SEJONG -- The number of women was found to have overtaken that of men in South Korea more than four years ago, a demographic database held by the government showed.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the changeover took place on June 2015, when the number of men per 100 women fell to 99.9 -- or by 25.7153 million male Koreans to 25.7157 million female Koreans.It was the first time the gender ratio had dropped below 100 since the nation began compiling the relevant figures.The ratio

SEJONG -- An online commenter, who identified himself as a salaried worker in charge of a household, wrote earlier this month that he bought an apartment in Seoul during the latter part of the Park Geun-hye administration (2013-2017).The price of the apartment has climbed 300 million won ($257,000) during President Moon Jae-in’s term, which began in May 2017, according to the commenter’s post.“But I don’t feel so happy when I think about (negative) effects of this kind of

SEJONG -- The number of South Koreans aged 14 or under accounted for only 12.5 percent of the total population as of October 2019, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety.The demographic database held by the ministry includes classification into three groups -- those aged up to 14, those aged 15-64 (called the working-age population) and those aged 65 or over (the senior population).The data showed that the percentage of the youngest generation has continued to fall over the past decade

SEJONG -- South Korea’s economic growth is projected to fall behind that of the US this year, according to outlooks from global investment banks and international organizations.Most of them have predicted that Korea’s 2019 gross domestic product growth will stay at about 2 percent or under on-year, and some researchers at home and abroad are further expecting the gloomy situation to continue in 2020.Fitch Ratings, J.P. Morgan and Barclays have forecast 2.3 percent growth for South Ko

SEJONG -- The 2010s will terminate in about 50 days, and South Korean politics will face a turbulent time from the beginning of the 2020s as the nation has already entered the election mode for the 21st Assembly.In 2020, the general election for the National Assembly is slated for April 15, while there will be a presidential election in the US on Nov. 3.Meanwhile, next year will also feature big international sports events.People in Europe and across the globe are waiting for opening of the

SEJONG -- Advocates of President Moon Jae-in and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea appear to be mostly supportive of their efforts to root out corruption from the nation’s public institutions, including their initiative to reform the prosecution.But their opponents continue to accuse the incumbent administration of underperforming on the economy, especially in areas such as real estate, employment, the minimum wage and GDP growth.In about 150 days, voters will assess the performance of

SEJONG -- The Moon administration has claimed that the number of jobless Koreans aged between 15 and 29 was 313,000 as of September, meaning youth unemployment rate fell from above 10 percent to 7.3 percent.This might suggest to some that at least 9 out of 10 Koreans in that age group are employed despite the tough hiring conditions in the job market.But most employment researchers say the figure doesn’t reflect the reality facing jobseekers, raising the necessity of putting more focus on

SEJONG -- South Korea’s major cities are undergoing a demographic change, an apparent shift from the steady expansion they saw between the 1960s and the early 2000s.Statistics showed that the combined population of seven major cities, including Seoul, has continued to fall in recent years and months. This net decline in the number of residents may be due to the outflow of people to new residential towns.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the total population came to 51.85 mi

SEJONG -- The volume of unemployment benefit payments to the jobless has nearly doubled over the past four years.Though there were some people who exploited the state-led payout system via shady securing of beneficiary eligibility, data indicated that a growing number of people have been forced to leave their workplaces in the wake of an economic slowdown in recent years.South Korea saw the monthly payouts of unemployment benefits reach 691.6 billion won ($592.8 million) in September 2019, compa

SEJONG -- South Korea is projected to see the percentage of the working-age population of the total population fall below the 50 percent mark in 2056, according to Statistics Korea.Based on monthly statistics, the working-age population in the nation has remained above 70 percent for more a decade.The working-age population refers to those aged 15 to 64, according to the criteria of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the de

SEJONG -- Some local commercial banks have been denounced for having recklessly sold high-risk equity-linked fund products to seniors without properly warning them of the potential losses.Some retirees saw their severance pay or savings from their working life disappear. Bank salesmen also targeted ordinary salaried workers whose installment savings had matured.Though investors in funds should be accountable for their own investment losses, the commercial banks have been criticized for improperl

SEJONG -- Enterprises under the Moon Jae-in administration are investing less in construction and facilities, with 2018 data revealing year-on-year contraction in both areas.These are the first simultaneous drops in corporate investment in construction and facilities that South Korea has experienced in a decade. The last time was in 2008, when the nation was affected by the crisis that followed the US subprime mortgage collapse.Previously, when anti-speculation measures led the construction indu

SEJONG -- Statistics Korea forecasts that the nation’s population will start declining in 2029 after peaking at 51.94 million in 2028.By sex, the timing of drop in men will likely come first, beginning from 2026 after reaching an all-time high of 25.97 million in 2025, while the number of women is projected to fall starting from 2031.But the symptom of an earlier-than-expected drop mode in the men’s population has already surfaced, according to monthly demographic figures held by the

SEJONG -- Over the past year or more, South Koreans who told pollsters they did not support President Moon Jae-in most often pointed to the economy as the main reason. A large portion of those dissatisfied with the incumbent administration have said it is incapable of dealing with economic issues and improving ordinary people’s livelihoods.To some extent, their disappointment is backed up by sagging indices in areas such as employment, GDP growth, exports, labor costs, the value of the cur

SEJONG -- South Korea has become the first Asian country to sign a free trade agreement with a Central American trade bloc, composed of five countries -- Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama.The Korea-Central America FTA took effect on Oct. 1, as the initial effectuation with Honduras and Nicaragua. The deal with the other three will be implemented after ratification by their legislatures.Korea is pinning big hopes on its 16th FTA deal with the Central American countries, and

SEJONG -- The growing number of single-person households in South Korea came to the fore three or four years ago, along with the expanding number of industries and services designed to accommodate them. This demographic change reflects the rapid growth in the number of seniors residing alone and falling marriage rates among people in their 30s and 20s.Simultaneously, low fertility rates among newlyweds have produced a sharp increase in the number of two-member households.The number of households

SEJONG – It’s still too early to call it confidence, but optimism is growing among some capital-market participants and analysts in South Korea over the possibility that stock prices will rebound. They cite favorable external factors involving eased concerns about the trade dispute between the US and China as the prospects of a bilateral compromise grow.The benchmark Kospi has been swayed by external factors like global financial crisis over the past few years or decades. However, li

SEJONG -- The number of South Koreans, who have been “de facto” out of work, has surpassed the 3 million mark.The extended unemployment figures, as specified by Statistics Korea’s Employment Supplementary Index III, includes “underemployed” workers, such as temporary employees who work fewer than 36 hours a week and want full-time employment, as well as seasonal workers who are out of work for part of the year. The standard unemployment rate stayed at 3 percent, wit

SEJONG -- It is now close to one month since the nation’s first case of African swine fever was confirmed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 17.The number of outbreaks of the deadly animal virus came to 13 as of 4 p.m., Oct. 8 -- eight in Gyeonggi Province and five in Incheon. All the affected regions are close to the inter-Korean border: Paju, Gyeonggi Province, with five cases; Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, with one case; Ganghwa County, Incheon, with five cases; and Gimpo, Gyeong

SEJONG -- A variety of polls show that the public disapproval rating for President Moon Jae-in now outstrips his approval rating.According to a survey from Gallup Korea, the portion of respondents who expressed negative opinion toward the president, exceeded the supporters for him for the sixth consecutive week since August.In the pollster’s latest survey, conducted on Oct. 1-2, 51 percent of the 1,000 citizens polled expressed disapproval of Moon’s performance, while the approval ra