The amount of illegal narcotics confiscated in South Korea reached an all-time high last year, with an increase of foreign and juvenile drug offenders, government data showed. 　According to the data compiled by the Supreme Prosecutors Office, a total of 1,295.7 kilograms of illegal drugs were confiscated in 2021, more than a threefold jump from a year earlier. 　Noticeably, the amount of major illegal drugs - including methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana - soared more than five times on-ye

　Nearly 43,000 people were killed on US roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the roads after the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay at home. 　The 10.5 percent jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began its fatality data collection system in 1975. Exacerbating the problem was a persistence of risky driving behaviors during the pandemic, such as speeding and less frequent use

　Total art investments into small shares of blue-chip paintings in South Korea amounted to nearly 100 billion won ($78.5 million) over the past 3 1/2 years, industry data showed. 　Four local online art investment platforms, including industry leader ArtnGuide, allow consumers to invest in iconic artworks by buying small ownership stakes, attracting small-sum investors interested in diversifying their investment portfolios to the field that had been previously only available to the wealthy. 　A

　Half of older adults in Seoul have no experience using digital kiosks, a survey showed, despite a rising number of businesses adopting such self-service electronic machines amid the pandemic. 　The poll released by the Seoul Digital Foundation, a digital arm of the city government, showed 45.8 percent of people aged 55 or older living in Seoul said they have used kiosk machines, compared with 94.1 percent of those aged less than 55. 　Noticeably, 29.4 percent of those aged between 65 and 74 ha

　Nearly half of LGBTQ youth aged 13 to 24 in America seriously considered committing suicide last year, according to a survey released. 　The poll of nearly 34,000 people was conducted by The Trevor Project, a non-profit that works to prevent suicide among young people in the LGTBQ community. 　This annual survey “demonstrates that rates of suicidal thoughts have trended upward among LGBTQ young people over the last three years,” said Amit Paley, the organization’s executive d

　South Korea’s imports of home furnishing products hit an all-time high last year on the back of demand by consumers staying home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed. 　The imports of eight kinds of home furnishing goods, including sofas and lamps, came to $3.5 billion last year, up 15.6 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Customs Service. 　It rose 26.1 percent from the pre-pandemic year of 2019. 　By country, inbound shipments from China were the largest wi

  　The United States’ approval rating in South Korea jumped at one of the steepest rates among Asian countries in 2021, a poll showed. 　The approval rating of US leadership in South Korea climbed to 59 percent last year from 30 percent a year earlier, according to Gallup. 　The increase marks the second highest among 33 Asian countries where the poll was conducted between April 2021 and January 2022. 　The median approval of US leadership in Asia was 41 percent. 　The approval rate for

　The daily number of riders on the Seoul subway system breached the 7 million mark for the first time in 1 1/2 years, data showed, partly on the back of rollbacks of COVID-19 restrictions. 　According to the data from Seoul subway operator Seoul Metro, 7,210,000 people rode subway trains in the capital city on April 29, marking the most single-day riders since Oct. 30, 2020. 　An average of 7,320,000 riders used the Seoul subway system in a 24-hour period in 2019, the data showed. The average t

　The number of gun deaths in the United States underwent a “historic” increase in 2020, possibly due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty, according to a report by health authorities published.  　The US racked up 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent as compared to 2019, and 24,245 gun suicides (up 1.5 percent), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its report.  　The CDC deemed both the murders and suicides by firearm &ldq

　Nearly 1 in 5 children in South Korea said they are unhappy, citing pressure to do well at school as the biggest reason, a survey showed. 　According to the poll conducted by the Health Ministry and the National Center for the Rights of the Child, 81.4 percent of those surveyed said they are either “somewhat happy” or “very happy,” while 18.6 percent said they are “not very happy” or “not at all happy.” 　Of the children who said they are unhappy

　Hong Kong has plummeted down an international press freedom chart as authorities have wielded a draconian new security law to silence critical news outlets and jail journalists, a new report said. 　For two decades, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders has ranked countries and territories around the world by how free their press is. 　Hong Kong, a regional media hub for both international and local media, has been steadily slipping down the table under Chinese rule. 　In the last ye

　The number of South Korean workers who took parental leave in 2021 decreased year-on-year for the first time since the system was introduced in 2001, government data showed. 　A total of 110,555 workers took time off to take care of their children last year, down 1.3 percent from the previous year‘s 112,040, according to statistics from the Labor Ministry. 　The decrease was attributed to the exceptionally large number of parental leave takers in 2020, when many schools and kindergartens

　Nearly half of LGBTQ youth aged 13 to 24 in America seriously considered committing suicide last year, according to a survey released. 　The poll of nearly 34,000 people was conducted by The Trevor Project, a non-profit that works to prevent suicide among young people in the LGTBQ community. 　This annual survey “demonstrates that rates of suicidal thoughts have trended upward among LGBTQ young people over the last three years,” said Amit Paley, the organization’s executive d

　The number of obese people in South Korea more than doubled between 2017 and 2021, a trend exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, data showed.  　According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of overweight patients increased from 14,966 in 2017 to 31,170 last year. 　The number of obese men increased by 3.4-fold to 9,676 and that of female patients grew by 1.7 times to 20,494. 　By age, those in their 30s had the largest proportion at 22.1 percent, followed

　Global military spending reached an all-time high of $2.1 trillion in 2021 for first time, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 　The world military expenditure increase has not died down despite the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spending rose by 0.7 percent last year, and it was the seventh consecutive yearly increase. 　The five largest spenders were the US, China, India, the UK and Russia, which together accounted for 62 percent of the total ex

  　Even as a new omicron wave gathers speed in some parts of the world, most countries are pushing ahead with reopening travel and easing restrictions in a bid to move past the COVID-19 era. 　In March, Norway claimed the No. 1 spot in Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking. After scrapping all of its travel restrictions, the country scored the highest among the 53 economies ranked with the most Vaccinated Travel Routes open and loose social curbs. The United Arab Emirates and Ireland r

　Global preferences for city destinations have changed, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 　UK-based Euromonitor picked Paris as No. 1 destination for city tours in 2021, based on its new index, comprising six performance pillars, including “tourism policy” and “health and safety.” 　Previously before the pandemic, Asian cities, such as Hong Kong and Bangkok, placed higher, with rankings based on the number of international arrivals. In 2021, travelers chose to visit Eu

　The number of students from multicultural backgrounds enrolled in elementary, middle, and high schools increased by three times over the last nine years to 160,058 this year from 46,954 in 2012, according to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Ministry of Education. 　As a result, the proportion of multicultural students among all students increased from 0.7 percent to 3 percent. 　In particular, in the case of elementary schools, the proportion nearly quadrupled from 1.1 percen

　The United States’ approval rating in South Korea jumped at one of the steepest rates among Asian countries in 2021, a poll showed. 　The approval rating of US leadership in South Korea climbed to 59 percent last year from 30 percent a year earlier, according to Gallup. 　The increase marks the second highest among 33 Asian countries where the poll was conducted between April 2021 and January 2022. 　The median approval of US leadership in Asia was 41 percent.  　The approval rate f

　Phishing scams involving instant messages in South Korea spiked in 2021 due to increased not-in-person activities amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　The amount in damages from messenger phishing came to 99.1 billion won ($80.3 million) last year, up 166 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. 　The figure accounted for nearly 59 percent of last year‘s total damages of 168.2 billion won resulting from phishing. 　Phishing is