SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  Singer Goo Ha-ra moved to hospital after suicide attempt

  South Korean celebrity Goo Ha-ra, a former member of popular K-pop girl group Kara, was admitted to a hospital on Sunday following an apparent suicide attempt, the police said.The 28-year-old was found by her manager lying unconscious at her home in Seoul's Gangnam district in the small hours of Sunday morning and rushed to a nearby hospital. She has yet to recover consciousness, but her breathing and pulse are reported to be stable. The manager went to Goo's home after she did not pick up repea

• Economy

  

  Online shopping expands more than 100% in 3 years

  SEJONG -- South Koreans have sharply increased their shopping through computers and smartphones in recent years, which is taking up more than 20 percent of their total consumption.The rapid growth of online shopping transactions has been backed by systematic parcel delivery services, which send products to consumers across the country in one to three days.Almost every kind of product -- from drinking water, food and cosmetics to clothing, home appliances and furniture -- are available on online

• Baseball

  

  Dodgers' Ryu Hyun-jin wins 7th game of '19, has scoreless streak snapped at 32 innings

  Los Angeles Dodgers' Ryu Hyun-jin has won his fifth straight game despite having his scoreless streak snapped and giving up a season-high 10 hits.Ryu labored through six innings, working around those 10 hits to limit the Pittsburgh Pirates to two runs in a 7-2 victory at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on Saturday (local time). Ryu improved to 7-1 for the season, striking out three and giving up no walks on 93 pitches, 66 for strikes. Ryu entered the game not having allowed a run in 31 straight innings,

• Industry

  

  Ocean ministry wants new English name of Korean fish cakes

  South Korea's ocean ministry said Sunday it will hold a contest to find a new English name for Korean-style fish cakes to promote the processed seafood around the globe.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said the move is intended to find a better English name that represents the unique texture and taste of South Korean fish cakes. Exports of Korean fish cakes, called "eomuk" here, came to $57 million in 2017, up 18 percent from $48 million two years ago, ministry data showed, with th

LATEST NEWS

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  World Business

  Renault, Fiat Chrysler in talks on alliance: sources

  French and Italian-US auto giants Renault and Fiat Chrysler are set to announce talks on an alliance, with a view to a potential merger, informed sources said on Sunday.Renault and FCA are likely to unveil the move "within hours, perhaps tomorrow (Monday), before the (Paris) bourse opens," one of the sources told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding an eventual "merger" was on the agenda.The same source added a statement would cover "the possibility of a convergence bet

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  World News

  Former Thai Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda dies at 98

  Prem Tinsulanonda, who as an army commander, prime minister and adviser to the royal palace was one of Thailand’s most influential political figures over four decades, died Sunday at age 98.His death in a Bangkok hospital was announced by the government’s Public Relations Department. Never married, he leaves no family survivors. Thai Princess Sirindhorn will preside over his initial Buddhist funeral rites on Monday. Prem was best known for his long-standing devotion to the monarchy,

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  Technology

  GS Home Shopping invests $1.2m in Vietnamese home-sharing startup

  GS Home Shopping, a leading home shopping channel operator here, said Sunday that it has invested $1.2 million in Luxstay, a Vietnamese home-sharing platform that targets the Southeast Asian market.The deal marks GS Home Shopping's second such investment in an e-commerce startup based in Vietnam. In January this year, the South Korean company invested $3 million in another e-commerce venture firm, Leflair, which focuses on premium-branded products for women, men, children and homes.Vietnam, one

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  Industry

  E-cigarette sales on the rise in Korea

  Sales of e-cigarettes, electronic devices that simulate the experience of smoking a cigarette, have been rising in South Korea as more people make the switch from traditional cigarettes.According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, e-cigarette sales accounted for 21.3 percent of all cigarette sales in Korea in March this year. In the first quarter of 2019, the figure was 10.9 percent.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

