SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  Fitness model’s ‘morale boost’ for military stokes fury

  A YouTube video showing a scantily clad woman posing on stage as a part of a “morale boosting performance” for South Korean soldiers has caused online furor, leading to the Capital Defense Command to issue an official apology Monday.The video, uploaded on YouTube on Korea’s Liberation Day on Aug. 15, shows a woman in a small bikini swerving her mostly exposed derriere to K-pop music. Each of her poses is met with thunderous roars from soldiers.“How old are you?” asks the host, to which the woman

• Music

  

  BTS releases track list for ‘Love Yourself: Answer’

  With a return to the music stage set for less than a week away, BTS has released the track list for its upcoming repackaged album, “Love Yourself: Answer.”The track list shared on social media Sunday showed the new EP, the final part of the group’s “Love Yourself” series, featuring a total 25 songs. Part A, which contains 16 songs, includes seven original tracks -- “Epiphany,” “Trivia: Just Dance,” “Trivia: Love,” “Trivia: Seesaw,” “I’m Fine,” “IDOL” and “Answer: Love Myself” -- and nine previou

• Travel

  

  Gyeongbokgung to hold nighttime tour next month

  A biannual nighttime tour of Gyeongbokgung will commence next month, with prebooking for the event starting on Thursday.According to the Cultural Heritage Administration, the Gyeongbokgung Starlight Tour for the second half of the year will be held from Sept. 2-15, and Oct. 6-20, twice a day. The first session will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and the second from 7:40 p.m. to 9:40 p.m.This year’s Starlight Tour, which started in 2016, will be held under the theme of old folktales from th

• Social affairs

  

  Chilgok honors children of US Army vet with honorary citizenship

  The children of a US veteran of the Korean War will be given honorary citizenship of Chilgok County, North Gyeongsang Province, the county government said Monday. According to Chilgok County, the children of 1st Lt. James Elliott -- James Elliott and Jorja Reyburn -- will be given honorary citizenships at the Nakdong River World Peace Culture Festival in October.  James Elliott (right) and Jorja Reyburn scatter their mother’s ashes on the Nakdong River in 2015. Chilgok CountyThe elder James Elli

LATEST NEWS

• 

  Automode

  Transport agency to look into cause of BMW car fires by December

  A public transportation agency said Monday it will closely look into the engine fires involving dozens of BMW vehicles with an aim to determine the exact cause by December.  A BMW 520d vehicle is on fire on a highway in North Gyeongsang Province on Monday. YonhapIn a press conference held in Government Complex Sejong, 120 kilometers south of Seoul, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS) said it has demanded additional documents involving recent vehicle fires and purchased three second-ha

• 

  More sports

  S. Korean taekwondo fighter Kim Tae-hun wins gold in men's 58kg

  JAKARTA (Yonhap) -- South Korean taekwondo fighter Kim Tae-hun won a gold medal in the men's 58-kilogram division at the 18th Asian Games on Monday. Kim defeated Niyaz Pulatov of Uzbekistan 24-6 in the final to claim his second career Asian Games gold. He topped the men's 54kg at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.  Kim Tae-hun and coaching staff celebrate his gold medal at the Asian Games on Monday. YonhapIt was also South Korea's first gold medal from taekwondo "kyorugi" (sparring) competition at

• 

  Social affairs

  Ruling in ex-governor's rape case fuels #MeToo fire in South Korea

  After her alleged rape by her boss, who also happened to be one of the most powerful politicians in the country, Kim Ji-eun did not quit her job. She continued working for him, and praised his character to her acquaintances. She even went to his hotel room to personally hand him a box of cigarettes, instead of respectfully leaving it at his door and walking away.　　All these actions somehow worked against Kim, who in March had publicly accused former South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung of sexual a

• 

  Finance

  Alipay launches mobile tax refund service for tourists to Korea

  Chinese mobile payment platform Alipay announced Monday it had launched a mobile tax refund service so users could claim refunds without visiting offline duty-free shops in airports or cities. (Herald DB)To launch Alipay’s first tax refund service via mobile phone, the Korean unit Alipay Korea partnered with Global Tax Free, a Kosdaq-listed tax refund service provider for foreign tourists.Those buying products at shops supporting services by Global Tax Free -- in seven airports and three harbors

