Samsung aims to ship 2.5m Galaxy Z Flip devices this year: reports

Samsung Electronics aims to ship a total of 2.5 million units of its second foldable Galaxy Z Flip phones this year, according to news reports Monday. Some industry sources said the South Korean tech giant is preparing to roll out an initial batch of 500,000 units of the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip that is anticipated to be unveiled at its “Unpacked” event on Tuesday in San Francisco. Its first hands-on image was leaked by some tech aficionados ahead of the unveiling. In total, Samsun

TechnologyFeb. 10, 2020

S. Korea logs budget surplus for 5th straight year in 2019

SEJONG -- South Korea posted a budget surplus for the fifth year in a row in the 2019 fiscal year, despite a slight decline in tax revenue, the finance ministry said Monday. The gross revenue the government brought in last year came to 402 trillion won ($337.3 billion), while its expenditures totaled 397.3 trillion won, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance after closing its books for fiscal year 2019. With 2.6 trillion won worth of the balance carried forward to this year, the su

EconomyFeb. 10, 2020

LG Uplus set to provide 5G roaming service in Japan

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier, said Monday it has moved one step closer to providing its 5G roaming service in Japan ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. LG Uplus said it has recently completed the testing of its 5G roaming service in Japan, becoming the first South Korean firm to do so, after partnering with Japanese telecommunication firm KDDI Corp. Japan is expected to commercialize its 5G service in late March, so that it can offer better telecommunication services ahe

IndustryFeb. 10, 2020

[Herald Interview] Enoi talks about debut, hiatus, value of teamwork

Starting from scratch during a time of uncertainty definitely wasn’t easy for rookie act Enoi. The seven-piece act debuted under the newly established Kithewhale Company in April last year with the digital single “Bloom,” but then had to take an unexpected nine-month hiatus -- quite a long time for a rookie band in the fast-changing K-pop field. Now after putting out a new single, “Cheeky,” the bandmates talked about the twists and turns in their blooming career and

K-popFeb. 10, 2020

1,100 soldiers quarantined over new coronavirus: defense ministry

About 1,100 soldiers are quarantined as part of efforts to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading into barracks, the defense ministry said Monday. The quarantined soldiers, including 400 conscripts, have either visited China, Hong Kong or Macao in the past 14 days or had contact with people who traveled to those places, according to the ministry. "No confirmed or suspected cases have been reported among our service personnel. We've been thoroughly implementing related preemptive me

DefenseFeb. 10, 2020

S. Korea, Mercosur bloc hold 5th round of FTA talks

South Korea on Monday held the fifth round of free trade talks with a group of South American countries, including Brazil, with a goal of striking the deal this year. The two parties kicked off the five-day talks in Montevideo, Uruguay, to exchange ideas on ways to achieve a mutually beneficial bilateral pact, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The previous meeting was held in South Korea's southern port city of Busan in October last year. South Korea agreed with the f

EconomyFeb. 10, 2020

Bong Joon-ho lands best original screenplay with ‘Parasite’ at Oscars

South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho of the genre-defying flick “Parasite” clinched the best original screenplay award at the Oscars on Sunday. Bong shared the honor with his co-screenwriter of the movie, Han Jin-won. The writer, who assisted Bong in the director’s English-language film “Okja,” made his official debut as a screenwriter with “Parasite.” In leading up to the Oscars victory, Bong and Han had been named for the top original screenplay at W

FilmFeb. 10, 2020

S. Korea testing 809 people for coronavirus, cases unchanged at 27

South Korea said Monday it is testing 809 people in quarantine for the novel coronavirus, with the number of confirmed cases unchanged at 27. On Sunday, the country reported three new cases of the new strain of virus, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of people being checked for the virus is down from 888 the day before, the KCDC said. Of the confirmed cases, 24 patients were receiving treatment at local hospitals as of early Monday with three vir

Social AffairsFeb. 10, 2020

NPS raises number of big-stake firms

South Korea's state pension provider owns 5 percent or more of over 300 listed companies amid increased shareholder activism by the service, a financial information provider said Monday. The National Pension Service held stakes of 5 percent or greater in 313 companies traded on the country's major and secondary bourses as of the end of January, up 7.2 percent, or 21 firms, from the end of 2018, according to FnGuide. The state pension provider also owned 10 percent or more of 96 listed corpora

MarketFeb. 10, 2020

Foreigners buy Seoul stocks for 2nd straight month in Jan.

