South Korean soccer sensation Son Heung-min has been shortlisted for the 2019 Ballon d’Or award.　France Football announced the 30 candidates, which include Lionel Messi, Cristian Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk but not Neymar. The awards ceremony will take place on Dec. 2 in Paris.　Son is the third Korean to be named on the list, following Seol Ki-hyeon (2002) and Park Ji-sung (2005). Seol and Park were among lists of 50 nominees. The French magazine cut down the number to 30 in 2008.

　The United Nations’ food agency said around 14 percent of food produced globally is lost and has urged action to address the causes as part of efforts to protect the environment.　The UN Food and Agriculture Organization noted that a combination of causes - including harvesting and handling practices, lack of infrastructure, agricultural blights and climatic conditions - keep fueling large food losses around the world. 　FAO said its estimates focus on losses between harvest and sales. It s

　About 15 percent of the foreign residents in South Korea are undocumented immigrants, with Thais forming the biggest national group, a report showed.　A total of 370,889 foreigners were staying in South Korea without permission as of July, 15 percent of the entire population of foreign nationals residing in the country, according to a report by the Ministry of Justice, submitted to Rep. Lee Eun-jae of the Liberty Korea Party.　Of the undocumented foreigners, the number of Thai residents reached 1

　People aged 65 or older made up about 15 percent of South Korea’s population this year, a report showed, highlighting concerns that the fast demographic transition could have negative effects on the country’s economy.　According to the report from Statistics Korea, the number of people aged 65 or older stood at 7.68 million this year, accounting for 14.9 percent of the nation’s population. 　The Korean population is projected to peak in 2028, then go on a downward curve, the rep

　The South Korea passport has nearly topped the list as the world’s most powerful, offering citizens access to 188 countries without a visa in advance, tying it with Germany and Finland, according to the Henley Passport Index. 　Singapore and Japan shared the No. 1 spot with access to 190 countries.　Denmark, Italy and Luxembourg hold the next spot with 187 countries, while France, Sweden and Spain ranked one lower with 186 countries, according to the report.

　Hong Kong has been battered by more than four months of pro-democracy protests - and increasingly violent clashes with police - with Beijing-backed Chief Executive Carrie Lam unable to resolve the unprecedented crisis.　　Hong Kong officials have revealed that out of 2,379 protesters arrested since June, 750 were under 18 and 104 under 16.　The subway system - viewed as an enemy for ferrying police and shuttering stations - has been crippled, with some 2,400 ticketing machines and turnstiles vanda

　The number of elderly South Koreans with mental health issues has risen sharply in recent years, as the country scrambles to provide better health care for its people, a report showed.　In the report to the National Assembly, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service said that in the 2010-2018 period, the number of people over 80 afflicted with major depression surged 176.5 percent, with the figure for those in their 70s increasing 59.4 percent.　As of last year, roughly 40 percent of th

　New York has extended its lead as the world’s top financial center, with London barely holding on to second place ahead of Hong Kong, as uncertainty over Brexit takes its toll on the UK capital, a Z/Yen Group survey showed.　Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai, Shenzhen and Sydney make up the remainder of the top 10 centers, the Global Financial Centers Index said in a statement. 　South Korea’s two largest cities, Seoul and Busan, ranked Nos. 39 and 43, respectively.　The GFCI

　What’s the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency? If you think it’s Bitcoin, which accounts for about 70 percent of all the digital-asset world’s market value, you’re probably wrong.　While concrete figures on trading volumes are hard to come by in this often murky corner of finance, data from CoinMarketCap.com shows that the token with the highest daily and monthly trading volume is Tether, whose market capitalization is more than 30 times smaller. 　Tether’

　South Korea’s annual greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high of 709.1 million tons in 2017, a government environment agency said Monday.　The Greenhouse Gas General Information Center, under the Ministry of Environment, disclosed the emissions results after getting confirmation by a government committee in charge of controlling greenhouse gas.　The output marks growth of 2.4 percent from 2016 when the corresponding figure came to 692.6 tons, according to the center.　It is also the fi

