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Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Mobile payments make up nearly 54% of total card spending in H1

Card spending via mobile devices rose more than 6 percent in the first half from a year earlier, with mobile payments accounting for well over half of total card usage, central bank data showed. The daily average spending on credit and debit cards by individuals and businesses stood at 3.51 trillion won ($2.55 billion) during the January-June period, up 3.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. Excluding cash cards, payments made through channels o
Oct. 14, 2025 - 08:00:00
Baseball
[Graphic News] Dodgers surpass 4m fans in historic season

The Los Angeles Dodgers have drawn over 4 million fans in a single season for the first time in franchise history. Their final regular-season home game against the San Francisco Giants brought 46,601 fans to Dodger Stadium, pushing the 2025 season total to 4,012,470. The reigning World Series champions led Major League Baseball in average attendance, drawing 49,537 fans per game. The Dodgers become the fifth MLB franchise to surpass 4 million fans in a single season, joining the Blue Jays, Rocki
Oct. 2, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Asphyxiation leading cause of camping accidents over past 5 Years

According to data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, there were 56 camping-related accidents nationwide between 2020 and June 2025, resulting in 39 deaths and 67 injuries. The leading cause of the accidents was asphyxiation, accounting for 23 cases (41 percent) followed by fires, gas explosions, vehicle accidents, natural disasters and water accidents. Safety inspections revealed widespread non-compliance with regulations. Between 2023 and 2024, 43-49 percent of summer campsites a
Oct. 1, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Japan, Jeju top Chuseok travel picks for Koreans

Travel interest is surging ahead of the Chuseok holiday, when millions of Koreans will have the chance to take 10 consecutive days off work using just one day of annual leave. According to digital travel platform Agoda, searches for domestic and international trips during Chuseok have risen by 29 percent and 19 percent, respectively, compared to last year. Based on lodging data from May to August for Korean users, three of the top five international destinations are in Japan. Tokyo ranked No. 1,
Sept. 30, 2025 - 08:00:00
WorldNews
[Graphic News] Bangkok tops Gen Z city list

According to a recent survey by British travel magazine Time Out, Thailand’s capital Bangkok is the top-ranking city for Generation Z to live in. The survey polled 18,500 residents under 30 years old, evaluating cities on food, nightlife, affordability, culture and happiness. Bangkok topped the list largely due to its high happiness rating, with 84 percent of respondents reporting satisfaction with life there and 71 percent praising its affordability. Australia’s cultural capital, Melbourne, ran
Sept. 29, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] S. Korea’s depression patients exceed 1.1m

The number of South Korean patients diagnosed with depression topped 1.1 million last year, according to recent data from the National Health Insurance Service. The figure reached 1,106,603 in 2024, marking a 33 percent increase from 832,483 patients in 2020. Depression treatments also rose by 33.3 percent over the same period. Over the past five years, the number of depression patients has steadily grown, with an average annual increase of 7.4 percent. Patient counts were 915,910 in 2021, 1,001
Sept. 24, 2025 - 08:00:06
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Apples top list of most popular Chuseok gift sets

Fruit and beef remain the most popular gift sets for Chuseok, the upcoming Korean harvest festival, according to a recent survey conducted by the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation. The survey, held from Aug. 25-28, gathered responses from 3,000 participants regarding their planned gift set purchases and budgets. Apples topped the list of preferred gift sets, selected by 17.3 percent of respondents, followed closely by assorted fruit gift sets at 17 percent. Beef ranked third with 1
Sept. 23, 2025 - 08:00:05
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Medical tourists to Seoul near 1m in 2024

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the number of medical tourists visiting Seoul in 2024 approached 1 million. In total, 1,170,467 people from 202 countries visited South Korea for medical services last year, with 999,642 of them coming to the capital, the city said, citing data from the central government. The number of medical tourists to Seoul more than doubled from 473,340 in 2023 and increased more than threefold compared to the prepandemic figure of 320,284 in 2019. Last year,
Sept. 22, 2025 - 08:00:00
WorldNews
[Graphic News] Monaco tops world in centenarians per capita

Britain’s Daily Mail recently reported that Monaco has the highest proportion of people aged over 100 in the world, citing United Nations statistics. The European city-state, known as a playground for billionaires, boasts 949 centenarians for every 100,000 residents, according to the newspaper, more than seven times the proportion of any other country. Monaco is the world’s second-smallest sovereign state after the Vatican, with about one-third of its 38,000 residents being millionaires. It also
Sept. 18, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Bread prices rise 6% on-year

The price of bread in South Korea has been rising like a well-fermented sourdough for the past six months, with the increase now outpacing overall consumer inflation by more than threefold. A recent promotion by popular YouTuber Schuka World, offering baked goods at 990 won, further fueled public debate over what constitutes reasonable pricing. According to Statistics Korea, the bread price index in August stood at 138.61 (with 2020 as the base year at 100), marking a 6.5 percent increase compar
Sept. 17, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] S. Korea records hottest summer ever in 2025

The summer of 2025 was the hottest on record in South Korea, driven by the overlapping influence of the North Pacific High and Tibetan High, which trapped persistent heat over the Korean Peninsula. It marked the second straight year of record-breaking summer temperatures. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the national average temperature from June 1 to Aug. 31 reached 25.7 degrees Celsius, edging out last summer’s 25.6 C, the highest since records began in 1973. The average d
Sept. 16, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Births out of wedlock hit record high in 2024

The proportion of births outside of marriage in South Korea reached an all-time high last year, data showed, indicating a possible shift in accepted norms. A total of 13,800 babies were born out of wedlock in 2024, accounting for a record 5.8 percent of all births in the country, according to Statistics Korea. The ratio had stayed at around 2 percent from 2014 to 2017 but steadily rose to 2.2 percent in 2018, 3.9 percent in 2022 and further to 4.7 percent in 2023. In related surveys, the share o
Sept. 15, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ drives foreign visitors’ spending on Korean culture

With “KPop Demon Hunters” becoming a global sensation, more foreign tourists in South Korea are spending on cultural experiences, a new study reveals. Shinhan Card’s Big Data Research Center analyzed credit card usage by tourists from Taiwan, the US, Japan and China in the first seven months of 2024 and 2025. The comparison shows a sharp rise in spending on Korean lifestyle experiences, K-beauty services and medical tourism. Shinhan attributes this to the growing desire among foreigners to exper
Sept. 11, 2025 - 08:00:00
WorldNews
[Graphic News] Jeju-Seoul tops world’s busiest air routes in 2024

Among the world’s busiest airport pairs, the route linking South Korea’s southern Jeju Island and its capital Seoul, via Gimpo International Airport, was the most popular globally last year, used by 13.2 million passengers, according to the International Air Transport Association. Following closely behind, the second busiest route was between Japan’s Sapporo and Tokyo Haneda airports, while the third busiest route was also in Japan, between Fukuoka and Tokyo Haneda. IATA reports that the Asia-Pa
Sept. 10, 2025 - 08:00:00
Social Affairs
[Graphic News] Cases of lithium-ion battery fires increase

The National Fire Agency has introduced preventive measures to address the growing number of lithium-ion battery fires. Reported cases have been rising steadily, with 49 incidents in May, 51 in June and 67 in July. Notable recent examples include an Aug. 17 apartment fire in Seoul, suspected to have been caused by an electric scooter battery, which resulted in two deaths, one serious injury and 15 minor injuries. On Aug. 19, another apartment fire in Gyeonggi Province was sparked by a charging c
Sept. 9, 2025 - 08:00:00