Youn Yuh-jung to star as billionaire in Netflix's ‘Beef’ season 2

Veteran actor Youn Yuj-jung (“Minari,” “Pachinko”) will star in season two of the Netflix series “Beef.” The new installment of this US anthology drama will feature Youn as the Korean billionaire owner of a country club. While the show’s creator, executive producer and showrunner Lee Sung-jin continues to helm season two of “Beef,” the new season will feature a whole new cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cai

FilmOct. 24, 2024

Salzburg Festival president highlights century-long event's strengths

The Salzburg Festival is more than a festival celebrating Mozart, although the connection between Mozart and the festival held in the city of the composer's birth continues to be strong. “I believe that Mozart plays a crucial role in the festival, but what truly sets the Salzburg Festival apart is its dedication to showcasing a diverse array of programs,” Kristina Hammer, the president of Salzburg Festival, told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday. Hammer, president of the festi

CultureOct. 24, 2024

SK Innovation replaces heads of key subsidiaries

SK Innovation said Thursday that three of its key subsidiaries -- SK Energy, SK Geocentric and SK IE Technology -- have appointed new company heads with technological expertise to tackle business uncertainties and strengthen core competitiveness. The announcement comes eight days before the mega-merger of SK Innovation and SK E&S, two major energy affiliates of SK Group, which will create Korea’s largest energy giant with combined assets of 100 trillion won ($723.6 billion). The newly

IndustryOct. 24, 2024

Long-term foreign residents in S. Korea at all-time high

The number of foreign nationals residing in South Korea long-term has increased to an all-time high, reaching almost 2.5 million last year, according to official data presented by the Ministry of Interior and Safety on Thursday. As of Nov. 1, 2023, there were a total of 2,459,542 foreign nationals staying in Korea for at least three months. According to the Interior Ministry -- which defines foreign residents as those without Korean nationality, those who have obtained Korean citizenship but are

Social AffairsOct. 24, 2024

Korea Zinc shares soar 30% amid prolonged ownership fight

Shares of Korea Zinc, the world’s largest zinc smelter, jumped almost 30 percent on Thursday amid speculation that the prolonged power struggle between the current management and the MBK Partners-Young Poong coalition could push the share price up further in the coming weeks. The shares of Korea Zinc closed at 1.13 million won ($825), up 262,000 won or 29.91 percent from the previous day, hitting the upper circuit limit. The uptick comes after the tender offer of the current management clo

MarketOct. 24, 2024

Samsung mobile chief upbeat on Galaxy S24 sales

Samsung Electronics's mobile business chief Roh Tae-moon has pinned high hopes on the latest flagship Galaxy S24 series to drive up the company's smartphone business this year overall. Speaking to the employees in a regular town hall meeting on Wednesday, Roh reiterated the company's goal of creating an "ecosystem of Galaxy AI" to introduce the artificial intelligence model to all of its mobile devices, according to industry sources. "Galaxy has led the way into the

IndustryOct. 24, 2024

SK hynix reports earnings surprise in Q3 on AI chip boom

SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker by revenue, said Thursday it logged all-time high profit, sales and net income in the July-September period this year, riding on the robust demand for its artificial intelligence chips. The company reported a quarterly operating profit of 7.03 trillion won ($5.1 billion), compared with a loss of 1.79 trillion won a year ago. The figure is higher than the consensus of 6.76 trillion won by local analysts provided by market intelligence F

TechnologyOct. 24, 2024

Hyundai Motor's Q3 profit missses estimates

Hyundai Motor Company reported 3.58 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in third-quarter operating profit Thursday, down 6.5 percent from the same quarter last year and missing the market consensus of 3.9 trillion won. The automaker explained in a conference call that a proactive warranty extension for the North American Grand Santa Fe, a sport utility vehicle, caused a provision of about 320 billion won and affected the lower-than-expected operating profit for the July to Sept. period. Despite the dip

CompaniesOct. 24, 2024

Hyundai Glovis adopts fire control system for safer EV shipping

Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai Motor Group's logistics and distribution subsidiary, said Thursday that it has equipped its automobile carriers with a fire suppression system to prevent potential incidents while delivering electric vehicles. The EV-Drill Lance system is designed to quench electric vehicle fires. High-pressure water flowing from a fire hydrant spins turbines, enabling the drill to pierce to the bottom of a car. Water can then flow into the battery pack and fully extinguish the fire

IndustryOct. 24, 2024

Jessi apologizes for assault case involving fan

Rapper-singer Jessi apologized Wednesday following heavy backlash after a fan was assaulted by a man who was with her at that time. In a statement posted to her Instagram account, the Korean-American singer expressed regret and apologized. “I deeply apologize to the victim and his family for causing pain,” she said. “From the moment the incident happened until now, I have hurt many, including the victim, and left them feeling betrayed and angry due to my wrong actions, attitude

