SPOTLIGHT

• Television

  

  Meet mastermind behind the original ‘Masked Singer’

  Fashion designer Hwang Jae-keun talks making masks, US version, fashion advice

• Technology

  

  Twitter focuses on 'public conversation' in S. Korean society: CEO

  Global online social networking service Twitter Inc. aims to make more people participate in "public conversation" in South Korea, the company's chief said Friday."We believe public conversation influences and drives society," CEO Jack Patrick Dorsey told reporters in Seoul, adding that the company is focusing on making the platform healthier. Jack Dorsey, co-founder and chief executive of Twitter, speaks during an event at a Seoul hotel on March 22, 2019, to celebrate the platform`s 13th annive

• Industry

  

  Samsung Biologics claims legality of accounting, vows future growth

  SONGDO -- Samsung Biologics President and CEO Kim Tae-han on Friday reiterated the legality of the firm’s accounting practices at an annual shareholders meeting held in Songdo, Gyeonggi Province.“We deeply regret the supervision results of the Financial Services Commission. We believe our accounting was done within all legal boundaries. We apologize for any concerns the investigations have caused our shareholders,” Kim said.“Samsung Biologics will make its best efforts to prevent this issue from

• Social affairs

  

  YG Entertainment chief vows full cooperation with investigations

  The chief of the management agency of BIGBANG and other K-pop stars said Friday he will faithfully comply with the authorities investigating its suspected tax evasion and an alleged sex-for-favors scandal involving a former BIGBANG member.Yang Min-suk, chief executive of YG Entertainment, made the remarks to reporters before attending the company's regular shareholder meeting in Seoul."I take those cases very seriously. (I) will faithfully cooperate with the relevant authorities in charge of inv

LATEST NEWS

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  North Korea

  S. Korea offers military talks with N. Korea

  South Korea has proposed holding military talks with North Korea on implementing a bilateral accord signed last year, but there's no reply from Pyongyang yet, an official here said Friday."Recently, (we) suggested South-North military talks and are currently waiting for a response," the defense ministry official said, requesting anonymity.Attending a National Security Council (NSC) session last week, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo reported to President Moon Jae-in that the military plans to h

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  North Korea

  Envoy says it's early to talk about tougher sanctions on N. Korea

  South Korea's chief nuclear envoy said Friday that he focused on discussing ways to revitalize denuclearization talks with North Korea during visits to Russia and the headquarters of the European Union earlier this week.Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met with his Russian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, in St. Petersburg on Tuesday. Lee Do-hoon (Yonhap)"Basically, (we) agreed that dialogue and negotiations between North Kor

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  Foreign Affairs

  Cheong Wa Dae holds special NSC meeting over inter-Korean dialogue

  South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae held an emergency meeting of its National Security Council on Friday, hours after North Korea pulled out its officials from a joint liaison office with South Korea in its border town of Kaesong.The NSC meeting, held at Cheong Wa Dae, was chaired by Chung Eui-yong, the top security adviser to President Moon Jae-in, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Chung Eui-yong (Yonhap)"The standing members of the NSC discussed the North's withdrawal from the joint liai

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  Finance

  Seoul stocks end almost flat after choppy trading

  South Korean stocks ended almost flat after a choppy trading session on Friday, with foreigners scooping up tech shares, offsetting a massive selling spree by institutions, analysts said. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index inched up 2.07 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 2,186.95. Trade volume was moderately light at 291 million shares worth 4.85 trillion won ($4.29 billion), with the number of losers outnumbering gainers 517 to 301.(Yo

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  North Korea

  North Korea withdraws from inter-Korea liaison office

  North Korea officials have pulled out from the joint liaison office with South Korea, which opened in the North’s border town of Kaesong in September 2018. The order for withdrawal came from superior authorities in the North, according to the Seoul’s Ministry of Unification on Friday. The ministry said South Korean officials will continue to work at the office as the North said it does not care whether they remain or withdraw from the place. The government regrets Pyongyang’s decision to withdra

