[Photo News] Annyeong Bali

Daewoong Foundation, a scholarship foundation established by late Daewoong Pharmaceutical founder Yoon Young-hwan, said Monday that it has set up a Hangeul language school within Indonesia’s Bali Tourism Polytechnic in an effort to promote cultural exchange between the two countries. The program goes beyond language education, offering a comprehensive curriculum that includes lessons on Korean culture, career development and practical skills, all led by experienced Korean educators. The in

IndustryOct. 14, 2024

Lyme disease cases on rise in Korea

The number of Lyme disease cases has increased in South Korea, raising concerns that the tick that carries the virus might have already become endemic. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Monday said there were 45 reported cases of Lyme disease in the country last year, including 36 cases in which people were infected domestically, eight cases in which people were infected overseas and one with an unknown transmission route. Lyme disease, an illness caused by borrelia bacteria, is

Social AffairsOct. 14, 2024

[Photo News] Hyundai helps disabled

Hyundai Motor has donated two vehicles and 315 car seats for children to Hanlove, a welfare center for disabled people in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, to improve disabled children’s right to free mobility. According to the automaker, two Staria minivans -- one that has been redesigned to ease the on-boarding of wheelchairs with a simple mechanism and the other tailored to fit the physicals of children better than the original model -- were delivered to the welfare center on Friday. (Hyundai

MobilityOct. 14, 2024

[From the Scene] Kurly joins beauty retail war as new growth driver

Kurly, the South Korean e-commerce company, is ramping up efforts to expand its beauty platform Beauty Kurly as a key pillar of its business alongside its flagship overnight grocery delivery service. As part of this initiative, Kurly hosted the Beauty Kurly Festa 2024, which ran from Thursday to Sunday and drew over 20,000 visitors. The event featured over 90 beauty brands, including luxury names like Lancome and Sisley, alongside mid-range brands. Attendees enjoyed promotions, raffles, product

IndustryOct. 14, 2024

ICT exports rise for 11th straight month in Sept. on record chip sales

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products rose for the 11th consecutive month in September, driven by record sales of semiconductors, data showed Monday. Outbound shipments of ICT products came to $22.4 billion last month, up 24 percent from $18.04 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The monthly tally marked the second highest since March 2022. Imports of ICT products increased 15.9 percent on-year to

EconomyOct. 14, 2024

N. Korea appears to be preparing for explosions on roads connected to S. Korea: JCS

North Korea appears to be preparing to carry out explosions at roads connected to South Korea, the South's military said Monday, just days after Pyongyang vowed to cut off all inter-Korean roads and railways. On Wednesday, the North's Korean People's Army announced the measure that will "completely separate" North Korea's territory from that of South Korea and said it sent a telephone message to the US military in the South to "prevent any misjudgment and accid

North KoreaOct. 14, 2024

Seoul shares open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean shares opened slightly higher Monday, taking a cue from Wall Street gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) added 15.92 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,612.83 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The rise follows gains on Wall Street last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.97 percent higher Friday (US time), with the tech-heavy Nasdaq advancing 0.33 percent. In Seoul, large caps traded mixed. Market kingpin and tech giant Samsung Electronics advanced

MarketOct. 14, 2024

[Herald Interview] 'Jung-nyeon''s TV debut brings fresh take with cast straight out of webtoon

The highly anticipated series "Jung-nyeon," which aired its first two episodes on Saturday and Sunday, is the first Korean drama to delve into the world of "gukgeuk" -- a type of performance art that took Korea by storm in the 1950s -- with a cast which appears to have been plucked directly from the original webtoon. Set in 1950s Korea, "Jung-nyeon" follows the titular character as she pursues fame as a gukgeuk artist—a female performer skilled in pansori, a

TelevisionOct. 14, 2024

N. Korea says it ordered front-line artillery units to fully prepare to open fire

North Korea's military has ordered artillery units along the border with South Korea to be fully ready to open fire, state media has reported, after the North warned of a "horrible disaster" over the alleged flight of drones over its capital. North Korea's defense ministry issued the statement Sunday night, days after the recalcitrant regime claimed South Korea had sent unmanned drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times this month. "

North KoreaOct. 14, 2024

[Lorraine Ali] Elon Musk's courtship with MAGA

Multibillionaires are eccentric. It's common knowledge, like water is wet, fire is hot, "Joker: Folie a Deux" is a terrible film. From Jeff Bezos to Peter Thiel to Richard Branson to Howard Hughes (adjusting for inflation), they do weird things: shoot themselves into space, invest in treatments to "cure" aging, buy islands and wash their hands a lot. It's rare that the other 99.9 percent of us are directly exposed to their world-ownership whims, though we indirect

