• 

  North Korea

  [Breaking] Moon vows to enhance trilateral economic cooperation with North Korea and Russia

  South Korean president expresses hope for linking Trans-Siberian Railway to Busan at his speech before the Russian parliament.

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  Politics

  Police to have greater investigative power in prosecution reform

  Police will be authorized to close cases, and freed from prosecution’s command in conducting investigations, according to the government’s plans for restructuring criminal investigations Thursday. The plans were outlined in an agreement reached by the prosecution and the police agency. The agreement was submitted to the National Assembly’s special committee for judicial reform for review. The plans also include a number of measures to prevent either body from abusing its powers and ensure the tr

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  North Korea

  Will Red Cross talks deal with S. Korean detainees and NK restaurant workers?

  The release of six South Korean detainees in North Korea is unlikely to be discussed at Friday’s inter-Korean Red Cross talks, as the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War is set to be at the top of the agenda. Friday’s talks are expected to address a clause inked in the agreement reached at the summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on April 27, when both vowed “to swiftly resolve the humanitarian issues that resulted from the div

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  Technology

  Fall of Korea’s top carpool app amid financial struggle, regulatory hurdles

  South Korea’s top carpooling startup Poolus has laid off around 70 percent of its employees as part of business restructuring initiated by growing financial difficulties and regulatory hurdles that have weighed down on the app’s growth.　　Poolus confirmed Thursday that its CEO Kim Tae-ho had resigned as of June 7 during a board meeting. The startup said it has been seeing “stagnant earnings and operational difficulties due to regulatory issues” and will “re-examine the viability of its business a

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  Defense

  USFK headquarters to leave Seoul next week

   The headquarters of United States Forces Korea will be moved to a sprawling army garrison located south of Seoul next week, marking a new chapter in the US military presence here amid a flurry of speculation over the troop’s future roles. 　According to the Ministry of National Defense and USFK, the opening ceremony of the new USFK headquarters building in Camp Humphreys will be held on June 29. Located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, Camp Humphreys is the la

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  Social affairs

  Seoul court again denies arrest warrant for wife of Korean Air chief

  A Seoul court once again turned down a request for a warrant to arrest Lee Myung-hee, the wife of the Korean Air Lines chairman who has been accused of abusing her employees as well as unlawfully hiring domestic helpers from the Philippines.　“It is difficult to determine whether it is necessary to place Lee Myung-hee in custody,” the Seoul Central District Court said, rejecting the arrest warrant which was filed on Monday by prosecutors. 　Authorities suspect that Lee, 69, along with her daughter

NEWSMAKER

• Economy

  

  FTC meets archnemesis -- prosecution

  The prosecutors’ latest search and seizure of the Fair Trade Commission was purportedly to look into its suspected backscratching ties with top-tier business groups and to check on potential power abuse by the antitrust watchdog. But the abrupt action was also viewed as a chronic power struggle between the prosecution and the FTC -- often dubbed “prosecutors in the economic realm” -- over the latter’s expansive range of rights concerning fair trade rule violations.On the sidelines, concerns were

LATEST NEWS

• Today

  

  North Korea

  Moon vows to enhance trilateral economic cooperation with North Korea and Russia

  South Korean president expresses hope for linking Trans-Siberian Railway to Busan at his speech before the Russian parliament.

• Today

  

  North Korea

  Easy as A, B, Xi: China gives economic lessons to North Korea

  Chinese President Xi Jinping has coached his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un on high-stakes diplomacy. Now he seems poised to give the young autocrat another lesson: how to reform a state-controlled economy while keeping an iron grip on power.   Beijing has long pushed for Pyongyang to adopt similar measures to those that fuelled China's dizzying ascent from a communist backwater to one of the world's largest trading powers.   But while the highly secretive, nuclear-armed North has been qui

• Today

  

  North Korea

  North Korean airline plans new route to China's Xian

  North Korea's national airline Air Koryo plans to open a new route linking Pyongyang and Xian in China, a staff member said Thursday, in the latest sign of the nuclear-armed state's possible emergence from isolation.   An Air Koryo representative told AFP "there is a plan" for flights to the central Chinese city, a major tourist destination famous for its ancient Terracotta Warriors.   But the staffer said he "did not know" whether the route would begin in July, as reported by the Xian Evening N

• Today

  

