S. Korea, China vow to broaden economic exchanges despite pandemic

South Korea and China agreed Friday to expand joint efforts to tackle the economic fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic and maintain the global supply chain. Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo held a videoconference with his Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan to discuss ways to expand their economic ties amid the challenging business environment sparked by the pandemic, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. During the meeting, South Korea said its carmakers were able to promptl

EconomyApril 17, 2020

[Monitor] Gloomy Q1 for manufacturers, gloomier outlook

The market conditions and revenue for South Korea’s manufacturing industry in the first quarter deteriorated significantly from a year ago, with the prospects for the second quarter even more gloomy, a business survey index released by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade showed. An index above 100 means an optimistic situation or outlook. The overall business downturn was apparent in all sectors including new industries (with BSI dropping 31 points on-year), informati

IndustryApril 17, 2020

[Photo News] Gratitude to medical staff fighting COVID-19

Namsan Seoul Tower was cast in blue light as part of the Blue Light Campaign launched on Thursday to express gratitude for South Korean doctors, nurses and medical staff for fighting the novel coronavirus.  Seoul’s metropolitan government, which provided the photo, said key landmarks in the capital city will be lighted up through May 15 as a sign of gratitude.  (Photos: Yonhap) (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Social AffairsApril 17, 2020

Short track worlds in Seoul canceled due to coronavirus

The world championships in short track speed skating, scheduled to take place in Seoul this year, have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The International Skating Union (ISU) announced the decision in a statement following an online ISU Council meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday (local time). The World Short Track Speed Skating Championships were to take place March 13-15 in the South Korean capital, but on Feb. 26, the event was postponed indefinitely. Then on March 2

More SportsApril 17, 2020

NCSoft to purchase W800b property to build new headquarters

NCSoft has submitted a letter of intent to purchase a 800 billion-won property in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, sources said Friday. A consortium led by the online games giant was the sole bidder for the property, which is a public parking lot. Kakao, a South Korean internet giant based in Pangyo, was known to have shown interest in the purchase. But the company made no action by the Thursday deadline. The city government is expected to choose NCSoft as its preferred bidder by June 5 and fin

IndustryApril 17, 2020

Coronavirus batters S. Korea's demand, employment, exports: finance ministry

The coronavirus pandemic has battered South Korea's domestic demand, job market and exports, with uncertainties from the highly contagious virus still expanding, the finance ministry said Friday. In a monthly report, called Green Book, the Ministry of Economy and Finance painted a bleaker picture of the economic impact from the virus pandemic compared with its March report. "With domestic consumption continuing to shrink, employment indices sharply declined and uncertainties surrounding

EconomyApril 17, 2020

New virus infections fall below 30 for 5th straight day

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 30 for the fifth straight day Friday, but health authorities warned against complacency and urged people to keep up social distancing. The 22 new cases, detected Thursday and unchanged from a day ago, brought the nation's total infections to 10,635, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). South Korea's daily new cases reached a peak on Feb. 29 with 909 confirmed cases, but the country has since managed to flatten

Social AffairsApril 17, 2020

Half of global pharmas in Korea downsize

Multinational pharmaceutical firms in South Korea are reducing their local workforce -- 48 percent companies slashed staff last year -- according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday. Data showed that 14 companies out of 29 foreign pharmas reduced the number of employees as they suffered lackluster business performances. Combined, however, the overall employment increased from the previous year’s 6,714 to 6,884, up 170. Sanofi-Aventis Korea was the biggest contributor to the

IndustryApril 17, 2020

NK paper urges high-level alertness, tight border control against pandemic

North Korea's official newspaper Friday called for high-level alertness and tight border control to ward off the new coronavirus as the communist state is bracing for a long fight against the global pandemic. Last week, North Korea held a politburo meeting presided over by leader Kim Jong-un and adopted a resolution, calling for "strict national countermeasures to thoroughly check the infiltration of the virus" amid little prospect for the danger to disappear in a short time. "

North KoreaApril 17, 2020

S. Korea reports 1st job loss since 2009 over coronavirus pandemic

South Korea reported its first on-year job loss since 2009 in March as the coronavirus pandemic began inflicting damage on the job market, data showed Friday. The nation lost about 195,000 jobs last month, marking the sharpest monthly decline since May 2009, when it lost some 240,000 jobs, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point on-year, but the number of employed people fell to 26.6 million in March, according to the data compi

