Most Popular
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Ex-presidential official’s leaked phone call rattles conservative bloc
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Man escapes DUI charges by downing bottle of soju while pulled over
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Pay debate plagues foreign nanny pilot
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K-pop star lip-syncing controversy flares up again
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35% of S. Koreans view unification 'unnecessary'
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Slew of top K-pop stars ready to return from military
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S. Korea, US clinch 2026-30 defense cost-sharing deal in pre-election push
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[Reporter’s Notebook] Was Netflix film opening BIFF really a bad thing?
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N. Korean leader's sister derides Seoul's Hyunmoo-5 missile as 'useless'
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Controversial cult leader’s sentence reduced to 17 years
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[Newsmaker] Park likely to improve ties with Japan
President Park Geun-hye on Saturday made a moderate response to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, signaling her intention to enhance relations with Tokyo.President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea`s liberation from Japan`s colonial rule on Saturday in Seoul. (Yonhap)In her Liberation Day speech, she said the much-anticipated statement “did not quite live up to Koreans’ expectations.
PoliticsAug. 16, 2015
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[Shashi Tharoor] Hanging sparks debate on death penalty in India
On July 30, Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant and the brother of a notorious gangster now living in self-imposed exile, was hanged for complicity in the planning and execution of serial bomb blasts that killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993. The hanging, India’s first in three years, has prompted reactions ranging from dismay to scarcely concealed bloodlust. And it has intensified the domestic debate over the death penalty.To be sure, no one suggests that India’s judicial system did not function
ViewpointsAug. 16, 2015
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[David Ignatius] Big battle behind China’s turmoil
One way to think about the recent financial turmoil in China is as a parenting dispute between “Xi Dada” and “Yang Ma” -- meaning “Big Daddy Xi” (the nickname for President Xi Jinping) and “Big Mama” (a popular moniker for the People’s Bank of China).Dada and Ma are the two centers of power, political and economic, in a China that is coping with a painful new period of slower economic growth. They work in surprising harmony most of the time, but you could see the strain this summer as China stru
ViewpointsAug. 16, 2015
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Korea Herald brings K-pop to world fans
In less than a year, K-pop Herald (www.kpopherald.com) has established itself as the go-to website for people who want to keep up with up-to-date news and information on Korea’s pop culture trends and entertainment scene in English. Operated by the nation’s No. 1 English news outlet, The Korea Herald, the K-pop Herald launched on Sept. 24 with two things in mind: creating the most credible K-pop news in Korea and delivering rich Korean cultural contents across the globe. “There were many media
CultureAug. 16, 2015
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Samsung founder’s first son dies at 84
Samsung Group founder’s eldest son Lee Maeng-hee, father of CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun, died Friday at age 84. He had been hospitalized at a Beijing hospital after his lung cancer spread to other parts of his body. The late Lee was often called the “ill-fated prince” of the Samsung empire.His father Lee Byung-chull had originally designated him as his successor in the early 1960s. However, Maeng-hee clashed with his father on issues including his aggressive management style, which led the gr
IndustryAug. 16, 2015
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Seoul City to adopt animal-assisted therapy service
By Lee Hyun-jeong Seoul City is pushing to introduce an animal-assisted therapy service to support psychological treatment of citizens suffering from mental illnesses, sources said Sunday. Starting next month, Seoul Metropolitan Government will run a pilot project that offers psychological treatment through the bonding between humans and pets. The program takes a cue from a U.S.-based service that provides a chance for positive interactions with animals for the sake of people’s health and well-b
Social AffairsAug. 16, 2015
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70 years after liberation, Korea ascends high on world stage
Shortly after its liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the peninsula faced yet another tragedy as North Korea invaded the South five years later, driving the territory into ruin and deepening the plight of people on both sides of the border. Neither the 35-year foreign occupation nor the three-year war, however, could thwart South Korea’s epic political and economic ascent from the ashes. More than 60 years on, the country stands as the world’s 13th-largest economy in terms of gross d
Foreign AffairsAug. 16, 2015
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Samsung's big-screen Galaxy phones face tough test
NEW YORK -- It’s clear that the success of Samsung’s latest smartphone and phablet will be a crucial test for Lee Jae-yong, the heir to Korea’s largest conglomerate and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics.And it’ll certainly be a tough challenge, given the hugely saturated nature of today’s smartphone market that has competition cropping up at every bend in the road.“Samsung definitely has a huge presence, all over the U.S. and in the world,” said one participant at last week’s Samsung Unpacked
TechnologyAug. 16, 2015
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Korean miracle 70 years in the making
South Korea has achieved many great feats over the last seven decades in political and socioeconomic areas since it gained independence.Its economy, with per capita income much smaller than that of African countries such as Ghana and Gabon in the aftermath of the inter-Korean conflict, was able to grow rapidly through policies that promoted technology, manufacturing and exports, in order to develop from farming and fishing.Once a poor country that relied on development aid, Korea emerged from it
CultureAug. 16, 2015
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Film auteur Choi sets milestones with well-crafted plots, dialogues
By Won Ho-jungChoi Dong-hoon, the director of “Assassination,” is no stranger to big box-office success.The 44-year-old film auteur, who has become this year’s first Korean director to attract over 10 million viewers with the historical action flick, already topped the 10 million mark once before in 2012 with the caper film “The Thieves.” Crimes and schemes have been Choi’s trademark and forte since his 2004 directorial debut with “The Big Swindle,” which brought him almost every major award for
FilmAug. 16, 2015
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S. Korea to update list of separated families by Sept.
