South Korea ratifies Britain FTA ahead of Brexit

South Korea's parliament on Monday ratified a trade deal between Seoul and London that will take effect automatically following Britain's departure from the European Union.The free trade agreement essentially replicates the terms of the existing EU-South Korea deal and comes in the face of continuing uncertainty over a Brexit timetable. The new FTA secured "stability and continuity" in South Korea's trade environment with Britain amid "increasingly complex situation over Brexit&qu

EconomyOct. 28, 2019

Prosecutors indict ride-hailing service executives

South Korean prosecutors Monday indicted the heads of Tada, a ride-hailing service, declaring the app-based business illegal. Lee Jae-woong, chief executive of car-sharing app operator SoCar, and Park Jae-uk, chief executive of its rental car hailing service unit, Value Creators & Company, will face a trial without physical detention on charges of running a transportation business without a license, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said. VCNC operates Tada service.An associatio

TechnologyOct. 28, 2019

EU envoys agree three-month Brexit delay

European Union members agreed Monday to postpone Brexit for up to three months, stepping in with their decision less than 90 hours before Britain was due to crash out with no divorce deal.The next deadline for departure will be January 31 next year -- although the other 27 capitals would allow an earlier date if London ratifies a withdrawal agreement before then."The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the UK's request for a Brexit flextension until 31 January 2020," the president of t

World NewsOct. 28, 2019

S. Korea to bolster fintech cooperation with ASEAN

South Korea's financial regulator said Monday it will deepen cooperation with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the financial technology sector.Sohn Byung-doo, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said in a meeting with envoys from ASEAN earlier in the day that an upcoming summit is expected to help better connect South Korea to ASEAN. President Moon Jae-in is set to host the special summit with his counterparts from the region in South Korea's southern port

MarketOct. 28, 2019

Duty-free stores join suspension of liquid e-cigs sales

South Korea’s major duty-free store operators including Shilla, Shinsegae and Lotte Duty Free decided to halt sales of liquid e-cigarettes Tuesday, following the government’s earlier warning against the use of the vaping devices over health concerns.Duty-free store operators said they are suspending sales of four types of flavored liquid e-cigs made by US tobacco startup Juul Labs, Siid Tundra made by a local tobacco maker KT&G and seven other kinds from Phix and Viento. The move

IndustryOct. 28, 2019

Prosecutors demand jail terms for Samsung execs in accounting fraud case

Prosecutors on Monday demanded jail terms of up to four years for Samsung Electronics and Samsung BioLogics executives on suspicion of destroying evidence in relation to allegations of accounting fraud at the country's biggest conglomerate."It is the biggest crime of evidence destruction in the history of South Korea given the number of people, the duration (of the crime) and the number of destroyed documents," prosecutors said in a hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in s

IndustryOct. 28, 2019

SKT, Kakao seek ‘strategic partnership’ in share swap deal

South Korea’s biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom and the country’s largest chatting app operator Kakao said Monday they will enhance business partnership by exchanging stakes with one another. According to the two companies, SKT will sell 300 billion won ($256 million) of its shares to Kakao and the internet company will issue new shares to the telecom firm. The exchange will allow SKT to secure a 2.5 percent stake in Kakao, while Kakao will obtain a 1.6 percent stake in SKT.The share

TechnologyOct. 28, 2019

[Newsmaker] Workplace gender discrimination hurts Korea’s fertility rate: OECD

Gender discrimination in the workplace is responsible for Korea’s low fertility rate, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare and the OECD held a joint conference on Monday to address policy responses to the country’s declining fertility rate.“Governments need to modernize their family policies to provide families with a continuum of support, from birth to adulthood,” said OECD’s Director fo

Social AffairsOct. 28, 2019

[Graphic News] Rich Chinese outnumber wealthy Americans for first time

　The number of rich Chinese has surpassed the count of wealthy Americans for the first time as both countries keep churning out millionaires, a study by Credit Suisse showed. 　The Swiss bank’s annual wealth survey found 100 million Chinese ranked in the global top 10 percent as of the middle of this year versus 99 million in the United States. 　The ranks of the world’s millionaires have risen by 1.1 million to an estimated 46.8 million, collectively owning $158.3 trillion in net asse

World BusinessOct. 28, 2019

With special event zones for fans, BTS concerts evolve into ARMY festival

A package of outdoor activities and fan services will be awaiting excited fans at Jamsil Sports Complex in southern Seoul when global superband BTS throws the finale of its world tour this week. The septet is poised to finally wrap up the much-acclaimed "Love Yourself: Speak Yourself" tour in the capital of its home country on Tuesday.The first two of a series of three concerts took place at the complex's Seoul Olympic Stadium over the weekend, entertaining 88,000 fans in total. On Tue

PerformanceOct. 28, 2019

[News Focus] Do securities regulators offer level playing field?

