Most Popular
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Seoul Fireworks Festival ends smoothly, but leaves piles of trash
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[AtoZ into Korean mind] The price of numbers: How rankings shape lives in Korea
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Yoon set for talks with Marcos in Philippines
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Can Jennie break the K-pop solo artist slump?
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Baseball star Hwang Jae-gyun, T-ara's Jiyeon file for divorce mediation
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[Exclusive] Korea’s defense acquisition agency fails to meet legal standard for women representation
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First lady’s Dior bag scandal to be at center of Assembly audit
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2 US B-1B bombers conducted joint drill with S. Korean Air Force on Oct. 1 Armed Force Day
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Firefighters’ 3,000 won meals spark nutrition concerns
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Yoon honors veterans of Korean War in trip to Philippines
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Coronavirus outbreak to push up prices of chips, display panels
The spread of coronavirus in China is likely to push up prices of semiconductors and display panels, analysts said Wednesday, amid possible supply chain disruptions of key industrial materials. China, where the outbreak originated, is home to manufacturing facilities of many of South Korea's major tech firms, including Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. The companies said they are trying to keep their plants in China running amid the spread of the deadly coronavirus, while setting up c
Feb. 5, 2020
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Nexon Korea tentatively agrees on 6.8% salary hike
Nexon Korea set a precedent in the domestic gaming industry Monday by revealing the average 6.8 percent wage hike it agreed upon with the labor union, saying the disclosure would prompt a “constructive future.” The company’s labor union, Starting Point, said it had reached a tentative agreement with the management last week to raise the average wage for 2020. This is the first time a South Korean game company has made public its wage hike rate. Its subsidiary Nexon GT&rsquo
Feb. 4, 2020
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[Photo News] 7-Eleven opens stores for foodies
Customers visit Food Dream, a food store launched by convenience store chain 7-Eleven in July 2019. Compared with conventional stores, Food Dream has recorded double the sales in the food category since its launch, 7-Eleven said Tuesday. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)
Feb. 4, 2020
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[Monitor] South Korea’s debt-GDP ratio rises at 2nd-fastest pace
Household debt in South Korea equaled 95.1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product as of the third quarter last year, up 3.9 percentage points from a year earlier, data from the Institute of International Finance showed earlier this week. The debt-to-GDP ratio was growing at the second fastest pace among the surveyed 33 countries and eurozone, the data also showed. Corporate debt totaled 101.6 percent of the GDP, rising by 6.3 percentage points from the previous year. It was the
Feb. 4, 2020
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Hyundai Motor halts production at local plants on parts supply disruption
The nation’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor confirmed Tuesday it will suspend all production lines at local plants in phases due to the disruption of parts supplies from China. The decision follows three-hour talks between the labor union and management, and the suspension is expected to last until around Monday. The production shutdown is due mainly to the inventory shortage of wiring harnesses, which are mostly produced in China. Handmade wiring harnesses need to be laid on the fl
Feb. 4, 2020
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Tata Daewoo to strengthen truck lineup to boost sales
Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company Ltd., the South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Tata Motors Ltd., said Tuesday it will strengthen its truck lineup to revive sales in Korea. Tata Daewoo will launch at least three light truck models weighing 2.5 tons to 3.5 tons per vehicle to achieve a market share of 30 percent in the domestic light truck market in the next five years, Tata Daewoo President and Chief Executive Kim Bang-shin said in a press conference. "We are planning to launch o
Feb. 4, 2020
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Movie ticket sales fall to 8-year low in Jan.
South Korean movie theaters saw their total monthly admissions for January drop to an eight-year low, data showed Tuesday, amid fears of the rapid spread of the new coronavirus. According to data compiled by the Korean Film Council, a total of 16.8 million people went to theaters over the one-month period. It is the lowest January score since 2012, when the local box office posted 16.6 million in admissions in the month. The decrease came as people have refrained from going to cinemas in the
Feb. 4, 2020
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Coronavirus scare nudges pharmas to scale up telecommuting
Multinational pharma firms in South Korea are scaling up the telecommuting options for their employees -- work from home or remote places -- to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, industry sources said Tuesday. Pharma employees, by the nature of their work, often visit hospitals where they can be exposed to various pathogens. The Korean offices of MSD, Pfizer, Amgen, Novartis, Astrazeneca, BMS, Sanofi-aventis, AbbVie and UCB as of Tuesday have decided to allow their employees to teleco
Feb. 4, 2020
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Overseas trip cancellations sharply up in Jan. due to coronavirus outbreak
South Korea's tourism industry is expected to take the hardest hit among local businesses here from the outbreak of a new coronavirus as more citizens cancel their overseas trips out of infection concerns, industry data showed Tuesday. According to the country's largest travel agency HanaTour, a total of 187,000 reservations for overseas trips were made in January, down 49.7 percent from a year earlier. Cancellations for trip programs to China increased by a whopping 62.2 percent compared wi
Feb. 4, 2020