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  Finance

  BNP Paribas striving to promote sustainable finance in S. Korea

  BNP Paribas SA, France‘s biggest bank, will strive hard to promote its sustainable finance in South Korea as it seeks to arrange more funds for projects that make a positive impact on the environment and society, a company executive said Friday. Sustainable finance has been a watchword for investors that integrate environmental, social and governance issues into their investment decisions. Since a UN climate deal was signed in Paris in 2015, pension funds and financial firms around the world hav

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  Finance

  Woori Bank sells 2.7% stake in Woori Financial to FIIs

  Woori Bank, one of South Korea’s major commercial banks, said Friday that it has sold 2.7 percent of its stake in Woori Financial Holdings to foreign institutional investors in a block deal during off-trading hours.The bank has sold 18,346,782 shares to FIIs. As a result, Woori Financial Holdings’ stake ownership by foreign investors has increased from 27.5 percent -- as of Feb. 13, the day of its public listing -- to 30.2 percent.According to the bank, the block sale attracted high interest fro

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  North Korea

  North Korea, seeking food aid, links sanctions to shortages

  Kumkhop Trading Co. President Ri Jong Ho sweeps his hand over a table full of foods produced at his factory. There’s a bowl of assorted candies and rice cakes, a plate of sausages and ham, slices of a French baguette and Russian dark bread. “We are doing fine,” he says with a confident smile. “Just look.”In this March 13, 2019, photo, a worker walks among stacks of food at Kumkhop Trading Co. food factory in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean factories are filling city store shelves with ever

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  Foreign Affairs

  'Made by war criminals': plan for Japanese labels in S. Korea

  South Korea's foreign minister has intervened over a provincial proposal to apply stickers to some Japanese-made items in schools as "made by a Japanese firm responsible for war crimes".South Korea and Japan are both democracies and US allies faced with an increasingly assertive China and the long-running threat of nuclear-armed North Korea.But their own ties have remained icy for years due to bitter disputes over history and territory stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean pe

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  Technology

  SK hynix chief vows to strengthen fundamentals, raise chip yield rate

  Amid concerns growing over slowing demand for memory chips, SK hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee said Friday he would focus on strengthening the chipmaker’s fundamental competitiveness and improving the chip yield rate to cut production costs. “After an unprecedented boom for the past two years, we are expecting to face growing uncertainties in the global economy and slowing demand for memory chips,” the CEO told reporters after an annual shareholders meeting held at its headquarter in Icheon, Gyeonggi Pro

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  China’s electric cars hit potholes

  For several days last week, the often distressingly poor quality of China’s electric cars was a leading topic across Chinese media. According to one survey ricocheting across the web, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they regretted buying a new-energy vehicle. Many expected the industry to be targeted in China’s wildly popular “Consumer Rights Day” gala television special, which shames corporate giants for service and quality lapses. While privacy-invading tech companies were harangued inst

• Columnists

  

  Kazakh strongman shows Putin a path for staying in power

  Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan since 1990, announced that he is stepping down at age 78. The way he is ostensibly relinquishing power could be an example for a younger counterpart and, in some ways, faithful student: President Vladimir Putin of Russia.Post-Soviet Central Asian dictators don’t resign. The first presidents of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, who, like Nazarbayev, ascended to their posts while the Soviet Union still existed, died in office, leaving behind regimes rem

THE INVESTOR

• Startups & Investors

  

  [INTERVIEW] H2O CEO woos property investors to usher in future hospitality biz

  For over a century, major hotel chains have kept growing bigger in part with their portfolio of upscale properties, rooms and amenities.Their race to become flashier and more elegant was meant to appeal to high net worth individuals -- a key source of revenue in the hotel industry. But at the same time, such labor-intensive strategies raised the upkeep costs of high-end accommodations, sparking concerns about undermining the attraction to real estate investors.The advance of technology is openin

• Deals

  

