hellosyam

The men of Hong Kong have the longest life spans in the world, and Japanese women outlive South Korean women by five years.

North Korea sees its men live just 61.4 years and women 67.3 years, lower than the global average of 64.2 years for men and 68.6 years for women. Those figures ranked North Korea 100th and 98th.

Meanwhile, South Korea's fertility rate -- the average number of babies that a woman aged 15-49 gives birth to during her lifetime ? is 1.19. That's far below the U.N. average of 2.56.

The country's fertility rate was the fourth-lowest on the list, ahead of Hong Kong, Ukraine and Slovakia whose rates were 0.95, 1.14 and 1.18, respectively.

The Planned Population Federation of Korea revealed the figures in the State of World Population 2007 report by the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).

South Korea's infant mortality rate is three in 1,000, the world's lowest along with Japan, Singapore, Norway and Sweden. The country with the highest infant mortality rate is Sierra Leone with 160. North Korea took 93rd place with 42.

The global population increased 1.16 percent to 6.615 billion from 6.54 billion last year. China has the largest population with 1.33 billion people, followed by India with 1.13 billion. The two countries account for 37.3 percent of the world's population.

South Korea ranked 25th with 48.1 million, while North Korea came in 48th with 22.7 million.

The Age's selection of Seoul as the world's digital leader was based in part on the experience of Stephen Quinn, associate professor in communication studies at Deakin University. After visiting the Korean capital, Quinn told the newspaper, "You still see people walking about reading print newspapers, using origami to fold broadsheets to the size of a paperback novel. But you also see people surfing the Internet on tiny laptops while on the subway."

Rounding out the top five tech cities as selected by the newspaper were Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Stockholm. San Francisco and Silicon Valley tied for sixth, Tallinn was seventh, New York eighth, Beijing ninth and New Songdo City came in tenth place. "Asian cities scored well on broadband speed and availability, mainly because they have concentrated populations in a small land area," the article said.

Seoul pioneered digital convergence, the report said. "Digital mobile TV broadcasting, or Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, was launched in South Korea in 2005 and nearly two million Koreans now use the service to watch TV on their phones while riding trains and buses."

So which should you choose? The Chosun Ilbo has handful of tips about who should work out when and how.

For those trying to lose weight, morning workouts are the solution. Exercising before breakfast on an empty stomach (at 6 to 8 a.m.) will burn the excess fat accumulated beneath the skin or in the liver, using it as a source of energy. This makes morning workouts effective for the obese or patients with hyperlipidemia or fatty liver, and is especially good for getting rid of excess body-fat. In the morning, heart and lung and the metabolism function properly and adrenaline is secreted. That makes people feel good when they work out.

Unless you have asthma or certain allergies, the morning mist won’t hurt you. It does increase the concentration of pollutants and this can raise the intake when exercising, but that does not necessarily harm the human body. However, when the weather is either cold or very hot, our muscles and joints can lose its flexibility, resulting in low athletic performances. On days like this, a warm-up before working out is required to avoid the risk of injuries.

In the morning, exercise that generates the biggest effects in a short period is best. This includes jogging, swimming, ball games and weight training. After the workout, rest for at least 30 minutes before having a small meal. Eating vitamins on an empty stomach before working out can cause heartburn, so make sure you take your vitamins afterwards.

◆ Want to stay young? Try night-time workouts.

For those longing for a youthful and vital life, night-time workouts after 7 p.m. are the answer. Adrenocortical and thyroid hormones are secreted the most at night, resulting in an active metabolism and maximum effectiveness of workouts. These hormones are known for helping children grow, and preventing aging and strengthening immunity in adults. They also ease insomnia, constipation, diarrhea and indigestion by relaxing the stressed autonomic nerve.

People who are at the risk of lifestyle diseases or geriatric diseases can get the best results from exercising in the evening or at night. Diabetics can effectively lower their blood sugar by working out in the evening. For those with hypertension, there is less to worry about at night as your blood pressure is the lowest then. Still, diabetics should be cautious when working out later than 10 o’clock at night.

For a sound sleep afterwards, it is best to do a less intense exercise for a long period such as walking, simple stretching exercises and light jogging. A simple meal finished an hour prior before exercising is required. Never work out right after a meal. Light exercises like walking should be done at least an hour after a meal. For powerful exercises like soccer and marathons, a two-hour wait is necessary. Afterwards, take a lukewarm shower an hour before bed. Hot water or the steam of saunas should be avoided as they can stimulate the sympathetic nerve and keep you from getting a good night’s sleep.

