SEJONG -- It is widely known to the public that South Korea’s senior population is rapidly growing, as the government and media outlets have continued to raise awareness about the aged society and demographic changes.The percentage of Koreans aged 70 or over has surpassed 10 percent. Further, the percentage of those aged 65 or over -- who are classified as seniors -- has exceeded 15 percent.The situation of fast-aging is getting more critical, given the current figure for the population of

SEJONG -- South Korea saw the number of employed people increase by 452,000 on-year to 27.35 million in August, the latest monthly figure from Statistics Korea.But when broken down by generation, things are looking less rosy for middle-aged people in charge of households involving young children.Those in their 60s dominated the increase in employment with 391,000, followed by those in their 50s with 133,000 and those in their 20s with 71,000.On the contrary, the number of employed dropped among

SEJONG -- Household debt in South Korea has hogged the limelight in recent decades.The nation’s collective household debt has continued to rise in the wake of active credit card issuance, mortgage loans, student loans for college tuition and loans taken by the self-employed.Apart from first-tier commercial banks, secondary lenders -- such as capital services firms, credit card issuers and savings banks -- have engaged in cutthroat competition for household lending.Registered private moneyl

SEJONG -- In South Korea, the military seized control of state affairs for about three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s.Though Korea is no longer a dictatorship, if asked whether the country still has a privileged class with an abundance of unchecked power, no doubt most ordinary people would not hesitate to point the finger at prosecutors.But certain segments of society -- notably prosecutors and right-wing politicians -- would vociferously disagree. They would say the prosecution has carrie

SEJONG -- Five cases of African swine fever were confirmed in South Korea in the week from Sept. 17. The incubation period is one week or more.On Tuesday, the fourth and fifth cases of the deadly virus were detected at a hog farm in Gyeonggi Province's Paju and Incheon City's Ganghwa, following the previous day’s case at a farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.Since the first outbreak, Paju has recorded two ASF cases, and Yeoncheon, Gimpo and Ganghwa have seen one each.　Quar

SEJONG -- Four cases of African swine fever were confirmed in South Korea in the week from Sept. 17. The incubation period is one week or more.On Tuesday, the fourth case of the deadly virus was detected at a hog farm in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, following the previous day’s third case at a farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.Since the first outbreak, Paju has recorded two ASF cases, and Yeoncheon and Gimpo have seen one each.　Quarantine officials are looking into another suspected case report

SEJONG -- Four cases of African swine fever have been confirmed in South Korea in a week since Sept. 17. Its incubation period is one week or more.On Tuesday, the fourth case of the deadly virus was detected at a hog farm in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, following the previous day’s third case at a farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.Since the first outbreak, Paju recorded two ASF cases, and Yeoncheon and Gimpo one each.Quarantine authorities are on alert to the possibility that ASF will spread to

SEJONG -- Another case of African swine fever was confirmed Monday at a hog farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, following the second outbreak of the virus in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, last Wednesday.The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, which dispatched a group of quarantine officials to the farm earlier in the day, announced at 7:53 p.m. on Monday that the suspected pigs at the farm tested positive for the virus.The hog farm is located in Gimpo City’s Tongj

SEJONG -- Another suspected case of African swine fever was reported Monday at a hog farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, while there has been no additional confirmed case of the virus for four days since the second outbreak in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday.The farm is located in Gimpo’s Tongjin district, which is south of Kaesong in North Korea and west of Gyeonggi’s Paju, where the first outbreak of ASF hit the nation last Tuesday. Tongjin, Paju and Yeoncheon are areas cl

SEJONG -- South Korea still has recorded two cases of African swine fever since Wednesday, as two more suspected cases (three dead hogs) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, tested negative for the virus early Saturday.On Friday, two hog farms in the region notified the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the suspected cases of ASF, and a group of inspectors were dispatched to the farms in Paju’s Jeokseong (where two hogs were found dead early in th

SEJONG -- South Korea’s quarantine authorities are striving to prevent African swine fever, which was detected in the nation’s northwestern region near the inter-Korean border this week, from spreading to other parts of the country.After the first outbreak in Paju, a city in northern Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, the second case was confirmed Wednesday at a hog farm in the nearby county of Yeoncheon, located east of Paju. Both areas are near the border with North Korea.Nearly 9,000 pig

SEJONG -- South Korean authorities Tuesday quarantined employees of hog-raising farms until Thursday morning in the aftermath of an outbreak of African swine fever.The deadly ASF virus was detected at a farm in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, which is located between Seoul and Kaesong, North Korea, early in the day, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.ASF is a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever in pigs and can be spread via fomites and uncooked pig products. The disease ha

SEJONG -- An interest among the people under the Moon Jae-in administration is whether an independent investigative agency, which holds the authority to indict crime-suspected prosecutors or other public officials, will be launched.The agency, which is being pushed in the 20th National Assembly, has been dubbed the Senior Civil Servant Crime Investigation unit.Previous administrations and legislatures had also tried and failed to create such a body, such as the Roh Moo-hyun administration’

SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in administration has continued to push for “income-led” growth by raising the minimum wage and scaling back the workweek. This was aimed at boosting consumption by raising the disposable income of low-income households. This in turn was meant to boost growth in the overall economy.But drastic hikes in the minimum wage had side effects, as small and midsized businesses took a conservative stance toward hiring due to higher labor costs, which have been linked to

SEJONG -- The government is claiming that the nation’s index on employment has improved, compared to past months.But the situation is still bleak when it comes to the comparison with the 36 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which measures employment as a proportion of the working age population -- those aged between 15 and 64. In the latest data held by the OECD, South Korea ranked 28th out of the 36 OECD countries in terms of this employment rate,

SEJONG -- A large portion of online commenters say that the Moon Jae-in government should be held accountable for letting housing prices spiral out of control since taking office in May 2017.A variety of data showed that Seoul apartment prices climbed sharply between 2017 and 2018, compared to figures during past administrations.In 2012, apartment prices in Seoul posted the negative growth of 6.1 percent on-year, hit by the subprime mortgage fiasco in the US and the global financial crisis.Figur

SEJONG -- South Korea has become one of several countries undergoing rapid demographic changes that could dent the nation’s competitiveness in the mid- to long term. With fewer babies being born, senior citizens make up a growing proportion of the Korean population and the average age has climbed over the past decade.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the average age reached 42.4 years as of August, as compared with 41.9 a year earlier.The average ages for men and women were

SEJONG -- The 2020 general election for South Korea’s next National Assembly is coming in about 200 days.A core issue is whether the ruling Democratic Party of Korea will continue to secure its dominance in support ratings over the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.The Democratic Party has yet to yield its leading position in approval ratings among the people since President Moon-Jae-in took office in May 2017.But symptoms of situation change have emerged over the past few months amid sa

SEJONG -- Nearly half of South Koreans responded that their economic situation had worsened since President Moon Jae-in took office in May 2017, a poll showed.According to the survey by the Opinion Research Justice, which was released on Aug. 29, only 17 percent of the 1,000 sampled respondents said their economic situation had improved under the Moon administration, compared to the previous government.In contrast, 48.8 percent of them responded that their economic situation has worsened over th

SEJONG -- Stock prices on the nation’s first-tier bourse have been on a bearish run amid the trade war between South and Japan that began late last month.The Kospi has stayed under 2,000 points for the 18th consecutive trading session since August 2, when it fell to 1,998.13 from 2,017.34 a session earlier.The benchmark index closed at 1,941.09 on Aug. 28, down 8.8 percent or 189.53 points from two months earlier in June 28, when it reached 2,130.62. It also marked more than a 100 point dr