• 

  More sports

  Korea grabs 2 shooting silver medals

  PALEMBANG, Indonesia -- South Korea picked up two silver medals in shooting at the 18th Asian Games on Monday.　First, it was Jung Eun-hea winning silver in the women’s 10-meter air rifle at Jakabaring Sport City Shooting Range in Palembang, the co-host city of the Asian Games with Jakarta. Then Kang Gee-eun followed up with silver in the women’s trap.　 Jung Eun-hea (Yonhap)In the air rifle event, Jung scored 248.6 points to finish second behind Zhao Ryozhu of China, who won gold with an Asian Ga

• 

  Culture

  Performance recast into painting: Ma Liuming holds solo exhibition in Seoul

  Chinese performance artist and painter Ma Liuming is holding a solo exhibition at Hakgojae Gallery in Seoul until Sept. 16.　Titled “Sediment of Performance,” Ma’s latest exhibition features paintings that recast his past avant-garde performances. Ma Liuming poses for photographs at Hakgojae Gallery in Seoul, Friday. (Hakgojae Gallery)Born in Hubei, China, in 1969, Ma is a globally recognized performance artist, particularly through the use of the artist’s performance persona “Fen-Ma Liuming.” Fe

• 

  Finance

  Weaker dollar eases S. Korea market woes

  Downward pressure on South Korea’s markets appears to be on the wane, as the US dollar is taking a breather against currencies in emerging markets including Korea.  (Yonhap)After opening higher on Monday morning, both the Kospi and the Kosdaq lost their earlier gains in the afternoon. The top-tier Kospi remained nearly flat, edging up 0.04 percent at closing, while the Kosdaq was down 0.3 percent. Markets here rebounded Friday from the price floor they had hit earlier last week, while signs of a

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  Technology

  SKT expands utilization of machine learning to genomic analysis

  SKT's IoT/Data Unit Head Chang Hong-seong (left) holds an agreement with Macrogen CEO Yang Kap-seok in Seoul on Monday. (SK Telecom)South Korea’s leading mobile carrier SK Telecom is moving to use its machine-learning technologies to analyze human genomes in order to raise the predictability of rare diseases, the company said Monday. The telecom giant signed a partnership with Macrogen, a local precision medicine business, to develop AI solutions that would predict probabilities of critical dise

• 

  North Korea

  War-separated families meet in rare, emotional reunion

  South Koreans left for North Korea Monday to take part in reunions with their North Korean family members from a hotel in Sokcho, in South Korea’s Gangwon Province. Around 89 South Korean survivors, mostly in their 70s and older, got the chance to meet around 180 of their long-lost relatives living in the North at Mount Kumgang.  A man selected as a participant for a reunion shows pictures of his deceased mother and little brothers living in North Korea, at a hotel used as a waiting place in Sok

• 

  Diplomatic Circuit

  UAE, S. Korea thrive under special strategic partnership: ambassador

  The following article was written by Abdulla Saif al-Nuaimi, ambassador of the United Arab Emirates. --Ed.

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  What China needs to understand about Trump

  It was late November 2016, and my Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Wang Yang, was visiting Washington, DC. Over the course of my tenure as US Secretary of Commerce, the vice premier and I had developed a warm and candid relationship. Since this was to be our last official meeting, I decided to do something a bit different: take him to rural Virginia for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.While we were surrounded by our usual phalanx of security, we effectively sat alone, with the exception of our

• Columnists

  

  Consequences of US disengagement

  An Arab diplomat recently chided an American audience for speculating about what “the new Middle East” may look like. Open your eyes, he said: The new Middle East is already here. And, personally, I fear its baseline expectation is that American power and values won’t matter in the way they once did.The diplomat was Yousef al-Otaiba, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, and he was speaking at a public gathering last month of the Aspen Security Forum. He explained to an audience of policym

THE INVESTOR

• Economy

  

  NPS at crossroads with lackluster returns

  Korea’s state pension fund is the world’s third-largest which oversees 634 trillion won (US$561 billion) in assets, but is not the best-run, with a return of just 0.49 percent from this January to May. At this pace, it is highly unlikely to achieve the initially forecast 7.26 percent return rate. The National Pension Service’s lackluster performance is worrisome to many here because if the return is lower by 1 percentage point than the estimates, the funds will run out five years

