SPOTLIGHT

• Politics

  

  Two people arrested for spycam videos of 1,600 people

  Seoul police said Wednesday they have booked four people for livestreaming and selling secretly filmed videos of some 1,600 motel guests in the past year.Two have been arrested for distribution of illicitly filmed videos of motel guests via wireless internet protocol cameras set up at 42 motel rooms at 30 motels in 10 cities in the North and South Gyeongsang and Chungcheong Provinces between Nov. 24 last year and March 2 this year. (Yonhap)Two people that helped set up the spycams have been book

• Arts&Design

  

  Exhibition ‘DMZ’ brings border closer, allows for reflection

  The exhibition “DMZ,” dedicated to introducing works of art and projects looking into the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, will be held at Culture Station Seoul 284, starting Thursday.“It is meaningful to hold such an exhibition here in this train station-turned exhibition space, which originally was the railway station of Gyeongui Line that used to stretch between here and (the North Korean city of) Sinuiju,” officials from Culture Station Seoul 284 said at a press conference held Wed

• Film

  

  Zachary Levi ‘grateful’ to be off MCU and onto ‘Shazam!’

  Having your character killed off without uttering a single line may be an actor’s worst nightmare, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Zachari Levi, the lead man for the upcoming superhero film “Shazam!” “We didn’t really have that much to do (in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’) I felt like the warriors three in that franchise weren’t exactly used to the fullest of their capabilities,” Levi said in a press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday, about playing the role of Fandral in Marvel Cinematic

• Social affairs

  

  Number of marriages falls to lowest level in more than four decades

  The number of South Koreans getting married fell to the lowest level in more than 40 years in 2018, government data showed Wednesday, as young people delay marriage amid a prolonged economic slowdown.The number of couples tying the knot came to 257,622 in 2018, compared with 264,455 in 2017, according to Statistics Korea. The figure is the lowest since 1972, when the number of couples who got married came to 244,780.Some young people are delaying marriage or giving up on marriage altogether, and

LATEST NEWS

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  World

  Britain has requested Brexit delay until June 30: PM

  Britain has asked EU leaders to delay Brexit until June 30, Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament on Wednesday, on eve of an EU summit in Brussels. (Yonhap)May said she had written to EU President Donald Tusk "informing him that the UK seeks an extension to the Article 50 period to June 30"."I don't want a long extension," she said, warning that a longer delay would mean Britain having to hold European Parliament elections at the end of May."The idea that three years after voting to leave t

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  Foreign Policy

  Sanctions relief possible after 'irreversible' point of N.K. denuclearization: Seoul official

  A South Korean diplomat said Wednesday that the lifting of sanctions against North Korea can come after the communist regime passes an "irreversible point of denuclearization." (Yonhap)Rhee Dong-yeol, the director general of the foreign ministry's Korean Peninsula regime bureau, also said that Seoul is considering proposing high-level inter-Korean talks as part of efforts to facilitate dialogue between the United States and the North."If the denuclearization process passed an irreversible point,

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  Technology

  EU fines Google 1.49 bn euros for anti-trust breach

  The EU's powerful anti-trust regulator slapped tech giant Google with a new fine on Wednesday over unfair competition, in Europe's latest salvo against Silicon Valley. (Yonhap)"Today the commission has fined Google 1.49 billion euros ($1.69 billion) for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.In its third major decision against the search engine behemoth, Brussels sanctioned Google's Ad

• 

  Politics

  PM says inter-Korean economic cooperation should be made under sanctions framework

  Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Wednesday inter-Korean economic cooperation should be pursued in a way that does not hamper international sanctions.(Yonhap)Lee also expressed hope that cross-border economic exchanges could induce North Korea to give up its nuclear program."Under the current sanctions regime, it is possible to seek exchanges in such areas as culture, academia and sports. So there is a need to focus on those areas," Lee said at a parliamentary interpellation session on foreign and

