The World On arirang

More and more people are enjoying their cultural life in their short spare time as if eating snacks. With the wide use of mobile devices, it has become a worldwide trend, including Korea, for people to enjoy high-quality contents whenever they have little time to spare. A social media site's six-second video sharing service is gaining popularity and six-second movies are being made. Advertisements that capture consumers in five seconds are competing in the market to survive. Webtoons, web novels and web dramas are typical examples of such snack culture. We will find out what's behind the popularity of snack culture and look into its current state.

The World Economic Forum was once again held in Davos, Switzerland this year. It is an annual event where prominent economists, entrepreneurs and journalists gather to discuss and study various agendas. During this year's WEF, also known as Davos Forum, there was another crucial meeting that has drawn attention. It was the Informal WTO Ministerial Gathering, or a meeting by trade minister-level officials of WTO members, which discussed the work program of multilateral trade negotiations known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations. We will talk about the topics discussed at the meeting, its significance and the outlook for DDA going forward with Korea's Deputy Trade Minister Choi Kyung-lim who attended the meeting as the country's representative.

Solar cells convert solar energy into electricity. Existing silicon solar cells are expensive and difficult to manufacture. As a result, hybrid solar cells using natural mineral perovskite is emerging as an alternative. Local researchers have recently developed a hybrid solar cell that recorded the world's highest efficiency ratio of 20.1%, foretelling a change in the solar cell industry going forward. We will check out the latest hybrid solar cell technology.

Household robots which had been limited to cleaning robots are now converging with information and communications technology and are moving into our home one after another. Smart home robots that control home appliances with user's voice and manage schedules of family members are set to be commercialized. Cleaning robots are becoming smarter by connecting to smartphones. We will look into the present and future of household robots that are establishing themselves as the main platform of smart homes.

Unemployment is an worldwide issue. But North Korea boasts a 100% employment. The communist country allots jobs to all its citizens regardless of their wills. Despite such limitations in choosing jobs, there are certain popular jobs that North Korean people want to have even by paying bribes. If people had preferred to become government officials with good social classes in the past, traders or wholesale and retail distributors are getting the spotlight nowadays. We will meet the hottest jobs and emerging extraordinary jobs in North Korea.