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

• Film

  

  Bong Joon-ho's films pursue balance of commercial, artistic values

  South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho, who won the top prize at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, is known for works that cater to both commercial and artistic tastes.His films often use metaphors, but they are not too difficult -- not only for film critics but also for audiences -- to understand. Throughout his filmography, he sheds light on chronic social issues like materialism and class division through analogy, and he never fails to cast a warm, good-humored eye over the weak. In his fi

• 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

• World News

  

  Volcano on Indonesia's Bali erupts, flights canceled

  Bali's airport has canceled flights following an eruption of the Mount Agung volcano that spread ash over the south of the Indonesian island.The national disaster agency said Friday night's eruption lasted four minutes and 30 seconds and spread lava and incandescent rocks about 3 kilometers from the crater.Nine villages experienced thick ash fall. But the agency said it wasn't raising the alert level for the volcano and its exclusion zone remains a 4-kilometer radius around the crater.The Direct

LATEST NEWS

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  Industry

  Incheon airport holds emergency response training drills

  South Korea’s Incheon International Airport conducted a series of emergency response drills last week to ensure a swift response to urgent situations while minimizing customer inconvenience, the airport’s operator said Sunday.The training dealt with a mock scenario involving a fire within the intra-airport transit system, an autonomous train system that connects passengers to different terminals. Airport authorities and officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tra

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  Film

  Bong Joon-ho becomes 1st Korean to win top honors at Cannes

  Bong Joon-ho’s social satire “Parasite” made history Saturday by becoming the first Korean film to win the Palme d’Or, the top award at the Cannes Film Festival.According to the jury president Alejandro Inarritu, the nine-person jury had made the decision based on a unanimous vote.“The film has been an astonishing journey, which was made possible with the artists that stood by my side. Above all, I wouldn’t have been able to shoot a single scene without great

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  Film

  Prime minister celebrates Korean film's Cannes victory

  Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon Sunday delivered a congratulatory message for the winning of the top Cannes festival award by the South Korean film "Parasite."   "Parasite" won the top honor at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Saturday (French time), as the first South Korean movie to take the main prize at the eminent film event.  "Director Bong Joon-ho's 'Parasite' was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The best honor for Korean films,"

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  Film

  S. Korean cinema finally embraces Palme d'Or at Cannes

  Thanks to Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" being awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes on Saturday, South Korea has bagged the highest honor at two of the world's three most acclaimed film competitions -- Cannes, Venice and Berlin.The 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival gave its top prize to Bong's black comedy movie about a poor family becoming obsessed with a rich one after their son gets a job as a tutor for the wealthy family. It is the first time that a South Korean filmmaker has grabbed

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  Culture

  Bong Joon-ho's 'Parasite' wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

  CANNES, France (Yonhap) -- South Korean director Bong Joon-ho grabbed the highest honor at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his black comedy movie "Parasite." Bong became the first South Korean director to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Before him, Park Chan-wook was awarded the Grand Prix, the second-highest prize at the festival, for his thriller "Old Boy" in 2004.   His achievement marks the sixth time that a Korean film has received one of

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  World News

  May to quit as party leader June 7, opening race for new PM

  Theresa May ended her failed three-year quest to lead Britain out of the European Union on Friday, announcing that she will step down as Conservative Party leader June 7 and triggering a contest to choose a new prime minister who will try to complete Brexit.``I have done my best,'' May said in a speech outside 10 Downing St., as close aides and her husband Philip looked on, before acknowledging that it was not good enough.Concluding her remarks, she struggled to contain her emotions and her voic

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  World News

  29 inmates killed in Venezuelan jail riot: Official

  A showdown between armed inmates and guards in an overcrowded cellblock of a Venezuelan jail Friday left at least 29 prisoners dead, an official said. The clash started when inmates, many armed, refused to let authorities enter, fearing they would be robbed, said Humberto Prado of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory. He said there were reports of at least one explosion.An official in the Attorney General's office who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak said at

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  North Korea

  Bolton says N. Korea missile tests violated UN resolutions

  US national security adviser John Bolton on Saturday called a series of short-range missile tests by North Korea earlier this month a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and said sanctions must be kept in place. The US, however, is willing to resume talks with North Korea at any time, Bolton said. Washington's position on the North's denuclearization is consistent and a repeated pattern of failures to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons should be stopped, he said.Bolton was speaking to r

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  Industry

  Court rejects arrest warrant for Samsung BioLogics CEO

  A Seoul court on Saturday rejected an arrest warrant for the head of Samsung BioLogics Co., who is under suspicion of abetting the destruction of evidence related to an accounting scandal.The Seoul Central District Court said "there is room for dispute" over Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han's supposed role in destroying evidence of the company's alleged window dressing in 2015.   The court, however, approved arrest warrants for two vice presidents of Samsung Electronics Co.,

• Industry

  Lotte Group inks deals to sell 2 financial units

  Lotte Group signed deals to sell off its credit card unit and non-life insurer as part of efforts to meet regulatory requirements, with the combined value of the transactions roughly 1.7 trillion won ($1.43 billion), industry sources said Friday. According to the sources, retail-focused Lotte Group agreed to sell 80 percent of Lotte Card Co. to a Woori Bank-MBK Partners consortium for 1.3 trillion won. Woori Bank will own some 20 percent in the credit card firm, while the private equity fund wil

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Trump confronts China's tech threat

  Huawei’s name is often translated in English as “Chinese excellence.” The Trump administration last week embarked on a campaign to rebrand the tech giant, in effect, as a “Chinese threat” and check its expansion in the West. The Huawei assault may be the Trump administration’s most important long-term strategic decision, because it confronts China’s technological challenge to America head on. The goal is to prevent Huawei from dominating 5G wireless communications, the next phase of the digital

• Columnists

  

  Insatiable ‘historians,’ enough is enough

  Korea today has an abundant supply of photo artists, poets and historians. New smartphones are equipped with high-definition cameras of 12 to 16 megapixels, which can produce great pictures. But our amateur photographers, many of whom are old, need something different. They go about on city streets, mountains and seashores carrying branded cameras -- the digital version -- with long lenses and even tripods to take thousands of shots of anything within their sight. Poets, of course self-styled, m

THE INVESTOR

• 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

• Deals

  

  Corrugated fiberboard maker Tailim put up for sale

  South Korea’s biggest corrugated fiberboard makers Tailim Packaging and Tailim Paper are up for sale, according to industry sources on May 23. Seoul-based private equity firm IMM PE, the largest shareholder of the two companies, has sent out a memorandum to a dozen potential buyers via the deal manager, Morgan Stanley, sources said. The expected price for a 70.9 percent stake in Tailim Packaging and 100 percent of Tailim Paper ranges from 650 billion won ($546 million) to 1 trillion won. T

• Industrials

  

  K-water hosts global forum to address water scarcity

  Experts discuss measures to tackle severe drought DAEJEON -- Scientists, government officials and representatives of global environmental organizations gathered in Daejeon City on Thursday to discuss water shortage around the world and possible response measures at the 2019 International Drought Forum.Organized jointly by Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-water, the South Korean Ministry of Environment and Asia Water Council, the forum running through Friday touches upon a range of issues r

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

• Food

  

  Chef puts faith in gimbap

• Technology

  

  The Shortcut to train talent from diverse backgrounds

• Technology

  

  Line pushes Thai startups to scale up

• Food

  

  What makes a good bar, and a good bartender

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