Seoul stocks plummet to end at lowest since Aug. 2015

The Kospi plummeted more than 5 percent during Thursday trading, which triggered the stock exchange to temporarily halt trading on Korea’s main bourse, as investor sentiments weighed on the coronavirus pandemic. The Korea Exchange activated a “sidecar,” meaning it temporarily halted the trading of shares, for five minutes around 1:04 p.m. after Kospi 200 index futures slipped over 5 percent. It was the first time the sidecar had been activated for the Kospi since Oct. 4, 201

MarketMarch 12, 2020

Moon calls on police to spur efforts for reform, anticipates success

President Moon Jae-in called for continued efforts to finish reforming the police on Thursday, stressing that they should conduct investigations responsibly once they have been granted more authority to conduct probes. Moon made the remarks during his congratulatory message at a commissioning ceremony for new senior police officers at Korean National Police University in Asan, 80 kilometers south of Seoul. "It is not easy to accomplish two tasks -- making the police conduct probes with r

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2020

Telecom call center employees to work from home

South Korea’s three largest mobile carriers -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- announced on Thursday that they will minimize the number of call center employees who commute to their offices, after the packed working environment was found vulnerable to the viral infection. The decision came after some 90 people at a Seoul-based call center were tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon. SKT said it has currently allowed 1,500 call center employees -- about 25 percent of the w

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

Korea ups quarantine checks on arrivals from 5 European countries

South Korea said Thursday that those arriving in the country after visiting five European countries, including Germany, will face stepped-up quarantine requirements starting next week, as the government grapples with the largest-yet cluster infections of novel coronavirus in the capital. 　 South Korea’s coronavirus cases climbed by 114 to 7,869 as of midnight Wednesday, the lowest daily increase in nearly three weeks, according to data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Preven

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2020

N. Korea's official paper urges self-reliance through localization

North Korea's official newspaper on Thursday called for stepped-up efforts to build a self-reliant economy, saying localization is a path the country has to take "until the end" to prevent itself from becoming subjugated by outside forces. North Korea has emphasized to build an economy independent of external support as it is bracing for what would be a prolonged fight against crippling sanctions led by the United States amid an impasse over their denuclearization negotiations. &qu

North KoreaMarch 12, 2020

US lawmakers call for avoiding unpaid leave for USFK workers

Two members of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday called on Washington to find a way to avoid putting South Korean civilians, employed by the US military in Korea, on unpaid leave. On Feb. 28, the US military said it had started notifying nearly 9,000 Korean employees that they could be put on unpaid leave starting April 1, because of Seoul and Washington’s failure to reach consensus on a new Special Measures Agreement over the upkeep of 28,500 US troops here. In a letter sent

DefenseMarch 12, 2020

Hit audition show ‘Mr. Trot’ mired in controversy

Just before Thursday’s airing of its final episode, TV Chosun’s hit audition show “Mr. Trot” became embroiled in a controversy over suspected unfair contracts. The TV show, which aired its first episode in January, is a trot singing showdown. Last year, the broadcasting station’s “Miss Trot,” featuring talented female trot singers, was a huge success, with final winner Song Ga-in rising to national stardom through the show.  Buoyed by the succ

TelevisionMarch 12, 2020

Hyundai Steel says no US antidumping duty on its steel products

Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea's No. 2 steelmaker, said Thursday that the United States has decided not to impose an antidumping duty on its corrosion-resistant steel products. The US Department of Commerce made the final determination on Wednesday (local time) in its annual review of the case, according to Hyundai Steel. The move came after the U.S. launched an investigation into the sale of corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea between July 2017 and June 2018. Hyundai Steel s

EconomyMarch 12, 2020

Tech giants put off handset debuts over pandemic

Major tech giants have postponed the launch of their latest smartphone models as the global novel coronavirus outbreak has been classified as a pandemic, according to industry sources Thursday. China’s Huawei Technologies was scheduled to announce its flagship P40 in Paris on March 26, but has decided to cancel the event as the World Health Organization has now labeled the fast spread of the virus as a pandemic. As of Thursday morning, France reported 2,281 COVID-19 infections and 48 d

TechnologyMarch 12, 2020

Online classes, an optimal solution in extraordinary times: North London Collegiate School Jeju

North London Collegiate School Jeju said Thursday that it is offering online classes to ensure students can continue their studies amid the spread of COVID-19. NLCS Jeju, located in the Global Education City, is a British institution attended by over 1,300 students. In keeping with the Ministry of Education’s advice, the school has been closed to day students since late last month. “As soon as COVID-19 began to affect South Korea we started thinking about how best to safeguard t

