More than 1,200 teenagers have fallen victim to online sex crimes so far this year, an 11-fold jump from 2018, government data showed.  　The number of teenage victims rose sharply from 111 in 2018 to 1,268 this year, according to the Gender Ministry data released by Rep. Yang Kum-hee of the main opposition People Power Party. The ministry tallied the number based on data from the state-run Women’s Human Rights Institute of Korea. 　Digital sex crime victims totaled 14,070 between A

  The number of delivery workers in South Korea swelled nearly 12 percent in the second half of last year to hit a record high amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed. Asia’s fourth-largest economy had 390,000 carriers as of the end of December last year, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea. The tally covers mail carriers, door-to-door couriers, food delivery workers, newspaper delivery workers and carriers of milk and other bev

　South Korea's internet banking services continued to grow in the first half of the year, with the number of users and daily transactions rising to new highs, central bank data showed. 　The number of internet banking users, including mobile banking, came to 186.5 million as of end-June, up 5.6 percent from six months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　The figure is the simple sum of all registered users of 18 internet and mobile banking service providers in the country,

　South Korean exports of seaweed products moved up 13 percent on-year over the first nine months of 2021, data showed, on the back of the growing popularity of Korean culture abroad. 　Outbound shipments of seaweed products came to $507 million in the January-September period, compared to the $448 million tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. 　The amount marked a sharp rise from just $100 million posted for all of 2010, the ministry sa

　The portion of high-level female public officials has reached a record-high level of nearly 10 percent this year, a government report showed. 　According to the 2021 report released by the Ministry of Personnel Management, the ratio of women among ranking civil servants at the central government’s ministries and agencies stood at 9.3 percent as of the first half of this year. 　The number marks yet another record high after the corresponding ratio hit 8.5 percent, or 132 women, for 2020

　Samsung Electronics topped the World’s Best Employers list for the second straight year, according to US business magazine Forbes. 　American tech giant IBM ranked second, followed by Microsoft, Amazon and Apple. 　South Korean cosmetics giant Amorepacific and LG came in 31st and 43rd, respectively. 　Forbes announced the rankings after surveying 150,000 full-time and part-time workers from 58 countries working for multinational companies and institutions.

Three-quarters of South Koreans agree with the need to shift to the “living with COVID-19” scheme, according to a recent poll, as the government is moving to phase out coronavirus restrictions under the new policy next month. According to the survey conducted early this month with 1,083 people aged 19 to 69, 76.5 percent expressed support for the government‘s planned transition to coexistence with the coronavirus. In a similar poll carried out in August, only 56.9 percent wer

Car accidents involving unlicensed teenagers soared by 34 percent between 2018 and 2020, road traffic data showed. According to a Korea Road Traffic Authority report submitted to Rep. Kang Deuk-gu of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, teenagers were in 833 accidents last year while driving without a license, a sharp jump from 618 and 689 accidents in 2018 and 2019, respectively. More than 3,100 people suffered injuries and 63 died in the total 2,140 accidents involving unlicensed teenagers

　Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The US government declared them extinct. 　It’s a rare move for wildlife officials to give up hope on a plant or animal, but government scientists say they’ve exhausted to find these 23. And they warn climate change, on top of other pressures, could make such disappearances more common as a warming planet adds to the dangers facing imperiled plants and wildlif

Three South Korean electric vehicle battery makers accounted for about a third of the global market in the first eight months of the year, but they are facing toughening competition with Chinese rivals, a market research firm said. The trio - LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation - accounted for 34.8 percent of the global EV battery market in the January-August period, inching down from 35 percent a year ago, according to the data from SNE Research. LG Energy Solution, which supp

Cancer remained the top cause of death in South Korea, with the number of deaths hitting a record high last year, a government report showed. In 2020, 304,948 deaths were reported in South Korea, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier. It marked the highest annual number since Statistics Korea began compiling such data in 1983. The statistics agency said 593.9 deaths were reported per 100,000 South Koreans last year. It also said 160.1 per 100,000 people died of cancer last year. Cancer has be

People aged 65 and older made up 16.5 percent of South Korea’s population this year, a report showed, highlighting concerns that the fast-aging demographic transition could pose a drag on the country’s economy. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of people aged 65 and older stood at 8.53 million this year. The South Korean population is projected to peak in 2028 before going on a downward curve, the report showed. However, the graying of South Korea will acce

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor’s electric vehicle sales increased in the first half of the year compared with a year ago, but its global market share fell in the face of toughening competitions with Chinese rivals, industry data showed. Hyundai Motor was in sixth place in terms of global EV sales in the January-June period, one notch down from the fifth position a year ago, according to the data by industry tracker SNE Research. The automaker’s global EV sales jumped 75.6 pe

Seoul has the 16th-best startup ecosystem among cities around the world, an annual report by a San Francisco-based research firm showed. According to Startup Genome’s Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021, South Korea’s capital ranked No. 16 on the list of 280 cities across 100 countries in terms of the competitiveness of its startup ecosystem, up four spots from last year. Seoul first appeared on the list in 2017 and entered the top 20 last year. San Francisco’s Silicon Val

　Nearly 2,400 foreign nationals are engaging in the home rental business in South Korea, with Chinese nationals accounting for more than one-third of the total, government data showed. 　The number of foreign home rental business operators in Asia’s fourth-largest economy stood at 2,394 as of the end of June last year, according to the data from the Land Ministry. 　There were 885 Chinese housing rental business owners here, making up 37 percent of the total. Americans came next at 702.

  The world has marked the first rise in child labor in two decades and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more youngsters toward the same fate, the United Nations said. In a joint report, the International Labor Organization and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said the number in child labor stood at 160 million at the start of 2020 - an increase of 8.4 million in four years. The hike began before the pandemic hit and marks a dramatic reversal of a downward trend that h

More than 42 percent of 30-somethings in South Korea remained unmarried last year, census data showed, underscoring the trend in which many young people delay or give up on marriage, amid a prolonged economic slowdown. Out of 13.7 million single people aged 15 and older, 2.82 million people were in their 30s last year, up from 2.68 million five years prior, according to the 2020 census by Statistics Korea. The percentage of unmarried people in their 30s reached 42.5 percent last year, up 6.2 p

　South Korea has clinched the top spot in Asia in a United Nations agency’s global innovation rankings, coming in fifth globally. 　In the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index 2021, Korea was ahead of Singapore, Japan and China. It was behind Switzerland, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom. 　Korea, Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, was in 10th place last year. (Yonhap)

　South Korea has imported twice as many cats and dogs this year compared with two years ago, as people spend more time at home amid the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, customs data showed. 　According to the data by the regional customs office in Incheon, a main gateway for trade located about 40 kilometers west of Seoul, the number of cats and dogs brought in to the country via air carriers reached 10,241 in the January-August period this year, including 7,961 canines and 2,280 felines. 　Th

　Traffic accidents involving personal mobility devices, such as electric scooters, quadrupled from 2018 to 2020, government data showed, raising alarm over the safety of riders. 　According to the data from the National Police Agency, disclosed by Rep. Huh Young of the Democratic Party, the number of traffic accidents involving electric scooters and other personal mobility devices came to 897 in 2020, up nearly fourfold from 225 in 2018. 　During the same time period, the annual number of in