Foreign investors became net buyers of South Korean stocks for the second straight month in January and increased their investment in local bonds, data showed Monday. Foreigners bought a net 408 billion won ($342 million) worth of local stocks in January, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. As of end-January, local stocks held by foreign investors came to 581.5 trillion won, accounting for 33.8 percent of the country's market capitalization. By country, investors fr

EconomyFeb. 10, 2020

At rain-soaked Oscars, 'Parasite' hopes to upset '1917'

  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Oscars are here, already. After the shortest awards season in decades, the 92nd annual Academy Awards is getting underway Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The red carpet was rolled out two to three weeks earlier than usual in a bid to freshen up a ceremony and potentially boost ratings. The truncated time table has put the normally bloated Oscars season on a diet (Sunday's show will also, for the second straight year, be hostless) and sent film acade

FilmFeb. 10, 2020

Oscars battle set to begin amid crystals and controversy

  HOLLYWOOD (AFP) -- Hollywood's awards season comes to a close Sunday at the Oscars, with war epic "1917" battling a South Korean thriller for glory as a row swirls over the lack of minorities on the night's star-studded nominee list. A lavish, spiral stage featuring 40,000 crystals at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre will be the glittering setting as the 24 golden statuettes are handed out on Tinseltown's biggest night. Nominees and actors arrived on the red carpet under overcast

FilmFeb. 10, 2020

S. Korea to send 3rd flight to Wuhan to bring home Korean nationals, families

South Korea said Sunday that it will send an additional flight to the central Chinese city of Wuhan to evacuate about a hundred Korean nationals and their Chinese family members as concerns are growing over the global spread of the new coronavirus. South Korea earlier sent two chartered flights to Wuhan, the epicenter of the highly contagious virus, to shuttle around 700 South Koreans back home. More than 200 South Korean nationals and Chinese family members are staying there and in surroundin

Social AffairsFeb. 10, 2020

S. Korea, US to hold working group talks on N. Korea

South Korea and the United States were set to hold a meeting Monday to coordinate policy on issues related to North Korea, including inter-Korean cooperation projects, such as allowing individual trips to the North. Alex Wong, deputy special representative for North Korea policy, arrived in Seoul on Sunday for the "working group" meeting with Rhee Dong-yeol, director general at the foreign ministry's Korean Peninsula Peace Regime bureau. The two sides are expected to discuss South

North KoreaFeb. 10, 2020

S. Korea qualifies for 2020 Olympic women's basketball tournament

BELGRADE -- South Korea will be competing in the Olympic women's basketball tournament for the first time in a dozen years this summer. South Korea grabbed the third and the final qualifying spot the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in a four-nation competition that wrapped up on Sunday in Belgrade, finishing behind China and Spain. Britain finished in last place as the only winless team. South Korea lost to China 100-60 Sunday afternoon at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in the Serbian capital to finish at 1-2 i

More SportsFeb. 10, 2020

N. Korea appears to mark founding anniversary of armed forces in low-key manner

North Korea appears to have marked the founding anniversary of its armed forces last week in a low-key manner amid its nationwide efforts to stem the outbreak of the new coronavirus on its soil, according to state media reports. North Korea's 72nd anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army on Saturday has been closely monitored as Pyongyang has often used such dates as a chance to showcase its new weapons and flex its military muscle.  Some speculated that the North might u

North KoreaFeb. 9, 2020

[Graphic News] Some 85,000 terminal patients opt to die with dignity over 2 years

　More than 85,000 terminally ill South Koreans have chosen to forgo life-prolonging treatment since the legalization of the right to die with dignity two years ago, government data showed. 　The law took effect on Feb. 4, 2018, allowing terminal patients to sign up to forgo a “meaningless extension of life” by stopping or postponing four life-sustaining treatments. 　According to the data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of patients who opted to die with dignit

TechnologyFeb. 9, 2020

Mom meets late child through VR

A mother featured in an MBC documentary featuring her eight-month journey to reunited with her dead child through virtual reality has gone offline, saying she needed a break from the publicity. The mother, Jang Ji-seong, felt she had to shut down her blog, the producer of the documentary said on a radio show Friday. A video clip of the show uploaded on YouTube by the production team had garnered 6 million views as of Sunday. The production stemmed from the idea that VR technology can a

TelevisionFeb. 9, 2020

KAIST team uses data to show Beethoven’s influence, Rachmaninoff’s novelty

If one’s influence on the future can be taken as a measure of one’s greatness, a new study has added to Beethoven’s credentials as a great composer: Researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have found him to have the most influence on the composers that came after him. Park Ju-yong, a professor at KAIST Graduate School of Culture Technology, and his team published a paper online in EPJ Data Science on Jan. 30 that quantifies novelty and influence of

PerformanceFeb. 9, 2020

[Herald Interview] Ban entry from China, warns medical association president

The head of South Korea’s largest doctor group said the government’s novel coronavirus response shows the country is ill-prepared for an epidemic, criticizing the failure to implement timely measures. In an interview with The Korea Herald on Saturday at his office in Yongsan, in central Seoul, Korean Medical Association President Choi Dae-zip said Korea’s measures to tackle the new virus were inadequate, and the most urgent action from the government needed right now was res

Social AffairsFeb. 9, 2020