New data shows the number of long-term unemployed in South Korea hit a record high in the first quarter of this year.
Statistics Korea says the number of people looking for work for more than six months passed 150-thousand,... up more than 18-percent from a year earlier.
The figure is the highest since related data was first compiled in 2000.
It means there are now more long-term unemployed in the country than there were during the height of the global financial crisis.
Back then,... in 2008-2009,... it was around 80-thousand.... so it's almost double now.
According to the data,... Koreans in their 20s are suffering the most from long-term unemployment.