SEJONG -- Some local commercial banks have been denounced for having recklessly sold high-risk equity-linked fund products to seniors without properly warning them of the potential losses.Some retirees saw their severance pay or savings from their working life disappear. Bank salesmen also targeted ordinary salaried workers whose installment savings had matured.Though investors in funds should be accountable for their own investment losses, the commercial banks have been criticized for improperl

EconomyOct. 28, 2019

Seoul suggests working-level talks over Kumgangsan resort

The South Korean government has proposed holding working-level talks with North Korea in response to the regime’s plan to abolish the South’s facilities at the Kumgangsan tourist resort, the Unification Ministry said Monday. The offer was made through the joint liaison office in the North’s border town of Kaesong after the regime notified the South that it would tear down the latter’s facilities in the tourist zone in accordance with the orders of its leader Kim Jong-un,

North KoreaOct. 28, 2019

Mirae Asset Daewoo wins sustainability award

Mirae Asset Daewoo received an award at the 2019 DJSI International Conference last week for appearing on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for an eighth consecutive year, the company said Monday.The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, created in 1999 jointly by S&P Dow Jones and Robeco SAM, acknowledge the most sustainable companies across 61 industries in consideration of economic, environmental and social criteria. The DJSI serve as best-in-class benchmarks for investors, providing i

IndustryOct. 28, 2019

CJ bets big on dried seaweed as next K-food

South Korean food manufacturer CJ CheilJedang said Monday it is betting on dried seaweed as the next megahit food item for exports, following the popularity of its Bibigo dumplings.The company plans to double its dried seaweed sales by 2023, amid the expanding global market for the product. In recent years, crispy and flavorful seaweed has gained popularity overseas as a healthy snack, full of vitamins and minerals.CJ CheilJedang, which began marketing dried seaweed in 2006 and started exporting

IndustryOct. 28, 2019

Hungarian surgeon's photos capture dying days of Joseon era

Among Korean men dressed in white traditional garments and women covered with pale green cloak-shaped headgear, Japanese walk in geta, traditional Japanese wooden sandals. Brand new Japanese and German-style houses stand out amid aged Korean homes. These were what Hungarian doctor Dezso Bozoky photographed in 1908 when Korea was undergoing modernization under pressure from Japan, just two years before the country was formally annexed by Japan. As a medical officer, Dezso Bozoky traveled around E

CultureOct. 28, 2019

[Jonathan Bernstein] Why impeachment now?

I suspect that the group of people who didn’t favor impeaching and removing Donald Trump until they read the transcript of his July 25 phone conversation with Ukraine’s president is a very small group indeed.　If that’s so, why is the formal impeachment process happening now -- and why are some Republicans, such as Francis Rooney in the House and Mitt Romney in the Senate, apparently open to it?　Political scientist Matt Glassman floats one theory: that “recent events have

ViewpointsOct. 28, 2019

[Leonid Bershidsky] Moving Franco’s grave doesn’t make him any less of monster

The Spanish government on Thursday exhumed the remains of the dictator Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, from a mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen near Madrid and took them to a city cemetery where Franco’s wife is buried. It may give Spain’s caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is fighting for re-election, a boost in the polls, but it won’t really put anything right.Franco’s old resting place was probably the most ostentatious of any 20th century tyrant&rsquo

ViewpointsOct. 28, 2019

[Feature] Tall order to transform DMZ minefields into peace zone

After a short-lived period of detente for the two Koreas, the North appears to be back to cold-shouldering the South. But this has not deterred the Moon administration from drawing up plans for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. As part of its effort to achieve that goal, Moon proposed to transform the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas into an “international peace zone” at a UN session last month. But the DMZ that the president called the “ecological treasure

North KoreaOct. 28, 2019