How many issues a newspaper has published reflects the print media's history.    Global newspaper giant the New York Times boasts a long history and reputation. 　But there are few newspapers in Korea that have reached the 30,000th issue because they need to publish for nearly 100 years to hit the number. In that sense, it is meaningful that The Korea Herald, the nation’s No.1 English-language newspaper, was able to publish its 20,000th issue on Friday without any major interruptions since its f

　More than 60 percent of South Koreans have confidence in North Korea’s stated willingness for denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula, a survey showed.　In a Realmeter survey conducted when the historic inter-Korean summit took place, 64.7 percent of respondents said they trust Pyongyang’s will to denuclearize and work toward lasting peace on the peninsula.　Those who don’t trust the communist state totaled 28.3 percent, while 7 percent said they were unsure.　In the same survey, 52.1 p

　South Koreans work the third-longest hours among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to a report.　Employees in South Korea worked an average of 2,069 hours in 2016, compared to the OECD average of 1,763 hours. The figure includes part-time workers and those who work for part of the year, as well as full-time employees. 　Mexicans worked the most, with average working hours of 2,255, the data showed.　Meanwhile, Japan (1,713 hours), the United Stat

　South Korea’s economic freedom score is 73.8, making its economy the 27th freest in the 2018 Index. Its overall score has decreased by 0.5 point, with a steep decline for the government integrity indicator outweighing an improvement in investment freedom. 　South Korea ranked 51st as a corrupt nation out of the 180 countries and jumped 20 places to 43rd in press freedom index.　North Korea is the 171st least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index r

　The leaders of the two Koreas have agreed to “adopt practical steps” to connect and modernize the now-defunct cross-border railway lines. If restored, the rail networks of South Korea will be connected to those of the North, allowing further rail network expansion connecting to China and Russia. 

　The number of people who moved from Seoul to other regions was 421,887 last month, which is more than 22,367 who moved to Seoul (398,720), according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.　Last year, the figure was the lowest in 43 years due largely to a rise in housing prices and rapid aging.　Housing prices in Seoul rose sharply last year despite a series of measures to rein in surging prices, including tightened home mortgages.

　The gap in electricity supply capacity between South Korea and North Korea reached a record high, with the South capable of generating 14 times more in 2016, data from Statistics Korea and local power operators showed　South Korea‘s electricity output reached 105,866 megawatts in 2016 if all of its power plants operated at full capacity. By comparison, North Korea’s output was estimated at 7,661 MW. The difference is the largest since South Korea began to release related data in 1965.　Past recor

　According to the data compiled by Statistics Korea, the number of farmers also dropped 3 percent on-year to 2.42 million.　Households engaging in the farming business totaled 1.04 million last year, down 2.5 percent from a year ago, data showed.　The statistics office pointed out that it is mainly caused by the rapid aging of the population, with the younger generation moving to cities.　The average age of the head of farming families reached 67 last year, up from 66.3 in 2016.

　The rate of births outside marriage is on the rise in all EU member states to a greater or lesser extent, with the highest one recorded in France (59.7 percent in 2016) and the lowest in Greece (9.4 percent), the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) said in a statement.　According to Eurostat, Bulgaria and Slovenia accounted for the ratio of out-of-home births with 58.6 percent, followed by Estonia (56.1percent). Sweden (54.9 percent), Denmark (54 percent), Portugal (52.8 percent)

　Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie have been named the world's most admired people in a YouGov survey.　Philanthropist Gates and humanitarian Jolie have topped the poll in each of the annual surveys, since the study introduced separate rankings for the sexes in 2015.　Jackie Chan moves ahead of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and ranked 3rd most admired man in the world. 　Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama top the lists. 　For

　Samsung Electronics was named the fifth-most admired firm in Canada, an industry tracker said, recovering its reputation tainted by the suspended production of the Galaxy Note 7 in 2015.　According to the report announced by Canadian researcher Leger, Samsung Electronics earned a reputation score of 75 to rank at 5th place in the 2018 Ranking of Canada‘s Most Admired Companies.　US IT giant Google topped the list, followed by Canada’s Shoppers Drug Mart and Canadian Tire. Japan‘s Sony ranked at 4

　Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons went to Syria last week to try to determine whether banned toxins were used in an attack on a rebel enclave on April 7.　On Monday, Washington and London accused Moscow of blocking the nine OPCW inspectors from reaching the alleged gas attack site and said Russians or Syrians may have tampered with evidence there.　The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission, if it goes ahead, will collect samples and look for clues to determine whether i

　The United States, Britain and France launched strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime early Saturday in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack after mulling military action for a week.　A US official said the strikes had targeted chemical production facilities. Another official said multiple types of bombs were used, and a variety of targets chosen.

　China's military ranked as the most powerful in Asia, with eight other on the continent in the top 20: Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand. The cited index examined 133 countries.　The Global Firepower Military Strength Index measures the countries’ military strength based on 50 parameters, including military resources, diversity of weapon systems, natural resources, industry and geographical features and available manpower. 　China's armed forces have been ranke

　Japan has the most open government system in Asia, according to the recently released World Justice Project. The report measures whether a country’s basic laws and information on legal rights are publicly available, presented in simple language and if there is civic participation and complaint mechanisms. It also measures if the processes by which the laws are enacted and administered are accessible, fair, and efficient.　Japan is ranked 20th globally followed by South Korea which is ranked 22nd

　Moroccans ranked as the top nationals who have obtained the nationality of a European country, followed by Albanians and Indians, according to Eurostat data.　A total of 820 people from North Korea acquired citizenship of member countries of the European Union in the 2007-2016 period, with nearly 90 percent of them living in Germany and Britain, the EU‘s statistics office showed in a report.　Most are believed to have defected to and settled in Europe after escaping from North Korea, given that t

　Several million Facebook users in the EU who installed the Cambridge Analytica app and their friends may have been affected by the data leak involving the political consultancy. 　Facebook said last week that as many as 87 million people might have had their data accessed -- an increase from the 50 million disclosed in previous reports. Facebook is basing the estimate in part on the number of friends each user might have had. Cambridge Analytica said in a statement that it had data for only 30 m

　Russia lost a bid last week at the global chemical weapons watchdog to launch a joint probe with Britain into the spy poisoning scandal. It has sought to press its case at the highest level, calling for urgent UN Security Council talks.　Founded in 1997, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons based in The Hague oversees the application of the Chemical Weapons Convention aimed at ridding the world of toxic arms.　Chemical weapons, such as mustard gas, were first used on the battl

　Tit-for-tat trade penalties have escalated between the world’s two-largest economies as they inch closer to the brink of a damaging international economic conflict.　The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed 1,300 Chinese items, mainly in the advanced technology and heavy industry sectors, to be hit by US tariffs that will target $50 billion of goods.