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  Finance

  Regulator rejects 2 applications for online banks

  In an unexpected turn of events, South Korea’s financial regulator on Sunday rejected applications by two consortia to set up the nation’s third and fourth internet-only banks.One consortium is backed by financial technology firm Viva Republica and the other is led by brokerage Kiwoom Securities.The Financial Services Commission said it accepted the recommendations of an independent evaluation committee that both consortia had put together inadequate bids. The outside evaluators said

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  World News

  1 in 7 babies born with low birthweight worldwide

  　More than 20 million newborns in 2015 - one in seven - came into the world weighing too little, latest data showed.　Over 90 percent of babies tipping the scale at less than 2.5 kilograms when born were in low - and middle-income countries, researchers reported in Lancet Global Health.　Worldwide, just under 15 percent of 2015 newborns in the 148 countries canvassed had low birthweight, varying between 2.4 percent in Sweden and nearly 28 percent in Bangladesh. 　In sub-Saharan Africa, the number o

• 

  Arts&Design

  ‘A network is no use if you monopolize it’

  Art curator Lee Dae-hyung talks about rapidly changing art scene and the influence of tech

• 

  Columnists

  Robo-apocalypse? Not in your lifetime

  Will the imminent “rise of the robots” threaten future human employment? The most thoughtful discussion of that question can be found in MIT economist David H. Autor’s 2015 paper, “Why Are There Still so Many Jobs?” which considers the problem in the context of Polanyi’s Paradox. Given that “we can know more than we can tell,” the 20th-century philosopher Michael Polanyi observed, we shouldn’t assume that technology can replicate the function

• 

  Columnists

  China’s brightest are the trade war’s latest casualties

  It’s college graduation season in China and the timing couldn’t be much worse for the record-breaking 8.34 million students emerging from university this year. A slowing economy, hobbled further by the trade war, has produced the worst Chinese job market since at least 2015. Among the hardest hit will be the aspiring white-collar workers just now throwing off their caps and gowns. Applicants far outnumber jobs in big cities and salary expectations simply aren’t being met.In rec

• Editorial

  Tilted ground

  Ratification of ILO conventions needs to be accompanied by proper legal revisions

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Robo-apocalypse? Not in your lifetime

  Will the imminent “rise of the robots” threaten future human employment? The most thoughtful discussion of that question can be found in MIT economist David H. Autor’s 2015 paper, “Why Are There Still so Many Jobs?” which considers the problem in the context of Polanyi’s Paradox. Given that “we can know more than we can tell,” the 20th-century philosopher Michael Polanyi observed, we shouldn’t assume that technology can replicate the function

• Columnists

  

  China’s brightest are the trade war’s latest casualties

  It’s college graduation season in China and the timing couldn’t be much worse for the record-breaking 8.34 million students emerging from university this year. A slowing economy, hobbled further by the trade war, has produced the worst Chinese job market since at least 2015. Among the hardest hit will be the aspiring white-collar workers just now throwing off their caps and gowns. Applicants far outnumber jobs in big cities and salary expectations simply aren’t being met.In rec

THE INVESTOR

• Retail & Consumer

  

  [INVESTING IN KOREA] Can Sonokong become a Korean Marvel?

  Korea’s largest toy maker aims for global expansion but domestic issues remain unsolved

• Mobile & Internet

  

  Korean firms slam WHO’s listing of game disorder

  　South Korean games companies reacted angrily on May 26 to the World Health Organization’s decision to officially recognize gaming disorder as a disease.　A committee comprising 88 organizations, including the labor union of Korea’s biggest game company Nexon, opposed the decision saying it would “deprive a child’s right to play,” as decreed in Article 31 of the United Nation’s Convention on Rights of the Child. 　“We will do everything in our power to res

• Startups & Investors

  

  Wongnai aims to become Thailand’s Naver

  BANGKOK -- Thailand-based restaurant review platform operator Wongnai founder and CEO Yod Chinsupakul wants to turn the startup into a tech company that can run internet portals and search engines. “In South Korea, there is Naver. In Thailand, we don’t have a tech company doing something like this. Whatever it takes, and how long it takes, we need to make a big tech company in Thailand,” Chinsupaku said in an interview with The Investor. He also added that Thailand needs a unic

