Most Popular
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Who's lying? Hybe vs. Min conflict continues to intensify
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Seoul should engage Kim Jong-un’s elites for change, ex-North Korean diplomat says
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Most teen sex offenders get away with slap on wrist
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Ex-Trump official calls for S. Korea to raise defense spending to 3 or 3.5% of GDP
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Man sentenced to 1 year, 8 months for stealing from elementary school classrooms
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Same-sex couple denied insurance clearance despite landmark ruling
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FM champions multilateralism, stresses S. Korea's vision as 'global pivotal state'
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Panmunjom tours for select Korean nationals may resume in October
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Young Poong says no better offer for Korea Zinc
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Korea's first global webtoon festival lights up Seongsu-dong
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[EXCLUSIVE] LGBT advocacy groups to file petition against Christian party
Civic groups in support of sexual minorities are set to file a petition against a Protestant-affiliated party in late May amid growing controversy over the party’s campaign pledges.The groups advocating the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in South Korea began to collect signatures online on Tuesday, hoping to lodge the petition with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea on May 24. There are a flyer reading “Christian Libertarian Party is Human Rights Violation Party! Sto
Social AffairsMay 3, 2016
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Samsung BioLogics to produce affiliate’s biosimilars
Samsung BioLogics is scheduled to begin producing biosimilar drugs developed by its affiliate Samsung Bioepis, as the two have entered a production partnership, the companies said Tuesday.Samsung BioLogics confirmed to The Korea Herald that it has “recently sealed a production partnership with Samsung Bioepis.” It declined to offer further details about the deal, including its size and timing, citing regulatory compliance.The Samsung BioLogics headquarters in Songdo, Incheon (Samsung BioLogics)S
IndustryMay 3, 2016
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NongHyup to take ‘big bath’ provisions
NongHyup Bank will set aside more funds for loans that may turn sour in the next two years, in a preemptive measure to improve asset quality, the head of its parent NH Financial Group said Tuesday. NH Bank, as it is known, was a major drag on the group’s balance sheet in the first quarter of this year, reporting net profits 65 percent lower from a year earlier on a sharp increase in its loan-loss provisions. NH Financial Group chairman Kim Yong-hwan speaks during a press conference in Seoul on
May 3, 2016
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Seoul shares up 0.4% on eased risk-averse mood
Korean stocks closed marginally higher Tuesday on eased risk-averse sentiment. The local currency dropped against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 8.26 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,986.41. Trade volume came to 306.4 million shares worth 3.7 trillion won ($3.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 502 to 287.The KOSPI opened higher following the overnight uptrend in Wall Street, but its gains were limited on a cautious note ahead of the four-day
May 3, 2016
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Creditor calls for Samsung Heavy’s self-rescue plan
The main creditor bank of Samsung Heavy Industries has called on the shipbuilder to come up with self-rescue measures, in a move to speed up the government’s push in restructuring of the embattled shipbuilding segment hit by mounting losses and an industrywide slump, sources said Tuesday.The state-run Korea Development Bank officially demanded that Samsung Heavy submit self-restructuring plans on April 29, which could lead to job cuts and sales of noncore assets.“KDB asked (the firm) to map out
May 3, 2016
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Monetary easing useful for growth, not for restructuring: HSBC
Korea can afford to implement more monetary easing to boost the economy amid weak growth, but not for the purpose of recapitalizing policy banks to finance restructuring of debt-laden companies, Frederic Neumann, an economist of HSBC, said.In a seminar on the Korean economy, Neumann, the head of HSBC’s Asian Economic Research, said that Korean quantitative easing is not QE in the conventional sense as practiced by other central banks like the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank or the Bank of
May 3, 2016
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MSD Korea names new managing director
MSD Korea, the local affiliate of U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. on Tuesday said it has named former strategy head of MSD Japan Avi Ben-Shoshan as its new managing director. Ben-Shoshan will replace former chief of MSD Korea Hyun Dong-wook, who has led the company for eight years since 2008. Hyun has been named as the global brand leader of Merck & Co.’s global Human Papillomavirus Vaccine business. MSD Korea’s new managing director Avi Ben-Shoshan (MSD Korea) “I’m looking forwar
IndustryMay 3, 2016
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Hanjin chairman quits PyeongChang committee
Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho has stepped down as the president of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics’ Organizing Committee, to save his debt-ridden shipping unit, the group said Tuesday.“Chairman Cho has offered to resign from the (PyeongChang) post to resolve pending issues within the group including Hanjin Shipping,” Hanjin Group said in a statement. Hanjin’s shipping unit applied for restructuring by creditors last week after Cho gave up management rights to the company. Hanjin Group chair
IndustryMay 3, 2016
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Seoul warns of additional N. Korean nuclear test ahead of party congress
North Korea could opt to carry out another nuclear test ahead of the country's rare ruling party congress set for later this week as it has completed all preparations at its Punggye-ri test site, the defense ministry said Tuesday.North Korea appears to be "plotting further strategic provocations including a nuclear test, the test-firing of a Musudan intermediate range missile and another submarine-launched ballistic missile launch," the Ministry of National Defense said in a parliamentary report