ViewpointsOct. 14, 2024

[Yoo Choon-sik] A rare apology for disappointing corporate earnings

There were two major events this week that surprised many people watching South Korea, myself included. First, a South Korean novelist won the Nobel Prize in Literature for the first time in the country's history, marking only the second time the country has won a Nobel Prize in any field. Her fans, fellow citizens and the whole world joined together in congratulating the novelist, Han Kang, on being awarded the world’s most prestigious literary prize. Of course, I was among them, but

ViewpointsOct. 14, 2024

South Korean military has ‘nothing to confirm’ on North Korea preparing border artillery corps to shoot

The South Korean military said Sunday it has “nothing to confirm” regarding North Korea claiming to have ordered its artillery corps near the shared border to fully prepare to shoot. “The military has nothing to confirm,” a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official told The Korea Herald. North Korea’s defense ministry said in a statement releases through the state Korean Central News Agency that it has put “fully armed” artillery corps along the border

DefenseOct. 13, 2024

S. Korea warns N. Korea will see 'end of its regime' if it harms its people

South Korea warned North Korea on Sunday that it will see "the end of its regime" if it causes any harm to its people, after the North threatened a "horrible disaster" over the alleged flight of drones over its capital. The South's Defense Ministry issued the statement after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader Kim Jong-un, made the threat in a commentary carried by its state media, just a day after the reclusive state claimed the South had sent

North KoreaOct. 13, 2024

Han Kang’s Nobel Prize opens new horizons for Korean literature

Han Kang's Nobel Prize win Thursday brought the recognition Koreans have long sought: For decades Koreans have been fixated on the question of when Korea would win a Nobel Prize in literature. As novelist Kim Young-ha noted in his message of congratulations, the question of whether the Korean language, once threatened with extinction during the Japanese colonial era, could find its rightful place in world literature has haunted the collective consciousness of Koreans since liberation. The w

BooksOct. 13, 2024

Han Kang’s manuscript set to be unsealed in 2114 gets renewed attention

Author Han Kang's unpublished manuscript which has been sealed and locked away in Oslo, Norway is getting renewed attention following her Nobel Prize in literature win. The manuscript is shrouded in mystery -- its content, length and format unknown -- only its title, “Dear Son, My Beloved,” has been revealed. The manuscript is part of the Future Library art project launched by Katie Paterson in Norway in 2014. Each year, a writer is invited to contribute a manuscript that explor

BooksOct. 13, 2024

[News Focus] Momentum builds for 3-way summit by end of year

South Korea, the United States and Japan are accelerating efforts to convene a trilateral summit by the end of this year to bolster deterrence against North Korean threats and enhance regional security in light of rising Sino-US tensions. President Yoon Suk Yeol's National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik said in an interview with KBS Sunday that the three parties are "moderately building a consensus" for a standalone three-way summit "as soon as possible after" multilatera

PoliticsOct. 13, 2024

Samsung Electronics sheds W90tr in market cap amid foreigners' selloff

Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s largest chipmaker, has seen its market cap shrink by a staggering 90 trillion won ($66.6 billion) since September, largely driven by a sustained selling spree among foreign investors. According to the Korea Exchange on Sunday, foreigners have net sold 10.6 trillion won in Samsung Electronics shares over the past month, marking 23 consecutive days of selling since Sept. 3 -- just two days shy of the record 25-day selling streak set in 2022. During this per

MarketOct. 13, 2024

Busan film fest ends with lingering controversy over streaming platform presence

The 29th Busan International Film Festival ended Friday after a 10-day run during which it hosted 145,238 guests and screened 224 films from 63 countries. The BIFF organizers said the seat occupancy rate at its 28 screens in seven Busan theaters reached 84 percent, a slight increase over last year's 82 percent. This marks the highest seat occupancy in the festival’s history, surpassing even the pre-pandemic years when it featured more than 300 films. This year’s New Currents Awa

FilmOct. 13, 2024

[Herald Interview] JM.Wave 'repowers' pollutant vehicles into emissions-free EVs

As global carmakers rush to make the costly transition to carbon-free electric vehicles, Park Jeong-min, CEO of the Seoul-based startup JM.Wave, asks, “What about the remaining internal combustion engine cars?” The 7-year-old company holds the "repowering technology" that converts vehicles with internal combustion engines into EVs. It is also the first to get regulatory sandbox approval from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport after passing a safety verificat

TechnologyOct. 13, 2024