SPOTLIGHT

• 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

• Music

  

  Wanna One suffers leak again ahead of album release

  The main track of boy band Wanna One’s first full album was leaked four days ahead of its official release, sources in the K-pop scene said Thursday.They said a music file and lyrics for “Spring Breeze” from the album titled “1¹¹=1 (Power of Destiny)” have spread quickly across social media since Wednesday. Wanna One (Yonhap)This is not the first time that the band has experienced an illegal leaking of its material. In March, files for “Boomerang” and “Gold,” both on the band’s second EP, “0+1=1

• Social affairs

  

  Professor gets prison for insulting comfort women

  Gwangju District Court on Thursday issued a six-month prison sentence to a former Sunchon National University professor for defaming the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, overturning the defendant’s appeal and reinforcing the original sentence once again.The court ruled that the professor insulted the sex slaves with remarks such as, “(The comfort women) were taken for sexual slavery, or they voluntarily followed, because they were ‘seductive.’ In my opinion, they probably had a clear i

• Social affairs

  

  11 teenage students arrested on suspicion of rape

  Eleven middle and high school students are being accused of raping an underage victim several times over the course of more than a year. An unidentified man in his 30s was also nabbed on accusations of sexually abusing the same victim.Gangwon Provincial Police Agency said Thursday that the four students were arrested and seven others were booked without detention on suspicion of raping a teenage girl for 14 months leading to July 2018. A man in his 30s who reportedly became acquainted with the v

LATEST NEWS

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  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 competition

• 

  Industry

  Paris Baguette sells record No. of ‘Silky Roll Cake’

  South Korean bakery chain Paris Baguette, operated by SPC, said Friday it sold 2,255,000 loaves of its Silky Roll Cake from October last year to September this year. This translates into 4.3 roll cakes sold every minute, with the combined length of the sold cake stretching some 541 kilometers, longer than the distance between Seoul and Jeju, the company said. The Silky Roll Cake has been a steady seller for the firm since 1988. Silky Roll Cake (Paris Baguette)The company said it plans to registe

• 

  Foreign Policy

  Korea, UAE launch high-level dialogue channel on nuclear cooperation

  South Korea and the United Arab Emirates launched a high-level dialogue channel on nuclear cooperation on Friday, in another sign of their expanding partnership.The two countries held the inaugural session of the High-Level Consultation in Seoul, led by Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister, Lee Tae-ho, and Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, the UAE minister of energy and industry.They agreed to install the dialogue channel during South Korean President Moon Jae-in's state visit to the Middle East countr

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  North Korea

  NK weapon test doesn't signal abandonment of nuke talks: official

  WASHINGTON -- North Korea's test of an unspecified high-tech weapon should not be interpreted as a sign that the regime is abandoning denuclearization talks with the United States, a senior South Korean official said Thursday.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the "successful" test of a "high-tech tactical weapon" at a national defense institute, state media reported early Friday (local time).It marked the first such inspection by the leader following his viewing of an intercontinental ba

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  Foreign Policy

  Korea's top nuclear envoy to visit US next week

  Senior South Korean and US diplomats will have talks next week on joint efforts to denuclearize North Korea, including the planned launch of a bilateral "working group," Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will make a three-day trip to Washington DC from Monday and meet with his counterpart Stephen Biegun. (Yonhap)They will share the assessment of Korean Peninsula security conditions and discuss ways to strengt

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  North Korea

  N. Korean officials visit lake park, residential town near Seoul

  GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province -- A five-member North Korean delegation that arrived in South Korea on Wednesday to attend an international peace forum toured a residential town and a lake park on the northern outskirts of Seoul on Friday.The North's delegates, led by Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, looked around Ilsan New Town and Ilsan Lake Park, in Goyang, north of Seoul, aboard a bus before attending the international forum on Asia-Pacific peace and prosper

