When avoiding virus is luxury

South Korea is telling its citizens to stay home and avoid gatherings, in an anti-coronavirus campaign known as “social distancing.” But staying put is a luxury for many rent-paying small business owners and workers who can’t afford to take time off. The coronavirus cost Shin Hye-ryong, who runs two cafes in Suwon and Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, nearly half of his regular revenue last month. He said he suffered a sharp drop in customer turnout since the outbreak’s onse

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2020

[Graphic News] Korea's electronic financial transactions grow in 2019

　The amount of daily financial transactions using credit cards and electronic means continued to grow last year while the use of checks and promissory notes continued to dwindle, central bank data showed. 　The value of daily financial transactions using non-cash payment methods, including remittance services, came to 81.4 trillion won ($68.7 billion) in 2019, up 1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　The daily use of cards, including debit cards, amoun

BusinessMarch 11, 2020

South Korea’s financial groups still lagging in board diversity

[EMPOWERING WOMEN FINANCIERS]  The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles to shed light on efforts to transform South Korea’s financial market by having more women financiers both at working and leadership levels and the challenges they face. This is the first installment. -- Ed.  The industry-wide campaign to “break the glass ceiling” has been going on for years, with little progress so far, particularly in South Korea’s financial market which is

MarketMarch 11, 2020

Assetplus ex-CEO returns to top post

Assetplus Investment Management said Wednesday it has named Edward Yang as its new CEO following a shareholders meeting. This marks Yang’s return to the top post in four years -- he served in the top post from June 2012 to May 2016. After his term, he has since led Assetplus’s strategic business division. Yang said he would focus on the firm’s digital marketing scheme that would allow the asset manager to draw retail investments into its funds through mobile trading platfor

MarketMarch 11, 2020

Gyeonggi Province to ban events at religious facilities that breach virus guidelines

Gyeonggi Province plans to ban events at religious facilities that fail to follow virus prevention guidelines provided by the province, its governor said Wednesday. Gov. Lee Jae-myung told reporters that the measure will go into effect starting March 22 under an emergency administrative order. Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, has a population of 14 million. A total of 175 COVID-19 infections had been reported here as of Tuesday midnight. (Yonhap)

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2020

Samsung committee advises heir to apologize to public

Samsung’s compliance monitoring committee, led by former Justice Kim Ji-hyung, has advised the conglomerate’s heir, Lee Jae-yong, and seven affiliates to apologize to the public for past wrongdoing in connection with the group’s leadership succession plans, it said Wednesday. According to a statement released by the committee, it sent a letter setting forth its recommendations to Vice Chairman Lee and the affiliates, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T and Samsung

IndustryMarch 11, 2020

[Monitor] Cancellation penalties invite complaints 　

More and more consumers are complaining about having to pay penalties after canceling plans due to the new coronavirus outbreak, data from the Fair Trade Commission showed. The majority of the complaints concerned travel plans and weddings. Between Jan. 20, when the first confirmed COVID-19 case was reported here, and March 8, the commission’s “1372 consumer consultation center” handled 14,988 cases from consumers requiring consultations. This was 7.8 times the figure from t

IndustryMarch 11, 2020

Ruling bloc wants larger supplementary budget

Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party will look into increasing the supplementary budget that was recently drawn up in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the ruling Democratic Party, plans to increase the supplementary budget and launch new support programs were discussed at Wednesday’s meeting among high-level officials from the presidential office, the ruling party and the government. The supplementary budget put to the National Assembly’s review is about 11.7 trilli

PoliticsMarch 11, 2020

Ruling party to vote on joining proportional representation coalition

The ruling Democratic Party will hold an online vote for all its members to decide whether to participate in a coalition proportional representative party. The coalition proportional representative party is a proposed political party that will field only proportional representatives in the April 15 general elections. If Democratic Party members approve the resolution, the new party would include the ruling party, the Justice Party and left-leaning parties that do not at present have represent

PoliticsMarch 11, 2020

[Noah Smith] Taxing bad things isn't always good

The idea of taxing things that are bad for society has a powerful allure. It offers the possibility of a double benefit -- discouraging harmful activities, while also providing the government with revenue. Take sin taxes. Taxes on alcohol make it more expensive to get drunk, which reduces binge drinking and impaired driving. At the same time, they provide state and local governments with billions of dollars of revenue. Tobacco taxes, which generate more than twice as much, have proven instrumen

