SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  High-profile spycam scandal fuels debate over protection of suspect’s identity

  Incident involving actress Shin Se-kyung and Apink’s Yoon Bo-mi fuels debate over spycam crimes and legal protection of suspect’s identity

• Industry

  

  Louis Vuitton the most-counterfeited foreign brand in S. Korea: report

  Louis Vuitton was the most frequently counterfeited foreign brand in South Korea over the past five years, a report showed on Saturday.According to data from the Korea Customs Service, government regulators uncovered imitation Louis Vuitton products valued at 183.1 billion won ($163.99 million) between 2014 and June this year, which is the largest value among counterfeited foreign luxury brands.  (Yonhap)The value assessment was in terms of genuine Louis Vuitton goods.Given that more than 41.1 b

• North Korea

  

  3 endearing moments of South Korean presidential couple on Paektusan

  The candid interactions between South Korea’s presidential couple of Moon Jae-in and Kim Jung-sook are endearing in every way, and what their impact would be on their North Korean counterparts Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju one could only surmise. Moon and his wife don’t put on a stuffy show for the camera. Their open dialogue invites the general public to see them more as the friendly neighborhood couple than distant rulers of the nation. Here are three moments that drew attention:"Here, let me tidy

• North Korea

  

  Will Kim Jong-un go up Jeju Island’s Hallasan?

  South Korean President Moon Jae-in had his wish granted Thursday, when he went up Paektusan in North Korea. The question now is whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will go up the South’s tallest mountain during his expected trip to Seoul this year. Paektusan is the highest mountain in the North, at about 2,750 meters above sea level, while Hallasan is around 1,950 meters. Abundant folklore and legends involving mythical creatures revolve around both mountains Moon is an avid hiker, whose mou

LATEST NEWS

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  North Korea

  Trump says he received 'beautiful letter' from NK leader

  United States President Donald Trump said he received "a beautiful letter" from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this week, stressing "very good" relations between the two sides.  In his speech in Missouri at a campaign rally on Friday (US time), Trump said, "Chairman Kim Jong-un sent me a beautiful letter two days ago," though he did not elaborate on details.The remarks came less than two weeks after the White House said Trump received a written message from Kim, in which the North Korean leader

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  North Korea

  Trump says he won't rush into any deal with N. Korea

  United States President Donald Trump has said he will not be hasty in making any deals with North Korea, stressing "very good" relations with the communist country's leader.In his speech in Missouri at a campaign rally on Friday (US time), Trump said, "Chairman Kim Jong-un sent me a beautiful letter two days ago," though he did not elaborate on details.Pointing to the release of Americans who had been detained in the North and the return of remains of American soldiers who went missing during th

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  North Korea

  N. Korea again designated as a food-deficit country

  A United Nations agency has listed North Korea as a food-deficit country in need of external assistance, a US broadcaster reported Saturday.In its latest report, the Food and Agriculture Organization put the communist country on a list of 39 countries that need external food assistance, calling for 641,000 tons of crops to be imported to sustain the people, according to the Radio Free Asia. Farmers plant rice on a paddy in South Hwanghae Province in North Korea on May 22, 2018. (Yonhap)This year

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  North Korea

  Sweden, Switzerland express willingness to send nuke inspection team to NK

  Sweden and Switzerland have expressed their willingness to, upon request, send a team to inspect North Korea's possible dismantlement of nuclear and missile programs, a US broadcaster reported Saturday.After holding a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday agreed to permanently dismantle the country's only missile engine test facility and launch pads in Dongchang-ri in the presence of international experts. (Pyeongyang Press Corps)Kim also of

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  Finance

  Seoul shares to seek upturn on eased trade woes next week

  Seoul shares may undergo upward momentum next week, as eased concerns over global trade disputes and positive forecasts for corporate earnings could whet investors' appetite for bargains, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,339.17 on Friday, up 2.32 percent from a week earlier.The index started the week on a bearish note, as conflicts over tariffs between the United States and China appeared to worsen due to President Trump's decision to proceed wit

