SPOTLIGHT

• Social affairs

  

  Koreans join global climate protest

  South Koreans, young and old alike, took to the streets to demand immediate action on climate change

• Social affairs

  

  Fire at Dongdaemun fashion market injures 2, fumes continue for hours

  A fire that started around midnight Sunday at a fashion wholesale market in central Seoul continued to burn Sunday afternoon, with two people injured.Fire authorities have been fighting the blaze for more than 14 hours as of 3:30 p.m. Sunday at a six-story building located in Jeil Pyunghwa Clothing Market in Sindang-dong.While the fire was mostly contained, the surrounding area was thick with black fumes still rising from the building on Sunday afternoon.Two women who were inside the building wh

• Automode

  

  SsangYong’s Changwon plant responsible for gasoline engines of SUV powerhouse

  CHANGWON, South Gyeongsang Province -- An engine is often dubbed the “heart of a car” as it converts gasoline energy for motion. When it comes to sport utility vehicles, the performance of an engine is even more important because it decides their power. SsangYong Motor, with 30-year-history, has been churning out gasoline engines at its Changwon plant in South Gyeongsang Province.The plant, comprised of two units, spans over 111,500 square meters. The first factory is respo

• Film

  

  Korea’s Oscar-tipped ‘Parasite’ sets French box office record

  PARIS (AFP) - The South Korean satire “Parasite” has become the most successful Cannes-winning film at the French box office in 15 years, new figures show.Director Bong Joon-ho became the first Korean to lift the Palme d’Or in May for his brilliant class war black comedy, and is an early favorite to lift the best foreign language movie Oscar. More than 1.6 million people have paid to see the film in France so far, according to the site CBO box office, a feat not achieved by a C

LATEST NEWS

• 

  Industry

  KOTRA forum to promote Korea-India business cooperation

  Trade expos, investment sessions, job fairs to be held both in India and in Korea this week

• Editorial

  Rage at injustice

  Professors, lawyers, medical doctors, students rise up against Cho Kuk’s appointment

• 

  Technology

  Naver, Kakao in battle over Korea’s mobile payment market

  　South Korea’s biggest internet search company Naver has finalized its plan to launch a financial subsidiary by November, presenting a challenge to the country’s leading messenger app operator Kakao in the mobile payment market. 　During a meeting with stockholders on Friday, Naver decided to change the status of its in-house venture company Naver Pay to a separate entity. Named “Naver Financial,” the new subsidiary is to be officially launched Nov. 1.　To expand its platfo

• 

  Industry

  Local mindset behind global market clout: Schneider CEO

  SINGAPORE -- Roughly 30 percent of France-based Schneider Electric’s revenue came from the Asia-Pacific region in 2018. Another 30 percent came from North America and Western Europe, respectively, with the portfolio ranging from voltage distribution products to solutions for automation, energy storage and smart building infrastructure.Behind the firm’s global clout is its ability to make use of local resources and meet local demands, a quality that is also playing out in South Korea,

• 

  Viewpoints

  Asia’s multilateral balancing act

  After World War II, Asia emerged from years of conflict and centuries of colonialism. The United States quickly became the main guarantor of regional security, signing bilateral defense treaties and establishing preferential trade and investment relationships with its Asian allies -- in particular the Philippines, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Pakistan. In the decades since, Asia has reaped substantial development gains from open trade, investment, and multilateral cooperation, enabling the

• 

  Viewpoints

  Europe’s last land frontier is opening up

  Ukraine has almost as much agricultural land as France and Germany combined and will finally start allowing it to be bought and sold next year. This is Europe’s last farmland frontier, and the fight over it is going to be messy.About 17 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product comes from agriculture, the one sector where Ukraine punches above its weight on the global stage. It’s the world’s sixth-biggest wheat exporter, a top 10 supplier of corn and barley, the global

