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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  Social affairs

  Two BMW cars catch fire in S. Korea

  Two BMW diesel vehicles on the German automaker’s recall list have caught fire in less than two days in South Korea, authorities said Monday. A BMW 520d caught fire shortly before Monday noon while going up a hill in Pyeongchang, 180 kilometers east of Seoul, local police and fire authorities said.   (Yonhap)The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes and no casualties were reported as the driver and three other family members had escaped immediately, they noted.On Sunday, another BMW 520d caugh

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  North Korea

  Unification minister vows support for separated families

  South Korea’s unification minister said Monday the government will beef up efforts to reconnect families separated for decades since Korean War in various ways in the follow-up negotiations with North Korea. Cho Myung-gyon was speaking to a group of divided families who jointly celebrated the Chuseok holiday at Imjingak park in Paju, just south of the demilitarized zone separating two Koreas.  (Yonhap)“For both South and North Korea, the problem of divided families is an urgent task that can’t b

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  Baseball

  Dodgers' Ryu Hyun-jin spins another gem vs. Padres

  Los Angeles Dodgers' South Korean starter Ryu Hyun-jin has thrown his second straight gem to take his club closer to the postseason.Ryu blanked the San Diego Padres over six impressive innings, allowing four hits while striking out eight at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday (local time). The Dodgers went on to rout the Padres 14-0. (Yonhap)At 87-69, the Dodgers hold a 1.5-game lead over the Colorado Rockies atop the National League (NL) West. They have six games left after Sunday, while t

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  Foreign Policy

  Moon, Abe to hold bilateral summit this week

  NEW YORK -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold a bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week, Moon‘s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday.The Moon-Abe meeting will be held early Tuesday here in New York. South Korean President Moon Jae In (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Reuters)Moon arrived here earlier in the day for the UN General Assembly.The South Korea-Japan summit will come one day after Moon meets with US President Donald Trump for

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  Foreign Policy

  S. Korea’s Moon arrives in New York for Trump summit, UN meeting

  NEW YORK -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in New York on Sunday for a bilateral summit with US President Donald Trump that is partly aimed at brokering a second US-North Korea summit.The Moon-Trump summit is set to be held Monday, four days after the South Korean president returned home from a three-day trip to North Korea for talks with leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)Moon has said the North Korean leader hopes to hold a second US-North Korea summit with Trump in the near future, and t

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  North Korea

  Kim Jong-un and his ‘finger heart’

  THE SHAPE OF HIS HEART -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju, along with South Korean officials, pose for cameras with the so-called “finger heart” gesture against the backdrop of Cheonji Lake on top of Mount Paekdu on Sept. 20. The related photos, describing the last day of the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang last week, were released by Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Sunday. (Cheong Wa Dae)

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  Politics

  Moon leaves for New York to attend UN General Assembly

  Moon to directly deliver North Korean leader’s message to Trump

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  Social affairs

  Chuseok exodus in full swing as highways clog with traffic

  Traffic surged on Korea's expressways nationwide Sunday, the second day of the five-day traditional holiday of Chuseok.Hundreds of thousands of cars left Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Province and bus terminals, train stations and airports were crowded with people heading to their hometowns, according to the Korea Expressway Corp.Around 3.86 million vehicles were on the roads across the country on Sunday, with 470,000 leaving Seoul for other parts of the country, the agency said. (Yonhap)Hitting the

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  Economy

  Record number of people give up on job seeking: data

  A record-high number of job-seekers have given up on finding a job, amid a feeble employment market and slowing economic growth, government data showed Sunday.The monthly average number of “discouraged job-seekers” -- referring to those with no signs of job seeking for at least four weeks over the past year -- stood at 510,000 as of end-August, up 5.4 percent from the same period last year, according to Statistics Korea. This was also the highest figure since the government started collecting da

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  Social affairs

  Illegal immigrants on rise: data

  The number of foreign nationals staying in South Korea illegally increased by nearly 100,000 on-year to surpass 330,000 this year, government data showed Sunday.According to the data by the Ministry of Justice, 330,005 foreigners were staying in the country without a valid visa as of July, up 97,834 from 232,171 logged July of last year.The data -- which showed the number of illegal aliens over the past 10 years -- was submitted to the National Assembly.  (Yonhap)The annual average number of rep

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

• Economy

  

  S. Korea’s economic uncertainty hits highest in 15 months: data

  The uncertainty concerning South Korea’s economic growth and economic policies reached the highest level in 15 months, global data showed Sunday.　According to the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, Asia’s fourth-largest economy recorded 155.15 in July, the highest since 165.4 in April last year.　The global index, conducted on 20 key economies across the world, also reached the highest since March last year, standing at 227.77, data showed.　The index, developed by three US-based ec

• 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

  

  Samsung's cooktops get high scores from U.S. Consumer Report

  Samsung Electronics’ gas and induction electric cooktops received the highest scores from the U.S. Consumer Report, industry sources said on Sept. 23.Samsung's gas cooktops -- 30-inch and 36-inch models -- were picked as two of five top-performing models for this year, they said.The report lauded Samsung’s 30-inch NA30K7750TS/AA model an expensive but worth the price for its Wi-Fi-enabled connection with smartphones, as well as Bluetooth function. 　The 36-inch NA36K7750TG/AA model

• 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

K-POP HERALD

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  BTS bids happy Chuseok in US

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  Footage of Zico’s N. Korea performance

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  Jennie looks breathtaking in photo shoot

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