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S. Korea eases working-hour limit on mask producers amid coronavirus
South Korea said Tuesday it will exempt local producers of masks and sanitary products from the 52-hour workweek restriction, as such companies are experiencing an unexpected surge in their workloads amid the fast-spreading new coronavirus. In July 2018, South Korea launched a reduction of the maximum number of weekly working hours to 52, from the previous 68 hours, as part of efforts to help people spend more leisure time with family and friends. Under the system, companies can still request
Feb. 4, 2020
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SK batteries to become more ethical
SK Innovation, an energy solution affiliate of SK Group, said Tuesday it has joined the Responsible Minerals Initiative to facilitate ethical sourcing of minerals for its battery production. RMI is a global association established in 2008 that monitors the ethical sourcing of minerals mined in conflict regions including cobalt, a key ingredient for lithium-ion batteries, which are parts for mobile devices and electric vehicles. Other members include Samsung Electronics, Apple and Tesla. T
Feb. 4, 2020
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Films on epidemic disease go viral on OTT platforms in Korea
More people are using OTT services amid mounting fears over the month-old coronavirus epidemic, according to data collected by local over-the-top streaming service operators. Disaster films are especially popular, the data showed. According to data collected by Watcha, the number of viewers using its OTT service Watcha Play peaked Jan. 27-31. The total number of minutes that viewers spent on the platform reached its highest point Jan. 27 and remained at similar levels throughout that time fram
Feb. 4, 2020
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Hyundai's 'Smaht Pahk' places 2nd in ranking of Super Bowl ads
WASHINGTON -- Hyundai's new Sonata commercial featuring Chris Evans and other stars came in a close second in USA Today's ranking of Super Bowl ads, the outlet said Monday. The 60-second commercial played during the first quarter of Sunday's Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League. It garnered 6.98 points out of a total 10 on USA Today's Ad Meter, which ranks Super Bowl commercials by consumer rating. The winner was Jeep, which scored an average of 7.01 points. In th
Feb. 4, 2020
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Duty-free sales hit record high in 2019
Sales at South Korean duty-free stores hit a new annual high of over 24 trillion won last year, industry data showed Tuesday, mainly on the back of more foreign customers, mainly Chinese visitors. The combined sales of local duty-free shops reached 24.86 trillion won ($20.87 billion) in 2019, up 31.1 percent from a previous record of 18.96 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Duty Free Shops Association. Sales at the local duty-free shops witnessed a slight fall i
Feb. 4, 2020
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[Monitor] Samsung chairman receives W1.4tr in dividend payouts over decade
According to local corporate tracker Korea CXO Institute, Samsung Electronics’ ailing Chairman Lee Kun-hee will soon receive a dividend of 353.8 billion won ($296 million) for 2019. The firm analyzed the dividend status of Lee Kun-hee, his wife Hong Ra-hee and his son Lee Jae-yong for 10 years from 2010. Hong, formerly director of Samsung Museum of Art Leeum, is estimated to receive dividends of 76.7 billion won, and Lee Jae-yong receives about 59.5 billion won. Over the last decad
Feb. 4, 2020
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Samsung Heavy Q4 net losses widen on one-off costs
Samsung Heavy Industries, a major shipyard in South Korea, said Monday that its net losses widened in the fourth quarter from a year earlier due to one-off costs. Net losses for the October-December period deepened to 124.2 billion won (US$104 million) from 105.7 billion won a year earlier, the company said. The company said it set aside 67 billion won as loan-loss provision for the delay in payment from a client. Samsung Heavy posted an operating loss of 215 billion w
Feb. 3, 2020
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[News Focus] Hanjin siblings vie to woo shareholders with new management plans
With Cho Hyun-ah, heiress of Hanjin Group -- which owns South Korea’s flagship carrier Korean Air -- teaming up with the largest and third-largest stakeholders prior to the shareholders meeting in March to take over control, her brother and current Chairman Cho Won-tae is preparing more arrows in his quiver, according to industry watchers. The sibling feud has escalated ahead of the upcoming shareholders meeting, with each side maximizing tools to woo the rest of the shareholders as thei
Feb. 3, 2020
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Daewoo E&C, financial firms to invest in new town project in Hanoi
Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Monday it has agreed with South Korean financial institutions to jointly invest in the construction of a new town project in the center of Hanoi, Vietnam. According to Daewoo E&C, it signed an investment development contract worth $388 million with the Korea Development Bank and other Korean financial institutions on Jan. 20, to construct buildings, including a hotel, and residential and commercial buildings, inside Starlake City in Hanoi. This i
Feb. 3, 2020
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Korea Game Society fundraises for people of Wuhan
The Korea Game Society on Monday initiated a fundraiser among gamers to support the people of the recent novel coronavirus-hit Wuhan in China’s Hubei province. “We support the people of Wuhan and the greater China fighting against the new coronavirus,” said KGS head Wi Jong-hyun. “Games is an industry where Korea and China hold a special relationship like none other. Korean games have received much love from Chinese fans, and it is only a matter of course that we rise t
Feb. 3, 2020
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Boryung Holdings establishes first overseas entity in San Francisco
Boryung Holdings, the holding company of Boryung Pharmaceutical, established its first overseas entity, Hayan Health Networks in San Francisco, the firm said Monday. “Hayan Health Networks will monitor the local clinical trials of Boryung Pharmaceutical, as well as build rapport with global pharmas, investors and early-stage research and development biotechs there,” said a Boryung Pharmaceutical official. Boryung Pharmaceutical’s lymphoma treatment pipeline BR2002 is curren
Feb. 3, 2020