[Weekender] Hidden places at Incheon Airport raise customer loyalty

Jordan Reinhart, 26, and her fiance from Canada arrived at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport on Tuesday morning, exhausted and ready to head back home after spending their winter vacation in Bali. With a nine-hour layover ahead, the couple had originally planned to step out of the airport to explore Seoul for the day, but decided against the idea because of issues concerning their credit cards.Though initially worried about how they would spend those long hours, staying inside the airp

Dec. 11, 2015

Koreas hold high-level dialogue

GAESEONG, North Korea -- The two Koreas held a rare high-level meeting Friday in the North Korean border town of Gaeseong, seeking to mend fences worn by a flare-up in military tensions last summer and a perennial standoff over sanctions, stalled tours and other issues. The South’s delegation, led by Vice Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi, left for the city that houses a joint factory park early in the morning to join his counterpart Jon Jong-su, a vice director of the North’s Committee for Peac

Dec. 11, 2015

[Weekender] Airports as cultural, commercial destinations

International passengers wait for their flight at the departure terminal at Ihcheon Airport. Incheon AirportKim Young-chul, 37, an engineer for a shipbuilding company, often visits Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s main gateway, with his family. But he comes here not only for travel, but for family activities as well. “For my two daughters, the airport is a fun and dynamic place packed with people from around the world. When we visit the airport, we often spend a few hours there, whil

Dec. 11, 2015

[Weekender] Speed, convenience are behind Incheon Airport’s service crown

Long queues of people, unpleasant hours of waiting for check-in and later sprinting to the gate to clear immigration in time for the flight ― these are common bugbears of using a busy airport.Though bustling with some 134,000 travelers a day, check-in delays are rare on a regular day at South Korea’s award-winning Incheon International Airport, which prides itself on offering users the fastest and most convenient services in the world.The arrivals hall at Incheon International Airport (Incheon I

Dec. 11, 2015

[Weekender] Race on to be Asia’s top air hub

Competition among Asian air hubs is heating up as countries in the region are scurrying to build new airports, add runways and expand passenger terminals to become the continent’s top gateway to the world.With surging air travel and burgeoning budget carriers, major airports in South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, India and Thailand are increasing capacity to meet demand.“Asian countries are showing a significant growth in air travel, higher than the global average, amid their continued economi

Dec. 11, 2015

Coex eyes M&A, JV for global expansion

Byun Bo-kyungCoex, the management firm of the eponymous convention and exhibition complex in southern Seoul, is eyeing aggressive overseas expansion next year to become a global meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) operator, its president and CEO Byun Bo-kyung said Thursday. “We will start with three conventions in Vietnam, then move to Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and other Indochina countries to hold conventions and trade shows there. We have mergers and acquisitions with loca

Dec. 11, 2015

Watchdog cracks down on covert paid reviews

Online advertorials for P&G Korea`s SK-II cosmetics that were cited for deceptive marketingFTCAlert to Web surfers searching for shopping tips: Product reviews you read may not always be genuine. The Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday fined Proctor & Gamble Korea ― the local distributor of cosmetics brand SK-II and household goods Febreze, Gillette, Oral-B, Whisper and Downy ― 108 million won ($100,000) for deceptive advertising. According to the antitrust watchdog, P&G violated a law requiring al

Dec. 11, 2015

[Newsmaker] Merkel named person of year by Time magazine

Time magazine on Wednesday named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its person of the year for 2015, hailing her leadership during debt and refugee crises that threatened to tear the European Union apart.In power for a decade at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy, the world’s most powerful woman beat runners-up, the leader of the Islamic State extremist group and Donald Trump as Time’s dominant personality of the year.German Chancellor Angela Merkel. EPA-YonhapThe U.S. magazine lauded Merkel as t

Dec. 10, 2015

Park connects low fertility to pending labor market reforms

President Park Geun-hye on Thursday called for efforts to tackle South Korea’s low birthrate, which she said was linked to the inflexible labor market that underscores the need for labor reform measures that have been left pending at the National Assembly.The low birthrate, according to the president, is due to the lack of jobs, and the consequential delay in marriage, and the fundamental solution is to reform the current labor structure.“The government is currently pushing strongly ahead with l

Dec. 10, 2015

N.K. claims to have developed H-bomb

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has claimed the communist state has developed a hydrogen bomb, which may signal a significant advancement in its nuclear capabilities, though Seoul officials remain dubious of the claim’s veracity. While inspecting a historic arms factory site in Pyongyang on Wednesday, Kim lauded its founder and his late grandfather Kim Il-sung for testing some of the country’s maiden weapons some 70 years ago, which made possible its transformation into a “powerful nuclear weapo

Dec. 10, 2015

Abrams to tell new space tale in ‘The Force Awakens’

The latest “Star Wars,” which will hit theaters Dec. 17 in Korea, will introduce an entirely new story with fresh characters colliding and bonding emotionally with old characters like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, who appeared in the original trilogy. J.J. Abrams (right) poses for a photo with actors from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ahead of a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday. From left: Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and John Boyega. (Yonhap)J.J. Abrams, the director of the new space saga,

Dec. 10, 2015

[Newsmaker] Muslim provocation, vitriol are Trump strategy: analysts

WASHINGTON― Donald Trump’s incendiary new provocation on Muslims plays on American fears about extremists and Syrian refugees, in what analysts said Tuesday was a calculated move by the Republican presidential front-runner ahead of the first primary votes.The real estate mogul unveiled the most extreme proposal of his rabble-rousing campaign for 2016 on Monday when he called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump

Dec. 9, 2015

Korea-China FTA to take effect Dec. 20

Ending years of negotiations and political hurdles, a free trade pact between Korea and China will go into effect on Dec. 20, removing numerous trade barriers between both nations amid flagging exports. The two countries have agreed to officially implement the deal by exchanging diplomatic letters in Beijing on Wednesday, a week after the South Korean parliament ratified the bill in the midst of political confrontation between rival parties. (Yonhap)The bills on FTAs with China, New Zealand and

Dec. 9, 2015

Police delay arrest of labor union chief

A major collision was averted Wednesday, as the police temporarily delayed their operation to arrest the head of the nation’s second-largest umbrella labor union taking sanctuary at a Buddhist temple to evade arrest on charges of leading illegal rallies.Police were on standby to force their way into the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple in central Seoul at around 4 p.m. to arrest Han Sang-kyun, the head of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, on charges of leading a series of what they labeled as ill

Dec. 9, 2015

Expats raise funds for orphanage X-mas gifts

Expats in Gwangju are gearing up to give gifts to children in care, in an annual Christmas donation drive.The Adopt-a-Child for Christmas campaign has raised 9 million won ($8,000) so far for Christmas gifts, according to organizer Calen Cygan.Fund-raisers have been held throughout the year, including a Christmas in July event and a date auction that raised 1.5 million won. “We have had scavenger hunts and trivia nights and other fund-raisers, too. We’ve had many small events to raise that much

Dec. 9, 2015