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2020

Netmarble launches MMORPG-battle royal cross-genre game A3: Still Alive

South Korea’s mobile game powerhouse Netmarble is betting on a new genre that crosses massively multiplayer online role-playing and battle royal. The experimental product A3: Still Alive was launched on Thursday to a fervent response from domestic game enthusiasts. In January, Netmarble’s CEO Kwon Young-sig made a rare attendance at a press event to express deep expectations on this new game, saying that the convergence of MMORPRG -- a genre popular among Korean players -- and ba

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

Foreign pharmas join efforts to tackle coronavirus

Foreign pharmaceutical companies operating in Korea are reaching out to those needing most help amid the coronavirus spread here. Medical device company GE Healthcare Korea said Thursday it will donate ultrasound and patient monitoring equipment worth 210 million won ($174,000) to the doctors in North Gyeongsang Province, while Novartis Korea has donated 30,000 masks for low-income households. GE Healthcare will donate GE Venue Go, an artificial intelligence-enabled ultrasound machine, and p

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

LG Display continues to expand presence in smartphone OLED panel market

LG Display Co., a major display panel maker in South Korea, has continued to expand its presence in the global smartphone OLED panel market, industry data showed Thursday, as the company strives to improve its earnings. LG Display had a 10.8 percent share in the global smartphone OLED panel market in the fourth quarter of 2019, up from 2.1 percent in the third quarter, according to data from industry researcher IHS Markit. It marked the first time that LG Display's quarterly market share ha

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

[Photo News] Disinfection at BMW showroom

Officials disinfect BMW Group Korea’s showroom in Seoul on Thursday. The German automaker’s Korean unit said it has been emphasizing contactless customer service and strengthening disinfection at its showrooms to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  BMW Group Korea has donated 800 million won ($664,000) to the Community Chest of Korea to help fight the coronavirus. By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)

MobilityMarch 12, 2020

Virus-hit S. Korean movie industry faces grim prospects for summer peak season

The South Korean film industry, struggling with the wide spread of the coronavirus, sees the outlook for its summer peak season remaining bleak even if the epidemic eases. As the number of confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus has reached nearly 7,900 since the first outbreak on Jan. 20, the South Korean government raised the virus alert to the highest level last month and asked the public to refrain from outdoor activities. The rapidly spreading coronavirus has been keeping people from local

FilmMarch 12, 2020

New BTS album sells record high volume in K-pop history

"Map of the Soul: 7," the new album by boy band BTS, sold more than 4.11 million copies in the first nine days of its release last month, becoming the most sold album in the Korean pop history, its management agency said Thursday. It took nine days for the new album to shatter the previous highest album sales record of nearly 3.4 million set by BTS' own album, "Map of the Soul: Persona," released in April last year. The total sales of "7" in the first nine days

K-popMarch 12, 2020

Internet cafes shunned as hotbed of COVID-19

Internet cafes, where patrons mostly play multiplayer computer games for an hourly fee, are getting the blame for spreading the novel coronavirus as students have nowhere else to go amid extended school closures. Seoul City has advised owners of internet cafes and karaoke establishments to suspend business to keep COVID-19 from spreading, considering that they are enclosed spaces where people tend to stay for long hours. Four people who used the same internet cafe in Seoul’s Dongdaemun-

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2020

Local libraries provide drive-thru service as coronavirus spreads

More and more local public libraries in Korea are starting to provide drive-thru book services as a solution for the shutting down of libraries due to the spread of coronavirus. A public library in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday said it was providing a drive-thru service to check out books. The library said that it is a temporary service and will operate until March 22. Anyone who would like to check out books from this library can call (02) 2204-6440 from Tuesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to

CultureMarch 12, 2020

Tada to end van-hailing service in April

After the National Assembly passed a controversial bill last week that dealt a severe blow to ride-hailing service Tada, service operator VCNC has decided to “indefinitely terminate” the service on April 10, according to the company on Thursday.  VCNC said that it has requested 30 percent of its 20 employees resign, following the company’s plan to downsize the workforce due to the suspension of the service.  On Friday last week, Korean lawmakers voted to pass the r

MobilityMarch 12, 2020

Airlines halt more flights on increased entry restrictions

  South Korean airlines are halting more flights as countries around the world increasingly imposed entry restrictions in their fight against the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak. Asiana Airlines Inc. said Thursday it will suspend all of its flights to Thailand beginning Saturday through the end of this month as travel demand dried up amid virus fears. It is the first time for the country's second-biggest airline to suspend the route to the Southeast Asian country since it began s

MobilityMarch 12, 2020