SPOTLIGHT

• Music

  

  Park Bom returns to K-pop stage in March

  Park Bom, formerly of the now-disbanded 2NE1, is reportedly set to return to the K-pop scene in March. According to a report from the Star News on Friday, Park will release her new song in March, and is working on a new album. (Park Bom`s Instagram)Park’s upcoming release would be her first in eight years, following her digital single “Don’t Cry” released in April 2011. She debuted as a solo artist with the hit solo album “You and I” in 2009.Park Bom left YG Entertainment after 2NE1 disbanded in

• Food

  

  Foreign student develops kimchi timer, receives KAIST degree

  An industrial design student from Costa Rica who developed a kimchi timer during her time at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is set to receive her master’s degree on Friday. Maria Jose Reyes Castro from Costa Rica (KAIST)Maria Jose Reyes Castro, 25, conducted a study to develop the device, which uses a mobile app and a smart sensor to check the pH level of kimchi as it’s fermenting. With the app, users input the desired levels of fermentation and salinity. The app then for

• People

  

  Handwriting style released in homage to late Cardinal Stephen Kim

  In memory of the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, publisher Catholic Book has released a handwriting style modeled after his penmanship.Based on the handwritten scripts of the cardinal who passed away a decade ago on Feb. 16, 2009, the publisher re-created his handwritten font, also minding the texture of his pen.  A new handwritten font is modeled after the style of the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan. (Catholic BookThe late cardinal still stands as an emblematic figure in the Catholic sc

• Technology

  

  Samsung to launch Galaxy S10 on March 8

  South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. will release its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S10, on March 8 in the United States, its website said Friday. Samsung's US website opened a preorder page for the much-hyped premium phone ahead of an Unpacked event slated for Feb. 20 in San Francisco. (Yonhap)In the US, Samsung offered buyers up to US$550 off a Galaxy S10 in a trade-in program for previously released devices.The Galaxy S10 will hit the Korean market on March 8, while those who

LATEST NEWS

• 

  North Korea

  NK official arrives in Hanoi ahead of 2nd Trump-Kim summit

  A close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Hanoi on Saturday, a source said, ahead of the planned second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim.According to the source, a delegation of North Korean officials led by Kim Chang-son, chief secretary of the North Korean Secretariat of the State Affairs Commission, arrived at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport at around 10:45 a.m. via a China Southern Airlines plane from Guangzhou.Kim Chang-son, chief secretary of the No

• 

  North Korea

  What North Korea could learn from Vietnam

  Vietnam is more than a convenient neutral site for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, which is slated for later this month. The Southeast Asian nation is being held up as a model for what Kim’s isolated country could become if he adopts sweeping market reforms. It’s an especially apt comparison, one which Kim himself reportedly noted last year -- but not necessarily for the reasons you might think.The choice facing Kim at the Hanoi summit

• 

  Finance

  Seoul shares expected to remain sluggish next week

  South Korean stocks are unlikely to to gain ground next week amid gloomy corporate estimates and looming signs of economic slowdown, analysts said Saturday.The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 19.04 points, or 0.87 percent, to 2,196.09 on Friday, from 2,177.05 points a week ago. The index rallied for the first four days of the week on rising expectations that a trade deal could be forged between Washington and Beijing.It jumped nearly 25 points to hit a four-month high on Thursday

• 

  Social affairs

  JTBC chief questioned over alleged violence against freelance journalist

  Sohn Suk-hee, the chief and well-known news presenter of the cable channel JTBC, faced police questioning Saturday over an allegation that he used violence against a freelance journalist.Sohn was accused of punching the journalist in the face several times during a dinner meeting in Seoul in January.The journalist, identified only by his surname, Kim, insisted that Sohn offered him a job at JTBC, then assaulted him after he rejected the offer. Kim said he was reporting on a car accident in which

