SPOTLIGHT

• Music

  

  BTS says ‘competition within group’ is its driving force

  One of the most frequently posed questions to BTS in the last few years has been about the secret to its global success: The act started out as a lesser-known hip-hop group for whom a crossover felt like a far-fetched dream. There have been countless efforts to analyze the act’s grand saga, but BTS gave a rather clear and down-to-earth answer to that ubiquitous question: “Competition.” BTS poses during a press conference for its new album “Love Yourself: Tear” in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)“We c

• Social affairs

  

  Dozens of Busan restaurants caught breaching sanitary regulations

  Several famous Busan restaurants have been caught storing expired food, preparing dishes in severely unhygienic kitchens or misrepresenting the origin of their ingredients. Rags covered in rat feces and trash buckets being used to defrost seafood were found in restaurants lauded as must-visit spots to both locals and tourists. Seafood is being defrosted in a trash bucket filled with hose water. (Yonhap)A total of 25 restaurants in violation of health codes were exposed upon an inspection by the

• Social affairs

  

  Seoul to recruit 33 foreign students for internship program

  The Seoul Metropolitan Government is recruiting 33 international students here for its 22nd biannual global internship program from Friday to June 3. Seoul-based foreign undergraduate or graduate students, including exchange students whose visas are valid until Aug. 20, are eligible to apply, the city said Thursday. Seoul City HallOnce selected, interns will work from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Seoul City Hall and affiliated organizations for a seven-week period between July 2 and Aug. 20 this year. Th

• Social affairs

  

  Police books man for threatening to attack female protestors with acid

  A man in his 20s has been booked without detention for threatening to attack women with hydrochloric acid at a mass rally which took place in Seoul last weekend. Seoul Hyehwa Police said Thursday that they booked a man, only identified by his surname Kim, for claiming to head to a women’s rally with hydrochloric acid at around 3:30 p.m. Saturday.The rally, which gathered some 12,000 women on Saturday near Hyehwa Station, was a protest against the “discriminatory treatment” of cases involving mal

LATEST NEWS

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  North Korea

  North Korea demolishes nuke test site with series of blasts

  PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea -- North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists.The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area.The planned closing was previously announced by leader Kim Jong Un a

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  Social affairs

  Abortion ban challenged in South Korea’s Constitutional Court

   South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Thursday reviewed a challenge from a medical doctor who was prosecuted for performing almost 70 abortions, amid growing public calls to decriminalize abortion.　The doctor, who performed the illegal procedure 69 times from November 2013 to June 2015, said the current ban endangers women and their well-being, as it limits their right to choose their own destinies.　Under articles 269 and 270 of South Korea’s Criminal Act, any woman who undergoes an abortion co

• 

  North Korea

  NK dismantles nuclear test site

  Demolition seen as first step toward denuclearization

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  Industry

  Seoul asks Beijing for level playing field for Korean battery makers

  South Korea asked China to create a fair business environment for its electric vehicle battery makers, which have been excluded from the list of Beijing government subsidies, Seoul's trade ministry said Thursday.Paik Un-gyu, the minister of trade, industry and energy, made the request in a meeting with Miao Wei, Chinese minister of industry, information and technology, in Seoul. Paik said he brought up Beijing's policy stance of excluding electric vehicles equipped with South Korean batteries fr

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  World Business

  Europe car sales speed up in April

  　Car sales in the top European markets rose sharply in April, statistics showed Thursday, confounding fears that a slowdown in the eurozone's recovery might put the brakes on the continent's vehicle industry.　“In April 2018, the EU passenger car market showed a strong return to growth (+9.6%) after demand declined in March,” the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a statement.　The Spanish car market grew the fastest - by 12.3 percent - followed by the UK at 10.4 percent, France

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  Defense

  S. Korea pays more for US troop presence than Japan: scholar

  South Korea's annual spending for the upkeep of the US Forces Korea appears to be greater than what Japan pays for the American troop presence on its soil, a government researcher said Thursday.Yu Jun-hyung, associate research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, released the analysis as Seoul and Washington are in talks over the former's share of the cost for maintaining some 28,500 US troops here as a deterrent against the North's aggression.He put Seoul's expenditure

• 

  North Korea

  S. Korea could propose reconvening canceled talks with N. Korea: official

  South Korea could propose reconvening the high-level talks with North Korea that were unilaterally called off at the last minute by the communist nation last week, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Thursday.The two Koreas had planned to hold the talks on May 16 to discuss follow-up measures after their historic summit on April 27. But Pyongyang called off the talks just hours before the meeting, citing joint air exercises between South Korea and the United States as the reason.A key official at Cheo

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  Social affairs

  Baseball players suspended by league, deny sexual assault allegations

  Two baseball players for the Seoul-based Nexen Heroes who are under investigation for alleged sexual assault told police that there was no use of force or violence against a woman at an Incheon hotel, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, according to media reports Thursday. Pitcher Cho Sang-woo (left) and catcher Park Dong-won of Nexen Heroes (Yonhap)The two teammates, pitcher Cho Sang-woo, 23, and catcher Park Dong-won, 28, have been placed on suspension without pay by the Korea Baseball Organization,

• 

  Columnists

  China couldn’t keep growing like mad forever

  China, not the US, is the world’s largest economy. Though the US is still tops when measured at market-exchange rates, China is about 20 percent larger after adjusting for the lower cost of goods and services there. The latter metric is what really counts, both in terms of standards of living and, probably, in terms of military purchasing power.　With four times as many people as the US, it makes sense that China would eventually have a larger economy; it’s unlikely that any industrialized countr

