SPOTLIGHT

• Travel

  

  Popular online community of Korean travelers to Japan goes on hiatus in protest

  South Korea’s biggest online community dedicated to travel in Japan declared a hiatus Wednesday in a show of support for widespread protests here that increasingly involve boycotts of Japanese goods and services. The protests are a response to the Japanese government’s recent decision to curb exports of high-tech materials to Korea. Founded in 2003, the community, Naver’s Japan Travel Friend, has more than 1.3 million members who share travel tips and information on things to d

• Soccer

  

  Teen soccer star Lee Kang-in entangled in ‘love-stagram’ incident

  Korean soccer star Lee Kang-in, 18, might have embarked on a new relationship, considering subtle moves he has made on Instagram in recent days. The guesswork has prompted some fans to call for an explanation from Lee. In an online community here, speculations surfaced that Lee could be dating a woman who is two years older than the teen prospect. The only purported evidence so far is that Lee’s official Instagram account started following a private account, believed to belong to the myste

• Arts&Design

  

  What makes an artist?

  A large drawing stretches from one end of the wall to the other, depicting accidents at construction sites in the upper half and several vehicles lined up in the lower half. In the space in between, letters and numbers relay information on the accidents.The 10-meter wide drawing, “Accident,” by Byun Yoo-bin is part of “The Eyes of Astonishing Artists” running at the Seoul National University Museum of Art’s exhibition. “Byun drew the work in a month period. H

• Social affairs

  

  Third counseling clinic for migrant women to open Friday

  A counseling clinic for migrant women is slated to open Friday in Incheon, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Wednesday.The clinic will provide legal, medical and psychological counseling services to migrant women who are victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, among others, according to the ministry. The services will be provided in Korean as well as the native language of the client by in-house interpreters at the clinic or via the ministry-operated hotline for migrant w

LATEST NEWS

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  Soccer

  S. Korea paired with N. Korea in World Cup qualification

  KUALA LUMPUR -- South Korea will face North Korea in the second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.In a draw held at the Asian Football Confederation House in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, South Korea and North Korea were paired in Group H, along with Lebanon, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka. Coached by Paulo Bento, South Korea are the top-ranked team in the group at No. 37, followed by Lebanon (86th), North Korea (122nd), Turkmenistan (135th) and Sri Lanka (201st).The second round will go o

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  Social affairs

  Woman bites into raw chicken burger

  McDonald’s Korea was embroiled in controversy last week after a customer complained about eating a chicken burger that was almost raw.A woman, 31, had a McDonald’s chicken burger delivered to her home in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday night.After a few bites of the burger, she noticed the chicken patty had a strange texture and then realized it was almost raw, Yonhap News Agency quoted her as saying. She said she then rushed to the emergency room of a nearby hospital, where tests

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  World

  Lunar eclipse marks Moon landing‘s 50th anniversary

  　Fifty years to the day since mankind launched the first mission to set foot on the moon, partial lunar eclipses were observed in Asia, Europe and South America on Wednesday. Apollo 11 was the NASA spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the moon. The crew consisted of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins all Americans. 　So far, the United States, Russia and China are the only countries to have landed spacecraft on the lunar surface.

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  Technology

  Mobility startups protest government’s ride-sharing reform plan

  South Korea’s major mobility startups raised their voice against the government’s latest plan to overhaul the controversial ride-sharing business here, saying Wednesday that the envisioned rules favor taxi drivers and bigger firms.In a statement released after the Transport Ministry announced its reform plan for the country’s mobility industry, VCNC, which runs the popular ride-hailing service Tada, said the government’s plan would only build higher barriers and prevent s

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  Industry

  KCCI head calls for full support businesses seeking alternatives amid Japan’s export curbs

  Annual KCCI Jeju forum kicks off with top business leaders, including SK chairman, Samsung vice chairman

