SEJONG -- The next presidential election will take place in two years, possibly on March 9, 2022. After that, there will be a two-month period in which a president-elect leads a transition committee before President Moon Jae-in’s term expires at midnight May 9. That means Moon has about 24 months to determine what his legacy will be, political commentators say. The Moon administration came to power on the strength of massive candlelight vigils in late 2016, when former President Park Ge

SEJONG -- South Korea saw the number of de facto jobless people -- meaning those underemployed -- increase sharply in recent months, the latest data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the “extended (or sentiment-reflected)” unemployment rate climbed to 12.1 percent in January 2020. The figure indicates that 3.58 million of the extended economically active population of 29.65 million are de facto unemployed. This far exceeds the nation’s official jobless rate (4.1 pe

SEJONG -- In 2013, South Korea saw its collective outstanding loans plus credit-based payment services extended to the household sector top 1,000 trillion won ($842 billion) for the first time in history. The mounting household debt was somewhat attributable to eased lending regulations on the debt-to-income ratio in 2012 during the Lee Myung-bak administration. The Park Geun-hye administration further pushed for double-track deregulation, under which the loan-to-value ratio as well as the de

SEJONG – More people have a negative assessment of President Moon Jae-in’s performance than a positive one, a recent poll has shown. According to the survey by Gallup Korea, which was released on Saturday, the approval rating for the president was 44 percent across the country. In contrast, the disapproval rating for him rose to 49 percent. By region, in particular, Moon’s approval rating was outstripped by disapproval ratings in most major cities and provinces, excepting Gw

SEJONG -- South Korea’s food producers are pinning high hopes on the overseas K-food Fair events this year on the back of the growing popularity of local dishes thanks to TV programs and movies. Over the past few years, the annual exhibition has provided local producers -- mostly food processing firms -- with wider opportunities to tap overseas markets, including in Asia, America and Europe. Small and medium-sized enterprises mostly participate in the events, organized by the Ministry o

SEJONG -- It has been 70 years since the Korean War broke out on the peninsula, which is still divided despite continuous inter-Korean dialogue efforts since the Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003). As a result, over the past few decades, the obligatory military service for South Korean men has been a highly sensitive issue, as they were deprived of opportunities in education and work for a certain period of time. Further, ordinary men are frustrated by many allegations of dodging conscri

SEJONG -- South Korea’s economy advanced only 2 percent in 2019, despite the government’s pump-priming measures coupled with the central bank’s monetary easing policies. The figure stayed below the economic growth rates, posted by two of the world’s largest. The US and China marked 2.3 percent and 6.1 percent economic growth, respectively, last year. Korea also lagged behind major emerging countries in Europe in GDP growth -- Poland (4 percent), Lithuania (3.9 percent)

SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in administration has drawn up and approved a series of supplementary budgets in a bid to stimulate GDP growth and create jobs amid a tough employment market. Officials say the stimulus measures, including the active use of tax money and the issuance of treasury bonds, have benefited the overall economy. But opponents question their efficacy, pointing to a sharp increase only in nonregular jobs and to disappointing GDP growth -- 2 percent in 2019, the lowest rate in 10 y

SEJONG -- South Korea may have already entered the era of population decline, as the official government figure fell for the second consecutive month. According to data from the Ministry of Interior and Safety, Korea’s population posted 51.847 million in January 2020, down 2,352 from 51.849 million in December 2019. In particular, the female population dropped for the first time in history -- by 399 people -- since the government started compiling data. The figure for men and boys dropp

SEJONG -- In the early and mid-2010s, the government’s yearly payouts for jobless people ranged between 3.3 trillion won ($2.7 billion) and 4.5 trillion won. Amid moderate growth in the volume of unemployment benefits, the figure recorded 4.67 trillion won in 2016 during the previous administration, according to the Korea Employment Information Service. But the situation began to change in 2017 in the aftermath of en masse business closures by self-employed people, who account

SEJONG -- The number of defectors from North Korea over the past decades came to 33,300 in the South -- 9,300 men and 24,000 women -- as of December. The Ministry of Unification’s data showed that the number of North Korean defectors has increased since 2002, while the prior combined figure was 1,990. A noteworthy point is that the number of female refugees is far outstripping men’s tally at the current stage -- it was below 50 percent before 2002. The percentage of women poste

SEJONG -- South Korea’s population has increased by about 2 million, or 4.1 percent, over the past decade from 49.77 million. Though the nation’s population -- 51.84 million as of December -- has continued to grow, except for only three months in the 2010s, the disparity in terms of variation among 17 major areas (eight cities and nine provinces) has widened, government data showed. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, Jeju Province topped the list in population growt

SEJONG – State employment data showed that job creation under the Moon administration two years has been entirely in nonregular positions. The number of regular jobs -- positions with permanent contracts and consequently greater protections for workers -- has fallen over the period. The figures suggest the number of regular workers stayed at a similar level during the first year of President Moon Jae-in’s term -- 13.42 million as of August 2017 and 13.43 million as of August 2018.

SEJONG -- International marriages to South Koreans recorded a continuous decline in the 2010s, despite the growing number of foreign nationals residing here.In 2010, 34,235 Koreans -- 26,274 men and 7,961 women -- married foreigners. But the latest official figure, for 2018, was down 33.6 percent from eight years earlier, according to the Ministry of Justice, to 22,698 -- 16,608 men and 6,090 women.For Korean men who wedded foreign women in 2018, Vietnamese brides were the most numerous at 6,338

SEJONG -- Fifty years ago, South Koreans aged 14 and under made up 42.5 percent of the population in the wake of the country’s 1955-1963 baby boom.Korea ranked second in a retrospective comparison of the 36 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which looked back at youth populations relative to total country populations in 1970. While Mexico topped the list for that year, with 46.8 percent of its population no older than 14, the majority of OECD members post

SEJONG -- Fifty years ago, the number of South Koreans engaged in agriculture accounted for more than 40 percent of the total population.But the farming population (defined by the government as people in farming households) has continued to drop. It fell to below 30 percent of the total population in 1980 and was about 15 percent in 1990, according to government data.The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs noted that the farming population posted 4.4 million in 1998, accounting for 9

SEJONG -- In South Korea, swing voters have often determined winners in the past presidential, general and local elections, playing a pivotal role.The swing voters who usually are ideologically neutral are estimated to take up 30-40 percent of the total voters across the nation. They are also roughly called centrists.Once more, the ruling and opposition parties are paying close attention to the opinion of centrists, three months ahead of the April 15 general election.According to recent surveys

SEJONG -- South Korea has been picked as one of the few aged societies in Asia, alongside Japan, Hong Kong and Macao, with the average lifespan continuously rising.According to Statistics Korea, life expectancy at birth – average projected lifespan -- reached 82.7 years as of 2018. Korea posted the same life expectancy a year earlier, ranking quite high among 36 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Japan topped the list with 84.2 years, followed by Switzerla

SEJONG -- Government officials actively publicized that the number of unemployed people aged between 15 and 29 and the corresponding unemployment rate had dropped during the Moon Jae-in administration.They used a variety of figures held by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in their online policy briefing in December 2019, dismissing arguments in the market that the youth jobless rate has become severe.A government official cited the figure that the number of jobless Koreans aged 15-29 was abo

SEJONG -- South Korea saw income polarization between the haves and have-nots continue to widen over the past few years.Some research analysts say the nation’s middle income bracket has collapsed and a large portion of middle-income households should be reclassified as part of the low income bracket.Comparison data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for the past decade backs up their arguments.The OECD compared the poverty rates of 35 of its 36 members as of 201