Social AffairsOct. 24, 2024

In first, North Korea drops leaflets targeting South Korean presidential couple

North Korea on Thursday flew another batch of trash balloons toward the South, most of which landed in Seoul and nearby areas, including Yongsan where the presidential office is located, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. For the first time since the balloon offensive began in May, the balloons carried leaflets targeting President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee. Some leaflets called Yoon a “thug” while others accused the first lady of going on extravagant

PoliticsOct. 24, 2024

Man stops attack against store clerk

A man is being considered for commendation after intervening in an assault against a convenience store clerk, local media outlets reported Thursday. According to the local broadcaster YTN, the attack occurred at a convenience store in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The suspect, identified only as a foreign national in his 20s, attempted to buy a bottle of soju but the store clerk in his 60s repeatedly refused to sell it, citing that the suspect needed an ID to

Social AffairsOct. 24, 2024

Tattoo artist calls for all body inking to be legal at audit

The debate on legalizing tattooing by non-medical practitioners further heightened on Thursday, after a veteran tattoo artist called to scrap the decades-old regulation that officially restricts the practice to only being conducted by licensed medical personnel. "I looked around the room, and about half of the people here have tattoos. But I don't think there's a single person who got it legally," Kim Do-yoon, who heads the country's first labor union of tattooists, told

Social AffairsOct. 24, 2024

New envoy expects upgrade in Uzbek-Korean ties

Uzbekistan’s newly appointed Ambassador to South Korea Alisher Abdusalomov expressed hopes for expanded economic, academic and tourism cooperation during a courtesy visit to Herald Media Group on Wednesday. “It’s very interesting to hear the concerns of Korean companies and CEOs when doing business overseas at (The Herald's) Global Business Forum,” Abdusalomov said, sharing his memories of attending Herald Media Group’s biannual forum held last year. Herald Med

Foreign AffairsOct. 24, 2024

Campaign for proper K-food names

The Seoul city government announced a campaign to promote standardized foreign-language names for Korean foods on Thursday, aiming to boost culinary tourism by providing accurate translations for international visitors. The initiative, in collaboration with the Seoul Tourism Organization and the Korea Food Service Industry Association, runs until Nov. 1 and focuses on correcting mistranslations of famous Korean dishes. Foreign tourists often encounter baffling translations on menus, including no

Social AffairsOct. 24, 2024

Why ex-Elliott activist fund is building stake in SK

London-based hedge fund Palliser Capital was recently found to have held a stake of more than 1 percent in SK Square, the investment arm of SK Group, for years, triggering speculation about another round of activist campaigns against the nation’s second-largest conglomerate. According to industry sources on Thursday, the fund -- founded by Chief Investment Officer James Smith, who previously worked at Elliott Investment Management -- held several meetings with SK Square executives recently

IndustryOct. 24, 2024

Han Kang's Nobel win sparks reading boom in Korea

Han Kang's historic win of the Nobel Prize in literature appears to have sparked a reading boom across South Korea, with data showing that locals have bought substantially more books following the Oct. 10 announcement. BC Card, one of the biggest credit card companies here, analyzed online and offline sales at major book outlets in recent weeks. It found that book sales of BC Card users for the period of Oct. 10-16 jumped by 39.2 percent compared to the previous week. Book sales in that sev

BooksOct. 24, 2024

Doosan Enerbility to support Kazakhstan's energy modernization

Doosan Enerbility has signed an agreement with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy to help modernize the country’s power infrastructure, the Korean nuclear power plant builder announced Thursday. The memorandum of understanding was formalized during a Wednesday visit by Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev to Doosan’s headquarters in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. Accompanying the minister were senior officials, including the heads of Kazakhstan’s nu

IndustryOct. 24, 2024

Draft-dodger falls from building trying to run from investigators

A young man on the run for allegedly dodging his mandatory military service survived a fall from a building while trying to evade prosecutors, officials said Thursday. The suspect, in his late 20s and wanted for violating the Military Service Act, was visited at his home in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province by officials from the Namyangju Branch of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office at around 12:40 p.m. on Monday. One investigator knocked on the door while the other was standing by outsi

Social AffairsOct. 24, 2024

Asiana starts direct flights to Egypt

Asiana Airlines has started direct charter flights from Incheon to Cairo, according to the Egyptian Embassy in South Korea at an event Wednesday. Hosted by Egyptian Ambassador to Korea Khaled Abdel Rahman, the event showcased tourism and culture with presentations from travel agencies from Korea. In his address, Rahman applauded the cooperation of Asiana Airlines and major South Korean tour operators such as Hana Tour, Mode Tour, Verygood Tour and Yellow Balloon Tour. "The message we want t

Foreign AffairsOct. 24, 2024