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  World News

  5 people, 3 of them infants, stabbed at NYC day care center

  NEW YORK (AP) -- Police in New York say at least five people, including three infants, were stabbed at an overnight day care center in Queens. (AP)NBC New York reports that authorities say the stabbings happened just before 4 a.m. Friday. One of the infants, a girl, is in serious condition, but none of the injuries is considered life-threatening.A sixth person was found in the basement of the day care center in the Flushing neighborhood. Police say she had slashed her left wrist and is in custod

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  World Business

  WTO eyes China bid to slap stiff trade sanctions on US

  GENEVA (AFP) -- A World Trade Organization arbitrator will review Friday a Chinese request to impose more than $7 billion (nearly 6 billion euros) in annual sanctions on the United States over anti-dumping practices, a Geneva trade official said. (AFP)The decision to appoint an arbitrator was reached during a special meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body convened to discuss developments in a five-year-old trade dispute between the world's top two economies.Beijing had already warned earlier

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  North Korea

  N. Korea's deputy PM admits economy in trouble: S. Korean official

  North Korea's deputy prime minister has admitted economic difficulties and called for South Korea's assistance, a South Korean presidential official said Friday, in a rare appeal by the North to try to boost its economy.Ri Ryong-nam (Yonhap)Ri Ryong-nam made the comments in a meeting with top South Korean business executives earlier this week, Kim Hyun-chul, a special economic adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told reporters of the meeting.The executives, including Samsung Electroni

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  Industry

  LG Chem holds event for horizontal work culture

  LG Chem, South Korea’s leading chemicals company, held an event to bolster communication and understanding between millennial employees and executives, the company said Friday.The event was led by six new employees under the topic “happy companionship with millennials” during a workshop for some 300 executives, factory managers and chief researchers at its leadership center in Osan City, Gyeonggi Province, earlier this week. The participating newbies talked openly about the millennial generation

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  Film

  Film ‘Dark Figure of Crime’ made without permission from bereaved family

  A member of a bereaved family has applied for an injunction to ban the screening of the upcoming film “Dark Figure of Crime,” arguing that the production crew did not ask for permission before making a story about the murder of her brother.In the movie, a prisoner confesses that he killed seven people, six more than what he was charged for. The story follows a detective who believes the criminal. One of the six cases was based on the murder of her brother.  “Dark Figure of Crime” (Showbox)The mo

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Israeli-Palestinian peace process is dead

  This month commemorates two pinnacles for the benign, naive superpower that was America, both involving our now-lost role as Middle East peacemaker. Forty years ago, President Jimmy Carter brokered the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt; and 25 years ago, President Bill Clinton presided over the signing of the Oslo Accord between Israel and the Palestinians. As we looked this week at the old photographs of beaming American presidents grandly mediating between adversaries, what was happe

• Columnists

  

  Malaysia at 55

  Was it only 55 years ago when Malaysia was formed on Sept. 16, 1963?　On that day, I was super proud to witness at the parade ground in Jesselton (today Kota Kinabalu) the formation of an independent nation, joining Sabah and Sarawak with the 11 states of Malaya. One forgets easily today that it was a time of grave uncertainty, when the Philippines had a claim on North Borneo and Indonesian President Sukarno was actively against the idea of Malaysia.　At the middle age of 55 years, an individual c

THE INVESTOR

• Retail & Consumer

  

  Market Kurly operator secures W67b investment

  Kurly, operator of popular grocery delivery service Market Kurly, on Sept. 20 announced that it has closed its Series C round having raised 67 billion won (US$60.03 million). “Our Series C round includes around 50 billion won from a consortium led by Sequoia Capital and DST Global,” a Kurly spokesperson told The Investor. The company added that it has also secured funds from investors who had invested in previous rounds, including SEMA Translink Investment and Korea Investment Par

• Samsung

  

  Two Samsung Group affiliates sell stake in Samsung C&T

  Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Samsung Electro-Mechanics have announced that they will sell their stake in Samsung C&T, a key group affiliate at the center of the conglomerate’s complex cross-shareholding structure. According to their regulatory filings on Sept. 20, Samsung Fire & Marine will sell its 1.37 percent stake for 328.5 billion won (US$294 million), while Samsung Electro-Mechanics will sell its 2.61 percent stake for 642.5 billion won.The move comes amid Samsung Gro

• Mobile & Internet

  

