Director, actor of Cannes-winning 'Parasite' awarded cultural medal

Director Bong Joon-ho and actor Song Kang-ho of Cannes-winning film "Parasite" were awarded national cultural medals for their contributions to the promotion of the Korean film industry, the South Korean government said Thursday.The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that it gave the Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit, the second highest class of the South Korean cultural decoration, to Bong and the fourth-highest Okgwan medal to Song during a ceremony held at the National Theat

FilmDec. 19, 2019

With breakout trot music career, Yoo Jae-suk pioneers new reality show genre

Top star comedian and TV show emcee Yoo Jae-suk showed up in a red stage suit embroidered with a gold dragon and a matching red fedora for a press conference on Thursday, the typical costume of his alter ego, Yoo San-seul.What started as a comedy project under MBC's reality show, "Hangout with Yoo," led to Yoo's full-fledged trot music career under the stage name Yoo San-seul after the Korean name of a popular Chinese seafood dish.Yoo officially released a three-track trot album, "

TelevisionDec. 19, 2019

[Travel Bits] Festivals and sights across Korea

Little Prince Starlight Festival of Petite France (1)The sixth Little Prince Starlight Festival of Petite France will be held at the Petite France Park in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, until Feb. 29. The annual festival is inspired by the southern French town of Montpellier. In addition to beautiful lighting at night, another highlight is the 30-meter light tunnel installed next to a round structure modeled after asteroid B 612, home of the Little Prince from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s book

TravelDec. 19, 2019

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Frozen 2(US)Opened Nov. 27Animation, Adventure, Comedy Directed by Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee Anna (Kristen Bell), Elsa (Idina Menzel), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), Olaf (Josh Gad) and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient forest in an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom. Jumanji: The Next Level(US)Opened Dec. 11Action, Adventure, Comedy Directed by Jake Kasdan In “Jumanji: The Next Level,” the gang is back but

FilmDec. 19, 2019

[News Focus] Korea clings to record-low rate despite unfavorable indices

SEJONG -- South Korea’s benchmark interest rate ranged between 3 percent and 5.25 percent per annum from 2000 to 2008.Though the monetary policy committee of the Bank of Korea cut the key rate to 2 percent in 2009 in the wake of the 2008-09 global financial crisis, the figure went into normalization in the early 2010s to reach 3.25 percent during the 2011-2012 period.Most analysts shared the view that the Korean economy had been resilient to negative external factors on the back of its rob

EconomyDec. 19, 2019

[Herald Review] Korea finally has quality disaster film in ‘Ashfall’

South Korean cinema has always been strong on drama, but it has never really managed to produce a decent big-budget disaster film. “Exit” earlier this year was a pleasant surprise, but it was more of an action-comedy hybrid than a disaster film.“Ashfall” is not a masterpiece by any standard, but directors Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byeong-seo managed to create a decent disaster film that is up to standard in every way, from good acting and character-building to a solid storyline

FilmDec. 19, 2019

GS E&C to develop solar power plant in India

South Korean builder GS Engineering & Construction is set to develop a 300-megawatt solar power plant in Rajasthan state, northwest India, as an independent power producer, the firm said Thursday. An IPP is an entity that builds power plants, runs them for a certain period and recoups its investment.GS E&C said the investment will be made by acquiring a stake in the ISTS-IV 300-megawatt photovoltaic project implemented by Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd., which was founded by India

IndustryDec. 19, 2019

Demand for safer debt still high on hope for further rate cut

Bond prices in South Korea remain relatively strong on expectations that the country's central bank may further cut its policy rate early next year, data showed on Thursday. From Friday through Wednesday, bond yields, which move inversely to prices, fell despite Washington's Friday announcement of the phase-one trade deal with China, which cleared one of the major drags on the global economy as well as the world's financial markets.Over the four trading sessions, the benchmark three-year Treasur

EconomyDec. 19, 2019

Suspended sentence upheld for SK Group scion on drug charges

An appellate court on Thursday maintained a lower court's suspended jail sentence against a scion of SK Group, one of the country's largest conglomerates, for use of marijuana. Earlier, Chey Young-geun, a grandson of SK Group founder Chey Jong-gun, was indicted of having bought and habitually consumed some 81 grams of marijuana in the form of cookie or by using cartridges for about a year from March last year.  In early September, the Incheon District Court sentenced the 31-year-old Chey to

Social AffairsDec. 19, 2019

Stalked by fans, Twice gets police protection

JYP Entertainment on Monday said it has requested police protection for the K-pop girl group Twice over concerns of stalkers.The music label released an official announcement on its website, stating the protective measures have already taken effect in the area surrounding the label’s building in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul. The label added the members will be escorted by guards on all their activities. “We are currently reviewing all applicable legal actions (against the stalkers), and whe

