GS E&C opens Vam Cong Bridge in Vietnam

South Korean builder GS Engineering & Construction said Sunday it has completed the construction of Vam Cong Bridge in southern Vietnam. According to GS E&C, an opening ceremony for the bridge was held May 19, attended by officials from GS E&C, the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the Korean Embassy as well as the Vietnamese minister of transport. Vam Cong Bridge, which runs 2.97 kilometers along the Hau River in the Mekong Delta, cost around 240 billion won ($202 million) and took fi

IndustryMay 26, 2019

Trump brushes off concerns over N. Korea missile tests

US President Donald Trump on Sunday downplayed the potential danger of North Korea’s missile launches in early May, just a day after national security adviser John Bolton called the tests a clear breach of UN resolutions. “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” Trump tweeted during a four-day state visit to Japan that started Saturday. On May 9, North Korea tested two short-range missiles, which fell into the East S

North KoreaMay 26, 2019

Korea’s micro fuel cell standards internationally certified

South Korea’s micro fuel cell technologies were certified by an international standards organization, becoming the nation’s first hydrogen technologies to receive international certification, according to the government Sunday. The standards on micro fuel cells were certified three years after the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy proposed it to the Geneva-based International Electrotechnical Commission in April of 2016. The approval came after much discussion and verification b

IndustryMay 26, 2019

[News Focus] Online shopping expands more than 100% in 3 years

SEJONG -- South Koreans have sharply increased their shopping through computers and smartphones in recent years, which is taking up more than 20 percent of their total consumption.The rapid growth of online shopping transactions has been backed by systematic parcel delivery services, which send products to consumers across the country in one to three days.Almost every kind of product -- from drinking water, food and cosmetics to clothing, home appliances and furniture -- are available on online

EconomyMay 26, 2019

[Newsmaker] Korean firms slam WHO’s listing of game disorder

South Korean games companies reacted angrily on Sunday to the World Health Organization’s decision to officially recognize gaming disorder as a disease.A committee comprising 88 organizations, including the labor union of Korea’s biggest game company Nexon, opposed the decision saying it would “deprive a child’s right to play,” as decreed in Article 31 of the United Nation’s Convention on Rights of the Child. “We will do everything in our power to resist

IndustryMay 26, 2019

Incheon airport holds emergency response training drills

South Korea’s Incheon International Airport conducted a series of emergency response drills last week to ensure a swift response to urgent situations while minimizing customer inconvenience, the airport’s operator said Sunday.The training dealt with a mock scenario involving a fire within the intra-airport transit system, an autonomous train system that connects passengers to different terminals. Airport authorities and officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tra

IndustryMay 26, 2019

Main opposition party ends protest against govt.

Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn returned to the National Assembly over the weekend after holding an 18 day-long rally nationwide in protest against the liberal government for fast-tracking critical reform bills.The conservative party plans to hold a workshop this week to share views of supporters garnered during the rally and roll out the party’s road map in the coming days. Though the party has concluded its first round of protest, it has not ruled out the possibility of stagin

PoliticsMay 26, 2019

Bong Joon-ho bags Palme d'Or in Cannes milestone for Korea

Bong Joon-ho’s social satire “Parasite” made history Saturday by becoming the first Korean film to win the Palme d’Or, the top award at the Cannes Film Festival.According to the jury president Alejandro Inarritu, the nine-person jury had made the decision based on a unanimous vote.“The film has been an astonishing journey, which was made possible with the artists that stood by my side. Above all, I wouldn’t have been able to shoot a single scene without great

FilmMay 26, 2019

[Herald Interview] Customers must be punished for harassment: Seoul Emotional Labor Center CEO

South Korea has traditionally been known as “the courteous country in the East,” meaning Koreans prioritize politeness above other values.The country’s service industry, however, reveals a strikingly different image of the country, as it grapples with customers on power trips at the expense of employees’ health. The top-down power dynamic between customers and workers has created an environment that tolerates almost any behavior by customers and requires excruciating emot

Social AffairsMay 26, 2019

Singer Goo Ha-ra moved to hospital after suicide attempt

South Korean celebrity Goo Ha-ra, a former member of popular K-pop girl group Kara, was admitted to a hospital on Sunday following an apparent suicide attempt, the police said.The 28-year-old was found by her manager lying unconscious at her home in Seoul's Gangnam district in the small hours of Sunday morning and rushed to a nearby hospital. She has yet to recover consciousness, but her breathing and pulse are reported to be stable. The manager went to Goo's home after she did not pick up repea

Social AffairsMay 26, 2019

Dodgers' Ryu Hyun-jin wins 7th game of '19, has scoreless streak snapped at 32 innings