• 

  Economy

  Why governance reform is key to make chaebol accountable　

  Management in Korea is a regular column written by the members of Egon Zehnder Seoul, touching on various aspects of Korean enterprises and business leaders, offering management tips. -- Ed.Nearly every presidential candidate in South Korea over the past two decades has made the same campaign promise and failed to deliver on it: End the near-monopoly chaebol -- family-owned conglomerates -- hold in the country and give smaller companies an opportunity to thrive. To enact some semblance of contro

• 

  Politics

  Moon heads to US for UN General Assembly, Trump summit

  President Moon Jae-in on Sunday set out on a five-day trip to the US to attend the UN General Assembly.On the sidelines of the event, Moon is scheduled to hold a summit with US President Donald Trump and a number of other world leaders.  According to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon’s meeting with Trump -- scheduled for Monday there -- will focus on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as well as the South Korea-US alliance. “President Moon will discuss cooperation measures for the compl

• 

  Social affairs

  Son of former police officer stopped with bullets at airport

  A 47-year-old man, the son of a former police officer, was caught by airport security with three bullets at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.He was discovered with the bullets by security on his way out of the country, apparently for a trip abroad with colleagues, Incheon Airport police said. During police questioning, the man said the bullets may have been placed in the pocket of the jacket he was wearing when his mother was cleaning the house.Finding no criminal intentions, authorities confiscated

• 

  Social affairs

  Typhoon Tapah sweeps Korea’s southern region

  Typhoon Tapah battered the southern island of Jeju and the southern region of Korea on Sunday with strong winds and heavy rain, leaving at least one person dead and two injured. The typhoon, packing wind gusts of 126 kilometers per hour with an atmospheric pressure of 970 hectopascals at its center, was traveling northeastward from Jeju Island at a speed of about 29 kilometers per hour as of noon, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. A two-story house collapsed at 10:25 p.m

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Viewpoints

  

  Asia’s multilateral balancing act

  After World War II, Asia emerged from years of conflict and centuries of colonialism. The United States quickly became the main guarantor of regional security, signing bilateral defense treaties and establishing preferential trade and investment relationships with its Asian allies -- in particular the Philippines, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Pakistan. In the decades since, Asia has reaped substantial development gains from open trade, investment, and multilateral cooperation, enabling the

• Viewpoints

  

  Europe’s last land frontier is opening up

  Ukraine has almost as much agricultural land as France and Germany combined and will finally start allowing it to be bought and sold next year. This is Europe’s last farmland frontier, and the fight over it is going to be messy.About 17 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product comes from agriculture, the one sector where Ukraine punches above its weight on the global stage. It’s the world’s sixth-biggest wheat exporter, a top 10 supplier of corn and barley, the global

THE INVESTOR

• Industrials

  

  [INTERVIEW] Local mindset behind global market clout: Schneider CEO

  SINGAPORE -- Roughly 30 percent of France-based Schneider Electric’s revenue came from the Asia-Pacific region in 2018. Another 30 percent came from North America and Western Europe, respectively, with the portfolio ranging from voltage distribution products to solutions for automation, energy storage and smart building infrastructure.Behind the firm’s global clout is its ability to make use of local resources and meet local demands, a quality that is also playing out in South Korea,

• The Investor

  

  SsangYong’s Changwon plant responsible for gasoline engines of SUV powerhouse

  SsangYong’s Changwon plant responsible for gasoline engines of SUV powerhouseCHANGWON, South Gyeongsang Province -- An engine is often dubbed the “heart of a car” as it converts gasoline energy for motion. When it comes to sport utility vehicles, the performance of an engine is even more important because it decides their power. SsangYong Motor, with 30-year-history, has been churning out gasoline engines at its Changwon plant in South Gyeongsang Province.The plant, comprised o

• Samsung

  

