SPOTLIGHT

• Music

  

  Drunken Tiger's new song featuring RM tops US iTunes' hip-hop chart

  South Korean hip-hop icon Drunken Tiger's new song featuring BTS leader RM debuted at No. 1 on the US iTunes' hip-hop chart, its agency said Friday."Timeless" from Drunken Tiger's 10th full-length album topped the hip-hop/rap songs chart, the K-pop chart and the music video chart of the US iTunes upon its release, according to Feel Ghood Music. The piece also ranked high on the main pop chart while topping iTunes' song charts of 26 countries, including Sweden, Egypt, Romania, Israel, Finland, Sa

• Film

  

  “French Cinema Tour 2018” kicks off, to play eight French films

  The third annual “French Cinema Tour 2018” kicked off Thursday, featuring eight French films that will be screened prior to their official opening here. Eight Movies: “Family is Family (La Ch‘tite famille),” “Taxi 5” “Diving(Plonger),” “Treat Me Like Fire(Joueurs),” “Non-fiction(Doubles Vies),” “A Paris Education,” “The Nation” and “Dilili in Paris” . (French Cinema Tour)The opening ceremony was held at Hotel Shilla in central Seoul, where the festival’s “Etoile du cinema” awards were given to F

• Social affairs

  

  Man says he ‘beat separated wife after seeing her with another man’

  A man in his 20s was booked without physical detention for allegedly beating his wife, whom he is separated from amid divorce proceedings, after he saw her with another man, police said Friday. According to Suwon Nambu Police Station, the suspect is being charged with battery. He is accused of kicking and punching his wife in the face in front of her house in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, at around 10:10 p.m. Thursday. He also allegedly assaulted the man who was with her at the time.  (Yonhap)He tol

• Social affairs

  

  McDonald’s customer says ‘stress from work’ made him hurl bag of food

  A man captured in a video assaulting a McDonald’s drive-thru employee in Ulsan issued a statement to police Thursday, saying he sincerely wants to apologize to the victim for his abusive behavior. According to Ulsan Jungbu Police Station, the 49-year-old man, surnamed Kim, claimed to have gotten so “mad after receiving only a burger (without french fries) while undergoing so much stress at work.” The video initially uploaded on Bobae Dream, an internet community for car lovers, went viral follow

LATEST NEWS

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  North Korea

  U.S., Britain discuss stopping N.K. sanctions evasion

  The United States and Britain held a workshop Friday to discuss ways to stop North Korea’s evasion of sanctions related to its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, the U.S. State Department said.The meeting in London involved officials from the two governments, maritime insurance companies, commodity traders as well as the United Nations Panel of Experts on North Korea, the department said in a statement.The U.N. Security Council has adopted wide-ranging sanctions designed to cut off

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  North Korea

  U.S. upbeat about N.K. denuclearization despite new weapon test

  The United States expressed confidence Friday that North Korea will honor its commitment to denuclearize despite its test of an unspecified high-tech weapon.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the “successful” test of a “high-tech tactical weapon” at a national defense institute, state media reported earlier in the day.It marked the first such inspection by the leader following his viewing of an intercontinental ballistic missile launch in November 2017.“At the Singapore Summit, President

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  Social affairs

  Gyeonggi governor’s wife found to be owner of controversial

  Gyeonggi Province governor Lee Jae-myung (Yonhap)The wife of the governor of Gyeonggi Province will face a prosecution probe after police found that she violated election laws and committed defamation on Twitter, investigators said Saturday, a case that could make a serious dent in the governor’s political career.Kim Hye-gyeong, the wife of Gyeonggi Province governor Lee Jae-myung, is facing allegations that she was the owner of the controversial Twitter account, under the name “Hyegyeonggung Ms

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  Foreign Policy

  Moon meets Australian PM, vows to maintain ties

  South Korean President Moon Jae-in (right) and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Yonhap)President Moon Jae-in met with the Australian prime minister on Saturday and agreed to strive to maintain solid bilateral relations as “a true friend.”During his talks with Scott Morrison in Papua New Guinea, Moon said the two nations have forged solid relationships in every field by sharing universal values, calling Australia “the optimum partner for South Korea.”He then suggested further cooperation

