Samsung Electronics has reclaimed the top spot in global smartphone sales, surpassing Apple. According to market research firm IDC, Samsung Electronics ranked first in market share (20.8 percent), with 60.1 million smartphones sold, in the first quarter of this year. Apple, which sold 50.1 million smartphones, retreated to second place in Q1 with 17.3 percent of the market share. Samsung’s sales fell by 0.7 percent compared to the first quarter of last year, but Apple sales showed a shar

The number of farming households in South Korea fell below 1 million for the first time ever in 2023, and half of farmers were aged 65 or older, data showed. The number of farming households came to 999,000 as of December 2023, down 2.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the first time that the figure has fallen below the 1 million mark since 1949 when the agency began compiling related data, though the data has a margin of error of about

South Korea’s exports of cosmetic goods rose more than 20 percent on-year to reach an all-time high in the first quarter of 2024, amid the growing popularity of Korean culture, data showed. Outbound shipments of cosmetics totaled $2.3 billion during the January-March period, up 21.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service. It marked the highest level ever for any first-quarter figure. Overseas sales of South Korean cosmetic goods reached a yearly h

The number of traffic deaths in South Korea dropped to a record low of around 2,500 last year, nearly half the figure recorded a decade ago, data showed. A total of 2,551 people died from road accidents in 2023, a 6.7 percent decline from the 2,735 deaths recorded the previous year, according to the National Police Agency. It marks an 81 percent drop compared with 1991, when the death toll hit the highest at 13,429, and nearly half the rate from a decade ago, when fatalities from vehicle crash

A recent survey from the employment platform Catch revealed that around 8 out of 10 Koreans in their 20s and 30s were still economically dependent on their parents. According to the survey conducted on 1,903 job-seekers in their 20s and 30s, 77 percent replied that they were still economically dependent on their parents, and only 23 percent replied that they were independent. At a closer look, 43 percent of the participants replied they still live with their parents and 41 percent said they re

Two-thirds of overseas residents reported a positive change in their perception of Korea thanks to Korean cultural content, a government report showed. The 2024 report issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliate, the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, showed that 66.1 percent of respondents who had engaged with Korean content, such as TV dramas and films, said it had a favorable impact on their perception of Korea. The report was based on an onli

The French bulldog has been chosen as America’s most popular dog breed for the second year in a row, according to the data collected by the American Kennel Club. The Labrador retriever, which held the top place for 31 years before being dethroned by the French bulldog in 2022, came in at second place once again. The French bulldog has seen a rapid rise in popularity since 2015, when it first entered the top 10 list in 100 years. The top 5 dog breeds in 2023 remained the same as 2022 with

Long-distance travel will be more active this year than before, and many will leave for North America or Europe. A local online tourist agency, yeogi.com, surveyed its 233 mobile app users in March, and 62.2 percent of respondents said they are planning long-distance travel to destinations including the US, Canada, France and the UK. These results show a change from recent preferences for short trips to countries nearby such as Japan and Vietnam. North America was named the most preferred dest

The number of passengers on South Korea’s bullet trains, the KTX and SRT, hit a record high during the first quarter this year, the trains’ operators said. From January to March, the number of KTX users jumped to 19.26 million from 17.91 million during the same period last year, according to Korea Railroad Corp. SR Inc. said the number of SRT users rose to 6.43 million from 6.3 million during the same period. The operators said pent-up travel demand after years of the COVID-19 pand

Samsung Electronics was the most popular home appliance brand in the United States last year in terms of market share, data showed. Samsung Electronics took up 21 percent of the home appliance market share in the US in terms of sales in 2023, followed by Korean rival LG Electronics at 19 percent, General Electric at 18 percent and Whirlpool at 15 percent, according to data from market researcher TraQline. A survey by also showed that Samsung was the most considered brand when consumers purchas

Exports of South Korean beverage products jumped to a record $572 million last year, helped by the popularity of Korean culture, government data showed Monday. The country’s beverage exports jumped 11.5 percent in 2023 from $513 million a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Corp. By country, beverage shipments to China accounted for 21 percent, or $121 million, followed by shipments to the United States with $83 million, Cambodia with $54 million and

A recent survey on Korea’s kimchi consumption has shown a shift in preference toward shop-bought kimchi rather than home-made kimchi. And 4 out of 10 households found that their children did not eat kimchi. According to the 2023 Kimchi Industry Survey Analysis Report by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., 40.9 percent of the 3,183 households surveyed answered that their children do not consume kimchi. The ratio of children that do not eat kimchi has been rising gradually, from 3

India’s financial hub Mumbai, with a population of 21.6 million, now holds the highest number of billionaires in Asia and ranks third behind New York and London in the world ranking, according to Hurun Research Institute’s global rich list. Mumbai overtook Beijing to become Asia’s leading billionaire hub for the first time with 92 billionaires. South Korea’s Seoul places 19th globally with 31 billionaires. In country rankings, China was still at the top of the list with

Most South Korean users of recently burgeoning Chinese e-commerce platforms were dissatisfied with various aspects of their services despite their competitive pricing, a poll showed. In the poll conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently on 800 consumers with experience using either AliExpress, Temu or Shein in the past year, 80.9 percent said they have experienced dissatisfaction with the services. Delayed delivery was cited as the biggest reason for dissatisfaction, at

According to the Korea Tourism Data Lab, the online information platform of the Korea Tourism Organization, one-third of tourists who visited Korea last year were 30 years old or younger. Of 11.03 million tourists to Korea in 2023, 3.93 million (35.6 percent) were under the age of 31. Those aged 21-30 were 2.79 million (25.3 percent), while those 20 and under were 1.11 million (10.3 percent). Among the young tourists, 42.3 percent came from Japan, showing a 15.7 percent increase from 10 years

The number of marriages between South Koreans and foreign national spouses rose more than 18 percent in 2023, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The number of international marriages fell sharply to some 15,300 cases in 2020 from the previous year's 23,600 and further to about 13,000 the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the figure bounced back to over 17,000 in 2022 and further to nearly 20,000 last year. Vietnamese women took up the largest share of all wives of

Damages from phishing scams jumped on-year in 2023 despite growing awareness of the crime, data showed. Damages from phishing crimes came to 196.5 billion won ($147.8 million) last year, up 35.4 percent from 145.1 billion won in 2022, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. The number of people who fell victim to the crime dropped 10.2 percent to 11,503 from 12,816 over the cited period. Phishing is a crime where victims are conned into transferring money to scammers or s

New York easily remains the world’s top financial center, cementing its position for the past six years after it overtook London, in second place ever since, with Singapore ranked third, the Global Financial Centres Index 35 published by Z/Yen Group showed. Hong Kong remains in fourth place, followed by San Francisco nipping at its heels, helped by its strong role in financing tech. New York overtook London in 2018, after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union two years ear

Only one out of 35 Korean films with a major budget was directed by a female director last year, a report showed. Action thriller “The Point Men,” directed by Yim Soon-rye, was the sole movie with a female director among the 35 commercial films with a production budget exceeding 3 billion won ($2.25 million), according to the report released by the Korean Film Council on the status of gender equality in the Korean film industry. The state-run movie promotion agency has been publish

A total of 8,541 migrants perished on land and sea routes worldwide in 2023, the UN migration agency said, the highest figure since it began counting such deaths a decade ago. The International Organization for Migration said the biggest increase in deaths last year came amid the treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing: reaching 3,129 from 2,411 in 2022. This figure was however below the record 5,136 number of people who died trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2016, when huge numbers of Syria