SPOTLIGHT

• Technology

  

  Harman CEO: Samsung will outdo Google, Amazon with AI speaker

  By Song Su-hyun

  Samsung, Harman accelerate cooperation on new AI platform

• Music

  

  ‘Culture President’ reigns once again with BTS

  By Hong Dam-young

  Pop icon Seo Taiji shows he’s still got it after 25 years

• Industry

  

  Note 8 price soars as competition heats up

  By Shin Ji-hye

  Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 8 is expected to be priced higher than 1 million won ($892) in South Korea for the first time among the company’s premium phones. Analysts predicted the prices of premium smartphones would continue to soar as handset makers competitively add advanced specifications to their devices and the industry enters a super cycle. Samsung’s mobile chief Koh Dong-jin recently changed his earlier estimation, saying, “The price of the Note 8 is likely to surpass 1 million won

• Economy

  

  What permanent establishment means to multinational companies

  By Korea Herald

  Ask a Lawyer is a regular column written by attorneys at Yoon & Yang LLC on various legal aspects of the Korean life or business. The content provided here is general legal information, not legal advice on a specific situation. -- Ed.

LATEST NEWS

• 

  Industry

  Daewoo Shipbuilding wins W470b order for 5 oil tankers

  Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major shipyard here, said Monday that it has secured a 470 billion won ($420 million) order to build five very large crude carriers.Under the deal with Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea's top shipping firm, Daewoo Shipbuilding, said it will deliver the vessels by September 2019.Last week, Hyundai Merchant said it plans to spend 470 billion won to buy five new VLCCs and 182 billion won to acquire two container vessels. Seoul-based headquarter

• 

  North Korea

  NK may fire ICBM toward North Pacific: Seoul spy agency

  North Korea may fire an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the North Pacific following its sixth nuclear test, South Korea's spy agency was quoted by a lawmaker as saying Monday.The National Intelligence Service also told lawmakers that more analysis is needed to verify whether the North detonated an electromagnetic pulse-based bomb or a hydrogen bomb during its nuclear test on Sunday."There is a possibility that the North could make additional provocations by firing an ICBM toward the No

• 

  North Korea

  Moon, Putin to focus on N. Korean nukes in upcoming summit: official

  North Korea's nuclear program will top the agenda of the upcoming summit between South Korea and Russia this week, a Seoul presidential official said Monday. President Moon Jae-in and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to hold talks Wednesday, shortly after Moon's arrival in Vladivostok to attend the Eastern Economic Forum to be held the following day."Because of North Korea's nuclear test, we expect a large part of the Korea-Russia summit to focus on the conditions created by the No

• 

  Finance

  Markets in red on NK downward momentum

  Markets in South Korea took a downturn Monday in the wake of the most powerful nuclear bomb test by North Korea on Sunday, drawing mixed forecast of local analysts on its aftereffect.The main bourse index Kospi closed at 2,329.65, down 1.19 percent, while the tech-heavy secondary Kosdaq tumbled 1.68 percent to 650.89. 　 (Yonhap)Market bellwether Samsung Electronics‘ stock price fluctuated, starting 2.02 percent lower in the opening and closing at 0.95 percent lower.Of the Kospi-listed top 20 pla

• 

  Economy

  Trump’s KORUS FTA opt-out a ‘real possibility’: expert

  Amid continued ambiguity regarding the fate of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, some industry experts are predicting high odds that US President Donald Trump may actually terminate the trade deal, following North Korea’s escalating threats, which are adding tension to the political and economic climate between South Korea and the US. 　“While some people view Trump’s threats as being bluffs, in my expert opinion, Trump deciding to back out of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement is a real possibil

• 

  Economy

  Korean firms’ woes over THAAD deepen

  South Korean companies struggling with restraints on their businesses in China are likely to come under more pressure with the deployment of additional launchers of a US anti-missile battery here set to begin as early as this week.Beijing seems unlikely to ease its stance on the issue in the wake of North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test Sunday.China began to take retaliatory measures in July last year when Seoul agreed to deploy the US missile shield known as the Terminal High Altit