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  Soccer

  S. Korea's football style will not change against Australia: coach

  BRISBANE, Australia (Yonhap) -- South Korea national football coach Paulo Bento said Friday that his side's style of play will not change when they face Australia in a friendly match.South Korea, 53rd in the latest FIFA rankings, will face 42nd-ranked Australia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday. (Korea Football Association)"Although we have some new faces, we will not have big changes in our style of play," Bento said at a pre-match press conference."Our goal is to collect a

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  Social affairs

  Soldier dies after being found with gunshot wound to head at border guard post

  YANGGU (Yonhap) -- A South Korean soldier died Thursday after being found with a gunshot wound to his head at a toilet within a guard post (GP) on the eastern section of the border with North Korea, military officials said.YonhapA South Korean soldier died Friday after being found with a gunshot wound to his head at a toilet within a guard post (GP) on the border with North Korea, military officials said.The 21-year-old private first class, only identified by the surname Kim, was found wounded a

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  Foreign Policy

  N. Korean official blasts Japan over wartime atrocities

  A North Korean senior official rallied support for the Koreas’ efforts to advance peace and condemned Japan over its wartime atrocities during an international forum in South Korea on Friday.  (Yonhap)Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, said that the three inter-Korean summits and North Korea-US summit this year form a “declaration” heralding an era of peace. “After it committed atrocities such as mass abductions, forcible mobilization and massacre, Japan stic

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  Economy

  Seoul stocks end higher on eased trade woes

  South Korean stocks ended higher for the second consecutive session on Friday as investor sentiment recovered on hopes of eased US-China trade friction. The South Korean currency rose against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 4.34 points, or 0.21 percent, to close at 2,092.40. Trading volume was moderate at 294 million shares worth 4.69 trillion won (US$4.15 billion), with winners outnumbering losers 564 to 261.Individual and institutional investors picked up 18

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  North Korea

  N. Korea decides to deport US citizen detained for illegal entry

  North Korea has decided to deport a US citizen detained for illegally entering the country, its state media reported on Friday.The US citizen, identified as Bruce Byron Lowrance, has been detained in North Korea since he was caught illegally entering North Korea via the border with China last month, according to the Korean Central News Agency.  (Reuters)He confessed to have entered the North under the direction of the US Central Intelligence Agency, the KCNA said. It did not specify when the US

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  Foreign Policy

  Foreign ministry official found unconscious in Singapore while accompanying Moon

  SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in said Friday that one of the foreign ministry officials accompanying him on his trip to Singapore was found unconscious in her hotel room following an apparent stroke.Kim Eun-young, director-general at the ministry's South Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, appears to have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was rushed to a local hospital, Moon said in a Twitter message.Moon arrived in Singapore for a four-day visit to attend a series of annual regional summits wi

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  The world is adapting to the reality of Donald Trump as president

  One of the assumptions that economists sometimes use to frame their models is to specify that some variables will be held constant, a concept that’s expressed with the Latin phrase “ceteris paribus.” We often make the same mistake in politics and foreign policy. We concentrate on our own domestic issues and assume that the rest of the world will remain fixed while we sort them out. We’ll get back to you later, in 2021, say. But the world moves on. It’s dynamic, not static: Erratic changes in one

• Columnists

  

  Tussle with China in Mekong basin

  Countries in the Mekong basin, notably those located in the lower part of the river -- Asia’s seventh longest -- are in need of a collective strategy to secure their future, given China’s control of the upstream part and ongoing changes in global geopolitics.The 4,909-kilometer river runs from Tibet in China through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. But only its lower portion is regulated by an international agreement and an organization.The lower part is popularly known as Mekong w

THE INVESTOR

• Retail & Consumer

  

  Local PEF emerges as 2nd largest shareholder of Hanjin KAL

  Local private equity fund KGCI has become the second-largest shareholder of Hanjin KAL, operator of the country’s largest airline Korean Air, seen as a challenge to the management of the troubled firm. KGCI announced on Nov. 15 it has acquired 5,322,666 shares or 9 percent stake in Hanjin KAL for 24,557 won (US$21.47) apiece through its subsidiary Grace Holdings. It has become the second-largest stakeholder after Chairman Cho Yang-ho and people close to him who own 28.95 percent s

• Startups & Investors

  

  The Investor’s Choice 2018 to crown top startups on Nov. 28

  The Investor’s Choice 2018, an awards ceremony focused on promising startups hosted by The Korea Herald’s investment news platform The Investor, will be held on Nov. 28.The one-day event aims to celebrate startups that have demonstrated the highest level of innovation this year and seeks to encourage open discussions about startups that are breaking new ground here. The ceremony will kick off with opening remarks by Herald Corp. Chairman Jungwook Hong. Fleur Pellerin, co-founder a

