Wage disparity among employees of large firms in Korea is rising as the annual salary gap between the top and bottom 50 conglomerates is widening, according to local corporate tracker CEOScore on Thursday. The firm surveyed the average annual salary of 300 companies within the nation’s top 500 companies that can compare employee wages from 2014 to 2018. The annual salary of the top 50 companies was 116.9 million won ($97,554), 69.67 million won more than 41.02 million won of the lower

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

GOLD COAST (AFP) -- Hollywood megastar Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for the new coronavirus while in Australia for a film project, the Oscar-winning US actor revealed Thursday. Hanks and Wilson, both 63, are in isolation at the Gold Coast University Hospital after being confirmed with the disease, Queensland state health officials said. Hanks is the first major Hollywood star to publicly state that he has the virus, which has sickened more than 125,000 people worldw

World NewsMarch 12, 2020

US researchers from the University of Tennessee have identified 77 molecules that show potential to impair COVID-19’s ability to infect host cells, IBM said Thursday. They made the discovery with the help of simulations using supercomputer Summit. Viruses like COVID-19 infect cells by binding to them and using “spikes” to inject their genetic material into the host cells. To understand a new microorganism, researchers grow it and test its reaction to new compounds. The proce

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

The Kospi plummeted more than 5 percent during Thursday trading, which triggered the stock exchange to temporarily halt trading on Korea’s main bourse, as investor sentiments weighed on the coronavirus pandemic. The Korea Exchange activated a “sidecar,” meaning it temporarily halted the trading of shares, for five minutes around 1:04 p.m. after Kospi 200 index futures slipped over 5 percent. It was the first time the sidecar had been activated for the Kospi since Oct. 4, 201

MarketMarch 12, 2020

President Moon Jae-in called for continued efforts to finish reforming the police on Thursday, stressing that they should conduct investigations responsibly once they have been granted more authority to conduct probes. Moon made the remarks during his congratulatory message at a commissioning ceremony for new senior police officers at Korean National Police University in Asan, 80 kilometers south of Seoul. "It is not easy to accomplish two tasks -- making the police conduct probes with r

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2020

South Korea’s three largest mobile carriers -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- announced on Thursday that they will minimize the number of call center employees who commute to their offices, after the packed working environment was found vulnerable to the viral infection. The decision came after some 90 people at a Seoul-based call center were tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon. SKT said it has currently allowed 1,500 call center employees -- about 25 percent of the w

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

South Korea said Thursday that those arriving in the country after visiting five European countries, including Germany, will face stepped-up quarantine requirements starting next week, as the government grapples with the largest-yet cluster infections of novel coronavirus in the capital. 　 South Korea’s coronavirus cases climbed by 114 to 7,869 as of midnight Wednesday, the lowest daily increase in nearly three weeks, according to data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Preven

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2020

North Korea's official newspaper on Thursday called for stepped-up efforts to build a self-reliant economy, saying localization is a path the country has to take "until the end" to prevent itself from becoming subjugated by outside forces. North Korea has emphasized to build an economy independent of external support as it is bracing for what would be a prolonged fight against crippling sanctions led by the United States amid an impasse over their denuclearization negotiations. &qu

North KoreaMarch 12, 2020

Two members of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday called on Washington to find a way to avoid putting South Korean civilians, employed by the US military in Korea, on unpaid leave. On Feb. 28, the US military said it had started notifying nearly 9,000 Korean employees that they could be put on unpaid leave starting April 1, because of Seoul and Washington’s failure to reach consensus on a new Special Measures Agreement over the upkeep of 28,500 US troops here. In a letter sent

DefenseMarch 12, 2020

Just before Thursday’s airing of its final episode, TV Chosun’s hit audition show “Mr. Trot” became embroiled in a controversy over suspected unfair contracts. The TV show, which aired its first episode in January, is a trot singing showdown. Last year, the broadcasting station’s “Miss Trot,” featuring talented female trot singers, was a huge success, with final winner Song Ga-in rising to national stardom through the show.  Buoyed by the succ