  Korean chipmakers expect to bottom out in H2

  Memory chip prices steady now signaling demand recovery, but Japan export curbs remain a risk factorThe semiconductor firms in South Korea are holding their breath at the current market conditions, cautiously judging that they may have avoided the worst.  “Starting with NAND, memory chip prices are showing signs of a rebound,” said an industry insider. “DRAM prices also stopped falling last month, which we hope is a sign of bottoming out finally.”  The price of

• Mobile & Internet

  

  Naver, Kakao in battle over Korea’s mobile payment market

  South Korea’s biggest internet search company Naver has finalized its plan to launch a financial subsidiary by November, presenting a challenge to the country’s leading messenger app operator Kakao in the mobile payment market. During a meeting with stockholders on Friday, Naver decided to change the status of its in-house venture company Naver Pay to a separate entity. Named “Naver Financial,” the new subsidiary is to be officially launched Nov. 1.To expand its platform

K-POP HERALD

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  Dreamcatcher’s video game fantasy gets real with ‘Raid of Dream’

• 

  #Sunmipop: 7 Songs to celebrate the best of Sunmi

• 

  BTS’ vacation playlist

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Technology

  

  Once labor-intensive, shipbuilders in race for digital transformation

• Fashion

  

  Yie Sun-yuul has the world at her heels

• Social affairs

  

  ‘Corruption cannot be eradicated, only contained and controlled’

• Industry

  

  New Busan-Jinhae FEZ chief seeks paradigm shift

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  Peaceful Buam-dong rises as hip place

  Nestled between two mountains -- Bugaksan and Inwangsan -- Buam-dong in Jongno-gu, Seoul, is a quiet neighborhood often described as an oasis of tranquility not far from the city center. While a large number of Seoul’s residential villages have turned into giant fortresses of high-security high-rise apartment complexes, Buam-dong has kept its old-town feel with low-lying houses, curved roads and ample greenery. Not accessible by Seoul’s massive web of subways, the villages were

VIDEO

• Industry

  

  Mobile orders and unmanned serving: Robot restaurant lands in Seoul

• Food&Beverage

  

  Trendy treats on offer at Seoul Dessert Fair 2019

• Industry

  

  How far are we from printing hearts for transplant?

• Foreign Affairs

  

  Views of South Koreans on boycotting Japanese products

FEATURES

• Social affairs

  

  Koreans 5 years older, on average, than a decade ago

  SEJONG -- South Korea has become one of several countries undergoing rapid demographic changes that could dent the nation’s competitiveness in the mid- to long term. With fewer babies being born, senior citizens make up a growing proportion of the Korean population and the average age has climbed over the past decade.According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the average age reached 42.4 years as of August, as compared with 41.9 a year earlier.The average ages for men and women were

• Politics

  

  Support-rating gap between rival parties narrows

  SEJONG -- The 2020 general election for South Korea’s next National Assembly is coming in about 200 days.A core issue is whether the ruling Democratic Party of Korea will continue to secure its dominance in support ratings over the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.The Democratic Party has yet to yield its leading position in approval ratings among the people since President Moon-Jae-in took office in May 2017.But symptoms of situation change have emerged over the past few months amid sa

• Economy

  

  Korea marks 20th anniversary of FTA talks across globe

  SEJONG -- It has been two decades since South Korea took its first steps into the free trade market, seeking bilateral deals with major world economies in hopes of enjoying tariff benefits.Since launching negotiations toward a free trade agreement with its first partner, Chile, in 1999, Korea has put 15 FTAs in place with three continental trade blocs (that involve 42 countries collectively) and 12 countries.The three trade blocs are the 28-member European Union, the 10-member Associat

• Politics

  

  Moon to pass halfway point with challenges at home and abroad

  SEJONG -- President Moon Jae-in will pass the halfway point in November, finishing the first 30 months of his 60-month term.The Moon administration launched in May 2017, several months after a political scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil swept the nation and ignited public fury.The people pinned great hopes on Moon, who stressed justice and fairness in his inaugural speech.Moon’s approval ratings hovered around 70-80 percent during the first y