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  North Korea

  Oil shipped to N.K. for liaison office not subject to sanctions: minister

  Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said Wednesday the government does not consider petroleum products transferred to North Korea for an inter-Korean liaison office as subject to U.N. sanctions. (Yonhap)Last week, a U.N. report on sanctions on North Korea took note of South Korea's transfer of petroleum products to the North's border town of Kaesong where the liaison office is located."We see it as not subject to the U.N. sanctions," Cho said during a parliamentary session on foreign and securi

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  Industry

  Opposition grows to Hanjin, Lotte chiefs serving in director posts

  Calls are growing to not name the CEOs of Hanjin Group and Lotte Group as executive directors of their key affiliates due to their past illegal activities.(Yonhap)In its report released on Wednesday, the Center for Good Corporate Governance (CGCG), a local research institute, recommended that shareholders oppose the reappointment of Hanjin Group CEO Cho Yang-ho to be an executive director of Korean Air Lines Co. and of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin to the top post at Lotte Chemical Corp."Ch

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  Politics

  Korea-US defense costs not ‘free money’ for US-Mexico border wall: lawmaker

  Rep. Song Young-gil of the Ruling Democratic Party of Korea criticized the US government for allocating part of the defense budget for US troops here to build the controversial US-Mexico border wall.“South Korea’s burden-sharing to maintain US troops here is not ‘free money’ the US can use as it wishes,” Song said in a statement released Wednesday.“North Korean soldiers did not invade (the South) through the Mexico border,” he added, pointing out the purpose of cost sharing is intended to cover

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  Social affairs

  Counseling for twilight divorce increasing rapidly

  　A growing number of couples over the age of 60 are applying for divorce counseling, data released by a provider of free legal consultation services showed.　The Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations said it handled 4,653 clients who wanted help with divorce last year, with women accounting for 70.7 percent, or 3,288, and men for the remaining 29.3 percent.　Of them, people over 60 years old accounted for 23.5 percent of female divorce counselees and 36.3 percent of male clients, the center

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  North Korea

  South Korea’s aid agency mulls development support to North Korea

  The state-run Korea International Cooperation Agency is considering whether to grant official development assistance to North Korea despite sanctions prohibiting cash transfers, according to an opposition lawmaker Wednesday.KOICA outsourced a study this month regarding grant aid to the North, with the aim of pursuing development cooperation in an effort to ease tensions between the two Koreas and to eliminate military threats, according to Rep. Lee Jong-myeong of the main opposition Liberty Kore

• 

  Technology

  Samsung vows 5G and AI lead, shareholders lambast low stock price

  In the first shareholders meeting Wednesday since a 50:1 stock split in May last year, Samsung’s chief executives vowed better performance with technological leads in 5G and artificial intelligence, while some shareholders strongly lambasted the constantly low share price.Some 1,000 shareholders attended the meeting held at the Seocho headquarters of the conglomerate, which was attended by Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam, Kim Hyun-suk, chief of Samsung’s consumer electronics division, and Koh Dong-jin,

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  New Zealand massacre grew from Australian roots

  The Australian-born gunman who killed 50 people at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, last week cited US President Donald Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose” with his murderous white-supremacist cause.Trump condemned the massacre and said he was being unfairly blamed for it, setting off a familiar argument over the impact of his fondness for stoking existential fears among many white people around the world. He has indeed spoken, like the mass shooter, of immigra

• Columnists

  

  Learning the language of empowerment

  Yes, words can hurt you. In fact, there are such things as fighting words. Then there are phrases and terms that possess the power to melt the hardest of hearts. Now, it’s true that some people refuse to be affected by words. Even when faced with a barrage of criticism, when their carefully laid plans are relentlessly berated and not a whisper of encouragement comes their way, they persevere. These are strong folks. But most of us seem to be vulnerable. Verbal attacks can reduce us to a sobbing

THE INVESTOR

• Mobile & Internet

  

  Red tape blamed for delayed 5G launch in Korea

  South Korea’s telecom industry and smartphone makers are bending over backwards to stay in the race for bringing 5G network services to the market for the first time in the world.Ironically, the biggest hurdle in commercialization is the government, which wants telecom companies to launch cheaper mobile plans so that it can be more widely affordable, according to industry officials.“The government wants cheaper 5G mobile plans right from the start, but they would probably offer less than 10GB da

• Startups & Investors

  

  S. Korean VC Atinum joins remittance startup InstaReM’s $41m series C round

  South Korean venture capital Atinum Investment has joined the $41 million second tranche of a series C round investment in Singaporean digital cross-border money transfer startup InstaReM, according to industry sources on March 20.The series C funding was closed with the second tranche also joined by Singapore-based existing investor Vertex Growth Fund. This adds to the first tranche of over $20 million in investment in November last year from corporate-owned VCs -- MDI Ventures in Indonesia and

• Startups & Investors

  

  How did local coffee chain Terarosa secure impact investment?