• 

  Automode

  Hyundai Motor showcases Santa Fe SUV with fingerprint access in China

  Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, on Friday showcased an upgraded version of the Santa Fe sport utility vehicle in China as it is struggling to increase its sales in the world's largest automobile market. This photo shows Hyundai Motors Co.`s fourth-generation Santa Fe sport utility vehicle (SUV) introduced in China. (Yonhap)The fourth-generation Santa Fe SUV unveiled at the 16th China Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition is tailored to satisfy the needs of Chi

• 

  Defense

  Korean Navy's first training ship to be launched Friday

  The first training ship of South Korea's Navy is set to be launched on Friday afternoon. The ceremony for the ATH-81 Hansando vessel, which will be deployed in early 2021, will take place at the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries in the southeastern city of Ulsan, the Navy said.ATH is the acronym of Auxiliary Training Ship Helo. (Yonhap)The 4,500-ton, 142-meter-long ship can sail more than 12,000 km at the speed of 18kts (33km/h). The maximum pace is 24kts. It's equipped with 76-mm and 40-mm g

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  North Korea

  N. Korean leader orders development of gateway city to China

  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has instructed a sweeping development of Sinuiju, the North's main border city with China, Pyongyang's media reported Friday.Kim examined and guided the master plan for Sinuiju before setting forth the tasks and ways of successfully sprucing up the border gateway city to meet the demand of the present era, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency. A photo released by the Rodong Sinmun on Nov. 16, 2018, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un guiding t

• 

  World News

  British PM fights rebellion over Brexit deal

  British Prime Minister Theresa May battled to salvage a draft Brexit deal and her political future on Thursday, as ministers resigned and members of her own party plotted to oust her.The Conservative leader said she believed with "every fibre of my being" in the Brexit course she had set, hours after facing a hostile parliament and seeing four ministers, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, quit the government.Members of parliament on all sides warned her there was no way the plan could win

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

• Bio & Medicine

  

  Analysts downplay Samsung BioLogics’ delisting

  Analysts here downplayed on Nov. 15 the potential delisting of Samsung BioLogics following a ruling by Korea’s financial regulator that the sixth-highest valued company on KOSPI is guilty of accounting irregularities. The contract drug manufacturer will wait for a decision from the country’s bourse operator if it should come under review for 15 business days while preparing for an administrative suit to overturn the Financial Services Commission’s ruling. RELATED:Trading of Samsun

• 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

  

  Secrets of building a successful fintech firm

  In recent years, the advancement of technology has pushed the financial sector to transform. With non-banks stepping up to lead the payment world and all parts of financial services, the competition has become fierce between new players and traditional institutions, all vying to take a slice of the fast-changing industry. What are the secrets of success in this ever-changing fintech era? There are four aspects, according to Ron Kalifa, vice chairman of Worldpay, a London-based pay

• Mobile & Internet

  

  Korea’s largest gaming expo hits Busan

  BUSAN -- G-Star, the largest gaming show in Korea, kicked off on Nov. 15, offering an opportunity for global game giants and small companies to showcase their flagship titles and attract new gamers.During the game show, joined by some 700 exhibitors, visitors from here and abroad can not only play their favorite games and those that will be unveiled next year, but also participate in a range of sub-events, like talk sessions with developers and influencers and outdoor promotional

K-POP HERALD

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  Twice confirms 3-city Dome Tour

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  NCT 127 to release new album

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  Yoo Ah-in on cover of Vogue Korea

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

• 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

• Film

  

  ‘Memsore,’ ‘healing’ that fails to heal

  Director Choi Nak-hee’s first major film “Memsore” is a film that I would have loved to love. A film with beautiful scenery, mouth-watering visuals and ear-pleasing sound -- a flick to soothe a person fed up with hectic city life with its calming lull.Yes, it did calm me down. And it lulled me to deep sleep near the end. This is one flick that pains me to bash, as I can clearly see the potential it had as a kind of cute, innocent and feel-good movie.The film starts with young woman Se-hee -- pla