  Woori Financial to acquire two Anbang-owned AMCs

  Woori Financial Group, one of South Korea’s five financial holding companies, is poised to become the new owner of Tongyang Asset Management and ABL Asset Management, subsidiaries of two Anbang Insurance Group-owned insurance companies, industry sources said on March 22. Woori has been selected as a preferred bidder for the two asset management companies put up for sale as part of the Chinese government’s plans to divest troubled Anbang’s overseas assets. Beijing took control over Anbang in Febr

• Startups & Investors

  

  Yanolja seeks talents for global biz expansion

  Accommodation booking platform Yanolja said on March 22 that it will hire more than 400 skilled people this year, including 200 for research and development projects.The new employment plan is aimed at attracting global talents to increase its presence in the accommodation and leisure sectors. Yanolja CEO Lee Soo-jinThe Seoul-headquartered firm hired 400 new employees and executives last year, surpassing its initial target of 300 with its operations, ranging from motel booking to leisure activit

• Retail & Consumer

  

  WeMakePrice to start food delivery service

  South Korean e-commerce company WeMakePrice will start operating a food delivery platform from April, according to sources on March 22.The company aims to take around 5 percent sales as commission, which is lower than the 7 percent charged by top operator Woowa Brothers. Advertising fees will be charged separately. The e-commerce company will also allow customers to place their orders through its app and pick up their food.Currently, the leading food delivery app in Korea’s 15 trillion won marke

K-POP HERALD

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  ‘I have no regrets’: Holland on world tour, BTS’s UN speech, and coming out to family

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  YG CEO survives no-confidence vote

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  Twitter CEO: ‘Authentic’ K-pop stars more successful

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Social affairs

  

  Blaming China doesn’t help combat fine dust: GGGI director

• Finance

  

  Yulchon M&A lawyer predicts ‘new wave’ in Indonesia

• Food

  

  Chef Akira comes back to Seoul

• Industry

  

  Unity goes beyond games to cars, AI, VR

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  The history beneath our feet

  History is closer to people’s lives than in the musty pages of old books. In the ultra-modern metropolis of Seoul, there is a place where a step into the lower ground of a high-rise office building can pull one into the city’s past, dating back to the 16th century. It is Gongpyeong Historic Site Museum, a 3,817-square-meter space in the underground floor of Centropolis office building in Gongpyeong-dong, central Seoul -- the biggest historic site unearthed in Seoul to date.  (Park Hyun-koo/The K

VIDEO

• Industry

  

  Seoul Square, witness to Seoul’s economic history

• North Korea

  

  Hanoi welcomes US, N. Korean leaders

• Social affairs

  

  Violence erupts at Liberty Korea Party national convention as union stages surprise protest

• Social affairs

  

  Inside dog farm in Korea

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Workers more likely to call out abuse in wake of 2016 candlelight vigils

  7 in 10 workers say they experienced workplace harassment in 2017: survey

• Industry

  

  Korea’s peeping Tom dilemma: Are censors getting too much power?

  Controversy erupts over government's method of blocking ‘illegal’ websites

• Industry

  

  Booyoung’s real estate dilemma on acquiring Samsung assets

  The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles and videos about some of the most expensive and fascinating landmark office buildings in Seoul. -- Ed. Defining the symbolic cityscape of Seoul is Sejong Main Street, a 10-lane road that runs across the downtown area, stretching from Seoul Station to Gwanghwamun Square. Halfway along this main road, just north of Sungnyemun, the southern gate of Seoul, is the “Taepyeong-ro zone,” location of landmark buildings such as the palace Deoksugun

• Social affairs

  

  Delinquency among self-employed gets critical

  SEJONG -- A string of business closures of small enterprises -- particularly the self-employed -- has been increasingly drawing attention since last year amid the sluggish economy.Their financial difficulty, in line with the drastic hike in minimum wage and weak consumer sentiment, is also seen from the lending data of commercial banks. Aside from the first-tier financial firms, a large portion of the self-employed were found to have borrowed from second-tier lenders.According to the Bank of Kor