Korea's capital ranked third on a Worldwide Cost of Living Survey released on Monday by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Seoul was found to be 22.4 percent more expensive than New York, which is the most expensive city in the U.S.

The survey compared the cost of more than 200 items for expats in each city, including monthly rent, transportation, food and clothing. Seoul has consistently been one of the most world's expensive cities, having taken second place last year and fifth in 2005.

According to the survey, a cup of coffee in Seoul costs US$5.83, which is the highest of all the surveyed cities. The same cup of coffee costs $3.75 in New York, $4.53 in Tokyo and $5.12 in Hong Kong.

A luxury two-bedroom apartment in Seoul rents for $5,037 a month, which is more than $1,000 higher than rents in other cities, such as Tokyo's $4,101, London's $3,888 and New York's $4,000.

Moscow topped the list for the second straight year and was found to be 34.4 percent more expensive than New York. The least expensive city was Asuncion in Paraguay, which Mercer estimates costs half as much to live in as New York.

The website said the "voluptuous" Park is "one of the most feared players on the LPGA Tour, with six wins, including a major championship at the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship."

The other seven sexy golfers are Natalie Gulbis (24, U.S.), Sophie Sandolo (30, France), Anna Rawson (25, Australia), Paula Creamer (20, U.S.), Cristie Kerr (29, U.S.), Paula Marti Zambrano (27, Spain), and Carin Koch (36, Sweden).

Of Gulbis, who is noted for her attractive appearance, the website said "she is in danger of becoming golf's Anna Kournikova. She has earned US$2.6 million in five years as a pro, but no trophies."

The website is conducting a readers' poll to determine the sexiest putter of the eight. Park was in fourth place on Thursday morning with 11.2 percent of 1,160 votes. The current leader is Rawson, an Australian who competes in European, with 30 percent of the vote.

Seoul's DSAR stands at US$366, which is higher than New York's $347 and Tokyo's $280, according to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday. Seoul's rate is lower than that of India's Bangalore at $425, London at $415 and Moscow at $410. However, Seoul still ranks among the highest in the world.

According to the 2007 Corporate Travel Index by Business Travel News magazine, Korea ranks eighth in the world in terms of accommodation expenses, which come out to $396 a day. The index is calculated by adding daily expenses such as accommodation, food, and taxi fares spent by a U.S businessman staying in a first class hotel.

Seoul's index value is much higher than Tokyo's $336, Hong Kong's $335, Singapore's $296 and Beijing's $247. Seoul ranks second after Moscow when it comes to living expenses for multinational companies' resident workers in 144 international cities, according to international consulting firm MERCER.

Regarding Seoul's high travel and accommodation expenses, Lee Seung-yong, manager of Bank of Korea's price analysis team, said, "The index mostly reflects high-end consumption activities. Foreigners might feel the price increase more than the actual increase since the Korean won has appreciated by 42 percent over the last five years."

He added, "For ordinary spending, Korea ranked 23rd among the 30 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of prices of commodities."

But according to a three-day survey last month, most visitors hailed from Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province. And nearly half of visitors were older than age 50.

The agency that manages the urban waterway says it will continue to promote the stream's triple drawing cards of IT, culture and romance.

A tally by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows Korea spent the eleventh-most in the world on its military activities.

Put another way, in 2006 the government spent US$455 on military outlays for every Korean citizen.

At the top of the rankings was the U.S. whose military spending last year exceeded US$500 billion.

The U.S. reportedly spent a good portion of this amount on its campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Britain, France and China trailed the U.S., in that order.

According to a ranking by MasterCard of the world's top cities in terms of their business performance in the global economy, Seoul is the world's ninth leading center of commerce, and number four in Asia. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore outranked Seoul in Asia.

MasterCard's Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index evaluated the globe's leading centers of commerce by six factors on a 100-point scale.

Seoul received good marks for the scale of its financial markets, for which it ranked sixth in the world and second in Asia, and for knowledge creation and information flow, for which it ranked eighth in the world and second in Asia. Seoul was found to have the world's highest amount of financial derivatives trading including futures and options, the second highest patent output, and the most medical schools in the world.

Seoul ranked 39th in the world and seventh in Asia for ease of doing business. Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Johannesburg in South Africa, Prague in Czech Republic, and Budapest in Hungary received higher points in this area than Seoul. Seoul ranked 18th and 19th in legal and political frameworks and economic stability. These three factors are the most important in activating commercial performance, but were weak points for Seoul.