[Graphic News] South Korea to face Jordan in Asian Cup semis

The semifinals for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar have been set: Jordan will be facing South Korea at midnight Tuesday, and Iran will go against the host Qatar at midnight Wednesday. From the start, South Korea has made it clear that it was aiming for the Champion’s trophy. Still, it has limped its way into the semifinals in a series of disappointing matches that have brought significant criticism of the team’s head coach, Juergen Klinsmann. Still, the team has progressed to the point where

SoccerFeb. 6, 2024

[Graphic News] China’s population decline continues

　China’s population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023, as a record low birth rate and a wave of COVID-19 deaths when strict lockdowns ended accelerated a downturn that will have profound long-term effects on the economy’s growth potential. 　The National Bureau of Statistics said the total number of people in China dropped by 2.08 million, or 0.15 percent, to 1.41 billion in 2023. That was well above the population decline of 850,000 in 2022, which had been the first since

World NewsFeb. 5, 2024

[Graphic News] New rules to be implemented in KBO

The Korea Baseball Organization looks like it will be implementing most of the same changes in rules that heated up the MLB in 2023. The Automatic Ball-Strike System, larger bases and limits on defensive shifts are part of seven major rule changes that will be implemented in the 2024 season. The KBO, however, has put the brakes on the introduction of a pitch clock. If implemented, a pitch clock would force pitchers to deliver a pitch within 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with run

BaseballFeb. 2, 2024

[Graphic News] Number of NK defectors entering S. Korea nearly triples in 2023

The number of North Korean defectors who arrived in South Korea came to 196 last year amid a rise in defections by North Korean diplomats and trade officials, government data showed. The defections by 32 men and 164 women raised the total number of the North’s defectors in South Korea to 34,078, according to the data from Seoul’s Unification Ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs. The figure represented a hike from 2021 and 2022, when the number of North Korean defectors entering

North KoreaFeb. 1, 2024

[Graphic News] GTX lines expansion

The South Korean government has unveiled plans to achieve 30-minute commutes within the capital region by GTX or Great Train Express. The GTX-A line connecting Suseo Station in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu with Dongtan Station in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of the capital, is scheduled to open in March, while the GTX-B line linking Incheon, west of Seoul, to Namyangju, east of Seoul, will begin construction in March. The line will enter service in 2030. The GTX-C line that passes through Uijeongbu

Social AffairsJan. 31, 2024

[Graphic News] Key dates for US presidential race

　Former US President Donald Trump easily won New Hampshire’s primary over former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, seizing the lead in the race for the Republican nomination. He also made a November rematch against President Joe Biden feel nearly inevitable. 　Out of the Republican candidates, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis suspended his campaign before the New Hampshire primary. Poor finishes in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses also ended the White House bids of biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy an

World NewsJan. 30, 2024

[Graphic News] Korean-style fried chicken, kimchi among popular Korean foods overseas: poll

Korean-style fried chicken and kimchi were cited as some of the favorite “hansik” foods among people overseas, a poll showed, with more people becoming aware of Korean cuisine. The survey was based on respondents from 18 major cities across the globe, including New York, Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City, in 2023. It was conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to study the awareness of hansik, or Korean cuisine, among people overseas. According to the survey, 60 p

FoodJan. 26, 2024

[Graphic News] Air traffic in S. Korea’s airspace up 45% in 2023

Air traffic in South Korea’s territorial airspace jumped 45 percent in 2023 from a year earlier on unleashed pent-up demand for travel following years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Transport Ministry said. The number of airplanes that flew over the Korean airspace reached 780,635 last year, up from 539,788 a year ago, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. But last year’s air traffic over Korea’s airspace has yet to recover to pre-pandemic level

IndustryJan. 25, 2024

[Graphic News] US suffered record number of billion-dollar climate disasters in 2023

The US endured a record number of 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, each causing $1 billion or more in damage and collectively killing at least 492 people. The disasters, which included major floods in California, the Northeast and Florida and wildfires in Hawaii, broke the previous mark of 22 such disasters set in 2020, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported. The number of deaths was the eighth-highest in records for the contiguous US going back to 1980. The disas

World NewsJan. 24, 2024

[Graphic News] War over Taiwan would cost world economy $10tr

　A war over Taiwan would have a cost so vast that even those unhappiest with the status quo have reason not to risk it. Bloomberg Economics estimates the price tag at around $10 trillion, equal to about 10 percent of the global gross domestic product. 　Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the semiconductor shortage as many countries reopened from COVID-19 lockdowns, provide a small glimpse of what would be at stake for the global economy. The impact of war in the Taiwan Strait would be far

