‘Crash Landing on You’ star Lee Sin-young sues over school bullying rumors

Rising star Lee Sin-young, who played a supporting role in the hit drama “Crash Landing on You,” is taking legal action after being accused of school bullying, Lee’s agency, Forest Entertainment, said Thursday. A lawyer from law firm Gangnam, on behalf of the agency, released an official statement saying libel and blackmail complaints have been filed against a man claiming to have suffered school bullying by Lee. Earlier this month, a man claiming to have been Lee’s m

TelevisionFeb. 20, 2020

[News Focus] Number of de facto jobless up 440,000 in 2 months

SEJONG -- South Korea saw the number of de facto jobless people -- meaning those underemployed -- increase sharply in recent months, the latest data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the “extended (or sentiment-reflected)” unemployment rate climbed to 12.1 percent in January 2020. The figure indicates that 3.58 million of the extended economically active population of 29.65 million are de facto unemployed. This far exceeds the nation’s official jobless rate (4.1 pe

EconomyFeb. 20, 2020

[Herald Interview] Salaryman-turned-director Kim Yong-hoon debuts big

The desperate desire inside Kim Yong-hoon, when he left his stable job at an entertainment conglomerate to realize his dream of becoming a filmmaker, may have led him to his first feature-length film, “Beasts Clawing at Straws.” A crime noir thriller with a trace of black comedy, “Beasts Clawing at Straws” tells the story of how the desire to possess a bag of cash turns ordinary people into monsters. The director caused a buzz even before the film’s release, winn

FilmFeb. 20, 2020

FM to attend UN session on human rights, disarmament meeting in Geneva next week

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will travel to Geneva next week to attend a UN session on human rights and a disarmament conference, her ministry said Thursday. Kang will attend the 43rd UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament slated to take place in Geneva on Monday, Kim In-chul, ministry spokesperson, told a press briefing. "As a member of the Human Rights Council from 2020-22, Minister Kang will talk about human rights issues that are of our government's concern and

Foreign AffairsFeb. 20, 2020

Coronavirus cases double in a day to surpass 100

South Korea’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak has entered a new phase of local transmission, with Daegu becoming a hot bed of COVID-19 infections with nearly 40 new cases reported in the southern city in just two days. As of 6 p.m. Thursday, the total number of infected people here stood at 104, with 70 of them in Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang Province. Most of the cases have been traced to a church in the city that a 61-year-old woman, confirmed as the country’s 31st

Social AffairsFeb. 20, 2020

Korean chipmakers start to worry about COVID-19

South Korean chipmakers have started to be concerned about a looming slowdown in demand for chips and impact on production in the wake of an unexpected spike in the number of COVID-19 infections across the country, according to industry sources on Thursday. “So far, the company is not facing any difficulty in running the production lines as usual, but it is worrisome that signs of demand slowdown from set makers are looming as the situation gets worse and longer,” said an official

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2020

[News Focus] Spreading like flu, COVID-19 presents daunting challenge

The novel coronavirus outbreak in Korea has reached a turning point, with fears of transmission within local communities appearing to have been realized. As of Thursday evening, 104 people here have been confirmed to have the COVID-19 virus, with a large portion of new cases apparently having contracted the virus from the 31st patient, who has no recent record of traveling overseas or coming into contact with other confirmed patients. Following the developments, the government is changing it

Social AffairsFeb. 20, 2020

Woman sentenced to life for killing ex-husband

JEJU -- A South Korean woman, who stunned the nation last year when she was accused of brutally killing her ex-husband, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court on Thursday. The Jeju District Court handed down the guilty verdict to Koh Yu-jeong, saying a hefty sentence was inevitable because she has failed to express any remorse or sympathy for her victim. The 37-year-old Koh was indicted last year for killing her ex-husband and 5-year-old stepson in two sep

Social AffairsFeb. 20, 2020

KCGI slams KAL owner family for losses, rules out heiress' return to management

Holding the ownership family of the nation’s flag carrier Korean Air responsible for its indebtedness, the head of a Korean private equity fund on Thursday reiterated calls to oust the incumbent chairman and bring in professional managers to run the struggling transport empire. Kang Sung-boo, chief executive of Korea Corporate Governance Improvement, also ruled out the possibility of Cho Hyun-ah -- the heiress to Korean Air, with whom he had forged an alliance to dethrone her brother -- r

MarketFeb. 20, 2020

Parliamentary panel passes 3 quarantine-related bills over new coronavirus

A parliamentary committee passed a set of three bills aimed at beefing up the quarantine response to contagious diseases Thursday as South Korea seeks to contain the rapid spread of the new coronavirus. The parliamentary health panel approved the three measures -- proposals to revise the quarantine act, the infectious disease control and prevention act and the medical service act. They will be put forward for review by the legislation committee soon. As early as next week, the bills could be