• Startups & Investors

  

  Exit Daejeon announces W14.2b startup funding agreement

  DAEJEON -- Startups from across South Korea, global startup community leaders and representatives of Daejeon Metropolitan City flocked to Daejeon Convention Center on May 23 to mark the end of the three-day Exit Daejeon 2019 event. Located some 140 kilometers south of Seoul, Daejeon served as a venue where local startups were given an opportunity for more international exposure. In the meantime, global startup community organizers like Slush and Junction, as well as early-stage startup

K-POP HERALD

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  R&B Singer Katie is ready to step back into the spotlight

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  Katie: “Log” review -- a rising R&B star

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  [V Report] BTS teases live-streaming of upcoming London concert

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Social affairs

  

  Customers must be punished for harassment: Seoul Emotional Labor Center CEO

• Food

  

  Chef puts faith in gimbap

• Technology

  

  The Shortcut to train talent from diverse backgrounds

• Technology

  

  Line pushes Thai startups to scale up

PHOTO NEWS

• Industry

  

  Green magic blooms in heart of Seoul

  Farming in the densely populated city of Seoul is nothing new. Many urban farmers make use of vacant spaces on top of apartment buildings, schools and public buildings to grow vegetables. Some rent privately owned spaces to start their own green experiments. As of 2017, Seoul had 170 hectares of these farms, about the size of 238 soccer fields combined. In 2011, the figure was 29 hectares. The Seoul Metropolitan Government is a key backer of this growing urban farming trend.Earlier this year, it

VIDEO

• Technology

  

  ‘Fortnite billionaire’ envisions VR social media

• Food

  

  Buildings filled with stir-fried Korean blood sausage

• Food

  

  Traditional liquor-based cocktails beckon adventurous drinkers

• Automode

  

  Experts urge joint efforts for ASEAN EV market formation, growth

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Korea’s farming population decreases 42% since 2000

  SEJONG -- South Korea saw the number and percentage of population engaged in agriculture continue to drop, though the number of urbanites returning or turning to farming has notably increased over the past decade.According to Statistics Korea, the number of farm population (farming-household population in official) stood at 2.31 million as of 2018, which is a decline by about 750,000 individuals in the 2010s, compared to 3.06 million in 2010. Further, given 4.03 million recorded in 2000, th

• Economy

  

  In efforts to curb apartment prices, rate hikes seemingly pushed aside

  SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in government has repeatedly expressed its commitment to lower housing prices in Seoul, amid an extraordinary situation in which many apartments surged in price more than 50 percent from late 2016 through 2018.Most of its anti-speculation measures have been mapped out by the Finance Ministry, the Land Ministry and the Financial Services Commission.But the presidential office has refrained from seeking to normalize apartment prices by normalizing interest rates. This is des

• Social affairs

  

  Surging Sejong population appeals to mega-shopping malls, hospitals

  SEJONG -- It is now seven years since the government relocated numerous ministries and agencies to the newly developed special autonomous city of Sejong, neighboring the northwestern part of Daejeon, as part of its efforts to decongest Seoul.Sejong has 14 dongs -- administrative divisions -- including Eojin-dong where the Government Complex is located, one eup -- town -- and nine myeons –- townships. (Graphic by Heo Tae-seong/The Korea Herald)Though the city is rapidly expanding, its infrastruct

• Social affairs

  

  We saw helicopters firing in Gwangju: US missionary

  GWANGJU -- Gwangju streets at this time of the year are full of banners on events related to the May 1980 Democratic Uprising as the city remembers the brutal military crackdown on protesting citizens under former President Chun Doo-hwan, with exhibitions, forums, music contests and food sharing.The deadly military crackdown left an estimated 160 dead and some 5,000 injured in the course of 10 days from May 18, 1980.Experts say the figure is expected to be higher given that many of the dead were