• Startups & Investors

  

  China sees bright spot in AI-driven wealth management

  Artificial intelligence has become a buzzword in China in recent years, with the country heavily investing money and talent into the technology. Among AI’s wide array of applications, fintech experts view the technology that gives human-like abilities to machines could have the greatest impact in changing China’s wealth management industry that is still at the nascent stage.  Xiaolan Guan, executive president of Hundsun Technologies; Yihan Fang, CEO of Yirendai; Matthew Chen, Grou

• Mobile & Internet

  

  ‘PUBG’s success is based on efforts to overcome challenges’

  It is widely accepted that the runaway success of “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” published by PUBG, a subsidiary of Bluehole, put the battle royale mode on the world map and made the Korean game company a household name. After the game, called PUBG for short, in which 100 players compete to survive to be the last one standing, was launched in 2017, it became one of the most popular games in global markets, including the US, and China. Few people in the gaming industry expected th

K-POP HERALD

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  Does Jennie say ‘B-word’ in ‘Solo’?

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  Idols spotted on the way to Suneung test

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  Watch Jennie’s ‘Solo’ full choreography

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Industry

  

  TMON envisions creating ‘online malling’ experience

• Foreign Policy

  

  ASEAN important for Korea’s peace as well as prosperity: ambassador

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  Tapping Korean experience to tackle world’s development challenges

• Technology

  

  Meet 'Faker': Korean League of Legends talent extraordinaire

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  Comic characters revitalize old neighborhood

  Seongnae-dong in Gangdong District of Seoul was run-down and quiet, a neighborhood occupied mostly by the elderly. But with Kang Full, a popular webtoon artist who has been living in the area since he was 2 years old, the old town has turned into a lively and vivid one with his comic characters. Created in 2013, the Kang Full Cartoon Alley in Seongnae-dong is full of his artworks featuring popular characters and images from his comics. Artists and students from Sungsu High School’s art club join

VIDEO

• Technology

  

  Meet 'Faker': Korean League of Legends talent extraordinaire

• Television

  

  K-pop stars rock red carpet looks at 2018 MGA

• Music

  

  BTS on red carpet at 2018 MGA

• Social affairs

  

  Modernized hanbok setting trend, reinterpreting tradition

FEATURES

• Technology

  

  First ‘Fortnite’ esports competition in Korea to take place next month

  The inaugural esports competition for the globally popular survival shooting game “Fortnite Battle Royale” will take place in South Korea next month, bringing a new addition to the country’s active competitive gaming landscape. 　Epic Games, the US-based video game company behind “Fortnite,” plans to hold “Fortnite Korea Open 2018” on Dec. 15 at Korea University’s Hwajung Gymnasium. Players will compete for a 1 billion won ($885,000) donation to charity, according to the company.“The event marks

• Defense

  

  Govt. considers 36 months in correctional facilities for alternative service

  The South Korean government is seeking to require 36 months of work in correctional facilities from those seeking alternative to military service, after the country’s top court recognized conscientious objection as a valid reason for rejecting mandatory military service. 　While the Ministry of National Defense and the conscription agency have yet to finalize plans for an alternative service program, they said their preferred option is to involve conscientious objectors serving at correctional fa

• Industry

  

  Market remains split over Samsung BioLogics’ trading suspension

  The stock trading suspension of Samsung BioLogics starting Thursday seemed to wrap up a chapter in the yearslong brawl over alleged accounting fraud, apparently with the defeat of the biotech company.Market observers, however, remained divided on the impact that the case may have on the domestic stock market and the biopharmaceutical industry. Some optimistically suggested that the sanction may act as a turning point for the Samsung Group affiliate to end the prolonged uncertainty factor.The dow

• Technology

  

  Samsung hosts first AI forum in Beijing

  In an effort to expand its presence in the Chinese market, Samsung Electronics hosted its first forum on artificial intelligence in Beijing on Thursday, presenting its newest technology solutions to tech leaders. The first such forum by Samsung drew around 500 officials from the country’s leading tech firms, such as Baidu, Xiaomi and Hikvision. Samsung’s choice of venue also drew attention, as China is intensifying competition with the US in attracting and fostering AI startups.Choi Cheol, execu