Most Popular
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Yoon warns North Korea against nuclear attack attempt
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81-year-old model awarded ‘best dressed’ in Miss Universe Korea
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Seoul mayor suggests shift in immigration policy
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'Smart pill'? ADHD treatment prescriptions spike this year
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AI textbook bubble could burst, expert warns
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[KH Explains] Korea pursues ‘fire-free’ batteries amid EV fears
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[Herald Review] One of Netflix's most expensive Korean originals returns, but at what cost?
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Man calls 119, found dead 1 week later because officials went to wrong place
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Food tycoon Paik Jong-won's Theborn Korea pushes toward IPO
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Samsung tightens its belt amid crisis winds
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‘Seoul private schools run illegal English lessons’
Some private elementary schools in Seoul are breaking relevant laws by giving uncertified English lessons to young students, a local civic group said Monday.World Without Worries About Private Education, a group campaigning against excessive private education, investigated the curriculum of 39 privately-run elementary schools in the capital and found that most of them regularly hold English classes for first- and second-graders. As per the law, schools are prohibited from teaching English to fir
Social AffairsNov. 30, 2015
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Korea steps up drone development
In May 2014, many South Koreans were struck by the discovery of three crashed drones in frontline areas that had been flown in from North Korea. Albeit crude, the small devices had taken photos of major military installations on border islands, potential infiltration routes and the presidential palace in downtown Seoul, kindling concerns over a potential security breach and lax air defense. Boosted by the brisk advancement of aerospace power following two World Wars, drones have revolutionized m
DefenseNov. 30, 2015
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Ministry keeps textbook review committee under wraps
The Education Ministry said Monday it has confirmed 16 members of the review committee for secondary education history textbooks, but refused to disclose the members, stoking further opposition against the process it had originally vowed to keep transparent.According to the ministry, the committee will be entrusted with the task of reviewing the finished textbooks based on governmental criteria and has the right to demand revisions if the book falls short of standards “in an independent and a ne
Social AffairsNov. 30, 2015
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China FTA to streamline exports for small businesses
South Korea’s free trade agreement with China is scheduled to take effect within this year, as the bilateral trade pact gained final parliamentary approval in Korea on Monday. As a result, the two countries will implement the first set of tariff reductions within this year and a secondary round of tariff cuts in about a month’s time starting from Jan. 1, 2016. The Korea-China FTA will immediately eliminate tariffs on Korean exports to China worth around $8.7 billion annually, eventually lifting
IndustryNov. 30, 2015
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Korea needs to go extra mile to boost household income
Economic policymakers in the government seem to be pinning their hopes on further boosting domestic demand to reach next year’s gross domestic product growth target of 3.3 percent.The framework of economic policies for 2016, which is to be unveiled later this month, is seen to focus on keeping an upward trend in domestic consumption and supplementing fiscal stimulus put into practice this year.An official at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said a diverse range of measures aimed at ramping u
Nov. 30, 2015
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Banks to expand online services to counter Internet-only rivals
South Korea’s banking industry is expecting its largest shake-up in decades as two Internet-only banks are to launch next year, becoming not only the first of their kind, but also the first new entries into the market since 1993.The government’s decision to license two consortiums for the new business field triggered mixed reactions from conventional financial companies ― depending on whether or not they were part of the incoming picture.The Financial Services Commission gave its preliminary app
Nov. 30, 2015
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Samsung plans fewer executive promotions
Samsung Group is expected to carry out a modest promotion of executives this week, reflecting a sense of crisis prevalent across its affiliates, industry sources said Monday. Samsung Electronics vice chairman and the group’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong is also unlikely to take office as chairman to focus more on improving the profitability of the flagship electronics unit and other key companies. “Many executives do not expect to receive promotions this year. They just want to stay,” said a Samsu
TechnologyNov. 30, 2015
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Psy releases long-awaited 7th album
Psy‘s seventh studio-length album “Chiljip Psy-da” (known simply in English as Psy 7th Album) comes three years and five months after his sixth album, “Psy 6-gap,” which included the global sensation “Gangnam Style.”“It’s been too long,” he began at a press conference at the Conrad Hotel in Seoul on Monday.“Maybe it was pressure, maybe it was stress,” he said about the wait. “I kept thinking, ‘This won’t do as well as “Gangnam (Style)”’ ... or if I changed it, ‘Overseas fans wouldn’t understand
PerformanceNov. 30, 2015
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Assembly ratifies Korea-China FTA