• 

  Columnists

  Europe’s Italian problem is bigger than Brexit

  The new government finally taking shape in Italy is one of the weirdest coalitions you could imagine -- and a pretty effective combination if your aim was to sabotage the European Union. Although predictions about where this Italian misadventure is heading are difficult, it could easily be worse than Brexit for the EU.　 The coalition partners -- the left-populist Five Star Movement led by Luigi Di Maio and the right-populist League led by Matteo Salvini -- are poles apart in most respects, but c

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  China couldn’t keep growing like mad forever

  China, not the US, is the world’s largest economy. Though the US is still tops when measured at market-exchange rates, China is about 20 percent larger after adjusting for the lower cost of goods and services there. The latter metric is what really counts, both in terms of standards of living and, probably, in terms of military purchasing power.　With four times as many people as the US, it makes sense that China would eventually have a larger economy; it’s unlikely that any industrialized countr

• Columnists

  

  Europe’s Italian problem is bigger than Brexit

  The new government finally taking shape in Italy is one of the weirdest coalitions you could imagine -- and a pretty effective combination if your aim was to sabotage the European Union. Although predictions about where this Italian misadventure is heading are difficult, it could easily be worse than Brexit for the EU.　 The coalition partners -- the left-populist Five Star Movement led by Luigi Di Maio and the right-populist League led by Matteo Salvini -- are poles apart in most respects, but c

THE INVESTOR

• Bio & Medicine

  

  Samsung BioLogics gets FDA nod for 2nd plant

  Samsung BioLogics said on May 24 that the production of a third monoclonal antibody drug substance has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for its second plant.With the green light, Samsung BioLogics has now got approval from the FDA for manufacturing three commercial biologics drug substances at its 152,000 liter-plant since 2016. Contract drug manufacturers are required to get approval from the FDA for their production site to produce pharmaceutical products, de

• Finance

  

  Park Hyeon-joo steps down as Mirae Asset Daewoo chairman

  Founder to focus on expanding firm’s global footprint

• Samsung

  

  Esmo denies merger talks with Samsung

  Korean autonomous driving tech firm Esmo on May 24 denied a news report that it was in talks with Samsung Electronics for a possible merger deal. “The report is not true,” the KOSDAQ listed firm said in a regulatory filing without further elaborating. Earlier on the day, the report said Samsung started talks with Esmo early this month to acquire a sizeable stake, including management rights. Following the report, Esmo shares were on a wide roller-coaster ride. The stock soared mor

• Samsung

  

  Prosecutors raid Samsung Electronics

  Prosecutors raided the offices of Samsung Electronics this morning on charges that the unit took part in an attempt allegedly led by Samsung Group to sabotage labor union activities. The search comes about a week after a senior official of Samsung Electronics’ after-services unit was arrested on suspicion of playing a leading role in the scheme. Choi Pyeong-seok, the executive of Samsung Electronics Service in charge of human resources division, was taken into custody after the Se

K-POP HERALD

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  BTS reveals secret to its driving force

• 

  Another feel-good romantic comedy

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  Sulli draws attention

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Finance

  

  Gopax seeks to win back public trust in cryptocurrency

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  ‘Korea should commiserate with Palestinian suffering for its peace, justice’

• Foreign Policy

  

  ‘Accepting migrants is in national interest’: IOM chief

• Industry

  

  ‘Korean women are underestimated in leadership’

PHOTO NEWS

• Social affairs

  

  Yellow dust blankets S. Korea

  The annual yellow dust reportedly blown in from China’s Gobi Desert has blanketed the skies over Seoul again, adding to public concerns over health across the Korean Peninsula from polluted air. South Korea saw clear skies in most regions of the country with the exception of Seoul, island regions of the West Coast and parts of Gangwon Province being shrouded in yellow dust as of 10 a.m. Thursday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.  (Yonhap)The density of fine dust particles in

VIDEO

• North Korea

  

  S. Korean reporters in NK to cover dismantling of nuclear test site

• Culture

  

  Koreans flock to temples to celebrate Buddha’s Birthday

• Food

  

  Feeling every bit of pollack roe, altang

• People

  

  Polyglots, businesswomen among winners of 10th Miss SuperTalent pageant

FEATURES

• Technology

  

  Blockchain x healthcare: Korean startups out to build decentralized healthcare big data platforms

  Blockchain, a distributed ledger system, is viewed as a revolutionary technology with applicative value across diverse sectors. But the big question has always been: where and how can blockchain be used to bring about practical changes?　A handful of South Korea’s startups have set their eyes on healthcare data management -- creating a new blockchain-based healthcare data platform where health records can be safely stored and actively traded among stakeholders.The platform would be self-operation

• Technology

  

  Masters of colors and sound behind meticulous tuning of LG OLED TV

  Engineers examine more than 1,000 factors for color perfection, and hundreds of sound effects for three-dimensional sound

• Industry

  

  Allergan to start phase 3 trials of Medytox’s liquid BTX in Q4

  Medytox likely to have shipped Innotox clinical supplies to Allergan this month

• Social affairs

  

  Birth defects on rise in Korea, possibly due to air pollutants

  The number of newborns with birth defects has increased significantly in South Korea from 2008-2014, possibly due to pregnant women’s increased exposure to air pollutants and endocrine disruptors, a research showed on Wednesday.The study by Inha University researchers, came to the conclusion after analyzing the National Health Insurance data on 3,208,617 newborns born 2008-2014. Their research showed that the number of newborns with birth defects increased by 67 percent during the time period. I