World NewsJan. 23, 2024

[Graphic News] 2023 warmest year of all time for S. Korea

The year 2023 was the warmest year of all time for South Korea, as global warming heated up the Korean Peninsula to reach an average temperature of 13.7 degrees Celsius last year, the state weather agency said. It marks the highest annual mean temperature since 1973, the year considered the starting point for weather records in South Korea when the country’s meteorological networks were significantly beefed up, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. Last year’s tempera

Social AffairsJan. 22, 2024

[Graphic News] Seoul ranks as 14th top city destination in world

Seoul has become the 14th most visited city by foreign travelers in 2023, according to global market analyst firm, Euromonitor. It jumped 12 notches this year from 26th in 2022. Paris has once again been named the world’s most attractive city destination, followed by Dubai in second and Madrid in third. Tokyo came in fourth, while Amsterdam rounded up the top five, according to data. Seoul, ranked third in Asia after Tokyo and Singapore, is higher than competing Asian cities such as Osaka

World NewsJan. 19, 2024

[Graphic News] Over 8,000 permanent residents volunteered for military service over past 2 decades

Over 8,000 permanent residents have fulfilled South Korea’s military service over the past two decades under a voluntary enrollment system, the Military Manpower Administration said. The manpower agency adopted the voluntary enrollment system in 2004 to allow overseas residents whose mandatory military service was exempted or postponed due to their permanent residence status. All able-bodied Korean men are obliged to serve in the military for at least 18 months. The number of cumulative ap

DefenseJan. 18, 2024

[Graphic News] Number of newly launched businesses falls

The number of newly established companies in South Korea fell for the second consecutive year in 2022 amid an economic slowdown, data showed. Some 997,000 businesses were newly established in 2022, down 3.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. In 2021, the figure decreased 3.4 percent, or 35,000 firms, on-year to come to 1.02 million amid the COVID-19 pandemic. By industry, the number of newcomers in the real estate sector fell by the largest 32,000 entiti

CompaniesJan. 17, 2024

[Graphic News] Israel-Hamas conflict in numbers

Now 100 days old, the latest Israel-Hamas war is by far the longest, bloodiest and most destructive conflict between the bitter enemies. Fighting erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas carried out a deadly attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israel has relentlessly pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and a ground offensive that have wrought unprecedented destruction, flattening entire neighborhoods. The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, shuttered operations in nearly

World NewsJan. 16, 2024

[Graphic News] Proportion of single-person households jumped to 42% in 2023

  The number of single-person households increased further last year to account for a record high of 42 percent of all households, data from the Interior Ministry showed. According to resident registration data from the ministry, the total number of registered households in the country rose by 0.9 percent to reach 23.91 million as of December last year, compared to the previous year when the corresponding figure was 23.7 million. Of the total, one-person households reached 9.93 million as

Social AffairsJan. 15, 2024

[Graphic News] S. Korea’s Asian Cup squad

On Dec. 28, South Korean men’s soccer national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced his star-studded roster for the 26-man squad, which is seeking to win the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 1960. There were few surprises for the team, which will be brandishing star players like Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan, Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in and Bayern Munich center back Kim Min-jae. South Korea’s arch-rival,

SoccerJan. 12, 2024

[Graphic News] US, China closely watch Taiwan’s election

The presidential election in Taiwan on Saturday is being closely watched from Beijing to Washington, with the winner set to determine the future of the democratic island’s relations with an increasingly aggressive China. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and President Xi Jinping has in recent years intensified rhetoric about “unification” while refusing to rule out the use of force to bring it under Chinese control. Front-runner and current Vice President Lai Chin

World NewsJan. 11, 2024

[Graphic News] S. Korea’s population set to dip to 36.2m by 2072 amid low birth rate

　South Korea’s current population of around 51.6 million is expected to decline significantly to 36.2 million by 2072 due to critically low birth rates, a statistics report showed. 　The portion of seniors aged 65 and above in the population, which came to 17.4 percent in 2022, is expected to soar to 47.7 percent in 2072, according to the biennial report released by state-run Statistics Korea. 　Regarding the state of the population, the agency predicted an annual fall of 0.16 percent fo

Social AffairsJan. 10, 2024

[Graphic News] YouTube tops teens’ social media diet: survey

Teen usage of social media hasn’t dropped much, despite rising concerns about its effects on the mental health of adolescents, a survey from the Pew Research Institute found. But the data also found that roughly one in six teens describe their use of two platforms — YouTube and TikTok — as “almost constant.” Seventy-one percent of teens said they visit YouTube at least daily; 16 percent described their usage as “almost constant” according to the survey.

World NewsJan. 9, 2024