TelevisionMarch 12, 2020

Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea's No. 2 steelmaker, said Thursday that the United States has decided not to impose an antidumping duty on its corrosion-resistant steel products. The US Department of Commerce made the final determination on Wednesday (local time) in its annual review of the case, according to Hyundai Steel. The move came after the U.S. launched an investigation into the sale of corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea between July 2017 and June 2018. Hyundai Steel s

EconomyMarch 12, 2020

Major tech giants have postponed the launch of their latest smartphone models as the global novel coronavirus outbreak has been classified as a pandemic, according to industry sources Thursday. China’s Huawei Technologies was scheduled to announce its flagship P40 in Paris on March 26, but has decided to cancel the event as the World Health Organization has now labeled the fast spread of the virus as a pandemic. As of Thursday morning, France reported 2,281 COVID-19 infections and 48 d

TechnologyMarch 12, 2020

North London Collegiate School Jeju said Thursday that it is offering online classes to ensure students can continue their studies amid the spread of COVID-19. NLCS Jeju, located in the Global Education City, is a British institution attended by over 1,300 students. In keeping with the Ministry of Education’s advice, the school has been closed to day students since late last month. “As soon as COVID-19 began to affect South Korea we started thinking about how best to safeguard t

Social AffairsMarch 12, 2020

South Korea’s mobile game powerhouse Netmarble is betting on a new genre that crosses massively multiplayer online role-playing and battle royal. The experimental product A3: Still Alive was launched on Thursday to a fervent response from domestic game enthusiasts. In January, Netmarble’s CEO Kwon Young-sig made a rare attendance at a press event to express deep expectations on this new game, saying that the convergence of MMORPRG -- a genre popular among Korean players -- and ba

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

Foreign pharmaceutical companies operating in Korea are reaching out to those needing most help amid the coronavirus spread here. Medical device company GE Healthcare Korea said Thursday it will donate ultrasound and patient monitoring equipment worth 210 million won ($174,000) to the doctors in North Gyeongsang Province, while Novartis Korea has donated 30,000 masks for low-income households. GE Healthcare will donate GE Venue Go, an artificial intelligence-enabled ultrasound machine, and p

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

LG Display Co., a major display panel maker in South Korea, has continued to expand its presence in the global smartphone OLED panel market, industry data showed Thursday, as the company strives to improve its earnings. LG Display had a 10.8 percent share in the global smartphone OLED panel market in the fourth quarter of 2019, up from 2.1 percent in the third quarter, according to data from industry researcher IHS Markit. It marked the first time that LG Display's quarterly market share ha

IndustryMarch 12, 2020

Officials disinfect BMW Group Korea’s showroom in Seoul on Thursday. The German automaker’s Korean unit said it has been emphasizing contactless customer service and strengthening disinfection at its showrooms to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  BMW Group Korea has donated 800 million won ($664,000) to the Community Chest of Korea to help fight the coronavirus. By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)

MobilityMarch 12, 2020

The South Korean film industry, struggling with the wide spread of the coronavirus, sees the outlook for its summer peak season remaining bleak even if the epidemic eases. As the number of confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus has reached nearly 7,900 since the first outbreak on Jan. 20, the South Korean government raised the virus alert to the highest level last month and asked the public to refrain from outdoor activities. The rapidly spreading coronavirus has been keeping people from local

FilmMarch 12, 2020

"Map of the Soul: 7," the new album by boy band BTS, sold more than 4.11 million copies in the first nine days of its release last month, becoming the most sold album in the Korean pop history, its management agency said Thursday. It took nine days for the new album to shatter the previous highest album sales record of nearly 3.4 million set by BTS' own album, "Map of the Soul: Persona," released in April last year. The total sales of "7" in the first nine days

K-popMarch 12, 2020