  Social affairs

  Abuse cases against seniors on the rise

  　The number of seniors being abused has increased in recent years, with most perpetrators being their own family members, a government report showed.　According to the annual report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, there were 4,622 cases of abuse carried out against seniors in 2017, up 8 percent from a year earlier. The findings showed that most of the assaults were committed at home.　The number has steadily increased from 3,502 in 2013, 3,532 in 2014, 3,818 in 2015 to 4,280 in 2016, the mi

• Today

  Columnists

  Too many of America’s smartest waste their talents

  A high-profile court case about meritocracy and college admissions has captured much attention. A group called Students for Fair Admissions alleges that Harvard University uses highly subjective personality ratings to penalize Asian applicants. The former tend to outperform white applicants on every measure except for so-called personality, but the number of Asian-American students at Harvard has fallen relative to the Asian-American population, while the number for white students has risen, dur

More Stories

SPOTLIGHT

• Culture

  

  3 YouTube Vloggers show glimpse into biracial marriage life

  Biracial couples who speak in Korean are gaining subscribers and viewers on YouTube, carving a niche for themselves amid the staggering number of videos that appear on the online video platform daily.It is a noteworthy feat considering that 50 million users upload 300 hours of videos on YouTube every minute. In addition, the world’s largest online video platform attracts over 30 million visitors who watch around 5 billion videos every day, according to YouTube. Here are three such couples who ar

• 

  Culture

  K-pop star sparks ‘cow intestines’ craze in Korea

  Cow intestines, or gopchang, have always been favored by Korean drinkers, but the popularity of the dish is soaring throughout the country these days. Many local gopchang restaurants are packed with customers every night, and some eateries are even temporarily shutting down due to an inadequate supply of gopchang nationwide. Mamamoo`s Hwasa eats gopchang on the MBC show "I Live Alone." (MBC)At the center of the craze is Hwasa of K-pop group Mamamoo. The 22-year-old diva recently ate mouthwaterin

• 

  Food

  Pickled seafood with salt, jeotgal

  Many Korean dishes contain jeotgal whether we realize it or not. Jeotgal refers to a category of seafood pickled with salt. When naming a specific type of jeotgal, the word “jeot” is used as a suffix. A wide variety of seafood can be used as a jeotgal ingredient, including oysters, clams, fish, roe and tiny shrimps, as well as fish gills and intestines. Depending on the ingredient, fermentation period may differ, from a few days to three months. But most Koreans these days purchase jeotgal at lo

• 

  Film

  ‘Sunset in My Hometown,’ a well-acted feel-good flick

  Lee Joon-ik caps off “youth trilogy” with drama packing plenty of heart and laughterThis is why people love Director Lee Joon-ik. Even when telling stories of a doomed tyrant and a pack of clowns, a poet who met his death through human experiment, a has-been pop star down on his luck and fortune, he always brings that warm, fuzzy feeling and hopes about humanity in his pieces.The director‘s latest movie “Sunset in My Hometown” tells the story of a wanna-be rapper with no talent and daddy issues

GRAPHIC NEWS

• 

EDITORIAL

• Dismantling pressure

  Major relief of military, economic pressure on NK still premature

• Early closure of reactor

  Nuclear operator flips decision in surprise meeting, phase-out policy produces side effects

VIEWPOINTS

THE INVESTOR

• 

  Samsung

  Samsung to miss 350 million smartphone shipment goal

  Samsung Electronics is likely to miss its annual smartphone shipment goal of 350 million units, according to those close to the matter. “Samsung's goal this year is 350 million units, which is higher than originally reported, and considering the lower-than-expected sales of the Galaxy S9 and its struggling mobile business in China, the figure appears to be a far-fetched goal,” an industry source briefed on the matter told The InvestorSamsung’s initial plan was to ship 320 million

• 

  Blockchain

  Korea to launch K-pop coins, blockchain platform for hallyu fans

  Korea Fintech Industry Association Network Alliance on June 20 said it will out a blockchain platform targeting K-pop fans around the world. On the app platform called Ko-fun K-pop star fans can sell their goods ranging from fan-fiction to images and videos, and also purchase materials from other sellers. Fans can also celebrate their favorite celebrity's birthday on Ko-fun. All this can be done using using cryptocurrency especially dedicated to the platform. The association plans

K-POP HERALD

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  Multinational K-pop act Nature to debut

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  ‘National picks’ on set of ‘Produce 48’