• 

  Olympic Games

  IOC President Bach welcomes joint Korean bid for 2032 Olympics

  International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said Friday he welcomes the joint South Korean-North Korean bid to host the 2032 Summer Games.Bach made the remark following his meeting with delegations from the two Koreas at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, earlier in the day.The meeting mainly covered unified Korean teams at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The two sides agreed to field joint teams in women’s field hockey, women’s basketball, judo and rowing. International Olympic Commi

• 

  North Korea

  Close aide of N. Korean leader arrives in Beijing ahead of 2nd Trump-Kim summit

  A close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Beijing and may be en route to Hanoi, a source in Beijing said Friday, ahead of the planned second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim. A delegation of 12 North Korean officials, led by Kim Chang-son, who is known as the North Korean leader's de facto chief of staff, arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport at around 6:20 p.m. via an Air China plane from Pyongyang. The North Korean officials were on the list of pas

• 

  Olympic Games

  Koreas to field joint teams in 4 sports at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

  South Korea and North Korea will organize unified teams in four sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, officials announced Friday.After a meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, Friday, representatives from the Koreas agreed to form joint teams in women’s basketball, women’s field hockey, rowing and judo for the Tokyo Olympics.Tokyo 2020 will be the first Summer Olympics in which the Koreas will have unified tea

• Industry

  Renault Samsung to face lower utilization rate after it stops

  Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of Renault SA of France, is expected to face a lower utilization rate after it stops producing the Nissan Rogue later this year, a company official said Friday. The Nissan Rogue sport utility vehicle (SUV) accounts for 48 percent of production at Renault Samsung’s plant in Busan, but the Franco-Japanese auto alliance is unlikely to renew a contract on the vehicle’s production. A source at Renault Samsung said renewing the contract, which will e

• 

  Industry

  Ex-Posco executive to head Hyundai Steel’s R&D division

  Hyundai Motor Group has named Ahn Dong-il, a former executive with the steel giant Posco, as president of the R&D and technology development division within its subsidiary Hyundai Steel, the group said in a statement Friday.Ahn is known as a top engineer who served as head of Posco’s two manufacturing bases: one in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, and one in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. Ahn Dong-il (Hyundai Steel)His appointment to the role is part of the group’s efforts to improve its co

• 

  Economy

  Korea’s current account extends 21-year surplus in 2018: BOK

  South Korea’s current account surplus extended its surplus for 21 years straight in 2018, on the back of improved service accounts and record-high exports, central bank data showed Friday.The monthly figure for December, however, hit an eight-month low amid falling prices of semiconductors and the consequent blow on exports. (Yonhap)The country’s current account surplus for 2018 stood at $76.41 billion, up $1.18 billion from a year earlier and marking the 21st consecutive year in the black since

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Trump, Kim could make world safer

  The showy first summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last June was draped in flags and bunting, but the decoration covered what turned out to be a mostly empty box that lacked a shared agreement on denuclearization. Given this disappointing record, what’s realistically possible when the two leaders meet again in two weeks in Vietnam? “Diplomacy is letting someone else have your way,” as the late Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson once observed. But tha

• Columnists

  

  How can we tax footloose multinationals?

  In the last few years, globalization has come under renewed attack. Some of the criticisms may be misplaced, but one is spot on: Globalization has enabled large multinationals, like Apple, Google, and Starbucks, to avoid paying tax.Apple has become the poster child for corporate tax avoidance, with its legal claim that a few hundred people working in Ireland were the real source of its profits, and then striking a deal with that country’s government that resulted in its paying a tax amounting to

THE INVESTOR

• Finance

  

  Franklin Templeton may be forced to scrap merger plans with Samsung unit

  Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management is facing penalties that may include business suspension after it incurred losses for investors by failing to disclose in a timely fashion that some of its portfolio companies were insolvent. If such disciplinary action is taken, Franklin Templeton Investments' Seoul business may be forced to scrap its plans to merge with Samsung Active Asset Management. The two had been in talks since March 2018 with the aim of jointly managing a new firm called Sa

• Samsung

  