EconomyApril 17, 2020

Female FMs of 9 countries hold videoconference on gender equality in pandemic response

The female foreign ministers of nine countries, including South Korea, Spain and Australia, have held a videoconference to discuss gender equality and women's roles in fighting the new coronavirus, the foreign ministry said Friday. Thursday's conversation came amid concerns that women could face tougher economic and social challenges from various repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic due to their family responsibilities and other issues. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her counterparts f

Foreign AffairsApril 17, 2020

Coronavirus could erode global fight against other diseases

NEW DELHI (AP) -- Lavina D’Souza hasn’t been able to collect her government-supplied anti-HIV medication since the abrupt lockdown of India’s 1.3 billion people last month during the coronavirus outbreak. Marooned in a small city away from her home in Mumbai, the medicine she needs to manage her disease has run out. The 43-year-old is afraid that her immune system will crash: "Any disease, the coronavirus or something else, I’ll fall sick faster." D’Sou

World NewsApril 16, 2020

Regionalism, two-party dominance back to politics in S. Korea

This year’s parliamentary elections in South Korea, held amid the COVID-19 pandemic, solidified the dominance of its two major parties but laid bare the deep-rooted regionalism and saw a record number of female candidates taking constituencies. Although electoral reforms led to the overcrowding of the field, with 35 parties putting forward candidates, the race was between the governing Democratic Party and the main opposition United Future Party, and the former came out with an unpreced

Social AffairsApril 16, 2020

BOK to extend loans to brokerages in unprecedented move

South Korea’s central bank has decided to launch a new loan program for brokerages, temporarily broadening its range of collateral to corporate bonds, officials said Thursday. The move aims to provide cushion for the local market, which has been struggling to deal with the economic fallout of the new coronavirus. Under the program worth 10 trillion won ($8.1 billion), local brokerages and nonbanking financial institutions including brokerages and insurers will be allowed to borrow funds

EconomyApril 16, 2020

[Herald Interview] What AI can do for medicine

AI assistance can dramatically change the medical landscape for the better, said Jung Kyu-hwan, chief technology officer and co-founder of medical AI company Vuno, in an interview with The Korea Herald. What AI can do is becoming clearer, giving show recommendations on Netflix and book recommendations on Amazon. It may seem inscrutable how AI works, but really, when simplified, what it does is perform multiplications and additions in colossal volumes, simultaneously. In short, it is a task tha

IndustryApril 16, 2020

Lee Min-ho, Kim Go-eun partner in romance fantasy ‘The King: Eternal Monarch’

Lee Min-ho is returning to the small screen for the first time in three years through SBS’ “The King: Eternal Monarch,” which starts airing Friday night. Lee, in his first role since completing his military service in April 2019, partners with Kim Go-eun, who is also returning to the screen three years after the hugely popular “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.” Kim Eun-sook, the scriptwriter behind several major hit Korean TV dramas, including tvN’s &ldqu

TelevisionApril 16, 2020

Meritz Securities tops salary scale in finance biz

Meritz Securities paid the highest average remuneration among financial companies last year, industry data showed Thursday. According to online job information provider Saramin, the average annual paycheck of employees at the company stood at 130 million won ($105,940), outrunning the industry average of 96 million won. The data was compiled on the annual reports of 26 commercial banks, life insurance companies, reinsurers and brokerage houses. Local reinsurer Korean Re ranked second with 12

MarketApril 16, 2020

[Herald Interview] ‘Foreign investors will flock back to Korea in hopes of an IT boom’

Amid the new coronavirus fallout which crashed global economies and forced foreign investors to exit emerging markets, South Korea’s stock market was bound to face a blow. What marks Asia’s fourth-largest economy, however, is the signs of recovery, as foreign investors have begun scooping back local shares, focusing largely on IT sectors, judging that the country has moved past its epidemic peak and is now about to engage in heavy economic stimulus. “The stock market is rebo

MarketApril 16, 2020

89% of 20-40s shop online for their parents: Auction

With online shopping booming amid the COVID-19 pandemic, elderly parents are also taking part in the shopping culture with the help of their children, data showed Thursday. According to Auction, an ecommerce platform operated by eBay, over 89 percent of 2,564 customers aged 20-49 surveyed, have shopped online for their parents. The survey was conducted from March 28 to April 4. For reasons to shop on behalf of their parents, 35 percent of the respondents said it was because their parents we

ConsumerApril 16, 2020