Los Angeles Dodgers' Ryu Hyun-jin has won his fifth straight game despite having his scoreless streak snapped and giving up a season-high 10 hits.Ryu labored through six innings, working around those 10 hits to limit the Pittsburgh Pirates to two runs in a 7-2 victory at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on Saturday (local time). Ryu improved to 7-1 for the season, striking out three and giving up no walks on 93 pitches, 66 for strikes. Ryu entered the game not having allowed a run in 31 straight innings,

BaseballMay 26, 2019

Ocean ministry wants new English name of Korean fish cakes

South Korea's ocean ministry said Sunday it will hold a contest to find a new English name for Korean-style fish cakes to promote the processed seafood around the globe.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said the move is intended to find a better English name that represents the unique texture and taste of South Korean fish cakes. Exports of Korean fish cakes, called "eomuk" here, came to $57 million in 2017, up 18 percent from $48 million two years ago, ministry data showed, with th

IndustryMay 26, 2019

President Moon celebrates Korean film's Cannes victory

President Moon Jae-in on Sunday delivered a congratulatory message for the South Korean film "Parasite" after it won the top Cannes festival award, calling it a big gift to all South Koreans."Parasite" won the top honor at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (French time), making it the first South Korean movie to take the main prize at the eminent film event.  "The status of hallyu culture has risen one step higher," Moon said on his Twitter and other so

FilmMay 26, 2019

Bong Joon-ho's films pursue balance of commercial, artistic values

South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho, who won the top prize at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, is known for works that cater to both commercial and artistic tastes.His films often use metaphors, but they are not too difficult -- not only for film critics but also for audiences -- to understand. Throughout his filmography, he sheds light on chronic social issues like materialism and class division through analogy, and he never fails to cast a warm, good-humored eye over the weak. In his fi

FilmMay 26, 2019

S. Korean cinema finally embraces Palme d'Or at Cannes

Thanks to Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" being awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes on Saturday, South Korea has bagged the highest honor at two of the world's three most acclaimed film competitions -- Cannes, Venice and Berlin.The 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival gave its top prize to Bong's black comedy movie about a poor family becoming obsessed with a rich one after their son gets a job as a tutor for the wealthy family. It is the first time that a South Korean filmmaker has grabbed

FilmMay 26, 2019

Bong Joon-ho's 'Parasite' wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

CANNES, France (Yonhap) -- South Korean director Bong Joon-ho grabbed the highest honor at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his black comedy movie "Parasite." Bong became the first South Korean director to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Before him, Park Chan-wook was awarded the Grand Prix, the second-highest prize at the festival, for his thriller "Old Boy" in 2004.   His achievement marks the sixth time that a Korean film has received one of

CultureMay 26, 2019

May to quit as party leader June 7, opening race for new PM

Theresa May ended her failed three-year quest to lead Britain out of the European Union on Friday, announcing that she will step down as Conservative Party leader June 7 and triggering a contest to choose a new prime minister who will try to complete Brexit.``I have done my best,'' May said in a speech outside 10 Downing St., as close aides and her husband Philip looked on, before acknowledging that it was not good enough.Concluding her remarks, she struggled to contain her emotions and her voic

World NewsMay 25, 2019

Volcano on Indonesia's Bali erupts, flights canceled

Bali's airport has canceled flights following an eruption of the Mount Agung volcano that spread ash over the south of the Indonesian island.The national disaster agency said Friday night's eruption lasted four minutes and 30 seconds and spread lava and incandescent rocks about 3 kilometers from the crater.Nine villages experienced thick ash fall. But the agency said it wasn't raising the alert level for the volcano and its exclusion zone remains a 4-kilometer radius around the crater.The Direct

World NewsMay 25, 2019

29 inmates killed in Venezuelan jail riot: Official

A showdown between armed inmates and guards in an overcrowded cellblock of a Venezuelan jail Friday left at least 29 prisoners dead, an official said. The clash started when inmates, many armed, refused to let authorities enter, fearing they would be robbed, said Humberto Prado of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory. He said there were reports of at least one explosion.An official in the Attorney General's office who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak said at

World NewsMay 25, 2019

Bolton says N. Korea missile tests violated UN resolutions

US national security adviser John Bolton on Saturday called a series of short-range missile tests by North Korea earlier this month a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and said sanctions must be kept in place. The US, however, is willing to resume talks with North Korea at any time, Bolton said. Washington's position on the North's denuclearization is consistent and a repeated pattern of failures to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons should be stopped, he said.Bolton was speaking to r

North KoreaMay 25, 2019