　The number of foreigners visiting South Korea for medical treatment shot up 18 percent last year, government data showed.　In a report to the National Assembly, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute said over 378,900 foreign nationals arrived here for treatment last year, up from around 321,500 in 2017.　The institute said that of them, the number of Japanese who visted for medical purposes surged 56 percent to 42,500 in 2018 from just under 27,300 the previous year. (Yonhap)

　The risk of a property bubble in the eurozone surged last year as ultralow interest rates helped drive up house prices.　Munich is now the city most vulnerable to a property bubble, according to UBS Group’s annual Real Estate Bubble Index. Frankfurt and Paris are increasingly in danger of prices becoming unsustainable, even as some of the priciest cities around the world cool, the report said.　For the first time in four years, London is no longer regarded as dangerously overvalued. Prices

　South Korea ranked 20th out of 53 countries surveyed by German insurer Allianz Group in terms of per capita financial assets last year, according to a report from the group.　According to the recently released “Allianz Global Wealth Report,” Koreans’ financial assets stood at an average of 39 million won ($33,000) per person in 2018, slightly up from a year earlier.　Last year, the United States topped the list with per capita financial assets of 240 million won, followed by Swi

　As the population ages, the number of South Koreans with dementia has soared in recent years and so have associated costs, data showed. In 2018, dementia-related medical spending exceeded the 2 trillion won ($1.67 billion) threshold for the first time.　According to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Rep. Kim Kwang-soo, the number of people diagnosed with various forms of neurodegenerative disease rose from 416,309 in 2014 to 547,700 in 2016 and hit 712,386 last year. 　Du

　South Korea’s trade surplus in beauty products hit an all-time high of 5.47 trillion won ($4.56 billion) last year on the back of strong demand from China and other Asian countries, government data showed.　Outbound shipments of cosmetics stood at 6.89 trillion won last year, up 23.3 percent on-year, while imports grew 6.8 percent to 1.42 trillion won, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. (Yonhap)

　The number of drug smuggling cases in South Korea over the past five years exceeded 2,300, data from the Korea Customs Service showed.　A total of 2,337 instances of drug smuggling were discovered here from 2015 to July this year, resulting in the seizure of illegal drugs with a total street value of 1.43 trillion won ($1.2 billion), according to the customs data released by Rep. Shim Jae-cheol of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.　The number of drug smuggling attempts to come to the atten

　Six in 10 South Koreans support a proposal to delay the legal retirement age to 65 from the current 60, a poll showed.　The poll of 1,539 adults aged 19 to 64 conducted by the Korea Institute of Public Administration from Sept. 2-11 found that 61.1 percent were in favor of delaying the retirement age. Only 19.6 percent opposed the proposal, while another 19.3 percent said they had no opinion.　Of those who favored a later retirement age, 61.2 percent said 65 was the most appropriate age, followed

　The number of violations of rights cases involving soldiers has been on a steady increase over the past five years, according to government data.　A total of 253 complaints were filed by service personnel with the National Human Rights Commission last year, up from 153 in 2015 and 199 in 2016, though down from 278 in 2017, showed data compiled by the commission and released by Rep. Choi Jae-sung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.　As of end-July, 367 such cases had been reported for 2019, i

　The number of South Korean nationals living overseas rose slightly last year from two years earlier, largely led by increases in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, a biennial report by the Foreign Ministry showed.　The figure stood at 7.49 million at the end of 2018, up 0.85 percent, or 62,899, from the 7.43 million tallied at the end of 2016, according to the report on Koreans living in 180 countries. That compares with a 3.42 percent gain in 2016 and a 2.45 percent increase in 2014.　Of the to

　Nearly 90 percent of the counterfeit goods found by customs authorities in the last five years were from China, with Louis Vuitton  the biggest victim among reputable brands, data showed. 　The value of imported fake goods uncovered between 2015 and August this year amounted to 1.86 trillion won ($1.55 billion), with 89 percent, or 1.65 trillion won, from China, according to data from the Korea Customs Service obtained by Rep. Hong Il-pyo.　Louis Vuitton was on top among counterfeited brands