ViewpointsMarch 11, 2020

[Kim Myong-sik] Park stirs up politics in epidemic-stricken nation

Three years after her impeachment and subsequent imprisonment, former president Park Geun-hye revealed her intent to play a part in Korean politics and she proved she still could. Her letter from prison publicized by her defense lawyer called for unity of her supporters and other anti-government forces, alarming both ruling and opposition camps ahead of the general election about a month away. In the handwritten letter of some 250 words, she expressed her deep concerns for the people of Daegu

ViewpointsMarch 11, 2020

S. Korea’s job figures improve in Feb. amid virus fears

South Korea saw its jobless rate decline and job creations extend the uptrend for several months straight in February, while some service industries have started reflecting the negative impact of the new coronavirus, government data showed Wednesday. However, with the infection rate taking a steep upturn, Asia’s fourth-largest economy is likely to face the full-scale fallout in its employment indexes starting this month. Korea added 492,000 new jobs in February from a month earlier,

EconomyMarch 11, 2020

Foreign countries begin granting businesspeople exceptions to entry restrictions on S. Koreans: ministry

A few countries have allowed in businesspeople from South Korea in exceptions to their coronavirus entry restrictions, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday, pledging greater efforts to make such exceptions a standard practice. The ministry said earlier that the government is in consultations with some 20 countries to explore ways to allow entry for at least businesspeople seeking to travel overseas for work, on the condition that they are cleared of symptoms. Such countries possibly i

Foreign AffairsMarch 11, 2020

More K-pop artists team up with US labels to expand careers

Adding to the phenomenal global ascent of K-pop, led by boy band BTS, another Korean band, SuperM, hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart last October, furthering the global influence of Korean pop music. It was a major feat accomplished in SuperM's widely publicized collaboration with Capitol Music Group, a major American music label under Universal Music Group, and a culmination of an increasing number of similar collaboration deals between K-pop artists and American music labels and t

K-popMarch 11, 2020

Coronavirus disrupts air carriers’ lease plans

With South Korean air carriers slashing the number of routes they operate over the COVID-19 spread, their plan to lease new aircrafts to increase competitiveness has hit turbulence, according to industry sources Wednesday.  Asiana Airlines’ budget carrier Air Busan had signed up to lease two Airbus 321 Neo LR aircrafts and is scheduled to receive one this month. The model can fly up to 7,400 kilometers, covering midrange routes such as to Singapore, Jakarta and Bali.  Accordin

MobilityMarch 11, 2020

2,500 beds secured for patients with mild symptoms

In response to a spike in the coronavirus caseload, South Korea has turned private dormitories and state-run training facilities into hospital wards now housing over 2,500 patients with mild symptoms. As of Wednesday morning, 2,358 COVID-19 patients in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province have been admitted to 13 such facilities across the country, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters. The virus treatment centers make use of existing facilities, such as tr

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2020

[Herald Interview] Oh Ji-ho, director discuss fantasy-thriller ‘The Nightmare’

Actor Oh Ji-ho said he accepted the offer to star in the fantasy-thriller “The Nightmare” because he wanted answers to the many questions that popped into his head as he read the script. “It’s difficult to put it into words, but I was grasped by a mysterious and incomprehensible feeling,” Oh said Wednesday in an email interview conducted ahead of the film’s release on Thursday. “The Nightmare” is a mystery-thriller packed with fantastical elemen

FilmMarch 11, 2020

Korea initiates free counseling amid coronavirus

“This is my third week of telecommuting, and I’m feeling down for lack of human communication. Is this enough reason to receive psychological counseling?” is a question one can ask for free in South Korea amid the coronavirus situation.　 The Korea Psychological Association, together with the nation’s disease control body, said Wednesday that it would provide free counseling for anyone needing emotional care through the COVID-19 scare. Some 48 counseling sessions are pr

IndustryMarch 11, 2020

Community spread on horizon in Seoul and surrounding areas

The South Korean government plans to enforce guidelines for densely populated workplaces, stung by mass coronavirus infections at a call center in Seoul. 　 At least 90 people, including 77 employees at a call center in Guro-gu and 13 people who came into contact with them, tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon, making it the biggest cluster of infections in Seoul that is home to 9.7 million people. 　 The country’s coronavirus cases as of midnight Tuesday came in at 7,755

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2020