Yonhap News Summary

The following is the first summary of major stories moved by Yonhap News Agency on Monday.

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Exports down 20.8 pct during first 10 days of Dec.

SEOUL -- South Korea's exports slipped 20.8 percent on-year in the first 10 days of December, data showed Monday, due mainly to weak shipments of chips and mobile devices.

The country's outbound shipments stood at US$15.4 billion in the Dec. 1-10 period, compared with $19.4 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

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Nearly half of newlywed couples had no kids in 2021: data

SEOUL -- Nearly half of the recently married couples in South Korea had no children in 2021, data showed Monday, amid the country's chronic low birthrate and changing social norms.

Some 45.8 percent of the country's 871,428 couples who were legally married in the five years up to November 2021 did not have children, rising from 44.5 percent tallied in 2020, the data from Statistics Korea showed.

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S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases at 25,667 amid virus surge worries

SEOUL -- South Korea reported more than 25,000 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the largest for a Monday in more than three months, amid concerns of another surge as the government mulls easing the indoor mask mandate.

The country reported 25,667 new COVID-19 infections, including 63 from overseas, bringing the total to 27,754,149, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

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S. Korean Ryu Hae-ran wins LPGA qualifying tournament

SEOUL -- South Korean golfer Ryu Hae-ran has won the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament, earning her membership on the world's top women's tour with a flourish.

Ryu finished at the top of the LPGA Q-Series, an eight-round marathon that wrapped up at Highland Oaks Golf Club in Dothan, Alabama, on Sunday (local time). She shot a combined 29-under 545, beating Bailey Tardy of the United States by two strokes.

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BTS' Jin gets buzz cut ahead of military enlistment

SEOUL -- Jin, the first member of the K-pop group BTS to serve in the military, has released a photo of himself with a military haircut ahead of his enlistment.

Jin took to Weverse, an online community platform for K-pop fans, on Sunday night to post the photo with a caption, "It's cuter than I expected," according to music industry sources.
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