Curator Yung Ma to head next year’s Seoul Mediacity Biennale

Pompidou Center curator Ma Yung has been appointed artistic director for next year’s Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art Director Beck Jee-sook announced during a press conference in Seoul on Monday.This is the first time a foreign curator will head the biennale since its inauguration in 2000. “It was the very first thing that I did since I know about the complications that last year’s Seoul Mediacity Biennale had,” Beck said.Ma will be in Seoul in December

Arts & DesignJuly 29, 2019

Indonesian minister confirms Hyundai’s new plant

An Indonesian Cabinet member has confirmed Hyundai Motor’s plan to build a new manufacturing factory with a $1 billion investment into the country, according to local media. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said he met the carmaker’s de facto leader Chung Euisun on Friday to discuss the investment plan and that the carmaker has secured a plot for construction on western Java Island, Indonesian newspaper Kompas reported Sunday. The planned factory wil

MobilityJuly 29, 2019

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] The crisis of Anglo-American democracy

How did the world’s two most venerable and influential democracies -- the United Kingdom and the United States -- end up with Donald Trump and Boris Johnson at the helm? Trump is not wrong to call Johnson the “Britain Trump” (sic). Nor is this merely a matter of similar personalities or styles: It is also a reflection of glaring flaws in the political institutions that enabled such men to win power. Both Trump and Johnson have what the Irish physicist and psychologist Ian Hughe

ViewpointsJuly 29, 2019

[Leonid Bershidsky] Today’s world leaders are walking cliches

One of the most striking things about Boris Johnson, who became UK prime minister last week, is how precisely he fits the stereotype of the eccentric upper-class Brit. With his elevation, Britain joins several other major nations led by people who embody their national stereotypes, and not the best of them at that; it could be argued, however, that it’s leaders defying such cliches who take their countries forward.In a paean to Johnson published on Quillette, his onetime Oxford schoolmate

ViewpointsJuly 29, 2019

Korean pharmacists boycott Japanese OTC medicines

Regional associations of Korean pharmacists are boycotting imported over-the-counter drugs from Japan, recommending Korean alternative products to patients.Some of the popular Japanese OTC drugs in Korea include: Takeda Pharmaceutical’s fatigue-restoring vitamin Actinium; teardrop solution Rohto; stomatitis treatment Albothyl; cold remedy Whituben; Kobayashi Medicine’s eye-cleaning agent Eyebon; Nichiban’s first-aid bandage Careleaves; and Kowa’s digestion medicine Cabagi

IndustryJuly 29, 2019

‘An exhibition Yi Jong-ho would have done’

It is perhaps unusual for a deceased artist to be listed as a member of a group exhibition alongside living artists. Especially, when the person is a well-known figure, a retrospective exhibition is often the more favored option.  “In the beginning, I wanted to organize an exhibition that highlights Yi Jong-ho himself, an architect who is respected in the local architecture scene yet not much known to the public. However, I later realized he would have not liked such a spotlight, He w

Arts & DesignJuly 29, 2019

Global chipmakers spur investments while Samsung suffers

While production of high-computing chips at Samsung Electronics, the world’s top memory chip business, is expected to suffer in the wake of a trade dispute between South Korea and Japan, other global chipmakers are aggressively expanding investments to spur production, according to the industry on Monday. TSMC, the world’s third-biggest chipmaker based in Taiwan, has announced a plan to hire more than 3,000 engineers by the end of this year, along with plans to invest in new extreme

TechnologyJuly 29, 2019

[Newsmaker] Police probe leaked video footage of Jeju murder suspect

Police have launched a probe into circumstances surrounding the leak of video footage taken during the arrest of Koh Yu-jeong, a prime suspect in the murder of her ex-husband.The leaked footage, released Saturday by local media, shows Koh’s arrest on June 1 at 10:32 a.m. in the parking lot of an apartment block in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. As police officers handcuff her after informing her of her Miranda rights, Koh asks, “Why? I never did that. I am the victim.”Ko

Social AffairsJuly 29, 2019

South Korea beset by escalating trade tensions

South Korea faces economic disruption as Japan moves to tighten export curbs on materials necessary for local tech frms, along with fresh objections raised by the US that could hurt the domestic agricultural sector.Japan is likely to remove Korea from a whitelist of 27 countries that receive preferential treatment in trade after a Cabinet meeting Friday, major Japanese media outlets reported Monday. Tokyo gathered public opinion on its decision to remove Korea from the whitelist last week. A maj

