across the country during the two biggest holidays of each year to celebrate Lunar New Year’s Day and Chuseok.Those days were before the “my car era” opened in Korea in the early 1990s.As tickets for the Saemaeul and Mugunghwa (also dubbed train udeung) were relatively expensive, the third-tier Tongil (train teukkeup) and fourth-tier Bidulgi (train botong or wanhaeng) gained more populari

SEJONG -- Japan is the world’s leading “aged society,” according to the United Nation’s standards, with its number of citizens aged 70 or above accounting for more than 20 percent of its population.South Korea is following suit. Those 70 years old or above surpassed 10 percent of the population, or 5.31 million of the total 51.83 million as of March 2019. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seong/The Korea Herald)As of 2000, life expectancy at birth for Japanese born between 1995 and 2000 was 80.5 years, accord

SEJONG -- The next president of South Korea will be elected in 35 months, on March 9, 2022, two months prior to the end of incumbent President Moon Jae-in’s term.But before then, the Moon government faces a turning point with the upcoming general election. With Moon now 40 percent of the way through his five-year tenure, it is the parliamentary election slated for April 15 next year that will likely determine how he fares during the remainder of his term. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seong/The Korea Hera

SEJONG -- South Korea’s key interest rate slid below 2 percent for the first time in history in March 2015, when the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Korea lowered it to 1.75 percent.After further dipping to an all-time low of 1.25 percent in June 2016, the benchmark rate has hovered under 2 percent for the 49th consecutive month. It was set at 1.75 percent in November 2018 and has not changed since then. Compared to 3.25 percent in June 2011 and 5.25 percent in August 2008, t

SEJONG -- The four-member family household had been typical in South Korea over the decades since the mid-1970s, with a couple and two children (on average) residing in what has been dubbed the “nuclear family.”While the social trend continued until the early 2000s, the household-structure has rapidly changed over the past decade. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seong/The Korea Herald)Four-member households accounted for 22.3 percent (4.25 million) of the total 19.05 million households nationwide as of Marc

SEJONG -- It has been three decades since South Korea embarked on the construction of “new residential towns” in satellite cities, with the aim of dispersing Seoul residents to a certain extent and elevating housing supply.For three years since April 1989, the former Roh Tae-woo government fostered residential towns in five districts -- Ilsan, Jungdong, Sanbon, Pyeongchon and Bundang. The five, surrounding Seoul, are dubbed the nation’s first-phase new towns. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seong/The Korea

The coming figures on the nation’s employment for March, which are to be unveiled mid-April, is drawing keen attention amid the seriousness of the recent job market, as recent data have showed.South Korea saw the number of jobless people surge by 43.3 percent, or 394,000 individuals, over the previous three months -- from 909,000 in November 2018 to 1.303 million as of February 2019, according to Statistics Korea. The number continued to rise during the cited period -- 944,000 in December 2018 a

SEJONG -- Since the latter half of 2018, the support ratings for President Moon Jae-in among male South Koreans in their 20s have continued to drop sharply.A large portion of young men have expressed their discontent toward the Moon government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea in online communities. They are complaining about “adverse gender-discrimination” compared to the female youth or “disadvantages” in the job market.When Moon was a candidate in February 2017, he said he would become

SEJONG -- South Korea is in negotiations for four different free trade agreements involving 19 countries.The four are talks on a joint agreement with China and Japan (2 countries); with China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (15); with Ecuador (1); and with Israel (1).As a developed process, Korea has signed a preliminary pact with five Central American countries -- Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama -- which made

SEJONG -- Three major global rating firms have been relatively pessimistic on the outlook for South Korea’s economic growth this year, compared to projections from the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Korea.The rating firms -- Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service -- have estimated that the growth of gross domestic product this year will stay under 2.6 percent, the figure projected by the central bank. The Finance Ministry has forecast that the econ