  KT ties up with firm behind Apple’s Siri for car infotainment systems

  Telecommunications firm KT said on Sept. 21 that it has partnered with Nuance Communications, a German company behind Apple’s mobile assistant Siri, to develop in-vehicle voice recognition solutions tailored for the Korean market.Nuance is one of the leading speech recognition software developers, offering its solutions to global tech companies as well as automotive companies, including BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motor and Toyota Motor.  Choi Kang-rim (left), head of KT’s c

• Samsung

  

  Samsung unveils triple-lens smartphone Galaxy A7

  Samsung Electronics on Sept.20 unveiled the Galaxy A7, its first smartphone with a triple-lens camera system. The rear-facing camera and the high-resolution 24-megapixel selfie shooter will be some of the killer features of the phone, according to the Korean tech giant.The Galaxy A model sports a 24M standard lens, a bokeh lens that alters depth of field, and a 120-degree super wide-angle lens. A fingerprint scanner of the phone is what sets the device apart from other Samsung pho

K-POP HERALD

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  EXO Lay to enter US music market

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  GOT7 signs on with Adidas

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  Parody of Sunmi’s ‘Siren’ video goes viral

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Arts&Design

  

  Decorating a home, suggesting a lifestyle

• Foreign Policy

  

  ‘Denuclearization efforts on peninsula opportunity for nuclear free world’

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  Le Havre, an ideal partner in maritime industry, public decentralization

• Technology

  

  Bluehole charms global audience with mobile strategy game ‘Castle Burn’

PHOTO NEWS

• Social affairs

  

  Chuseok travel rush begins Friday

  The Chuseok travel rush began Friday in Korea as about 36 million travelers head to their hometowns. As of 1 p.m. Friday, a trip from Seoul to Busan took five hours and 20 minutes by car; two hours and 40 minutes to Gangneung; four hours and 10 minutes to Gwangju; four hours and 34 minutes to Daegu; and four hours and 40 minutes to Mokpo, according to Korea Expressway Corp.A survey by the Korea Transport Institute predicted that the traffic volume of cars leaving Seoul and heading back to the ci

VIDEO

• Industry

  

  Lee Jae-yong’s lip balm ‘closed’ before camera

• North Korea

  

  Kim vows to visit Seoul, dismantle nuke, missile sites

• North Korea

  

  Moon Jae-in attends mass games in Pyongyang

• North Korea

  

  Moon enthusiastically received in Pyongyang

FEATURES

• Industry

  

  US FDA delays approval of GC Pharma’s IVIG-SN again

  South Korean biopharma company GC Pharma said Friday that the US Food and Drug Administration has delayed the approval of the firm’s immunodeficiency drug IVIG-SN, demanding additional data related to the drug’s manufacturing procedures.The company had initially expected the US FDA to grant final approval for IVIG-SN, short for human normal immunoglobulin G for intravenous administration, this month.The company noted that the drug’s safety and efficacy are solid, as the product is already being

• Industry

  

  Korea permits 2-year regulatory sandbox period for novel ICT innovation

  The National Assembly on Thursday passed a bill that grants a regulatory sandbox for new businesses in the information and communication technology sector, a development that is expected to speed up the adoption and commercialization of next-generation technologies in Korea. The bill to amend the Special Act on Promotion and Vitalization of Convergence of Information and Communications Technology was passed into law on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.The changes include th

• Social affairs

  

  Death of puma triggers public protest against zoos in South Korea

  The recent death of a puma, killed by police after it escaped from its enclosure in a Daejeon zoo, has triggered a wave of criticism concerning animal rights abuses in South Korea, with some saying all zoos in the country must shut down.　　The puma, named Bbo-rong, was shot to death Tuesday, about four hours after it escaped its enclosure at Daejeon O-World through a door left unlocked by staff at 4:50 p.m. While the search was ongoing, all Daejeon residents were advised to stay indoors.　　Authori

• North Korea

  

  What is the story behind Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang?

  South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang’s Mansudae Art Studio has been creating a buzz at home and overseas -- even after a UN official said the visit did not violate UN sanctions that ban international transactions with the North Korean art establishment.　So what do we know about the studio and why has it been banned by the UN?　The Mansudae Art Studio was founded in 1959. It is believed be one of the largest art production studios in the world, with some 4,000 workers. Among its