North KoreaMay 3, 2016
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Seoul city official commits suicide
A public official of the Seoul city government took his life in a motel room by intentional carbon monoxide poisoning, Monday. The police said the 39-year-old surnamed Park had worked as a 7th grade civil servant for two months, before breaking into tears in front of his mother complaining of his work being “too tough” and disappearing shortly after. His mother reported him as missing to the police, who tracked the location of Park’s cell phone and found his body at a motel located in Jegi-dong,
Social AffairsMay 3, 2016
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Fashion meets gastronomy: dine and shop with style
In the age of social media -- when how food looks matters just as much as how it tastes -- luxury fashion stores that house coffee shops and restaurants have emerged as hot spots for fashion-conscious foodies. Instagram is flooded with pictures of food, including many taken in the sophisticated settings of in-house dessert cafes and restaurants at luxury fashion flagship stores in Seoul such as Dior and Hermes and some hip multi-brand stores like Boon the Shop and 10 Corso Como. The Cafe Dior
Arts & DesignMay 3, 2016
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LG Chem CEO renews commitment to FarmHannong
LG Chem CEO and vice chairman Park Jin-soo on Tuesday renewed his commitment to FarmHannong, an agrochemical firm recently acquired by the nation’s top chemicals company. “We will not just remain as the No. 1 in Korea. We will enter overseas markets and pour resources into research and development. If necessary, we will consider mergers and acquisitions for growth,” he said during his visit to the company’s offices in Gyeonggi Province. LG Chem CEO and vice chairman Park Jin-soo (right) visits
TechnologyMay 3, 2016
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Teacher loses job for insinuating paid dates
A public school teacher in Busan was removed from his position after allegedly insinuating paid dates with minors. According to the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education on Tuesday, the teacher, in his 50s, told his pupils he had “dated a young foreign girl” in the past, after which more than 10 female students alerted the school authorities that they felt sexually humiliated as “potential dates.”The teacher defended his case, saying that he had only told the story of his first love, howev
Social AffairsMay 3, 2016
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Korea in the ’50s through a U.S. soldier’s eyes③
These are the last batch of photos The Korea Herald received from the U.S. university student Brendan Donley, whose great-uncle served in the U.S. army just after the Korean War and helped rebuild the war-ravaged country in cities of Busan and Susaek between 1953-54. Take a look. By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)Below are the links to the previous articles with more photos.Korea in the 50s through a U.S. soldier’s eyes②Korea in the ’50s through a U.S. soldier’s eyes①
Social AffairsMay 3, 2016
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Ballet Festival Korea to kick off sixth year highlighting contemporary trends
From a classical homage to Bolshoi to the modern-day high octane choreography of Nacho Duato in “Duende,” the upcoming sixth annual Ballet Festival Korea promises to be a feast for all tastes. Raising its curtain on May 13 at the Seoul Arts Center, this year’s festival will involve 13 performances throughout the month. They will be held in various SAC theaters including the Opera Theater, the CJ Towol Theater, the Jayu Theater and the Shinsegae Square Outdoor Stage. A scene from “The Edge of th
PerformanceMay 3, 2016
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Korea’s mid-sized builders up for sale
Many mid-tier Korean construction companies have been put on the block in a bid to quickly close their debt workout programs.Kyeangnam Enterprises, going through a debt workout since early last year, said Friday that Samil PwC, the manager of its sale, is accepting letters of intent from potential bidders until May 27. After a month of due diligence, the accounting firm will proceed with the main bidding on June 30. Korea M&A targeting construction companies in 2006-2016 (Source: Dealogic)The m
May 3, 2016
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Proust’s personal archives headed to auction in Paris
PARIS (AFP) -- Intimate letters, personal photographs and rare manuscripts that once belonged to French writer Marcel Proust will go under the hammer in Paris, Sotheby’s auction house said Monday. The collection of some 120 items from the “Remembrance of Things Past” author’s personal archives even includes a hand-corrected proof of one of his well-known works. The trove of artefacts, being sold by the writer’s 41-year-old great-grand-niece Patricia Mante-Proust, is to be auctioned on May 31.
BooksMay 3, 2016
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Song Kang-ho to star in ‘Taxi Driver’
Korean actor Song Kang-ho will play the lead role in an upcoming film about the Gwangju Uprising, tentatively titled “Taxi Driver,” production company The Lamp announced Tuesday. The film is based on a real story by Jurgen Hinzpeter, a German journalist who filmed and reported the May 18 Democratic Uprising in Gwangju in 1980. It will depict the story of Hinzpeter and a taxi driver who helped him take the video recording of the massacre in Gwangju out of the city, evading the government troops.
FilmMay 3, 2016
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BTS breaks into iTunes Charts abroad
K-pop boy band BTS’ special album “Young Forever” swept domestic music charts and broke into the iTunes top 30 albums in 17 countries, the group’s agency Big Hit Entertainment announced Tuesday. The album topped the iTunes top albums charts in Singapore and Taiwan, ranked second place in Indonesia, third place in Finland, fourth place in Thailand and Hong Kong, and 18th place in the U.S. “Fire,” the lead song of the band’s special album released Monday, immediately topped seven domestic music ch
PerformanceMay 3, 2016
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Kumho Tire opens first U.S. factory
Kumho Tire celebrated the opening of its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Macon, Georgia, in the United States, on Monday that will help expand the tire-maker’s presence in North America, said company officials.About 300 people including Kumho Asiana Group chairman Park Sam-koo, Kumho Tire CEO Lee Han-seob, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, and Macon Mayor Robert Reichert attended the opening ceremony of the facility that was completed early this year after its construction began in 2008. Kumho Asi
IndustryMay 3, 2016