• Samsung

  

  Samsung butts heads with LG in clothing care system market

  The market for clothing care systems is a relatively untapped field, with only a few home appliance makers in Korea competing, including LG Electronics.But with Samsung Electronics poised to enter, the market is expected to become more crowded and competitive than before starting this year. Samsung is scheduled to unveil its first garment care system in Cheongdam-dong, a posh district of Seoul on August 21. Kim Hyun-seok, CEO of Samsung’s home appliance division　Reflecting the imp

• Economy

  

  31 largest groups account for 66% of exports

  Korea’s 31 largest groups accounted 66 percent of the total exports last year, according to the Korea Economic Research Institute on Aug. 20. Exports by a total of 186 listed companies belonging to the largest 31 groups under the Fair Trade Commission’s antitrust watch list took up 494 trillion won or 66.3 percent of the total exports of the country last year, up from 62.1 percent in 2016 and 63.7 percent in 2015. Large business group designated by the country’s antitrust watchdog

• Bio & Medicine

  

  Daewoong’s Nabota gets sales approval in Canada

  Daewoong Pharmaceutical said on Aug. 20 it has received marketing approval from Canadian health authorities in less than a year after it applied for one for its botulinum toxin Nabota.With the decision, Nabota will become the first such drug developed by a Korean firm to enter Canada. In July last year, Daewoong filed for regulatory approval for the Botox-like injectables for treating glabellar lines. Shares of Daewoong rose 2.89 percent on the announcement. “Receiving the authori

K-POP HERALD

• 

  Jeon So-mi leaves JYP Entertainment

• 

  track list for ‘Love Yourself: Answer’ unveild

• 

  SHINee’s Key to host weekly talk show

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Technology

  

  When startups are nipped in the bud

• North Korea

  

  Playing ping-pong across the border

• Music

  

  ‘We will keep evolving, regardless of our age,’ says Super Junior D&E

• Social affairs

  

  Legislation Minister makes reducing discrimination her mission

PHOTO NEWS

• North Korea

  

  War-separated families meet in rare, emotional reunion

  South Koreans left for North Korea Monday to take part in reunions with their North Korean family members from a hotel in Sokcho, in South Korea’s Gangwon Province. Around 89 South Korean survivors, mostly in their 70s and older, got the chance to meet around 180 of their long-lost relatives living in the North at Mount Kumgang.  A man selected as a participant for a reunion shows pictures of his deceased mother and little brothers living in North Korea, at a hotel used as a waiting place in Sok

VIDEO

• Music

  

  MXM returns with self-produced album ‘More Than Ever’

• Food

  

  Fish in water? Sliced fish in chilled broth

• Television

  

  Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin talk about remote-acting in ‘The Negotiation’

• Food

  

  Snake-like creature writhes, squirms on grill

FEATURES

• Automode

  

  Revised Tucson: smoother, edgier and interactive

  Midsized SUV dubbed as 'Song Joong-ki car' is back with refreshed design, high-tech features

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  What East Asia can learn from Europe’s economic community

  The following article was written by Dr. Ramon Pacheco Pardo, KF-VUB Korea chair at the Institute for European Studies of Vrije Universiteit Brussel and senior lecturer in international relations at King’s College London. -- Ed.

• Culture

  

  Performance recast into painting: Ma Liuming holds solo exhibition in Seoul

  Chinese performance artist and painter Ma Liuming is holding a solo exhibition at Hakgojae Gallery in Seoul until Sept. 16.　Titled “Sediment of Performance,” Ma’s latest exhibition features paintings that recast his past avant-garde performances. Ma Liuming poses for photographs at Hakgojae Gallery in Seoul, Friday. (Hakgojae Gallery)Born in Hubei, China, in 1969, Ma is a globally recognized performance artist, particularly through the use of the artist’s performance persona “Fen-Ma Liuming.” Fe

• Culture

  

  Young Koreans ride ‘ripples of love’ on mobile platforms

  From dating apps to mobile messaging, unique rules of romantic engagement emerge