South Korea saw the addition of 38 new public libraries nationwide last year thanks to the government‘s efforts to enhance access to libraries in recent years. 　According to a recent statistical survey by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliated Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, the number of public libraries reached 1,134 as of 2019. 　This is in line with the average annual 3.8 percent increase in the number of public libraries registered since 2016. 　Th

　Sales of instant noodles in South Korea soared to an all-time high in the first half of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak, data showed. 　Local shipments of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean, came to 1.13 trillion won ($950 million) in the January-June period, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Nielsen Korea and released by industry leader Nongshim. 　The first-half tally represents the largest half-year sales figure on record. 　N

　More than one-third of children and adolescents across the United States eat fast-food each day, according to new figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 　In 2018, 36 percent of young people ate fast food every day, an increase from 34 percent of in 2011, researchers said. 　Up to 14 percent of young people obtained 25 percent to 45 percent of their daily calories from fast-food - up from just over 12 percent in 2011, agency researchers said. 　The percentage is hig

　South Korea’s exports of coronavirus test kits have declined since their peak in April, leading to a plunge in stock prices of test kit makers, data showed. 　With the coronavirus pandemic raging across the globe, many countries had scrambled to import Korean COVID-19 test kits, in a boon to local manufacturers. 　According to data from the Korea Customs Service, the value of test kit exports came to $214 million in April, a more than eightfold jump from $24 million in March. 　Howe

　Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received the lowest approval rating in a recent survey covering six countries and their response to the global coronavirus pandemic. 　The poll conducted by US-German communications consultancy Kekst CNC shows Abe is under fire for his handling of the health crisis as speculation grows in Japan that Abe could leave office before the end of his term in September 2021. 　The survey, which polled 1,000 respondents from the US, Britain, Germany, Sweden, France

　One in 4 parents who took parental leave in the first half of the year were fathers, data showed, as more men opted to stay home to take care of their children when schools closed in response to the new coronavirus outbreak. 　The number of men who went on parental leave in the January-June period reached 14,857, accounting for 24.7 percent of 60,206 parental leave takers in the private sector, according to the data from the Labor Ministry. The data excludes public servants and teachers. 　

　The average South Korean teen gets 7 hours and 18 minutes of sleep per night, one hour short of the average in developed countries, according to a survey by the state-funded National Youth Policy Institute. 　More than half of them suffer from sleep deprivation, mostly due to study and internet surfing. 　The study found that the average teenager sleeps 7 hours and 18 minutes a night, with elementary, middle and high school students averaging 8 hours and 41 minutes, 7 hours and 21 minutes a

　Employees are logging longer hours, attending more meetings with more people and sending more emails. 　From New York City to Tel Aviv, the telecommuting revolution has meant a lot more work, according to a study of 3.1 million people at more than 21,000 companies across 16 cities in North America, Europe and the Middle East. 　The researchers compared employee behavior over two 8 week periods before and after COVID-19 lockdowns. Looking at email and meeting meta-data, the group calculated

　South Korea placed 28th and received a grade of C minus on Asher & Lyric’s Best Countries for Raising a Family in 2020. 　The best country to raise a family was once again a Nordic country, Iceland, which got an A plus and a 1093.07 index score. 　Norway ranked second, followed by Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg. 　The study ranks 35 OECD nations in six categories: safety, happiness, cost, health, education and time. 

　Sales of mobile games here soared to a record high in the first half of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic that has largely confined people to their homes, industry data showed. 　Combined sales of three app markets - Google’s Play Store for Android devices, Apple’s App Store for iPhones and ONE - stood at 2.83 trillion won ($2.37 billion) in the January-June period, up 1.3 times from a year earlier, according to data from mobile big data platform IGAWorks. 　The figure also

　Only one-third of people with disabilities had jobs last year, data showed, underscoring the employment challenges facing disabled people. 　The employment rate of disabled people stood at 34.9 percent in 2019, compared with the rate of 60.9 percent for the total population, according to the data from Statistics Korea. 　By age, the employment rate of disabled people from 15 and 29 stood at 30.6 percent while that for people aged 30 to 39 stood at 53.4 percent. 　As of 2018, 2.51 million

　Eleven North Korean defectors went back to their communist homeland from South Korea over the past five years, the Unification Ministry said, after Pyongyang claimed that a defector suspected of having virus symptoms recently crossed the demarcation line to return home. 　The 24-year-old defector is believed to have fled back to the North while he was under police investigation over suspicions of raping a female defector last month. His return was made known after the North said that a &ldq

　The number of fake South Korean banknotes found here continued to decline in the first half, and the combined face value of the counterfeits also dropped sharply, central bank data showed. 　In the January-June period, the number of counterfeit banknotes found here came to 129, down 19.4 percent from 160 bills found a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. 　The half-year tally marks a steady decline since the second half of 2017. (Yonhap)

　The North Korean economy is estimated to have expanded at an annual rate o f 4.7 percent between 1956 and 1989, the Bank of Korea estimated. 　North Korea's economy grew at a double-digit rate up until the 1960s, but has failed to catch up to that of South Korea since then, according to the central bank. 　The BOK report said the North Korean economy is believed to have expanded at an average annual rate of 13.7 percent between the 1956-1960 period. Its growth nosedived to an average 4.1 pe

　The number of people using financial mobile apps, including for banking and stock trading, has surpassed users of apps for online shopping and games, industry data showed. 　According to data from mobile big data platform IGAWorks, a total of 31.16 million people with Android devices used financial applications in June, compared to 23.63 million people using e-commerce apps and 19.84 million mobile game users here. 　A total of 37.5 million Android device owners used portal apps including N

　The number of human immunodeficiency virus infections among young people in South Korea has been rising in recent years, a report said, stressing the need for state efforts to stem the trend. 　Korea reported 469 new HIV patients aged 10-29 in 2019, up sharply from 415 a year earlier, according to the report by the Korea Federation for HIV/AIDS Prevention. 　The number had been on a steady increase since 2011, when 248 new adolescent cases were reported. (Yonhap)

　South Korea’s exports of kimchi rose sharply in the first half of the year thanks to its growing popularity, data showed. 　Overseas shipments of kimchi came to 20,259 metric tons in the January-June period, accounting for 68.3 percent of full-year exports in 2019, according to the data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. 　South Korea‘s outbound shipments of kimchi have been on a steady rise with the volume rising from 23,490 tons in 2016 to 24,311 tons in 2017

　North Korea has lost around 210,000 hectares of forest over the past decade, a UN agency’s report showed, pointing to a worsening deforestation problem in the communist state. 　According to the report from the Food and Agriculture Organization, North Korea’s forest area stood at 6.03 million hectares this year, down from 6.24 million hectares in 2010. 　The decline is in line with a steady shrinkage in forest in North Korea over the past three decades. 　Forest area in the Nort

　South Korea’s mail volume fell at the biggest-ever pace in the first half of the year as the coronavirus outbreak sharply reduced demand, data showed. 　Mail volume in Asia’s fourth-largest economy came to 1.59 billion pieces during the January-June period, down 8.9 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Post. 　The figure was the largest-ever on-year decline and much higher than the 5.3 percent on-year drop recorded during the same period last year. (Yonh

　South Korean imports of beer fell last year for the first time in a decade, largely on a nationwide boycott of Japanese products amid a yearlong trade dispute, data showed. 　Imports of beer stood at 360,000 tons in 2019, down 7.2 percent from 387,000 tons a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. It marked the first on-year decrease since 2009, a sharp turnaround from a 17.1 percent hike in 2018 and a 50.2 percent jump in 2017. (Yonhap)