South Korea’s National Assembly on Monday ratified the long-delayed free trade agreement with China, bringing an end to partisan wrangling over the trade pact that will reduce or eliminate tariff barriers to boost Korea’s exports toward its biggest trade partner. Of the 265 attending lawmakers, 196 members voted in approval of the Korea-China FTA, which had been shelved since June, while 33 disapproved and 36 abstained in a plenary session vote. The deal is expected to take effect by year-end
PoliticsNov. 30, 2015
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S-Oil, Sumitomo Chemical sign tech license agreement
S-Oil, one of the largest oil refiners in Korea, announced Monday it has signed a technology license agreement with Sumitomo Chemical regarding polypropylene and propylene oxide production.The Japanese chemical company has a successful track record of PP production and runs several operations around the world producing high-quality products.Under the agreement, S-Oil can now construct production plants that produce 405,000 tons of PP and 300,000 tons of PO per year, as well as manufacture and se
IndustryNov. 30, 2015
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[Editorial] Internet-only banks
Kakao Corp. and KT Corp. have emerged as winners of the heated race to launch Korea’s first Internet-only banks. Consortiums led by the two information technology service companies obtained preliminary licenses to operate online-only banks from the Financial Services Commission on Sunday. They beat out another participant in the bidding, a consortium led by Interpark. Kakao Corp., the operator of Korea’s largest mobile messaging app, has teamed up with 10 other companies, including Korea Investm
EditorialNov. 30, 2015
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[Editorial] Another rally
The possibility of another clash between the police and activist groups is looming large as the organizers of the violent Nov. 14 antigovernment demonstration have vowed to hold a second rally despite a police ban. On Saturday, police banned the Korean Peasants League — one of the activist groups that participated in the demonstration at Gwanghwamun Plaza last month — from holding a rally in the same place on Dec. 5. The decision was based on the Assembly and Demonstration Act, which allows poli
EditorialNov. 30, 2015
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[Jeffrey Frankel] The trouble with international policy coordination
After a 30-year hiatus, international coordination of macroeconomic policy seems to be back on policymakers’ agendas. The reason is understandable: growth remains anemic in most countries, and many fear the U.S. Federal Reserve’s impending interest-rate hike. Unfortunately, the reasons why coordination fell into abeyance are still with us. The heyday of international policy coordination, from 1978 to 1987, began with a G7 summit in Bonn in 1978 and included the 1985 Plaza Accord. But doubts abou
ViewpointsNov. 30, 2015
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[Gareth Evans] Combating terrorist recruitment
Can anything more be done to stop jobless, hopeless, rootless, and alienated young Muslim men, in the Islamic world and in the West, from embracing violent Islamism? Curbing the flow of recruits will not, of course, eradicate groups like the one calling itself the “Islamic State.” Nor will it ensure the prevention of atrocities such as November’s Friday 13th massacres in Paris. But any long-term solution requires curtailing the ability of extremists to attract newcomers. For the foreseeable futu
ViewpointsNov. 30, 2015
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Three big Korean movies for December
The Korean box office is wrapping up a dynamic year of hugely successful films like “Assassination” and “Veteran“ as well as acclaimed smaller art-house films like “Alice in Earnestland,“ but there is little progress to show for mid-sized commercial films. The last month of 2015 looks to be a continuation of that pattern. Three of Korea’s largest distributors -- CJ Entertainment, Next Entertainment World and Lotte Entertainment -- will be facing off in theaters for the holiday rush.The Himalayas
FilmNov. 30, 2015
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Korea paroles 538 prisoners with eased evaluation
The government released 538 prisoners on parole Monday, ministry officials said, following a relaxed examination.The inmates, mostly those who committed crimes to make a living or who exhibited exemplary behavior while in prison, were allowed to go home in the morning, the Ministry of Justice said.With a larger amount of parolees than usual -- customarily the number is around 200 to 400 -- the ministry said it adopted a more flexible examination when deciding parole, though did not modify the ex
Social AffairsNov. 30, 2015
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E-land to put Kim's Club Mart up for sale
E-land Group, a South Korean fashion giant, said Monday it will sell Kim's Club Mart, its supermarket chain operator, through open bidding to better focus on its core businesses.Kim's Club has 37 outlets inside E-land's retail network, but it falls behind the big three players in the hypermarket industry -- E-Mart, Homeplus and Lotte Mart. The company said the sale is aimed at putting more focus on the global retail and fashion business, without elaborating on the specific schedule of the biddin
IndustryNov. 30, 2015
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Former Korean record holder in 100m dies of heart attack
Former South Korean sprinter Seo Mal-ku, whose national record in the men's 100-meter dash once stood for more than three decades, died of a heart attack Monday.He was 60.An official at the Korea Association of Athletics Federations said Seo passed away in the early hours of Monday.Seo set the national 100m record with a time of 10.34 seconds at the Summer Universiade in Mexico City in September 1979. The mark was untouched until June 2010, when Kim Kuk-young came in 10.23 seconds.Kim broke his
Social AffairsNov. 30, 2015
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Lawmaker accused of alleged influence-peddling over son's graduation
An opposition party lawmaker was accused by a lawyer on Monday for allegedly exercising undue influence to help his son who failed the graduation exam at a law school.Bae Seung-hee, 33, filed the complaint against Rep. Shin Ki-nam of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on charges of coercion, abuse of power and obstruction of duty.There have been media speculations that the 63-year-old visited the dean of Kyung Hee University Law School in
Social AffairsNov. 30, 2015