The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Sunday it will expand the scope of inspections for hidden cameras from public places to private establishments as part of efforts to strengthen the crackdown on the criminal act. The move broadens the target of inspections from places like washrooms in subway stations and swimming pools to shopping malls, exhibition halls and universities. The city government has been running the service since August 2016, employing 50 female inspectors.  Female inspectors

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2018

Beijing has pledged billions of dollars to build new infrastructure in Cambodia, officials said Thursday, as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ended a two-day charm offensive currying favour for its mega-dams across the Mekong.The storied waterway, which twists through parts of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, is the world‘s largest inland fishery and helps feed around 60 million people across its basin.Environmental groups fear the Chinese dams will destroy fish stocks and plunge some of

International Jan. 11, 2018

A Samsung branch in Paris (Android Central)Two French campaign groups filed a legal case against Samsung in France on Thursday over the alleged use of child labour and other abuses in Chinese manufacturing plants working for the electronics giant.Accusing the company of misleading commercial practices, the NGOs Peuples Solidaires and Sherpa lodged a complaint in Paris against Samsung‘s French subsidiary and international parent company.Based on research from the China Labor Watch group, the Fren

Industry Jan. 11, 2018

The European Union’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Thursday insisted the Iran nuclear deal “is working”, as US President Donald Trump mulls reimposing sanctions on Tehran.“The deal is working, it is delivering on its main goal which means keeping the Iranian nuclear programme in check and under close surveillance,” Mogherini said after talks in Brussels with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his British, French and German counterparts.Senior officials have told AFP they

International Jan. 11, 2018

Chosen for their good looks and sharp moves, North Korea‘s female cheerleaders are a marked contrast to the regime’s menacing nuclear ambitions.Dubbed the “army of beauties” in South Korea, the young North Korean women -- mostly in their late teens or early 20s -- have attracted huge publicity whenever they have been sent to the South.North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un‘s future wife Ri Sol-Ju was among the group who attended the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon.The cheerleaders are set

North Korea Jan. 11, 2018

North Korean diplomats are extremely serious about the possibility of war between North Korea and the United States, noting that the U.S. has already prepared for it for months, a Russian expert said Wednesday.In a story posted on the North Korea analysis website 38 North, Alexander Vorontsov, the head of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russia Academy of Sciences, conveyed the unstable North Korean atmosphere based on a trip to Pyongyang in mid-November that lasted several days and his

North Korea Jan. 11, 2018

Commerce Department to recalculate the antidumping margin of Hyundai Steel Co. products in a partial victory for South Korea‘s second-biggest steelmaker.Jane A. Restani, a judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade, said in a slip opinion on Wednesday (local time) that the Commerce Department’s final results in its antidumping duty investigation of South Korean corrosion-resistant steel products should be remanded.In 2015, the Commerce Department launched an investigation over the possible s

Industry Jan. 11, 2018

Max Weber (1864-1920), a German scholar who founded sociology, wrote of his contemporary leader Otto von Bismarck: “He consumed a nation without political education. The German people, deprived of will to politics, have become prone to thinking they should merely abet politics of their ‘great leader.’ They are meek lackeys of a government machinated by him, regardless of the deeds it carries out.”Such a statement by the mastermind of modern social science struck a chord for Yang Sung-chul, a Sou

Books Jan. 11, 2018

With the two Koreas set to hold high-level talks at the truce village of Panmunjeom on Tuesday, calls are growing for Seoul not to submit gratuitously to Pyongyang’s expected demands for concessions. Analysts have cautioned the pitfalls of North Korea’s peace offensive, proven over the years as guileful, as the regime has often used an olive branch to double-cross or buy time. Experts call for continuing “maximum pressure and engagement” to bring about the communist nation’s denuclearization.Nor

Diplomatic Circuit Jan. 8, 2018

Swellfish dishes at Millennium Seoul HiltonMillennium Seoul Hilton’s Japanese restaurant, Gengi, is offering a promotion of swellfish dishes, which are considered a delicacy in Japanese cuisine. The finest flavors and tender texture of swellfish, or fugu, are brought to life by the hotel’s veteran chefs. Genji’s chefs are offering various swellfish dishes on both the a la carte menu and Kaiseki menu. The dishes will include swellfish sashimi, swellfish in a stone pot, grilled swellfish, deep fri

Food Jan. 5, 2018

South Korea can and should go beyond the great power dynamics of the United States and China and proactively look further afield for strong partnerships, according to China expert John Delury. Instead of oscillating self-consciously between Washington and Beijing, the Yonsei University professor suggests South Korea can strengthen its relationships with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union. Delury told The Korea Herald that much of what was observed last year between

Diplomatic Circuit Jan. 1, 2018

Swellfish dishes at Millennium Seoul HiltonMillennium Seoul Hilton’s Japanese restaurant, Gengi, is offering a promotion of swellfish dishes, which are considered a delicacy in the Japanese cuisine. The finest flavors and tender texture of swellfish, or fugu, are brought to life by the hotel’s veteran chefs. Genji’s chefs are offering various swellfish dishes on both the a la carte menu and Kaiseki menu. The dishes will include swellfish sashimi, swellfish in a stone pot, grilled swellfish, deep

Food Dec. 29, 2017

Gazing into Google Earth imagery of Pyongyang, Yim Dong-woo was startled by the pace of development unfolding on the screen. “It was incredible,” he told The Korea Herald, explaining that numerous construction projects have been undertaken in the North Korean capital, unbeknownst to the outside world. “As an example, in Pipa-dong west of the Arch of Triumph, new apartment blocks replaced one-story ramshackle homes in droves. And they just kept filling in the plot. The sheer scale of construction

Diplomatic Circuit Dec. 25, 2017

Holiday feast at Millennium Seoul HiltonMillennium Seoul Hilton is offering Milton’s Festive Feast, a dining and entertainment promotion for the holiday season. The event will be held at the Atrium on the third floor on Sunday starting at 6 p.m., and features a buffet of various dishes, Santa Claus, live piano and brass music, a photo zone, comedy show and raffle. The hotel has been celebrating Christmas for the last 22 years. The two-floor lobby is decorated with a 10-meter Christmas tree, Sant

Travel Dec. 22, 2017

In the early 1990s, Kazakhstan and Korea barely knew each other. But over the decades that followed, the two nations have strengthened their relations by leaps and bounds, becoming strategic partners and exploring new horizons for a shared sustainable future, Kazakhstan’s top envoy here highlighted last week while celebrating the silver jubilee of bilateral diplomatic relations.Similar to Korea that has achieved its “economic miracle on the Han River,” Kazakhstan is now universally recognized fo

Diplomatic Circuit Dec. 18, 2017