SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  Court upholds entry ban on Vietnamese woman who borrowed passport

  A 10-year entry ban imposed by immigration authorities on a Vietnamese woman who lived in South Korea on a borrowed passport is lawful, a local court said Friday.  The Seoul High Court ruled against the woman, who had challenged the decision and asked the court to invalidate the deportation order and 10-year entry ban. The woman entered the country in April 1997 as part of an industrial trainee program, but overstayed her visa and continued to live here illegally. She received a deportation

• Food&Beverage

  

  Best places to get cakes, turkeys and wine

  Christmas meals here do not necessarily involve a whole roasted turkey sitting right at the center of the table waiting to be carved. The festive feast could be on food of any kind from sushi to fried chicken, pizza or a bowl of rice with good old doenjang jjigae. Whatever the choice is, many folks here like to finish it with a cake, since Christmas has somehow become one of the two special days in a year to be celebrated with a cake, the other being the birthday. Here are some ideas for hassle-

• Food&Beverage

  

  Guide to indulging in winter street food

  With the freezing cold season approaching, the craving for hot street food grows. Seoul’s street food is perfect for warming the soul. Get some cash ready, put on a coat and head to Myeong-dong to fill your belly. Street food in Myeong-dong is simply amazing. For those who enjoy spicy stuff, it’s like paradise. What is happiness, if not this? Vendors get ready around 4 p.m., and people start visiting them around 5 p.m.Hotteok (Sugar-filled griddlecake)If the country’s frosty te

• Culture

  

  Making art out of straw

  A giant eagle and gorilla recently took up residence by an outdoor pool in Jungnang-gu in northeastern Seoul. They -- along with smaller animals, scarecrows and other figures arranged on the pool grounds during the offseason -- are all made of straw from this year’s rice harvest. The sculptures are the works of artist Lee Chun-su and the people of Buan County in North Jeolla Province. About 30 works are on display as part of the rural county’s efforts to showcase what it calls &

LATEST NEWS

• 

  Technology

  Samsung VP gets jail term for attempting to break up labor union

  A Seoul court handed a jail term to a Samsung executive on Friday for attempting to break up a labor union at Everland, an amusement park run by the country's biggest conglomerate.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced the Samsung Electronics Co. vice president, Kang Kyung-hoon, to 1 year and four months in prison for obstruction of business and breaching labor union-related laws. Kang was not taken into custody so he can lodge an appeal.The court also sentenced a former Everland execut

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  Diplomatic Circuit

  Biegun to visit Seoul next week ahead of N.K. year-end deadline

  U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will visit Seoul next week, the foreign ministry said Friday, just weeks ahead of Pyongyang's year-end deadline for Washington to show flexibility to advance their stalemated nuclear talks.His three-day visit starting Sunday will come amid rising tensions in the wake of Pyongyang's apparent rocket engine test last week and Washington's subsequent warnings against additional "hostile" acts. Biegun's planned trip has spawned

• 

  Technology

  Samsung denies selling 1 mln Galaxy Fold smartphones

  Samsung Electronics on Friday denied media reports that the company has sold one million Galaxy Fold smartphones globally since the device's launch in September.Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon said at a conference organized by U.S. tech media TechCrunch that the South Korean tech giant has sold 1 million Galaxy Folds so far, double the industry's earlier estimate.But a Samsung spokesman said Sohn may have confused the figure with the company's initial sales target for the year, emp

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  Social affairs

  Labor office launches probe into employer paying migrant workers in fake money

  A local labor office said Friday that it is investigating allegations that a subcontractor had paid Vietnamese migrant workers in fake money for their farm labor.  According to an association of migrant workers’ rights organizations based in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the subcontractor paid the workers in paper coupons, instead of cash, promising to exchange the coupons with real currency when they wanted. Their employer, however, did not exchange the coupons in full when re

• 

  Automode

  Naver Financial attracts W800b investment from Mirae Asset

  Naver Financial, a financial platform by South Korean internet giant Naver, has attracted an investment of about 800 billion won ($683 million) from its financial partner Mirae Asset, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. The investment will secure a stable financial structure for Naver Financial and forge a partnership between the two to take the lead in the country’s emerging “techfin” industry. Techfin refers to technology firms seeking to deliver financial prod