PoliticsFeb. 20, 2020

[Monitor] More companies purchase renewable energy directly

More companies around the world are purchasing renewable energy directly from power producers, under the corporate renewable power purchase agreements, data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance showed. The global market for corporate renewable energy reached 19.5 gigawatts of new deals in 2019, a leap by more than triple from 2017, when the deals made amounted to 5.4 gigawatts. The total size of corporate renewable power purchase agreements has been showing an increasing trend, since it surpasse

IndustryFeb. 20, 2020

Hyundai Capital eyes stake in vehicle leasing unit of German firm

South Korean auto financing firm Hyundai Capital said Thursday that it is in talks with German car rental giant Sixt SE to acquire a stake in the latter’s vehicle leasing unit, Sixt Leasing SE. The announcement came after recent news reports that the Seoul-headquartered company was trying to acquire Sixt Leasing SE, via its European office Hyundai Capital Bank Europe, to increase its presence in the European car leasing market and gain a competitive edge in the emerging fuel cell elect

MarketFeb. 20, 2020

S. Korea could face shortage of hospital beds

With a surge in COVID-19 cases here this week, concern is rising over the capacity of the country’s health care system to cope with the infectious disease.  In the southern city of Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang Province, where the newest cases are concentrated, there are fewer than 90 available beds in quarantine facilities, according to local authorities. 　 Patients infected with the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 require a negative pressure isolation chamber, designed to

Social AffairsFeb. 20, 2020

IMM PE in talks to buy Kolmar Korea’s pharma operations, CMO

IMM Private Equity is conducting due diligence as it looks to buy some of the operations of cosmetics-to-pharmaceutical business group Kolmar Korea, according to Kolmar Korea on Thursday. The South Korean investment house is proposing to buy Kolmar Korea Holdings’ contract manufacturing subsidiary Kolmar Pharma and Kolmar Korea’s pharmaceutical division, except for CJ Healthcare. They are roughly valued at a combined 750 billion won ($628.6 million).  Kolmar Korea sa

MarketFeb. 20, 2020

Shincheonji, a veiled Christian sect, at center of virus outbreak

At the center of a local outbreak of coronavirus infections in Daegu City is a much-veiled Christian sect that goes by the name of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony. 　  As of Thursday afternoon, 43 of the country’s 104 cases were confirmed to be linked to Sunday services at the sect’s branch in Daegu, which was attended by a 61-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. 　 Concerns are growing over a further rise in the num

Social AffairsFeb. 20, 2020

Vice finance minister briefs US investors, credit raters on Korean economy

Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom briefed US investors and officials from credit rating firms in New York on South Korea’s economic situation and government policies, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Thursday. Kim first met with 25 investors from New York-based investment banks and asset managers, including Blackrock, Morgan Stanley and UBS, in a meeting held Wednesday (US time). The vice finance minister explained that while Korea’s major indexes and chip prices have s

EconomyFeb. 20, 2020

Hyundai develops world's first automated gearshift that reads traffic ahead

Hyundai Motor Group said Thursday that it has developed a self-controlling gearshift that measures traffic ahead and predicts optimized gearing, which it said is the first of its kind in the world. While existing smart drive modes work by learning the pattern of the drivers, the new information and communication technology-connected transmission system recognizes road situations and automatically changes gears for speed, the automaker said. The new technology will be adopted in upcoming models

MobilityFeb. 20, 2020

Hanjin Group joins hands with startup accelerator Plug and Play

Hanjin KAL, the holding firm of Hanjin Group which owns the country’s largest air carrier Korean Air, said Thursday that it has partnered with US startup accelerator Plug and Play for business diversification. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play has previously clinched development partnerships with global information and communications technology firms including Google, PayPal, Dropbox and Logitech. It has also worked with Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Singapore Airlines and Americ

MobilityFeb. 20, 2020

KT&G most lucrative firm among Korea’s top 30 groups: report

South Korea’s tobacco giant KT&G is the most profitable company among the nation’s top 30 conglomerates, while Hanjin Group and Doosan Group, on the contrary, are in urgent need of improving their financial health, data showed Thursday. Local corporate tracker Korea CXO Institute surveyed the net profit margin of the nation’s top 30 companies between 2008 and 2018 using data submitted to the Korea Fair Trade Commission. According to the survey, the total revenue generat

IndustryFeb. 20, 2020

Mirae Asset Daewoo’s overseas ETF wrap account sales surpass W100b

South Korean brokerage firm Mirae Asset Daewoo said Thursday its wrap account attracted a record net inflow of 100 billion won ($83.4 million). The fund is the first in Korea to surpass the milestone as a wrap account investing in overseas exchange-traded funds, the company said. A rise in investors’ interest in overseas stock markets and investment in ETFs appear to have driven the increase in sales of Mirae’s Global X Portfolio Wrap Account, it added. Unlike general index inve

MarketFeb. 20, 2020