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  Foreign Policy

  Japan’s trade curbs will impact global industry: Seoul official

  Top US envoy for East Asia says ‘US will do what it can’ to help resolve Seoul-Tokyo dispute

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  Economy

  Koreans make up 24.1% of Japan visitors: data

  With boycotts of Japanese products becoming more widespread in South Korea in response to Tokyo’s export restrictions, accompanied by calls to stop visiting the neighboring country in a show of protest, data showed that Koreans were the second-largest group of visitors to Japan, the largest being Chinese travelers.The data from the Japan National Tourism Organization showed that almost 7.54 million Koreans traveled to Japan in 2018, making up 24.1 percent of all visitors to the country. It

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  Economy

  S. Korea’s Trade Ministry refutes Japan by revealing catch-all system

  The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Wednesday released details of its “catch-all system” for the country’s trade controls for security, refuting one by one Japan’s claims that South Korea’s system is insufficient.The ministry reiterated that Korea has been controlling exports of both strategic and nonstrategic items under stricter conditions than Japan.Japan has raised as a reason for its export restrictions of key materials for South Korea’s tech fi

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  Technology

  UNIST team develops world’s first ternary semiconductor

  A research team led by Kim Kyung-rok at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology successfully implemented the world’s first ternary semiconductor design on a large wafer, which will help development of low-power and high-computing microchips in the future, according to Samsung Electronics on Wednesday.  The ternary semiconductor architecture is expected to contribute to developing high-computing chips that are essential for artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, the in

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  Foreign Policy

  Korea better than Japan in strategic trade controls: US think tank

  Korea has exceeded Japan in controlling trade of strategic materials, a report by a US research institute showed, amid a trade spat between the two neighboring countries as Tokyo blamed “weaknesses” in Seoul’s export control system for its latest restrictions in exports to Korea.South Korea ranked No. 17 among 200 countries surveyed in terms of the effectiveness of national strategic trade controls in a study by the Institute for Science and International Security, a nonprofit

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  South Korean military lowers guards against North prematurely

  South Korea currently ranks 12th in terms of economic power of nations. It ranks a little higher in international researchers’ comparison of military strength. The oft-quoted Global Fire Power website listed the Republic of Korea as seventh in the world in its 2019 report. Based on a total of 55 metrics -- including weapons diversity, total population, military manpower and financial capabilities -- the GFP index covering 137 countries put South Korea below the US, Russia, China, India, Fr

• Columnists

  

  Trump’s ‘go back’ tweets leave no room for doubt

  As he has so many times since bursting onto the presidential stage in 2015, Donald Trump played the race card Sunday. He launched nearly three dozen broadsides on Twitter throughout the day, but a trio of his tweets stood out because they demonstrated how casually he likes to uncork his venom and how unwilling the Republican Party is to contain him.Trump was targeting four new Democratic congresswomen of color (nicknamed the “Squad”) who have become ubiquitous advocates for progressi

THE INVESTOR

• Economy

  

  Mobility firms disappointed with new regulations on ride-hailing services

  The South Korean government’s solutions announced on July 17 hoping to resolve long-lasting confrontation between cab operators and new mobility platforms appear to appease only one side -- the taxi industry. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has unveiled a series of measures that allow new ride-hailing and car-hailing platforms to enter the market while outlining plans to support the taxi industry. According to the measures, services like Waygo Blue, a premium taxi servic

• Startups & Investors

  

  Singapore accelerator Tribe showcases startups, including Tada

  Singapore-based startup accelerator Tribe hosted a demo day at Google Campus in Seoul on July 15 to support the first batch of its blockchain-based startups, which included Tada and Temco from South Korea. “We help all our startups to be exposed to different local ecosystem and markets,” Tribe managing partner Yi Ming Ng said at a press conference July 16.  Tada is a van-hailing service operator, and Temco operates a platform for selling and buying used luxury brand goods.Ng add

• Retail & Consumer

  