• 

  Industry

  Korea vows to localize materials used at bio drug production facilities

  Korean biologics drug companies, including major players Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics, agreed Friday to localize materials for bio drug production. Incheon Metropolitan City hosted the event attended by some 110 personnel from the biologics industry. Incheon houses Korean biologics production facilities. Korea’s 1.69 trillion won ($1.4 billion) bio industry output in 2017 has climbed annually, and is anticipated to rake in well over 2 trillion won. However, 98 percent of the materials u

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  Social affairs

  Detective admits to coercing testimony in 1980s murder case

  A police officer has admitted to torturing a 53-year-old surnamed Yun during the investigation into the Hwaseong serial killings in the 1980s to 1990s. Yun was later convicted for the eighth murder in the case. Local reports said Friday the Suwon Prosecutors’ Office recently called in three former detectives who investigated Yun for questioning.One of the officers acknowledged that he had deprived Yun of sleep. But he denied that he had beat Yun or forced him to do squat jumps as alleged b

• 

  North Korea

  Malaysian court approves N. Korean's extradition to US

  KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) -- A North Korean man is likely to face money-laundering charges in the United States after a Malaysian court approved his extradition Friday, in a case his lawyers claim is politically motivated. Mun Chol -myong has denied FBI claims that he led a criminal group that violated sanctions by supplying luxury goods to his isolated homeland and laundered funds through front companies. The 54-year-old, who has lived in Malaysia with his family for a decade, was arrested in May foll

• 

  Finance

  Watchdog advises banks to partially cover losses from KIKO misselling

  FSS says 6 banks failed to provide 4 local businesses with adequate information about risks, proposes payment of W25.5b

• 

  Automode

  Hyundai Motor jumps into Indonesian ride-hailing market

  Hyundai Motor said Friday it has delivered the first batch of 20 Ioniq EVs to Indonesia, entering the ride-hailing market in the Southeast Asian country in partnership with Grab. The South Korean carmaker and Grab will operate ride-hailing services in Jakarta with the electric version of the compact starting early next year. They plan to expand the number of vehicles in operation by the end of the year. The Ioniq EV is capable of running 271 kilometers per single charge. It can be recharged to 8

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Viewpoints

  

  Europe’s young leaders are bucking politics as usual

  The emergence of 34-year-old Sanna Marin as Finland’s new prime minister is no fluke: In recent years, Europe has seen its leaders get younger as the new generation appears better at navigating increasingly complex political landscapes.The average age of global leaders actually has increased since the 1950s, according to the Rulers, Elections and Irregular Government dataset, created by Curtis Bell from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. In Europe, though, it has been going down sin

• Viewpoints

  

  Military spending on R&D a boon for private sector

  There has been a clamor for the US government to spend more on research and development. Economic theories such as those of Paul Romer, who won the Nobel Prize in 2018, suggest that spending more on R&D would promote long-term economic growth. A growing number of economists also believe that basic research is a job that only government can do; because basic research is so hard to profit from directly, there’s a clear pipeline from government-funded discoveries to private sector innovat

THE INVESTOR

• Deals

  

  German firm Delivery Hero to take over S. Korean food delivery unicorn Woowa Brothers

  South Korean food delivery unicorn startup Woowa Brothers announced Dec. 13 that German food delivery giant Delivery Hero will acquire a majority stake in the company at a $4 billion valuation.Berlin-based Delivery Hero will buy 87 percent of Woowa Brothers, known for its online delivery app Baedal Minjok. As a result of the transaction, venture capitals such as Hillhouse Capital, Altos Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs and GIC are expected to exit from the startup. Related:Woowa Bro

• Stocks & Bonds

  

  Doosan Heavy to delist Doosan E&C by March 2020

  Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction said on Dec. 12 that it would delist its loss-making apartment builder arm Doosan Engineering & Construction from the Korea Exchange’s main board Kospi and wholly own the company.Holding 82.47 percent of Doosan E&C’s voting rights, Doosan Heavy will carry out a stake swap deal on March 10, 2020 that gives Doosan E&C shareholders some 248 Doosan Heavy shares in return for 1000 Doosan E&C shares, according to a disclosure on De