South Korea said Sunday it will update the list of family members who have been separated by the 1950-53 Korean War by next month in an effort to restart dialogue on holding a temporary reunion later this year.Nearly 130,000 people were registered as separated families here between 1988 and July 31, 2015, the Ministry of Unification said. Of them, however, nearly half, or 63,000, were found to have passed away as of late June, with more than half of the surviving 66,000 past the age of 80."So ma
PoliticsAug. 16, 2015
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LG Chem signs battery supply deal with Chinese carmaker
LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's leading chemicals and battery maker, said Sunday that it has signed a deal to supply electric vehicle batteries to a leading Chinese carmaker. Under the contract, LG Chem will supply Changan Automobile Co. with batteries for its next-generation plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, whose mass production is scheduled to start in 2016, the South Korean company said.LG Chem didn't disclose how many batteries it will supply per year.A state-run company, Changan Automobile is C
IndustryAug. 16, 2015
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Korea Herald Podcast celebrates second anniversary
The Korea Herald Podcast, designed to help Koreans learn English through the latest news articles, is celebrating its second anniversary. The Korea Herald launched the podcast in August 2013 with the aim of better interacting with its readers and satisfying the needs of intermediate English learners. Hosted each week by two members of the paper’s editorial staff -- one Korean and one foreign -- the show features English vocabulary and listening lessons through a range of news articles. Yoon Min
CultureAug. 16, 2015
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S. Korean firms in Gaeseong forced to follow N. Korean time zone
South Korean companies operating in the joint industrial complex in the North are required to change their work hours according to Pyongyang's new time zone, Seoul officials said Sunday.North Korea told the Ministry of Unification in Seoul on Saturday that it will start handling entries into the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in accordance to its new standard time, which is now 30 minutes behind that of South Korea, a ministry official said.Earlier this month, Pyongyang said it is rolling back its
North KoreaAug. 16, 2015
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Opposition leader urges restart of N.K. nuke talks
South Korea's main opposition leader Moon Jae-in urged the country Sunday to resume efforts to restart the stalled multilateral talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea.The six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States have been suspended since late 2008 due to Pyongyang's backtracking on its past agreement to abandon its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic and political concessions.In his speech marking the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberat
PoliticsAug. 16, 2015
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Stock-rich tycoons suffer huge valuation losses
South Korea's major stock-rich billionaires have suffered a sharp loss in the value of their share holdings in August amid a downturn in stock prices, data showed Sunday. The combined value of stocks held by the 30 wealthiest South Koreans reached 76.97 trillion won ($65.53 billion) as of Thursday, down 2.84 trillion won, or 2.6 percent, from end-July, according to the data compiled by market researcher Chaebol.com. Over the two-week period, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, the country's
Aug. 16, 2015
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Samsung to release new phablets in S. Korea this week
Samsung Electronics Co. plans to launch its two new phablets in South Korea this week to coincide with the commercial start of a mobile payment service on its home turf, a company executive said Saturday.Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, showcased the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ phablets, or a combination of a smartphone and a tablet PC, in New York on Friday as part of efforts to galvanize its mobile business."The release of the phablets in South Korea is scheduled for Thursd
TechnologyAug. 16, 2015
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Chinese ships arrive for Sewol ferry recovery
Two Chinese ships have arrived at the sinking site of the Sewol ferry to prepare for salvaging the ill-fated vessel, local officials said Sunday.Early this month, South Korea signed a 85.1 billion-won ($72.5 million) contract with a Chinese consortium for the recovery of the South Korean ferry that sank off the country's southwest coast in April last year, killing more than 300 people.A crane ship and a tugboat of the Shanghai Salvage team -- the 11,706-ton Dali and the 450-ton Huahe -- arrived
Social AffairsAug. 16, 2015
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Control center on S. Korean island to watch for N.K. attacks
A control center will be established on South Korea's northernmost island to better deter North Korean threats, local officials said Sunday.The center, to be installed on Baengnyeong Island, will have access to some 40 nearby closed-circuit TVs to watch for potential North Korean attacks, said officials in Ongjin, a county west of Seoul where the island is located.The Marine Corp. first suggested the idea in May, and officials have been discussing where and how the center should be run with the
North KoreaAug. 16, 2015
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Big firms send large amount of money to tax havens
Large South Korean companies have sent more than $400 billion to offshore tax havens over the past eight years, with nearly 40 percent of the amount yet to be returned home, data showed Sunday.According to the data by the Bank of Korea and other government agencies, local big firms remitted a combined $432.4 billion to tax havens abroad between 2007 and 2014.Of the total, $158.3 billion has been repatriated so far, with the rest, or 37 percent, yet to be returned home.Only $12.3 billion was clas
Aug. 16, 2015