The Korea Herald

At festival, a unique take on Prince's 'Purple Rain'

NEW YORK (AFP) -- When pop legend Prince died, the indie rocker Twin Shadow said his first impulse was to rush to the studio to record a tribute to one of his musical heroes.Instead, Twin Shadow decided the best way to channel the spirit of Prince was live -- which he showed through one of the most creatively challenging sets at The Meadows, a new festival in New York.Twin Shadow, the stage name of Dominican-born US producer George Lewis, Jr., told the crowd that for him Prince’s music was “much

PerformanceOct. 4, 2016

Contemporary art market slows as Chinese buyers switch focus

PARIS (AFP) - Global contemporary art sales slowed by a quarter in the year to July 2016 as demand in China dried up, according to leading index Artprice.Turnover was $1.5 billion (1.3 billion euros) compared with $2.1 billion in the previous year.“The market saw a healthy period of adjustment, which was as necessary as it was predictable,” Artprice founder and chief executive Thierry Ehrmann said in the report released on Sunday.Despite the correction, contemporary art “remains a particularly h

PerformanceOct. 4, 2016

Indian author Roy announces second novel after 20-year gap

NEW DELHI (AFP) -- Indian author Arundhati Roy announced on Monday that her second novel will be published in 2017 -- 20 years after she won the Booker Prize for her debut one.Roy, an activist and outspoken government critic, said through her publishers that “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” would be released next year. “I am glad to report that the mad souls (even the wicked ones) in ‘The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness’ have found a way into the world, and that I have found my publishers,” Roy s

BooksOct. 4, 2016

Writers' privacy row erupts as Italy's Ferrante unmasked

ROME (AFP) -- One of literature’s most talked-about mysteries appeared to have been cracked Monday with the unmasking of the identity of the Italian publishing sensation Elena Ferrante.In its wake, a literary row erupted over journalistic ethics and writers’ right to protect their identities and the personal back stories that may, or may not, inform their work.Claudio Gatti, an Italian investigative journalist, says he has seen evidence of royalty payments that establish that Ferrante is a pen n

BooksOct. 4, 2016

Hunt for a wild boar ongoing in Busan

Police in Busan trying to stop a wild boar wandering through a residential area Monday failed in their attempts to shoot it. More than 10 sightings were reported of the animal at an apartment neighborhood in Jurye-dong, Sasang-gu, between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Another boar sighting on Sept. 22 in Busan (Twitter)The police tracked down the boar and reportedly fired a shot intending to kill it, but missed. The search for the animal is ongoing. The police are advising people

Social AffairsOct. 4, 2016

28 firms subject to strict antitrust rules in September

The number of South Korean business groups subject to strict restrictions on mutual investments and loan guarantees fell by more than half last month on the implementation of the revised antitrust law that raises the asset ceiling for its conglomerate watch list, the watchdog said Tuesday.The Fair Trade Commission said 28 groups and their 1,141 affiliates are on its monthly watch list, down from 65 and 1,769 from a month earlier, respectively.The sharp decrease came as the revised antitrust law

Oct. 4, 2016

28 firms subject to strict antitrust rules in September

NK human rights law can apply to N. Koreans staying in 3rd countries: official

North Koreans staying temporarily in third countries such as overseas workers are subject to South Korea's new law aimed at improving the North's human rights situation, a government official said Tuesday.The law which took effect last month will be applicable to such North Koreans, making it possible for Seoul to conduct investigations into such people, said the official at Seoul's unification ministry. (Yonhap)Article 3 of the law only stipulated that North Koreans are defined as those who liv

North KoreaOct. 4, 2016

NK human rights law can apply to N. Koreans staying in 3rd countries: official

Hyundai Heavy inks MOU with Saudi Electricity

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, said Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state-run utility Saudi Electricity Co. to expand their partnership in the Middle Eastern country's growing electricity market.Saudi Arabia is seeking to spend a total of $89.3 billion by 2021 to expand its electricity output to 105 GW from the current 65 GW in order to meet growing electricity demand.Hyundai Heavy has been providing power transformers and gas-in

IndustryOct. 4, 2016

New FDI in S. Korea hits new record high in first 9 months of 2016

New foreign direct investment pledged to South Korea hit a new record high in the first nine months of the year despite rising business uncertainties at home and abroad, the government said Tuesday.Fresh FDI committed to the country in the January-September period came to $15.05 billion, up 13.4 percent from $13.27 billion a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.It marked the largest amount of FDI pledged in history for a nine-month period, surpassing the earlier

Oct. 4, 2016

New FDI in S. Korea hits new record high in first 9 months of 2016

Savings banks see surge in large deposits

South Korean savings banks have seen their "large-sum" deposits nearly double over the past two years, data showed Tuesday, as people become more risk-prone amid ultra-low interest rates.According to the data by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., deposits of more than 50 million won ($45,300) per account at local savings banks totaled 5.08 trillion won as of end-June, up 87.3 percent from two years ago and 14.5 percent from the previous quarter.The portion of large-sum deposits to the total also

Oct. 4, 2016