• Startups & Investors

  

  WeWork Labs announces achievements in South Korea in 2019

  After its entry into the South Korean startup sector in 2016, coworking space giant WeWork changed the startup scene dramatically -- more local startups began to collaborate actively with each other and to get chance to go abroad thanks to its global network.Through WeWork Labs, a global startup acceleration program launched in 2018, it helped budding startups in cities across the nation build their teams, attract investment, and roll out innovative products and services here and overseas.Lookin

• Deals

  

  Deadline extended for Asiana Airlines stake transfer

  The deadline for the stake transfer of South Korea’s second-largest air carrier, Asiana Airlines, has been extended to the fourth week of December, according to industry sources Dec. 12.The preferred bidder, a consortium comprising Hyundai Development Co. and Mirae Asset Daewoo, fell short of acquiring a 31.05 percent stake in Asiana Airlines from Kumho Asiana Group within a month, after Kumho gave the HDC-led consortium the exclusive rights to negotiate Nov. 12.Over the past month, Kumho

K-POP

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  Academics explain driving force behind BTS’ global success

• 

  Holland is turning scars into triumphant pop

• 

  Big Hit denies report it is in profit dispute with BTS

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Industry

  

  Electricity market competition, price hike needed for green energy expansion

• People

  

  Women’s colleges relevant in world where men enjoy privileges

• Industry

  

  China’s No. 1 aesthetic laser firm sees Korea as bridge to Asian markets

• Defense

  

  ‘We will support conscientious objectors in fulfilling alternative service’

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  Making art out of straw

  A giant eagle and gorilla recently took up residence by an outdoor pool in Jungnang-gu in northeastern Seoul. They -- along with smaller animals, scarecrows and other figures arranged on the pool grounds during the offseason -- are all made of straw from this year’s rice harvest. The sculptures are the works of artist Lee Chun-su and the people of Buan County in North Jeolla Province. About 30 works are on display as part of the rural county’s efforts to showcase what it calls &

VIDEO

• People

  

  ‘Koreans are like the Latin people of Asia’

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  Paris looks to Korea’s technology, startups for cooperation: French ambassador

• Film

  

  Ryan Reynolds says ‘6 Undergrounds’ shows how times are changing

• Travel

  

  While in Busan, don’t miss 2 things: Excitement and adventure

FEATURES

• People

  

  Frank penguin becomes new star of year, breaks stereotype of EBS characters

  A 210-centimeter-tall penguin walks into a room for an audition at Educational Broadcasting System, insisting he wants to be a star creator. The penguin, who has a strand of seaweed and a seashell on its head, explains that he swam all the way from the South Pole. The 10-year-old’s ultimate goal is to become as popular as BTS.Speaking in a cute -- sometimes husky -- voice, Pengsoo raps, breakdances and even yodels -- a skill he picked up in Switzerland on his way to Korea. When the judges

• Social affairs

  

  Number of Seoulites residing alone up 300,000 in 10 years

  SEJONG -- The number of residents in Seoul stood at 9.73 million as of November 2019, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety. This is estimated to be the lowest figure in more than 30 years.Given unofficial statistics showing that Seoul was home to 9.2 million in 1983 and 10.28 million in 1988, the current population level is assumed to be similar to that seen in the years between 1984 and 1987.Compared to the figure of 10.21 million in November 2009, the population of the capital of S

• Technology

  

  LG Chem, GM deal ups ante in EV battery competition

  The Friday announcement for a joint venture between South Korean battery maker LG Chem and US carmaker General Motors has upped the ante in the global competition to secure lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, according to industry sources on Sunday. The 2.7 trillion won ($2.3 billion) joint venture for an EV battery factory with production capacity of over 30 gigawatt hours per year in Lordstown, Ohio, was clinched amid GM’s ongoing transition from combustion engine cars to electr

• Finance

  

  Unlisted stock market gains momentum with attention to startups

  Interest in unlisted stocks is projected to further grow as there are no other alternatives to Kosdaq and Konex