  Too Cool for School founders to unload stakes

  The chief executive officers of South Korean cosmetics firm Too Cool for School have decided to sell their stakes, according to industry sources July 17.Shim Jin-ho and Jo Hye-shin, the two co-CEOs, respectively hold stakes in the company of 75.76 percent and 18.18 percent. Nomura Securities has been chosen to manage the deal. According to sources, Nomura recently sent out an investment prospectus containing detailed information about the cosmetics company to a few private equity firms and

• Bio & Medicine

  

  Prosecution requests warrant for Samsung BioLogics CEO

  The prosecution has requested arrest warrants for Kim Tae-han, CEO of contract drug manufacturer Samsung BioLogics, and two other executives, surnamed Kim and Shim.The Seoul Central District Court will review the request on July 19. Prosecutors had requested arrest warrants in May, but the court had rejected it. Prosecutors accuse Kim and the two executives of masterminding accounting fraud in 2015 before the drug company’s initial public offering on the Kospi in November 2016.The Samsung

K-POP HERALD

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  Kang Daniel ready to step back into spotlight

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  Meet songwriting duo behind Red Velvet’s ‘Zimzalabim’

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  We hope to become a band that sings every moment’: DAY6

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Finance

  

  Mirae Asset stands tall on Wall St. amid strong rivals

• More sports

  

  Diver Woo Ha-ram eyes 1st medal after strong performance in preliminaries

• Life&Style

  

  Chef goes on shining without star

• Industry

  

  RISE co-host Paddy Cosgrave says in-app translation service may bring more CEOs onstage

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  Making science fun for kids

  With the summer vacation season now upon us, parents with school-aged children can visit city-run science centers for kids instead of crowded indoor playgrounds and shopping malls. The Seoul Metropolitan Government runs a center in Hagye-dong, Nowon-gu, where children and teens can have fun learning about science. The Seoul Science Center is a three-story building on 12,330 square meters of land, with four exhibition halls. It is the first city-run science museum in the northern part of the city

VIDEO

• Food

  

  Behind jewelry shops, pairing pork, kimchi and oysters in Jongno

• Food

  

  Tender, sweet spareribs at Seongsu-dong

• Social affairs

  

  Partisanship pauses for Lee Hee-ho’s funeral

• Industry

  

  Big buyer NHIS signals real estate market trend shift

FEATURES

• Economy

  

  Portion of pessimists over economy hits record: poll

  SEJONG -- A large proportion of self-employed people have closed their businesses and joined the growing number of jobless people over the past two years. Simultaneously, the state payment of unemployment benefits has climbed to an all-time high.The Moon government started providing some young jobless people with 3 million won ($2,540) for six months per individual, while the number of people who lost jobs has been drastically increasing among those in their early 50s, 40s and late 30s. The

• Technology

  

  KT seeks to leverage 5G tech in global fight against diseases

  　After South Korea became the first country to launch commercial service for the fifth-generation network in April, hopes are high that the hyperspeed network will transform everyday lives. 　Ranging from ultrafast downloading of lengthy movies to driving autonomous vehicles on connected urban highways, the 5G network is expected to enable futuristic technologies. 　With telecom companies around the world seeking to maximize benefits of the advanced network technology, Korea’s leading mobile

• Social affairs

  

  Working-age population falls to 2013 level

  SEJONG -- South Koreans have expressed significant fears about the nation’s workforce and growth potential in the coming decades, and it appears that recent demographic changes lend weight to those concerns.Two or three years ago, people aged between 15 and 64 began declining in number after a long period of continuous growth.People in this age group are classified as members of the working-age population, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development criteria. At pres

• Industry

  

  Korea vitalizes redeveloping harbors on 3 sides

  SEJONG -- Earlier this year, South Korea pledged to foster “smart harbors” across the country as part of a move in a variety of sectors preparing for the coming era of the “fourth industrial revolution.”The futuristic harbors will likely be equipped with state-of-the-art technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things and robotics, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.Officials said the project’s focus will be 31 harbors designated