• 

  North Korea

  ‘50-kiloton nuke would wipe out Seoul’

  A nuclear bomb with a 50-kiloton yield, such as the one reportedly tested by North Korea on Sunday, has the destructive capacity to induce over 2 million casualties if detonated over Seoul, according to simulation reports by experts.Six hour prior to conducting the test on Sunday, the North said in a statement that its hydrogen bomb was “a multifunctional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful Electro Magnetic Pulse attack

• 

  Industry

  Foreign companies remain calm, on guard over NK risk

  (123rf)With North Korea’s latest nuclear test accelerating geopolitical tension, foreign companies operating here on Monday expressed concerns over Pyongyang’s continued threat, but were seen to remain calm.Many foreign companies here are “familiar with constant noise from the North” and also such rhetoric “does not create any significant issues or concerns,” according to a group of US companies here.“There is no significant threat to day-to-day business for our member companies nor do we antici

• 

  Industry

  SK chief’s daughter to wed in October

  Chey Yun-jeongSK Group chairman’s daughter will tie the knot with an official of an IT venture firm on Oct. 21, the group said Monday.Chey Yun-jeong, 28, is Chairman Chey Tae-won’s eldest child from his marriage with Roh So-young, the daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo. The younger Chey joined SK’s pharmaceutical arm in June. She had begun her career at Bain and Company, a global consulting firm. Chey met her fiance, surnamed Yoon, while working at Bain, the company said, without revealing

• 

  Economy

  Korea vows strong market-stabilizing actions over NK tension

  Finance Ministry, supervisors focus on keeping up nation’s credit standing amid geopolitical risks

GRAPHIC NEWS

OPINION

• Columnists

  

  Why hasn’t Rex Tillerson resigned?

  By Korea Herald

  President Donald Trump’s top lieutenants are going rogue again.Last weekend, his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, refused to say whether Trump’s statements about violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, reflected American values. Trump’s chief economic aide, Gary Cohn, suggested that the president was wrong to equate white supremacists with “citizens standing up for equality” and said the administration “must do better.” His secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, told troops that because of internal

• Columnists

  

  (2): Baekbeom would free NK’s political prisoners

  By Robert Park

  “In every way, I reject dictatorial rules and tendencies. I shout to our compatriots. Be careful lest we find ourselves under a dictatorship. I shout that we should build a nation in which each individual among our people enjoys freedom of speech to its fullest and things are done according to opinions of our entire people. ... A nation that is as wide as the earth and as free as the sky.”- Kim Koo (1876-1949), “My Wish”As evidenced by the above citation from Baekbeom’s 1947 statement of politi

THE INVESTOR

• Mobile & Internet

  

  'Apple’s OLED iPhone specs not yet finalized'

  Korean parts suppliers for Apple’s first OLED iPhone are said to have started their shipments just recently, hinting at the phone’s delayed launch no earlier than November. “We started our shipments from late August,” an official from a local Apple supplier told The Investor on condition of anonymity on Sept. 4. He said his firm usually ships parts for Apple in the initial phase of the supply chain, declining to further elaborate. “Apple has not yet informed us the exact supply vo

• The Investor

  

  [DECODED X] An exodus?

  The Sept. 1 issue of The Investor's blockbuster newsletter DECODED X is out. Check out some of the highlights.AN EXODUS? 　There are rumors of Samsung Electronics moving to the US, more specifically, California. Samsung, of course, is refusing to say anything, but according to industry sources, the company is considering relocating overseas. On top of Lee Jae-yong getting a 5 year sentence, the new government comes with an assortment of regulations for conglomerates. And it’s not j

• Automobiles

  

  Hyundai replaces China head amid sales decline

  Hyundai Motor has replaced the head of its Chinese unit amid plunging sales, largely due to heightened geopolitical tensions between Seoul and Beijing. The Korean auto giant named Tao Hung Than as the new president of Beijing Hyundai, a joint venture with Beijing Automotive, replacing Chang Won-shin, effective Sept. 4. Chang, who resumed the top China job last October, will return to the headquarters in Seoul. Tao is known as an expert of the Chinese market and played a crucial ro