  Terarosa, a coffee chain based in Gangneung,a city in the province of Gangwon, on the east coast of South Korea, has secured investment from the country’s leading impact venture fund that invest in companies creating soical innovations. The joint fund set up by Crevisse Partners and Lime Asset Management called Crevisse-Lime Impact Venture Fund decided to invest in the 15-year-old coffee chain that has 14 outlets around the country, an official at Crevisse told The Investor on March 20. The amou

• Mobile & Internet

  

  Kakao acquires 28.9% stake in Tidesquare

  South Korea’s top mobile messenger operator Kakao has acquired a 28.9 percent stake in travel agency Tidesquare for 34.7 billion won ($30.70 million), it said on March 19. Established in 2009, Tidesquare provides online hotel and flight booking services. The company grew through a partnership with Hyundai Card in 2010. Its sales last year reached 37.9 billion won while its operating profit stood at 4.8 billion won. By acquiring the stake, Kakao has become the travel agency’s second-biggest share

K-POP HERALD

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  The controversy around Seungri explained

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  Park Bom: ‘I hope people like me again’

• 

  Holland tells why he chose his name

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Finance

  

  Yulchon M&A lawyer predicts ‘new wave’ in Indonesia

• Food

  

  Chef Akira comes back to Seoul

• Industry

  

  Unity goes beyond games to cars, AI, VR

• Industry

  

  ‘Drinking less but better has helped single malt boom in Asia’

PHOTO NEWS

• Social affairs

  

  A parade of color

  When the days get longer and start to feel warmer, it marks the arrival of spring, the season of regeneration and renewal. The whole nature awakens and so do flowers. It is also when South Korea’s biggest flower market springs back to life, after a long, dark winter. When The Korea Herald visited early this week, Yangjae Flower Market was already dominated by colorful spring flowers: freesia, tulip, royal azalea, Japanese apricot flower, daffodil, anemone, hyacinth, crocus, begonia or winter aco

VIDEO

• Industry

  

  Seoul Square, witness to Seoul’s economic history

• North Korea

  

  Hanoi welcomes US, N. Korean leaders

• Social affairs

  

  Violence erupts at Liberty Korea Party national convention as union stages surprise protest

• Social affairs

  

  Inside dog farm in Korea

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Workers more likely to call out abuse in wake of 2016 candlelight vigils

  7 in 10 workers say they experienced workplace harassment in 2017: survey

• Industry

  

  Korea’s peeping Tom dilemma: Are censors getting too much power?

  Controversy erupts over government's method of blocking ‘illegal’ websites

• Industry

  

  Booyoung’s real estate dilemma on acquiring Samsung assets

  The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles and videos about some of the most expensive and fascinating landmark office buildings in Seoul. -- Ed. Defining the symbolic cityscape of Seoul is Sejong Main Street, a 10-lane road that runs across the downtown area, stretching from Seoul Station to Gwanghwamun Square. Halfway along this main road, just north of Sungnyemun, the southern gate of Seoul, is the “Taepyeong-ro zone,” location of landmark buildings such as the palace Deoksugun

• Social affairs

  

  Delinquency among self-employed gets critical

  SEJONG -- A string of business closures of small enterprises -- particularly the self-employed -- has been increasingly drawing attention since last year amid the sluggish economy.Their financial difficulty, in line with the drastic hike in minimum wage and weak consumer sentiment, is also seen from the lending data of commercial banks. Aside from the first-tier financial firms, a large portion of the self-employed were found to have borrowed from second-tier lenders.According to the Bank of Kor