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  HyunA in HK downtown

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Book Review

  

  Now is time to talk about Korean literature

  Publishers choose the books to put out on bookstore shelves, hoping that some will buy and perhaps read them. Yet, many of them go unnoticed among the countless books that are released every day.This is much more the case with translated materials. The odds are very low that an American would read Korean literature. Ira Silverberg looks for information in a book during an interview with The Korea Herald on Wednesday at Coex in Seoul. (Shim Woo-hyun/The Korea Herald)”It‘s hard for American writer

• 

  Industry

  Taking global Starbucks phenomenon to next level

  Starbucks’ first and only global ambassador shares passion of baristas, unique culture of coffee chain

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  Social affairs

  Tackling youth, gender and housing in South Korea

  Writer and activist Hong Hye-eun shares why young Koreans lack ‘fundamental human right’ to housing

PHOTO NEWS

• Social affairs

  

  Greeting summer

  The summer solstice fell on Thursday, marking the start of haji, one of 24 divisions of the year on the lunar calendar.The sun reaches its highest altitude in the Northern Hemisphere on this day, resulting in the longest period of daylight of the year. High temperatures were felt around the country Thursday, topping 30 degrees Celsius in some inland regions including Daegu, Andong in North Gyeongsang Province and Chuncheon in Gangwon Province.  A heat haze over the streets of Yeouido in Seoul A

VIDEO

• Soccer

  

  Red Devils paint the town red to cheer national squad

  [From the scene]Thousands of Korean football fans could not hide their enthusiasm as they flooded the streets nationwide to cheer for their team in the first Group F match against Sweden that began at 9 p.m. Monday.(Shot and edited by Park Ju-young / The Korea Herald)Lee Sung-wan, 36, could not hide his excitement as he carried his two 3-year-old children dressed up in soccer uniforms in front of Seoul City Hall.“I could not miss out on this historic event. This is my children’s first World Cup

MOST POPULAR

• [Newsmaker] Marriage immigrant women in Korea vulnerable to financial abuse: study
• Seoul welcomes Kim-Xi meeting, experts sound caution
• Government draws up plans for addressing police, prosecution tussle over investigation
• USFK headquarters to leave Seoul next week
• Search continues for missing girl on Gangjinsan

FEATURES

• 

  Defense

  South Korea, US defense chiefs to discuss details of joint drills next week

  　South Korean and US defense chiefs will hold talks in Seoul next week to discuss the future of the allies’ joint military drills following the suspension of the scheduled Freedom Guardian exercise, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. 　The meeting between Defense Minister Song Yong-moo and his US counterpart Jim Mattis will take place Thursday during the Pentagon chief’s one-day trip to South Korea, according the ministry. 　Scheduled to visit China ahead of his visit to Seoul, Mattis will meet w

• 

  Culture

  Korea’s cultural heritage brought to life via VR

  State-run cultural heritage bodies on Thursday launched an online exhibition of the tangible and intangible cultural assets of Korea through virtual reality technology. In cooperation with Google, the National Intangible Heritage Center and the National Palace Museum of Korea established the Korean Heritage project via Google Art and Culture, an online platform that exhibits data on over 6 million art pieces and relics from 1,500 organizations across 70 countries. The NPMK provided the data for

• 

  Automode

  Hyundai, Kia sweep top 3 spots in US initial quality study

  Affiliates of South Korea’s No. 1 automaker Hyundai Motor Group swept the top three positions in an initial quality study conducted by the US institute J.D. Power, outstripping German and Japanese rivals, the auto group said Thursday. , Genesis ranked highest in overall initial quality with a score of 68, followed by Kia in second place with 72 and Hyundai in third place with 74. The industry average was 93 this year. Initial quality is measured by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehi

• 

  Industry

  Microbiologists discuss solutions to energy problems in Seoul

  Members of academia and businesses gathered in Seoul on Thursday to discuss how to tackle environment and energy problems through microbial waste management at the 2018 Daesung Haegang Microbes Forum.With the theme of “From Waste to Energy,” the forum was attended by around 120 participants. It is aimed at having experts contribute to the joint development of both the environment and energy fields through discussions about the technical challenges and potential commercialization of cutting-edge

WEEKENDER

• Arts&Design

  

  Cafes, bars, theaters and color: How Korean homes are evolving

  For Koreans, the home is evolving from a space of mere comfort into one of aesthetic, emotional value