• Automobiles

  

  Genesis G70 to debut in US early next year

  Hyundai Motor gave media a peek at its luxury marque Genesis’ all-new sports sedan G70, with plans to release the car in the US early next year. “We are planning to launch Genesis G70 in the North American market sometime early next year,” said Hwang Chung-yul, senior vice president at the Genesis Project Management Center, at a media preview held in Seoul on Sept. 1. “We will gradually roll out the car in other regions.” Prior to G70 global debut slated for Sept. 15, Hyundai unve

K-POP HERALD

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  BTS to hold 1st dome concert in Japan

• 

  Nam-gil, Ah-joong slip through time

• 

  Park Bo-gum in tug of war with girlfriend

HERALD INTERVIEW

• Culture

  

  BBC journalist Francine Stock talks about Korean films’ richness, complexity and honesty

• Industry

  

  ‘Smartphone OLED will face oversupply by 2020’

• Industry

  

  ‘Korea needs stronger botulinum toxin regulations’

• Diplomatic Circuit

  

  Planning for smart, sustainable future with Singapore

PHOTO NEWS

• Culture

  

  Chinatown in Incheon, still at the heart of Korea-China ties, history

  By Son Ji-hyoung

  A gold-embellished, red-lacquered pailou, or Chinese arch, looms over a street on the shore of South Korea’s port city of Incheon.The blue-colored board attached to the 11-meter high structure reads Zhonghuajia, Chinese for ‘Chinese avenue,’ marking the entrance to Incheon Chinatown, the largest Chinatown in the nation. For over 130 years, Incheon Chinatown has been standing as the only officially recognized one of its kind in Korea since 1884, when Joseon Dynasty leased parts of Incheon to Qing

VIDEO

• Social affairs

  

  Extended Deoksugung Stonewall Walkway unveiled

• People

  

  Meet Korean Billy, the internet sensation of 2017

• Culture

  

  Slimy ‘liquid monsters’ captivate Korean adults

• Industry

  

  Beauty meets IT for customized experience

FEATURES

• Finance

  

  Analysts forecast downward North Korea risks in Kospi

  By Son Ji-hyoung

  Security tension is most likely to return to focus in South Korea’s stock markets this week following the North’s sixth nuclear test Sunday, further dampening investors’ sentiment.A 5.7 magnitude tremor was detected in northeastern North Korea on Sunday at around 12:29 p.m., which North Korea claimed to be a test of a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded into its intercontinental ballistic missile.(Yonhap)“The news would bring noise in investor sentiments and stock markets in South Korea and the Uni

• Defense

  

  Army to investigate ‘mystery deaths’

  By Yeo Jun-suk

  　On an afternoon in February 1998, Army 1st Lt. Kim Hun was found dead inside an underground military outpost along the border with North Korea. A gunshot wound was found on the right side of his head and a 9mm Beretta pistol was near his body. 　The South Korean military determined that the then-25-year-old Army officer had committed suicide. But questions and doubts have mushroomed that he may have been murdered because of no apparent motive for suicide and evidence of a physical fight inside t

• Industry

  

  ‘6 in 10 Koreans do overtime every other day without extra pay’

  By Kim Min-joo

  Korea’s salaried employees work an average of 2 1/2 days overtime per week, a poll showed Friday.Employment-related portal JobKorea -- citing its recent survey of 1,013 office workers -- alleged that an average worker puts in 2 1/2 days of overtime per week. The survey also showed that only 37.7 percent of the respondents are compensated properly for the extra hours.When asked whether “Overtime work should be taken for granted” 69.9 percent of the respondents said “No.” Also, 63.9 percent of the

• Industry

  

  Korea’s air transport deficit marks record high

  By Shim Woo-hyun

  South Korea’s air transport deficit marked a record high in the first six months of this year, largely due to a dramatic decline in Chinese tourists, as well as an increase in the number of Koreans traveling outside of the country, central bank data showed Sunday. The deficit of Korea’s air transport reached $248.6 million between January and June. In the previous six-month period, the figure had reached a surplus of $216.7 million, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)Korean