  Samsung places ahead of Google, MS in US brand intimacy study

  Samsung landed in 12th place on an annual US survey to identify the brands with the greatest levels of consumer intimacy -- a big improvement over last year’s No. 17, but still a long way from its peak in 2017, when it was No. 7.The study, published Feb. 15, showed that the South Korean company fared ahead of US tech giants Google and Microsoft, which respectively ranked 16th and 33rd. Korea’s No. 2 tech company, LG Electronics, finished at No. 67.Apple, which had retained the No. 1 position on

• Startups & Investors

  

  Google’s AI plan to understand everything about humans can go wrong: expert

  Computers that understand human emotions to take AI to next level

• Bio & Medicine

  

  SK Biopharmaceuticals signs US$530m licensing deal for Cenobamate in Europe

  SK Biopharmaceuticals, the new drug development subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, announced on Feb. 14 that it had signed a deal worth US$530 million with Swiss drug company Arvelle Therapeutics to commercialize its drug candidate Cenobamate in Europe.Cenobamate is the Korean company’s new epilepsy treatment candidate. The global market for epilepsy treatments, currently worth around 620 billion won (US$549 million), is expected to reach US$700 million by 2021. “This contract sho

K-POP HERALD

• 

  8 cover songs BTS made their own

• 

  ‘Save Me,’ Episode 6, recap

• 

  50 facts about V of BTS

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Television

  

  ‘I have fans in their 20s now’: ‘SKY Castle’ star Yum Jung-ah

• Food

  

  ‘Chocolate is all about love after all’

• Industry

  

  Netmarble eyes growing business in Thailand

• Music

  

  Twitter: K-pop’s great leveler

PHOTO NEWS

• Travel

  

  Walking through early 1900s at Seoul Station

  Crowds of daily commuters and tourists hopping on and off KTX bullet trains make it easy to overlook the old Seoul Station, which was restored to its former glory almost half a decade ago. The red-brick Western-style building, which opened in 1925 during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, no longer serves as a train station. In 2012, it was revamped into Culture Station Seoul 284, an exhibition space. Its turquoise Byzantine-style central dome is a stark contrast to its modern surroundings, in

VIDEO

• Industry

  

  Netmarble eyes growing business in Thailand

• Social affairs

  

  Contract worker’s funeral held two months after death

• Television

  

  Lee Na-young, Lee Jong-suk to show romance in publishing industry in new rom-com

• Food

  

  Seoul’s sweet rendezvous with chocolate, ‘Salon du Chocolat’

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  3 in 10 South Koreans reside in Gyeonggi, Incheon

  SEJONG -- The number of residents in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon is continuously growing amid high apartment prices in Seoul, which saw its population reduce by about 90,000 on-year -- and 440,000 over the past 10 years -- to 9.76 million as of January.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety data, the number of Gyeonggi Province-registered residents came to 13.09 million last month, up 15.8 percent or 1.79 million in a decade from 11.30 million in January 2009. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seo

• Film

  

  ‘Savaha’ has clever buildup, relevant message, insufficient payoff

  In only his second feature-length film, director Jang Jae-hyun cleverly builds up suspense while mixing it up with mystery and a message about religion in “Savaha: The Sixth Finger.” But it takes a U-turn toward the end, which I thought was a strange move.While it is not a bad film, I did not think the payoff was satisfying at the end of such a heart-pumping journey.The film starts with the backstory of Geum-hwa (Lee Jae-in) who was born with a twin sister she, and every member of the family, th

• Social affairs

  

  ‘Smart’ restaurants challenge for elderly

  Elderly customers face difficulties with self-ordering kiosks

• Industry

  

  What 5G office looks like: No more desktops or cables

  　Clocking in for work at Cetropolis, a high-rise business building in downtown Seoul, office workers literally have to do nothing other than, well, start working.　 　They have no entrance pass for security or card to swipe through a reader. All they need is their smartphones connected to the fifth-generation network. They enter through a door with face recognition and immediately start working at reserved desks after connecting their phones on a docking pad to a cloud computing system. No desktop