Social AffairsDec. 19, 2019

S. Korea to sell more long-dated Treasurys next year

South Korea's finance ministry is planning to float more long-dated Treasurys next year, in a bid to finance an increase in state spending, a senior government official said on Thursday.Vice Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said the issuance of long-term state bonds is expected to be raised by about 10 trillion won ($8.6 billion) next year. Koo made the remarks at a meeting with senior economic officials to discuss plans on next year's Treasury bond sales.  "As the supply of long-term bo

EconomyDec. 19, 2019

[Herald Interview] N. Korea’s demand for halt of US-S. Korea military drill shows desperation for economic growth: ex-minister

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been calling on the US to suspend its joint military exercises with South Korea so that it can direct resources into the regime’s economic development, a former unification minister suggested. If South Korea and the US revive their biggest annual spring drills, Foal Eagle and Key Resolve next year, he says, North Korea will have to divert a larger number of armed forces back to the military grounds for training from construction sites where they were com

North KoreaDec. 19, 2019

[Newsmaker] Dispute continues over military exemption for K-pop stars

Debate heated up over whether successful K-pop stars should be exempted from Korea’s mandatory military service during a public hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul on Thursday.Chaired by Rep. Ahn Min-suk of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the hearing saw a panel of lawmakers and culture critics call for reform of the country’s military exemption rules in order to give international K-pop stars like BTS military service exemption.Pop culture critic Ha Jae-geun said exempti

K-popDec. 19, 2019

National fine dust info center opens

A national fine dust information center opened Thursday as part of government efforts to more systematically and comprehensively manage data related to particulate pollution. Set up under the Ministry of Environment, then National Fine Dust Information Center is tasked with analyzing, gathering and managing data on the causes and sources of particulate pollution, amount of emissions from different sources and the impact of the government’s anti-fine dust policies. The establishme

Social AffairsDec. 19, 2019

Lotte Group braces for changing retail landscape with massive exec reshuffle

South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group carried out a sweeping executive reshuffle Thursday to respond to the changing retail business landscape, with Lotte Department CEO Kang Hee-tae being promoted as head of the retail business unit.In a drastic annual year-end reshuffle, led by Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, the group replaced a quarter of 608 senior executives, to brace for digital transformation amid the surge in e-commerce. It was the first executive reshuffle led

IndustryDec. 19, 2019

[Monitor] No. of Korean fathers taking paternity leave up 47%

The number of working South Koreans who used their parental leave reached nearly 100,000 in 2018. Among them, the number of men taking child care leave surged nearly 47 percent on-year, data from Statistics Korea showed.Last year, the number of workers who used parental leave marked 99,199, up 10.1 percent from the previous year. Of them, 82.2 percent were females, a jump of 4.4 percent on-year. Only 17.8 percent of the male workers used their paternity leave, but the figure soared 46.7 percent,

EconomyDec. 19, 2019

Hanwha Energy taps Vietnam’s energy market

Hanwha Energy said Thursday that it has joined hands with Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) and Korea Southern Power (Kospo) to cooperate in infrastructure development projects for a gas plant and liquefied natural gas terminal in Vietnam.The affiliate of Hanwha Group plans to build a terminal for LNG imports and a power plant to produce electricity in Vietnam, where power supply and demand imbalance is a severe problem. In the case of Vietnam’s southern region, although half of the country’s

IndustryDec. 19, 2019

Korean EV battery makers' market share up in Oct.

South Korea's major electric vehicle battery producers increased their market share in October, despite a slowdown in global EV battery use, industry data showed Thursday.Based on the global usage of their EV batteries, the combined market share of three South Korean EV battery makers -- LG Chem Ltd., Samsung SDI Co. and SK Innovation Co. -- stood at 22.4 percent in October, compared with 12.3 percent from a year earlier, according to data from market tracker SNE Research.LG Chem was the third-b

IndustryDec. 19, 2019

Sejong University ranks 10th among Korean universities in survey

Sejong University ranked No. 401 in the 2020 World University Rankings by Times Higher Education, the university said Thursday. The Seoul-based university placed 10th among South Korea’s universities, climbing one notch from a year prior. Seoul National University ranked highest in the university league table among Korean universities. The World University Rankings 2020, published in September, evaluated almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries based on 13 performance indicators that

Social AffairsDec. 19, 2019

‘SK Holdings, AstraZeneca’s partnership benefits 3 million diabetic patients’

SK Holdings and British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca on Thursday said their strategic partnership has so far produced medication for some 3 million diabetic patients and yielded annual revenue of $100 million. SK Holdings CEO Jang Dong-hyun and AstraZeneca Chairman Leif Johansson agreed to strengthen their collaborative efforts for mutual benefit during a meeting in Seoul, held as part of the Korea-Sweden summit talks.Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Trade Anna Hallberg, Yu Jeoung-

IndustryDec. 19, 2019