IndustryJuly 29, 2019

[Herald Review] ‘Hotel Del Luna’ wins over viewers with spooky romance

TvN’s Saturday-Sunday drama “Hotel Del Luna” recorded its highest viewership rating over the weekend with Sunday’s episode peaking at 9.7 percent with an average viewership rating of 8.7 percent. The numbers are higher than the ratings peak for “Arthdal Chronicles,” that was shown in the same slot, which was at 7.7 percent.Initial expectations had not been too high, as the drama was scheduled to air between the second and the third part of “Arthdal Chron

TelevisionJuly 29, 2019

Samsung C&T retains top spot in builder rankings

Samsung C&T has been named the top builder in South Korea for six straight years in terms of building capacity, government data showed Monday. The construction affiliate of Samsung Group took the top slot among the 61,559 local construction firms evaluated, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Those evaluated account for about 89 percent of 68,781 construction firms here.Samsung C&T’s construction capacity was valued at 17.5 trillion won ($14.7 billion),

EconomyJuly 29, 2019

Exports down nearly 10% in July: poll

South Korea’s exports have extended their slump for the eighth consecutive month in July, falling nearly 10 percent from a year earlier, a poll showed Monday, due mainly to the prolonged trade row between the United States and China.Outbound shipments are estimated to reach $46.6 billion last month, down from $51.8 posted a year earlier, according to the poll conducted by Yonhap Infomax, a financial information service arm of Yonhap News Agency, on 10 local financial companies. The Korea C

EconomyJuly 29, 2019

Top court rules sharing pornography torrent file same as distributing porn

South Korea’s top court ruled that sharing torrent files that contain only metadata about pornographic videos and not the video content itself can be taken as the act of distributing such videos, and is thereby subject to punishment. Torrent files contain metadata for files and folders, and users tend to share and download videos and other files through such torrent files found in directories and widely circulating on the internet. The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court’s r

Social AffairsJuly 29, 2019

Three North Koreans who crossed NLL repatriated

Three North Koreans who crossed into South Korea in the East Sea on Saturday were repatriated to the North, as a daylong investigation uncovered no evidence of espionage activities, the Ministry of Unification said Monday. A wooden boat and the three crew members were transferred to North Korean authorities in the afternoon after the ministry announced that they had departed for the inter-Korean sea border. The government notified the North of the repatriation decision through the inter-Korean l

North KoreaJuly 29, 2019

Consultative group on Japan’s trade curbs to launch this week amid parliamentary stalemate

Five South Korean political parties agreed to launch a consultative body on Japan’s export regulations this week, made up of officials from the government, private and public sectors, officials said Monday.The launch of the group comes as the National Assembly remains plagued by differences over the terms of an extraordinary parliamentary meeting.The development is part of a consensus reached during party leaders’ recent meeting with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae on a commit

PoliticsJuly 29, 2019

Daewoo E&C starts sales of deluxe apartments

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Monday it will start sales of its new premium apartments located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.Gwacheon Prugio Summit is a complex of 32 apartment blocks with seven different apartment floor plans to choose from. Starting from 254 units of 59 square meters, sizes range all the way to 151 square meters.Unlike other similar complexes that have been renovated, the new complex in Gwacheon is designed with luxurious features.Residents will get to enjoy Euro

IndustryJuly 29, 2019

[Herald Interview] Embraer offers Korean budget airlines more profitability with smaller planes

Amid the expanding market size of budget airlines following the South Korean government’s approval of three additional low-cost carriers earlier this year, they have become the most-preferred travel option for Koreans due to their low costs and widespread connectivity. Competition among LCCs is growing intense, with more air carriers stretching their services by introducing larger, long-haul aircrafts as well as premium seats such as Jeju Air’s “New Class.”But accord

IndustryJuly 29, 2019

OB denies reports of AB InBev’s plan to sell stake

South Korea’s Oriental Brewery on Monday denied news reports that its parent Belgian company AB InBev is seeking to sell its majority stake. According to local media reports, AB InBev -- which acquired OB for $5.8 billion in 2014 -- has been contacting local retail conglomerates such as Lotte and Shinsegae, as well as private equity funds via foreign securities companies to sell its stake. The deal could be worth some 9 trillion won ($7.65 billion). But OB has flatly denied such

IndustryJuly 29, 2019

Cristiano Ronaldo’s no-show prompts upset fans to seek legal action

Korean fans disappointed and angered by soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s solely bench-warming presence at a friendly match between Juventus FC from Turin, Italy and a team of K League players last week are pursuing a class-action suit against the organizer for failing to meet legal obligations.The 34-year-old star athlete -- whose first visit in 12 years was highly anticipated among fans here-- was benched in the exhibition match last Friday at the World Cup Stadium in western Seo

Social AffairsJuly 29, 2019